It was fucking cold.
Even with his warm blanket wrapped around him, he was shivering. Which only made Lee try to snuggle down further into it, pulling the blanket even tighter.
His early morning breath was actually visibly misting in front of his mouth.
"Fuck." He swore, wishing he could turn on the central heating from here. Except the only control was actually in the back loungeroom, which was one of the coldest rooms in the house.
He knew he should probably try and grab his phone, to work out what the time was and how long he had before he had before he needed to get ready for the day, but the cold was winning against his willpower.
How bloody cold did it have to be outside, right now?
He shivered and pulled it tighter around his shoulders, before squeezing his knees together, and his hands between them.
His phone went off.
Lee muttered, but ignored it. He was too cold, and too tired, to deal with whatever it was. Which wasn't his morning alarm...
"Shit." He rolled over and darted one arm out of the cocoon to answer, "Hello?"
"L-l-l-l-leeee?" A chattering voice asked.
He didn't recognise the voice, "Yeah?"
"H-h-h-heeelp." The voice begged, "N-n-n-ooo power."
Lee tried hard to place the voice, guessing at who might call him in a situation like this. "Trix?"
"No!" The voice shouted, clearly insulted, "I-iz-iz-"
"Izzy." He said tiredly, "Have you checked the fusebox?"
His sister was useless when it came to house stuff. She'd needed him to sit with her just to do the five minute call to get power connected in the first place.
"Th-the whole neigh-neighbourhood issss out." She chattered urgently.
"Fuck." Lee swore, "Just give me a second."
He flipped his phone to a weather app, and stared in horror at the sudden difference to last night's predictions. He put it back to his ear, "Uh, Izzy? You got a car?"
"Y-yeah."
"Get over here. Now." Lee ordered, "You've only got a short time before all the roads shut down. I'll get the house heated up before you do."
She confirmed, and then hung up.
With that, he ran to the backroom and turned on the heating, before grabbing a coat and braving the backyard to grab some wood from the stack.
He didn't generally use the wood heater. It had come with the house, which was good because you couldn't normally get them anymore. Not without some wrangling with the council.
Lee's face was completely numb by the time he was back inside and putting the wood beside the metal heater. He didn't for a second believe that the power was going to last at his house, either.
In the five minutes he'd been outside, he'd seen the beginnings of snow in the sleeting wind that was practically sideways.
It had only snowed once since he'd moved to this town, and that had been utterly insane. He had no reason to believe it wasn't going to be just as bad this time.
For the next half hour, he stacked up wood inside, where it could hopefully dry out before he needed it.
Then, the doorbell went.
He ran down and opened it, struggling not to laugh as he let in the drenched-puppy looking woman.
Izzy glared at him, shivering, as she skipped passed him to find a vent to stand over. She rubbed her shoulders and shivered. "Th-thanks."
She was soaked through. Wearing a knee-length skirt that was now clinging to her, and a heavy jumper that probably weighed a few extra kilos thanks to the water now in it.
Her knee-high white socks were now basically see-through, which left him wondering why she was wearing a skirt in this kind of weather.
Lee tossed her a blanket from the couch, and then a spare towel. "I gotta call work, and see what's up. You right for a couple minutes?"
She nodded.
He dialled up work, and got a busy tone. Which was weird as hell and meant that the automated voicemail wasn't picking up. Re-dialling didn't help, but then the line just dropped.
He checked his phone signal, and stared as it told him that only emergency calls were now available.
Checking the local news, he discovered a bunch of articles. Apparently some critical infrastructure wasn't ready to face off against the coldest storm for a hundred years.
He wasn't heading into work.
Lee made his way back to the loungeroom via his bedroom, grabbing a spare tracksuit for the frozen and wet woman. Izzy was kneeling over the vent, a content look on her face, and eyes closed.
She was clearly attempting to warm up something in particular. And
didn't care if she got caught.
He shook his head, pretended not to notice, and tossed the clothes to her. "Phones are down. Well, I think emergency still works, but that's it. So I'm not going in to work, even if they want me. Going to boil up some water. Want anything to drink?"
"Hot chocolate?" Izzy said, sounding a lot better.
Technically, with the power still on, Lee could have just used the kettle. But he knew the kettle might put the strain on, and he wanted everything on the heater for as long as possible.
His stove, on the other hand, was gas. So unless he ran out of matches, he should be able to keep that going. He filled a pot full of water, lit the stove under it, and began boiling it.
Then, he turned around.
Izzy had apparently been too cold to think of leaving the heat.
His big sister might bug the shit out of him, but seeing her like this, Lee experienced the same slack-jawed shock that any guy would when presented with the sight.
She was balanced on one foot, tugging awkwardly at the tracksuit pants, one foot stuck, as the other was still exposed. Her messy red curls were on full display, contrasting enormously against her pale white skin, as the wet panties had been abandoned to the floor.
Izzy didn't seem to notice him, just hopping as she tried to get the
first leg on, her perky little tits bouncing with each movement.
She would choose the most awkward way to get dressed.
Lee shook himself out of it, and headed to the pantry as casually as he could. He didn't normally drink hot chocolate himself, but a good host always has something on hand.
He pulled it, and a couple of mugs out and set them on the counter. A quick peek towards Izzy burned the image of her bare chest into his skull.
It had been years since he'd seen her even close to nude, and now...
She had to have gone up in size since then. Still tiny perky tits, but what her nipples were pointing straight out from was almost full handfuls of softness.
Way below those mindfuckers, there was a tiny blue gemstone pierced into her bellybutton. It was a cute sort of touch, but a bit surprising. She'd only worn sleeper earrings whenever Lee was around.
Lee tried to think of more excuses not to face in her direction, and went to see if he might have any marshmallows in the cupboard.
He gave it a good, long and hard look... Long after he had actually found some.
Lee eventually made his way back and dropped the small packet of oversized marshmallows by the mugs, and checked the water which was almost beginning to boil, before turning around.
Izzy was kneeling over the airvent again, looking perfectly innocent as she towelled at her hair.
Lee gave a nervous sort of laugh, "Did you get changed in here?"
"Eh. It's cold." She said and shrugged, continuing to rub at her hair, "Oh. Uh... Thanks. About rescuing me. Holy shit, it's actually snowing out there."
The back lounge was the coldest room in the house because of all the glass. Huge windows, and sliding doors.
Lee frowned, looking at the white grass. "Yeah... Mind shutting the curtains? Keep the heat in?"
She rolled her eyes, "Practical. Can't you appreciate it as being pretty?"
As if the universe felt like answering for him, the heater cut out. All the various electronic whines that you never notice vanished at the same time.
"Oh. Crap." Izzy said and stood up, walking over to close the blinds. She still took her time about it, gazing out at the white wonder.
Lee grabbed some matches and his recycling bin, dragging it over to the fireplace and setting it.
He managed to get it going, before filling the box with wood. He closed the glass door, and turned around to see Izzy making her own drink.
"Make me one, too?" He asked her.
She waved a hand, "Yeah, yeah. I saw both mugs. So... How have you been, Lee? Been a few months since we saw each other."
"Not since you flooded your kitchen." He referred to the incident where she'd put normal soap into her dishwasher.
Izzy moaned, "Can you not bring that up? I know I'm an idiot, okay?"
"You're not an idiot." He disagreed, "You just get bored easily. Too bored to take in all the stuff most people should know."
She walked over slowly, passing him a mug, before sitting down in front of the still-cold fireplace. Halfway snuggled up to him, holding the hot drink.
The steam was clearly visible, rising from both of their mugs.
She'd given him a marshmallow, too.
He put it aside and leaned back on his wrists, as Izzy blew on hers, before sipping at the hot liquid. "I turned off the stove and covered it. Keep the water hot-ish. And now... You avoided talking about you. What's up?"
Lee blew at his hair, "Notice anything different about the place?"
She glanced around and shook her head silently, before sipping again at her drink.
He rolled his eyes, "You're the only woman, here? Erin isn't in hiding."
"Oh. Your girlfriend." Izzy said as if it had never occurred to her. "Well, she didn't really seem that into you, back then. Guess it ended, huh?"
"Could have told me." Lee said bitterly.
Izzy sighed heavily, and looked at him sympathetically, "Lee, it should have been obvious to a blind man. She was looking for excuses not to touch you. Stuff like not sitting next to you."
"Ouch."
