Winter Chill

Chapter One

The high-pitched beep of an incoming text woke me with a jolt. My mind instantly wondered if someone was hurt. Becs? Pawing at the table above my head, I located my phone and checked the message.

EAST COAST AIRPORTS CLOSED DUE TO INCOMING STORM.

It wasn't a family emergency but the feeling of sadness was almost as intense.

"No, no, no." I pulled up to the sill of the plate glass window next to my bed and peeked outside, squinting against the glare of blinding sun reflecting off the completely white landscape. Other than looking like some kind of Kinkade painting of a winter wonderland, the weather was perfectly clear. Not a cloud in the sky.

Snow used to make me excited for days on the slopes and nights watching movies and sipping hot cocoa. Now it just makes me cold. When the flakes first started to fall in November, it didn't bother me much. Sloshing along the salted sidewalks was kinda fun when everyone was doing it. And walking into a warm, dry classroom made the shitty weather a novelty of living in Plymouth, Massachusetts.

Three weeks and four white-outs later, I was completely over it.

In less than twenty-four hours, I was supposed to be stepping off the plane in Fort Lauderdale to spend a glorious month in the warm embrace of sunshine with nothing but my little sister between me and blessed relaxation.

"You okay," Daniel asked from his side of the room. He tucked his face under his pillow to hide from the obnoxious light that poured in. His wide biceps appeared to be flexed over his head but they were just so sculpted that they never flattened out, even when he slept.

"I don't know. I got a text that the airports are closed because of a storm or something. I hope it's a mistake. I don't want to be stuck here another day." I grabbed my laptop from the nightstand and pulled up the weather site.

"Un-fucking-believable." I pounded my palm against the wall, shaking the glass hard enough that I thought it might crack. Luckily, the glass didn't budge but a few flakes of ancient weather stripping dropped from the frame onto my pillow. Perfect. Now it'll be even fucking colder in this room.

"Well?" Daniel sat up on one elbow, watching me. He hadn't given me a firm answer about meeting me in Florida over the break or staying at his dad's house in New Hampshire so I didn't know if he'd be disappointed. Hanging out in the elderly mecca of Boca Raton wasn't exactly a party but it was quiet and having a friend with me would save me from having my fourteen-year-old sister, Becca, follow me around the entire time. I was banking on Daniel's presence to keep me busy... and probably distract her. She would definitely go for his shortly cropped dark hair that looked fashionably messy. The girls on campus always sighed and stared as he walked by. Becs wouldn't be any different.

"Some kind of super-storm has the shore in a tissy. We should be out of god damn hurricane season by now. This is bull shit. They might not open the airports for two days and then who knows how long it'll take to get a flight out." I flung my back down on my bed and stared at the ceiling. The peaks and valleys of the popcorn texture reminded me of the snowy terrain just outside my window. I wanted to punch the wall again. "Well, you might as well go to your dad's so you can start your vacation. No sense in both of us being stuck in this frozen hell hole for longer than necessary."