Louis's bike crunched and scraped against the slush and ice. He had to beat his boot against the snow several times before he dared pull on the brake, and the bike gradually skidded to a stop next to an old ponderosa pine. The pine's rough bark dripped toward the snow with pale golden pitch.
Louis hopped off, but had to almost immediately grab hold of a tree branch as the ice nearly took his feet out from under him.
He pulled himself up straight and leaned the bike against the tree. His glove felt sticky with sap as he released the branch.
The bike immediately slid against the ice and fell crashing into the snow.
Louis stared at it for a moment, then burst out laughing.
This was such a bad idea.
Natalia was usually his ride to game night, but apparently her family had surprised her with a Christmas Eve visit. He should have seen that coming. He'd met Natalia through the church their two families shared, and bonded through the solidarity of shared suffocation. He knew how it went.
The winds raced through the branches above, and Louis swore as he turned to put his cap between his face and the rain of snow and pine needles. His coat, already doing very little, was going to be soaked within minutes.
He looked at a snowflake that had landed on his hand. It still hadn't melted.
He picked the bike back up, shivering, and stood it back up more carefully, ignoring the metallic cold gnawing at his gloved hands. He turned and moved as quickly as he dared from the front yard to the icy porch of the cottage.
The doorbell gave a distant chime as Louis pressed it. In the silence that followed, his ice-cold hands slid under his shirt for heat.
He hoped it would be Emma to open the door. Or Jeff, or Mike, or Mike's boyfriend whose name Louis never remembered because those two mumbled everything and never talked in the group chat.
It was belatedly occurring to him, though, that he hadn't seen their cars in the driveway, but maybe they'd parked in the car shed. They might have. He just hoped the one to answer the door wasn't...
The door swung open. Noelle smiled brightly. "Oh, hi, Louis!"
Louis desperately held in a groan.
He'd known he would have to see her. Obviously he'd have to see her.
Noelle was their hostess. She had to be. Louis lived with his sister and brother-in-law, who refused to let Mike's boyfriend stand in their driveway. Emma was still in student dorms. Natalia's mom didn't allow dice in the house. Mike and Mike's boyfriend had three long-haired cats, and Jeff was allergic. Jeff's apartment was the size of Noelle's car shed.
Noelle was their hostess. That was also probably why she was still in the group.
Noelle was... difficult.
Louis cracked a weak smile. "Hi, Noelle. Anyone else here yet?"
"Where's Nat?" Noelle leaned over, peering around his frame. She was a lot shorter than him, and he had hips, so she had to lean very dramatically--but maybe not
that
dramatically. "Wait, did you bike here?" She blinked up at him. Her lashes were thick over deep forest-green eyes, and her ruby-red lips were parted in a surprised 'o' shape.
Noelle loved that everyone knew she was pretty. She loved to show it off, loved to strike poses and overdress--like in that tight red sweater, those perfectly coiffed fiery locks tickling her bared left shoulder. She basically loved any kind of attention. It was why she could be such a nightmare player. It was why Natalia had gotten so damn parasitic.
"She had to cancel," he said, clearing his throat. "Her parents, uh, made plans, I guess."
"Ugh, that sucks." She pouted, straightening again. A spark entered her eyes, and she frowned up at him. "You biked all the way from town without a helmet?"
He smiled sheepishly. Actually, he was a little surprised she'd registered that. That was unusually thoughtful of her. "I couldn't find my bike helmet. I... yes. Yes, I did."
"Ugh." She rolled her eyes. "You're such a martyr, Louis. Why didn't you make Grace drive you?"
"My sister had other plans."
"She's lucky you're not like me." She sniffed. "I would have dragged her out to the car by the fucking ear. What a bitch! You could have broken your neck!"
There was care in her voice, which caught Louis off-guard, but he also saw that intensity, that self-certainty. Natalia had said very little about what exactly had gone wrong in her and Noelle's relationship. She'd dropped hints. Very sketchy hints. But she'd also said she was fine keeping Noelle in the group, and, well, without Noelle there
was
no group, so...
Louis rubbed the back of his neck. "Well, she's doing her best."
"Her best to keep her full-time live-in babysitter stuck at that
Backrooms
-ass suburban nightmare of a house with her spoiled kids." Her eyes narrowed. "God, you look fucking freezing."
Louis shivered. Her reminder didn't help. "A-Are the others here yet?"
"Oh." She bit her lip, the fire instantly leaving her eyes but a little heat filling her cheeks. "Jeff... actually canceled an hour ago. Guess he's still got some holiday shopping to do."
He waited for her to continue. When she didn't, he prompted, "And Emma? Mike?"
"Mike's showing symptoms. They wanted to play it safe." She folded her arms under her chest, idly pushing up her breasts. Louis struggled not to look, even though he knew she wanted him to. "And Emma has a 'big deadline coming up'. Seriously, if that girl was any flakier you'd serve her in a bowl with milk and raisins."
Louis swallowed. "Wait, so..."
"So it's just me and the Game Master tonight." She smiled brightly up at him. "You wanna come in?"
