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“What do you mean?” Vanessa hissed over the phone, one hand cupped around her mouth and the receiver as to not be overheard. “I can’t just sleep with him!”
This was not a conversation she should’ve been having with her little brother, but he didn’t seem to care and she had no one else to talk to about it. “I mean-” Gregory shifted on the other end of the phone, and she could hear him humming to himself- “you’ve been dating him for months now. It’s about time you did it.”
“Gregory!” His snickers only made it worse. “This is- okay, first of all, you can’t just say stuff like that! Secondly, this is actually important.”
The boy huffed, offended. “I know. That’s why I said you should stay over.”
That evening, she had made the terrible mistake of driving over to Luis’s house for a date. Not that Luis was a mistake, of course. The timing, however.... the fact that a blanket of snow had buried both their cars in the driveway... not to mention that the doors were frozen shut, and the roads unplowed...
Vanessa carefully glanced back at the bathroom door, listening in case Luis was nearby to hear them talking. There was still the distant sound of him moving around across the house, so she figured it was fine. “I don’t understand why you think that’s a good idea.”
“Because it’s dangerous driving in the snow, duh.” Vanessa could hear the clacking of buttons and distant video games noises on Gregory’s end, and imagined that their conversation was only a second thought to him right now.
“Except the alternative is staying here! I mean, what am I supposed to say for that? ‘Hey, I’m stranded at your place, and I know we’ve never slept together, so why don’t we start now?’ That’s one way to set the mood...”
“If you say it like that, of course it’s not gonna work.”
“You are not helping.”
“Hey, you’re the one who asked me.”
“Obviously it was a mistake.” Vanessa sighed, leaning her back against the wall and squeezing her eyes shut. “It’s not that late out. If I can just get my door to open, and the car warms up... plus, the snowplow should be coming down the road soon...”
“No, just stay there,” Gregory insisted.
“This isn’t funny,” she all but snapped back. “I’m not going to stay over just because the universe made it convenient!”
“I’m not saying it’s funny, Ness.” The ambient video game sounds on the other end went silent; Gregory’s voice shifted from unconcerned to something more earnest, more insistent. “I’m saying it ‘cause you have to stay over there. It’s not safe on the roads, at night, in the snow...” He paused for a moment, almost too long. “Don’t- don’t you dare try to drive here in the snow.”
She hesitated to respond to that, her heart squeezing painfully at the anxious tone in Gregory’s voice. “I won’t.”
“I’m serious, Vanessa, please...” Her brother sounded frantic now. “Don’t drive home in this weather- it-it’s not safe. I have a really bad feeling-”
“I won’t- Greg, I won’t, okay?” Vanessa swallowed hard, not liking what either option meant. But she wasn’t so sure driving in the snow was a good idea, and she wasn’t about to scare Gregory like that. “I’ll stay here until the snow lets up.”
“...you promise?”
“I promise.”
“Okay. Thank you.” Gregory exhaled in relief on the other end, and the video game sounds resumed. “And if you really don’t want to sleep with Luis, there’s always a couch, right?”
Luis’s couch was pretty cozy. Right now, it was sounding better than the alternative. “Right...”
“Hey, Ness?” From outside the bathroom, somewhere deeper in the house, Luis called her name, startling her out of her thoughts. “Everything okay?”
“Yeah, it’s fine!” she called back. “Just a sec!” Then, back to Gregory: “Look, bud, I’ll figure things out over here, but are you going to be okay?”
“I’m fine.”
“...you’re sure? Windows closed and all that? Is the front door locked?”
“Mmhm.”
Vanessa frowned; the short answers weren’t very reassuring. Even after Gregory had gotten out to have fun in the snow, it still made him anxious, and tonight should’ve been no exception. “Do you have the fireplace going?”
“Yeah, yeah, it’s fine. I’m okay.” Gregory’s voice wavered slightly; after a moment, he cleared his throat and reaffirmed, “I’m seriously okay, Ness, I can... I can call Freddy if I need to. He won’t be asleep or anything.”
Thank goodness for his fancy little novelty watch. At least she could be sure that her brother would have someone to talk to, if not her. “Make sure you do that, and call me too if you need to. I’ll keep my phone on. Get some rest, okay?”
“Okay.” Gregory sounded less nervous as he added, “‘Night, dummy. Have fun with Luis...”
“You little-” The phone beeped as her gremlin brother ended the call, still gleefully cackling on the other end as it cut off. “Seriously...”
Vanessa sighed, sticking her phone in her pocket and turning to the sink mirror to fix her hair. She hadn’t exactly dressed nicely, since their date consisted of watching trashy holiday movies on the couch, and a heated game of checkers, scattered throughout the evening. So there was no need to change, or wash the makeup off her face, or anything like that... this shouldn’t have been hard, but...
She finally ventured out of the bathroom, and found Luis waiting in the doorway of the living room, arms, frowning at his phone and glancing up when she stepped out. “You okay?” he asked softly, walking closer to wrap a comforting arm around her shoulders. “I’m really sorry about this, Ness.”
“It’s fine- and I’m fine, don’t worry.” Without really meaning to (which seemed to be the norm), Vanessa leaned into his touch, her head nestling comfortably against his shoulder. “It doesn’t look like it’s getting any better outside, though.”
It didn’t sound like it, at least. Nice, peaceful snowfall was fine, but the gusts of wind and snow were much more jarring in Luis’s cottage-like home, beating against the curtained windows and walls. At least it was warm in here...
“So... do you want to stay?” Luis coughed, and if she didn’t know any better, Vanessa would have thought he choked on his own words as he stammered out, “Only if you want to, Ness. Or we could try to dig our cars out... I could probably get my truck open and drive you home, if you want.”
She swallowed. “I already promised Gregory I wouldn’t try to get home in this weather. It’s not safe on the roads, so... yeah, if you’re okay with it...” She was blushing. Why was she blushing? Ugh, maybe her brother was right about it being about time...
“Yeah, of course!” Luis nodded quickly, pulling his arm away to lead her awkwardly into the living room. “So, uh- you can take my bed, unless- um-”
Oh, lovely, they’d gotten to this part of the conversation. Vanessa squeezed her eyes shut, face burning with embarrassment. This was bad. This was really bad.
The option of sleeping on the couch was fine... but again, it was cozy, and by cozy she meant it was small. Probably too small to get warm and comfortable on. The alternative...
“Should we just sleep together?” Her voice sounded quiet even to her own ears. “Because... I don’t mind, if you don’t...”
“Oh! Yeah, sure, we can... um... do that.” Luis stammered. “I don’t mind. I mean, I’d- I’d love that.”
Letting her boyfriend ramble off on a tangent, Vanessa followed him to the bedroom with no more enthusiasm than she’d had before.
▻▻▻▻◅◅◅◅
It was only when she was lying curled up under the blankets and gazing at the reflection of light from the bathroom door that it occurred to her that they were literally sleeping together. Not... anything else. She hadn’t even thought of that before.
(Oh God, had Gregory been insinuating that earlier? They seriously had to talk about this when she got home.)
The door opened, the light shut off, and the other side of the bed shifted as Luis lay down, too. Vanessa squeezed her eyes shut and counted to ten before curiously peeking over at him.
...so he wasn’t bare-chested. His back was to her, but she could very clearly see the grey pajamas he was wearing. Typical of Luis but...
...was it so wrong that she was disappointed? Oh well.
Vanessa turned back over, heard Luis mumble something akin to good night, and returned it before letting her heavy eyelids drift closed. This wasn’t so bad, actually... The bed was small enough that his warmth reached her from across the mattress against the cold night, and his soft breathing almost distracted her from the wind howling outside, and she was tired, and...
...it was all red, splattered on her hands and pooling at her feet and dripping off the blade gripped in her right hand. And he was laughing in her head, amused and pleased because of course he was, he had won, he always won...
“Come now, Vanny, you really didn’t think he could live after finding out our little secret,” he mocked, and Vanessa dropped the knife, breath trembling, heart slamming against her rib cage. There was so much of it, blood coated her hands and her arms and it was creeping up her entire body and-
-and Luis, he was curled on his side, limp, blood streaming from the wound in his stomach, his neck. His blue eyes were lifeless, empty and staring at her with that same expression of hurt and betrayal forever frozen on his face.
Vanessa reached out, choking on a sob, and cupped Luis’s face in her palm. When she pulled away, there was a bloody handprint on his face. His blood, at her hands... and he was still laughing and laughing-
Someone’s arms were around her. Vanessa snapped back to reality, wanting to pull away until she realized the embrace was gentle, the muted cinnamon scent familiar.
Luis had pulled her flush against him, maybe in his sleep, and his chin rested on her shoulder and he was here. She could feel the steady rise and fall of his chest against her back and... even in the dark, her hands were blood-free. Luis was alive. There was no blood, no one was...
Vanessa exhaled shakily, and listened. But there was no looming presence, no voice in her mind except her own. A voice that demanded sleep, that she was fine, that it was just a stupid dream...
She shut her eyes, relaxing against Luis. She hadn’t even woken him, he was just... he was just wonderful. What mistake? She didn’t even mind that he was wearing a shirt.
Luis, unbeknownst to her, relaxed as well once his girlfriend drifted back into a peaceful slumber, holding her close until sleep took them both.
▻▻▻▻◅◅◅◅
They didn’t talk about it in the morning, when Vanessa got her car free of the snow and headed home on the newly-plowed and salted roads. That was good enough for her.
She wasn’t sure, but it was possible Luis had a stroke after she rolled down the window and called out, “Same time next week?”