Hi again! I'm so grateful for your interest in my writing! I had a lot of fun sharing these! Thank you all for the feedback, hopefully I can share some more in the future! Xoxo
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The snow blew down off the roof and into my face. I didn't think it could get any colder today. I went back inside after my uncomfortable smoke and sipped on my coffee. The sky was dark and the wind howled up a storm, almost making blizzard-like conditions. The sun took forever to come up at this time of year. Inside, I grabbed yet another cookie out of the package and nibbled.
I peeked in the bedroom to see if Lana had moved at all. She continued to dream and snore in Lala land. I was so excited for today. It was New Year's Eve and we were having a big party at Lana's mom's cabin with our friend Ida. We had delicious food and all kinds of booze. I had already packed my clothes and blankets. The car was ready to be loaded!
I'm a morning person so things are pretty easy for me at seven. Lana on the other hand, is not a morning person. It frustrated the hell out of me because getting something done always took forever. I didn't take it personal though, I mean...after all, everyone's a bit different and I know the world doesnt revolve around me.
Lana, my secret girlfriend (her and I never told anyone) is a real sweetheart. She insisted on driving to ease my anxiety of the icy roads. Lana always told me I stress out about every tiny thing that I think about. Almost true but that could be because I'm a little quirky and strange. Or maybe, I'm just a paranoid stoner. Who knows!
I poured a cup of coffee and added a splash of milk for Lana. I tickled her foot sticking out of the blanket and placed the cup on her nightstand. She mumbled something at me and yanked her foot back in. I flicked on the television and put the mute button on. I pulled out my iPod and put my ear buds in. Watching the news, the weather was to be even worse as the next couple days went on. The cold weather was to stay at least thirty degrees Celsius below zero with the wind and I couldn't bear that fact. My anxiety started to kick in again and made me run to the bathroom for a pee.
I danced around in the living room to my music for about an hour. I had so much fun, I couldn't stop! It was shortly after eight and the caffeine was coarsing through my veins. I sang to the songs softly and continued dancing with maximum energy. I started to tidy things up and drink more coffee. I couldn't believe how great of a mood I was in!
"Morning, my little star," Lana said hugging me from behind yanking out an ear bud.
I jumped in excitement. Lana pecked me on the neck and I leaned back to give her the morning kiss. She went to the microwave to put her now cold cup of coffee inside. She put a couple pieces of bread in the toaster and pulled out the jam. Can you say zombie? Coffee spilled on the glass plate in the microwave and she almost dropped the jam. She was so uncoordinated!
"Use the old jam!" I said, scooching in between her and the fridge.
I pulled it out and put the new one back. I followed Lana into the bathroom. Her eyes were so red, I thought she was going to fall asleep standing up. I started to brush her long wavy brown hair while she packaged up her toiletries for the cabin. She had bed head and I wasn't about to fix it. Just enough to keep her hair from knotting, she can wear a toque to fix it.
"Ariel, I'm so tired..." Lana droned on about.
My anxiety started creeping in...again. The coffee made me have to use the bathroom...again. Lana staggered out of the bathroom. I sat on the toilet and planned a strategy to get me through that long drive. If she's that tired, maybe I should be driving. This was going to take some real encouragement to get my ass behind the wheel.
I finished up in the bathroom and went to the bedroom to see if Lana needed any help packing. Laying on the bed with her eyes closed! Fuck, I was disappointed. I got mad and stomped back and forth from the other room. Looks like it was me going to drive. I was terrified of the roads. They were all snowy and scary. I think I need to pee again!
"Come on, Lana," I sharply nudged her, "let's go. You can sleep in the car. I'll drive."
"Are you sure, baby? You look...scared."
I nodded and shifted my face so she couldn't see my eyes water. I felt like such a wimp. I've done so many crazy things in my life but I just couldn't shake the fear of winter driving. I walked to get the car keys from the rack in the kitchen and I pushed Lana's toast back down to warm it up.
I bundled up and went outside. Snow blew around with the wind. The visibility wasn't so great but it was still early enough that there might not be many cars around. I started the car and brushed off the heavy snow all around. I ran back inside as some had got in between my mitt and jacket. It was freezing!
"Come on, Lana!" I yelled as she chowed down on toast.
"Are you sure you're comfortable driving?" Lana asked.
"I can do it. Just don't talk about it."
"You look like you're going to shit your pants, Ariel. I can drive, I'm just a little tired," Lana stated and then yawned.
"Fuck off, I'll be in the car. You'll lock up?" I asked picking up stuff to bring to the car.
She nodded and gulped down her coffee. I wanted to get there early to set things up for later. It was a big day today and I wanted everyone to be happy. I sat in the car and constructed a playlist of songs that made me feel good. I started to shake. From the cold? Maybe. Or from the anxiety of driving? Likely. Did I drink too much coffee? Probably. I was freaking out!
Lana came to the car all bundled up. I liked her winter look. Her scarf wrapped around her neck to nicely and matched her lovely toque. I could only see her shiny blue eyes and they peered right at me. I popped the trunk and she put more bags inside. She climbed in the passenger seat, moving her seat back.
"Okay, here we go," I said putting the car in reverse, "should we pick up some New Year's coffee?"
"How many cups have you drank already today? Don't you think you've had enough? I'm good on the coffee. Don't need kidney stones at my age," she replied.
"Like only two or three cups," I snarled back, "I'm still going there. Pretty sure I'll go the rest of the year without kidney stones. You hear about crazy shit."
Sheesh! Someone's cranky!
The roads were snowy and one lane was drifted over from the wind. I pulled into the drive-thru of the coffee shop and ordered my large triple cream and sugar coffee with the addition of two espresso shots. I also ordered some assorted cookies for Lana because I know she gets hungry on long car rides.
"Actually-can I get another coffee, just one milk?" Lana interrupted me and I smiled and put my hand on hers, "New Year's coffee, Ariel, I like it!"
I smiled with delight at her and squeezed her hand. It turns out that the car in front of me had paid for my treats so that helped my anxiety subside. The car behind me only got a couple coffees so I treated them. We collected our food and off we went.
Lana perked up a little bit but was in such a bad mood. I focused dearly on the road and once we got moving, it wasn't so bad! I watched Lana eat all the cookies. There must have been twelve in the pack and I didn't have a single one! We listened to my playlist and had a great time singing together. I think that cheered her up a bit! Lana sucked at singing but her enthusiasm was on point and I fucking loved that!
It was just after lunch by the time we arrived. We settled in and started the fire. It took a little while to get going and the wind outside was seriously, so fucking cold. I volunteered to do the hard task and put my earbuds in without hearing Lana's response. I was moving firewood from the lake up to the cabin. It was a good workout and I most certainly had the energy for it. My nose ran quite a bit and it got super uncomfortable when the snot froze to my scarf.
I started to shiver after a couple runs of sled pulling. My warm jacket and snowpants were starting to get stiff. Even though there was snow blowing around making me cold, the music kept me moving and in a fantastic mood. I had brought up a large amount of wood and left it on the deck next to the door. As I went down the steps to get more, I felt something hit me in the side of my butt. I yanked out my earbuds and looked back. That hurt! Lana had hucked a bag of frozen peas at me which missed so she threw an ice ball.
"Owww!" I screamed.
"Sorry, cutesickle! Come warm up! I made hot chocolate! Stop what you're doing! Come!"
Oh, my ass cheek hurt! I picked up the bag of peas and ran inside. I realized just how frozen my body was after only like thirty minutes of being outdoors. The wire for my headphones were frozen straight and couldn't coil back to their resting state. I took off my jacket. The cabin wasn't warmed up at this point because it wasn't winterized. Fortunately, we did have electricity so we could use the oven and things like that. The stove fire was our main source of heating.
Lana had a pretty shirt on that looked nice and warm. I never noticed it before. I sat in front of the fire to join her for the hot drink on the stone floor. She was bent over and adding more wood on the fire while her panties hung out, as usual. I stood up behind her and yanked them up, giving her a much deserved wedgie. I sat on the stone floor in front of the fire.
"That is SUCH a beautiful top, Lana! Oh my gosh!" I said picking up the cup of sweetness and snickering at what I had just done.
"Aww, thanks, Ariel! My mom got it for me after Christmas. I figured I'd save it for a special occasion. Why are you still wearing your scarf?" She asked as she fixed her underwear problem.
"My nose was running and it froze to my face," I replied, sheepishly looking away with my eyes.
"Oh...Come here, sweets," she started to peel the scarf off of my face, "hold on, I'll go wet a cloth."
She came back with a cloth and ran it under my nose and on the scarf. The cloth was hot from the water in the kennel. I felt a lot better. I started to feel a lot warmer by the fire but my shivering got even worse. I pulled off my boots and socks to put my feet next to the fire.
"You should have waited for me just so you wouldn't be out there for so long. You look really cold! That wind is so wicked," Lana pointed out, "it's immature to avoid teamwork, you know."
