Back to December

Baby, It's Cold Outside!

The lights in the room began to flicker and the wind blew the snow in a swirly funnel outside the motel room window. The room grew a bit more colder, causing Samantha to shiver. She rose from the bed and walked over to the thermostat, turning the heat up some more. The knob turned loosely on the wall, just Samantha's luck-- the thermostat was broken.

A branch hit the window and the lights flickered again as the sky turned dark grey outside. Samantha closed the blinds when she heard a this from outside the door. She moved back in fear of what it was. Did her mother find her?

A louder thud sounded from the other side of the door, and it swung open hard. It was Aidan.

"Oh! It's you. Thank, God!" she exclaimed in relief.

Aidan put what he had on the night stand and walked back to the door. "Were you expecting someone else?"

He closed the door shut with one good push. His cheeks turned bright red. It must have been even more cold outside. Well, obviously it was. When he came in, the breeze came with him. And it was frigid.

"No. Of course not. We're in the middle of no where. Who would come here?"

Aidan shrugged and sat two paper cups out, pouring something from two packets in them. "Oh, I don't know. I was just asking. No need to get defensive, Sam."

"Don't call me that! My name is Samantha!"

"Alright, geez. Sorry. Samantha it is."

Samantha leaned against the dresser and watched Aidan warm a pot of warm water on a hot plate. The boy sure did prove useful in a lot of ways. He seemed to he able to take care of himself well. She liked that a lot.

"So, what did you bring us?" she asked as she walked over to him.

"Ummm..." Aidan looked at Samantha and then poured the hot water in the cups. "I bought some hot chocolate. And I got popcorn and macaroni and cheese. I figured we'd watched a movie or something. I don't know."

Samantha smiled to herself. "That's nice," she said out loud. Was Aidan trying to make this a date?

The lights flickered again and then went out. "Damn." The two looked up at the ceiling. "I'll go back and get the manager. We can't be in here with no electricity."

Aidan walked to the door and pulled it hard, but it didn't open. He tugged on it again. Nothing.

"What's wrong?" Samantha asked.

"Door's frozen shut." Aidan turned and ran to the window, looking through the curtains. "Uhhhh.... Samantha..."

"What?"

Aidan turned to Samantha, a worried expression evident on his face. "We're snowed in."