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BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.
BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.
Amy was out of bed on the first loud chirp of the alarm. Her eyes cast wearily toward the flashing red box near the ceiling of her dorm room. A short Spanish curse fell from her lips and her brain struggled to spring into action.
BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.
BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.
Why would they have a drill at 3am right before finals week?? Amy wondered to herself as she grabbed her shoes and stumbled out the door, eager to leave quickly so as to get this over with.
BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.
BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.
She hated it. She hated that sound. She hated that sound even more than normal now that it was disturbing one of the few good sleeps she had been able to slip into between studying. She managed to make it down the stairs with her eyes still half slitted shut and her hands covering her ears in an attempt to drown out the blaring alarms.
BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.
BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.
Her sigh of relief stepping out of the stairwell and onto the lawn in front of the dorm was swiftly cut short at the realization that it was, in fact, freezing. Of course it was freezing. It was December Amy.
She paused for only a moment thinking about heading back up to at least grab a coat before she was nudged unceremoniously forward by the pack of students behind her who were, you know, evacuating.
It could’ve been worse, she reasoned as she glanced around and saw guys and girls in various states of winter gear. Some of them were in shorts and t-shirts, but some had managed to grab coats, scarves, hats, and other warm looking apparel for this night adventure. Amy had been sleeping in long sleeve pajamas and pajama pants in the last few weeks, so at least she had some coverage. She found a spot on the grass and resigned herself to tough it out, feeling the cold wind and helplessly hearing her teeth begin to chatter as she waited for them to be let back into the building. It’s not that they hadn’t had fire drills before, but this was the first one to take place at such a late hour. And this was the first one since the weather had taken a permanent turn for freezing temperatures about a month ago.
“Santiago!” someone called, and Amy turned her head towards the source.
Her lips managed to turn up into a small smile as she spotted Jake striding happily towards her. He was wrapped in what looked like three blankets as well as the comforter from his bed, and he had a grin that made him look more awake at 3:00 than she’d ever seen him look at 9:00.
“Boy, you really left it all behind to escape the fire in a hurry,” she said to him as he made his way next to her.
“Uh, it’s December Ames, and drill or no drill I was NOT leaving without the essentials.”
She nodded and turned her attention back towards the doors of the dorm, shoving her hands into her armpits and hopping back and forth a little to get the blood flowing.
“Wanna get in the blanket cocoon?” Jake asked warily. Amy peered his way but shook her head, deciding that as much as she was shivering, that wasn’t the solution.
“Aren’t you cold?” he followed up, and she shook her head again in what she hoped was a convincing manner. He seemed to accept her answer and didn’t speak for another minute or so.
“Kinda shitty of them to have a drill in the middle of the night the weekend before finals, huh?”
Amy glanced over at him and nodded, “Tell me about it, I’ve been up until 2 the last few nights and then they spring this on us?”
“Maybe it isn’t a drill, maybe Charles set fire to the communal kitchen and they’re evacuating for real,” Jake responded smiling.
“I hope not, you promised you’d keep Charles out of the kitchen after his last attempt in there made it smell like vomit for a week”
“Well to be fair that’s not really on Charles, that’s on the guy who vomited.”
“He vomited because of how bad it smelled!”
Jake laughed, his face lighting up and settling back on that kind smile Amy had come to see on special occasions since she had met him at the beginning of the year. They continued to stand near each other in the mob of other students. Amy could almost feel the heat radiating off of his layers of blankets and she’d be lying if she said she didn’t envy it. She sighed and became even more glum realizing she could see her breath in front of her.
“Amy, you get cold in August, I know that you’re freezing.”
“I’m not c-cold,” she replied as her words betrayed her.
“Oh my God, please just share the blankets with me.”
Amy smirked at him, or at least did her best to smirk at him. “You wanna cuddle me Peralta?”
“No, but the sound of your teeth chattering and watching you shiver is making me cold, which isn’t fair because of the time and effort I put into being the exact opposite of that.”
Amy scrunched her face up and let out a small groan, “Fine, please let me share your blankets.”
“Call it a cocoon first.”
“You’re an idiot.”
“I’m sorry what was that?”
She sighed, “May I please share your….cocoon?”
He grinned that big grin again and immediately swallowed her up in his cocoon, pulling her close to him and wrapping his arms around her goosebump riddled body. The first thing Amy noticed was just how incredibly warm it was compared to the frigid night air. She was up against his chest and his body heat had already warmed up the blankets around them, letting her body be overcome with almost instant relief as her face slotted just over his shoulder. The second thing Amy noticed was that Jake Peralta was in fact, not wearing a shirt.
“Jake! You spent all that time grabbing six hundred blankets but didn’t take the time to put on a shirt?!?” Amy groaned and she felt his laugh in his chest. In his bare chest.
“Okay first of all, how was I supposed to know I’d have to save your unprepared ass from hypothermia? You’re supposed to be the smart one, Ames. Second of all, I was sleeping so I basically just bundled myself up in everything on the bed and walked out the door.”
He had made a couple good points, Amy was prepared to admit that. What Amy was not prepared to admit, was how much more toned Jake’s chest was than she would’ve expected. And how she found herself not minding too much that she was pressed up against him stealing his warmth.
It was just a hug, Amy reasoned. Just a super long hug for survival.
They didn’t speak for a little while, both of them just silently enjoying holding the other as they huddled together on the lawn. Amy found her eyes slipping closed, and her head slowly made its way to resting on his shoulder. She heard him suck in a breath as her cheek made contact and felt him chuckle.
“Your hands are freezing.”
“Sorry,” she spoke softly, but made no effort to move her hands from their place resting on his lower back. “Do you want me to move them?”
“Yeah, as long as you use them to grab my ass.”
She laughed, making a slow, teasing motion with her right hand to sink just an inch or two down towards Jake’s butt, resting her hand just above the waistline of his gym shorts. He spoke low and softly, sending shivers unrelated to the cold down Amy’s spine.
“You're not fooling anybody Amy,” Jake mumbled into the air above her head.
Slowly, she picked her head back up off his shoulder, and she brought it back to look up directly into his eyes with an innocent expression on her face. She attempted what she hoped was a sly smile as she quickly brought her hand to give his butt a small squeeze before returning it to his lower back. He looked surprised for just a moment, but his face recovered and he gave her a smirk.
“I’d grab yours in retaliation but then the blankets would fall,” he said while returning her direct gaze.
“Shame.”
Amy wasn’t sure where all this confidence had come from, maybe it had to do with the fact that she was exhausted, but it was worth it to see this agonized expression on Jake’s face. His eyebrows were contorted and his eyes were wide, and he bit his lip trying to figure her out. She stared at his lip caught between his teeth, and wondered what those lips might feel like pressed against her own. This wasn’t the first time she’d thought about kissing Jake, but it was undeniably the strongest urge to do so that she’d had.
But they were friends. This was just a friendly hug. And this was just friendly banter. But what if it was more? What if those looks she sometimes caught Charles giving Jake were because Jake wanted more? What if the way just his presence brought a smile to her face meant that friends weren't all they were supposed to be? His eyes darted down to her lips as well, and she made up her mind.
“So what are you gonna do Peralta?”
He swallowed nervously, “What do you want me to do Santiago?”
“I want you to kiss me,” she responded instantly, her voice barely above a whisper. “Do you want to kiss me?”
He nodded slightly and that kind smile returned. It was warm now,
“My lips are chapped,” he breathed as he leaned down to her, making her laugh.
She kissed him anyways.