Winter Chill

Chapter Two

Staring at the clock didn't make the sun rise any faster. It was two thirty in the morning. I'd been staring at it for forty five minutes trying to get back to sleep but it was too damn cold. Even with sweats, socks and a hoodie, I was still freezing in my bed. Daniel came in at about two and slid right into his bed, apparently oblivious to the cold. I could hear him playing with his tablet and rustling around in his bed, when I realized my nose was numb.

"Daniel, you up?" His bed was on the other side of the room with two dressers between us. The glow from his tablet was like a beacon in the dark and silent room.

"Yeah, did I wake you?" He rustled around some more, making the springs on his twin bed squeak.

"No. I'm freezing. Aren't you cold?" I didn't have enough body fat for this shit. I wasn't used to the arctic draft flowing from the cracks in the weather stripping above my head. And no one had gotten around to updating the single- pane windows in the old dorm. I might as well shove my bed next to a solid sheet of ice. I sighed and watched in morbid fascination as my breath frosted the glass with snowflake-like patterns instead of just fogging it.

"Kinda but it's not that bad. Put on some extra clothes or something." Just the thought of pulling stiff and cold clothes out of my closet made me shiver again.

"They're too cold. I seriously think I'm losing feeling in my toes." I'd been a boy scout and knew that body heat was the fastest and easiest way to warm up, but I couldn't exactly suggest that to one of the stars of the wrestling team, even if he was my roommate. "What should I do?"

"I don't know. Jumping jacks?" He was getting annoyed with me but I wasn't sure why. He was watching a movie on his tablet so I knew he wasn't trying to sleep.

"Can I..." I whispered, but couldn't finish the sentence. I wasn't sure he heard me until the flickering lights on his tablet went dark.

"What?" he asked in a hesitant tone. He must have suspected where I was going and wanted to call my bluff.

"Get into your bed. I know it's weird but I'm really cold. Like, dangerously. I won't be able to sleep at all. I promise not to bother you." The words poured out of my mouth like a child begging for candy.

I could hear a deep inhale and exhale as he considered my request. "Fine."

I practically bounced out of my bed and shuffled across the room to his. Daniel scooted to the wall, with his tablet tucked under the blankets in front of his chest. I slid in next to him and was immediately rewarded with the warmth from his body and his sheets. He always seemed to run hot, probably because of the large muscles covering most of his body. He was a heavy weight at 220 but he was solid. I could feel the heat radiating off his back as if he had just run a marathon. I settled in with my back against his and tried to fall asleep.

It turns out that having a large muscle man pressed against my back is quite a distraction.

He was rocking slightly and I assumed that was a technique he used to fall asleep. My sister did that as a kid and it always helped her. But, there was something more jerky about the way he was rocking that had me on alert.