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Fuck, it was cold.
It was November, a very cold month of the stupid year. Joel stood there probably looking like a fucking idiot, his arms tucked tightly into his armpits to keep warm. A large blanket (gifted to him by Grian for his birthday last year) fell gently over his wings. His ears pointed straight down, twitching gently in frustration. Where the hell was Gem?!
His tail matched his ears in motion. It might have frozen solid if he hadn’t been so frustrated.
Two months now, and Gem was still doing spectacularly in the being late department. Sure, Joel appreciated being driven and he’d rather die than walk himself to the car, but lord Gem could at least try to show up sooner. It was fine standing and waiting two months ago, but at that time it wasn’t cloudy and below 32 degrees Fahrenheit. Even the air was cold, for god’s sake! Each breath Joel took made his nose feel even colder than the last.
But eventually, Gem’s black minivan pulled around the building, stopping parallel to Joel. “Finally.” The phoenix muttered under his cold breath, opening the passenger door and flopping down onto the seat. His bad was thrown somewhere in the back seat.
“Sorry about the wait,” the jackalope next to him spoke, frustration gently lacing her voice. “People were being idiots.”
“It’s fine.” As much as he wished he could, Joel couldn’t stay mad at Gem. The two were basically siblings, and if anyone understood the idiocy of the other people on campus, it was Joel. Maybe he didn’t understand how annoying they were when it came to driving, but he could probably piece together some semblance of it.
As Gem pulled into the apartment building parking lot, it had began to snow. White flakes gently landed on the two as they stepped out of the car and began walking towards the stairs.
With a shiver, Joel reached to open the door, only to find it unlocked. Crap. “Uh, Gem? Did you forget to lock the door when you left?”
“No?” The jackalope turned to him with a very confused look. “I made sure to lock it.” She gently pushed past him, gripping her car key between her fingers. She slowly dstepped through the door, then immediately relaxed. “Pearl.” She spoke, endearment and amusement filling both her tone and expression.
The accent of the wolf caught Joel off-guard. “Oh, hi Gem! Oh and Joel!” She waved, sitting up straight. “Sorry for the surprise. I thought I texted you.”
“It’s alright. What’re you doing here, if you don’t mind me asking?” Gem hung the keys onto the hook by the door, placing her hand on her side and turning to her girlfriend.
“I heard thunder and lightning and it scared me..” Pearl practically mumbled. A soft cackle could be heard from Joel. This Pearl, who ran to her girlfriend’s house after hearing some scary sounds, was the same one who got expelled right before graduation senior year for fighting someone who called Gem weird. It was hard not to laugh at them, in all fairness.
“Poor thing.” He teased, watching Gem sit down on the couch and Pearl running to curl up on her back. Gem shot him a glare, but he returned it with a mischievous smirk. “I’ll leave you too lovebirds alone. If you need me, you know where to find me.”
Joel strode into his room, closing the door swiftly-but not enough to slam- behind him. He made sure it didn’t slam because he would’ve gotten a very stern yelling at from Gem later, and he wasn’t interested in that right now. He was very tired after a long day of suffering through Grian’s stupid class.
He flopped down onto his bed in the corner of the room with a big sigh. He stared at the ceiling for a moment before turning to look outside. It was snowing harder now. Frost and other icicles decorated the window, and it almost reminded Joel of the window decorations Grian gave a short lecture on earlier that day. He absentmindedly began to softly pick at the dry skin around his nails, getting lost in thought.
Man, it was wild to think about how Grian had managed to convince him to take the stupid class anyways. Joel knew he didn’t really want to go to college in the first place, trying for zero scholarships at the end of senior year. He’d probably just get a random job and live his life hanging out with his friends. But then Lizzie broke up with him. For no good reason! “Oh, I heard people saying..” Who were the stupid people who thought they knew him better than his own self?! Either way, Lizzie dumped him, depression, not going outside- that whole spiel. And then Grian told him how he had gotten a job teaching at the local college. And then Grian told him about an opening in his class. And how Joel should, “like so totally go.” Joel had interest in architecture, but not enough to go to college. But then Gem had mentioned something about Lizzie and the rumors or whatever and then he had to go. For a while he regretted it, and he still sort of does, but at least he has friends who believe him over the shit Lizzie is spouting.
“Hey Joel~! Guess who’s here~!” The screeching, sing-song voice of the parrot Joel sees as his best friend cut through the thick wall of Joel’s thoughts like it was butter. The phoenix quite literally jumped up, his feathers puffing out and his tail standing straight up. Soon enough, Grian had kicked open his door.
“Hi Grian.” Joel tried to sound annoyed at the parrot, but he unsurprisingly failed. Grian plopped down next to him, giving him a warm hug.
“Hello to you too, Mr. Grumps,” he teased, elbowing Joel’s shoulder.
“I am not Mr. Grumps, excuse you!” The phoenix objected, dramatically gasping.
Grian eyed him teasingly. “Uh-huh.” The parrot shrugged before shifting himself down onto the ground in front of Joel. “Doesn’t matter. Need help preening.”
“Was Jimmy too busy to help you?” Joel gently lifted the ends of Grian’s waffle brown hair, slowly beginning to softly squish the pin feathers lining the parrot’s upper neck.
“Yeah. He was out on a date with Scott or something. But these were really starting to bother me.”
“And one of your fiancées couldn’t help you?”
“They don’t get it like you or Tim! As fellow birds, you guys understand it better.”
“Did you also just want to see me?”
“No! I saw you earlier, why would I need to see you again?”
“‘Cause I’m just that cool, duh.”
Grian very sarcastically scoffed. “Yeah, right.”
“I am, and you know it! But don’t worry, I don’t mind helping you. You help me when I need it, so I guess I can do the same.”
Casual banter continued through the night, even after Grian led Joel out of his room and into the living room with Gem and Pearl, and later even Jimmy stopped by. Despite the snow and frost outside, it was a warm night at the apartment.