Fur vs Skin | on hold

9.

A snort vibrates my nose before I slap a hand over my mouth. The snow had completely fallen off his face, leaving it wet as he locks gazes with me, the look of revenge clear in his eyes.

"No!" I call out when he starts to collect snow into his hands. "You don't get throw it back— wait!"

I'm thrown into a laughing fit when a much larger snowball is soaring into the air, its aim set dead on me; there wasn't enough time for me to move out the way. The force of the snowball nearly knocks me off my feet as it slams into my side. I wave my arms around as I regain my balance and whip around to face a smiling Arsen — that image alone makes me question my existence, the way his features shift from a simple smile buries something deep and unremovable inside me.

The small moment of distraction gives him enough time to hurdle another snowball at me, I snap out of my trance and duck with the result of nearly falling face first into a hill of snow. Arsen's deep chuckling reaches my form, another smile graces my lips as I collect rows of snowball.

"All right, you asked for it," I say, further hardening the snowballs.

× × ×

To say we got nothing accomplished that day was an understatement. I found out that Arsen didn't give up easily, one of his many traits that I'm trying to figure out, it was an endless battle throwing snow back at each other to see who would give up first: I did when the sun was starting to set and my fingers were numb beyond belief. We originally had set out to find more firewood for the cabin, after being sidetracked, Arsen settled for gathering chunks of wood from the surrounding trees.

On the walk back, the distance between Arsen and I seemed to have changed, just like the air that accumulated among both of us. There is more sizzling of electricity like there always was, instead of walking in front of each other, we strode side by side with minimum space from our bodies; I could feel the heat radiating from him.

It wrapped around my whole being, securing me in the protection that he has given off since day one.

It wasn't long before we were walking down the path with the cabin colors in sight, with the fading sun, crickets were beginning to make noise around us as we stepped up the small slope. I noticed the lights in the living room were glowing, indicating that someone was inside, it had to be no one other than Santha. Just as we were walking up the steps, my foot slips on a thin piece of ice that layered the slab, my world tilts and I prepare myself to hit the ground, my lower back hits something hard that stops my descend to the ground.

I lay still for a moment or two before I realize what exactly happens, a snort escapes my being as I gaze up. Arsen looks down at me with a slightly arched brow, smiling, I shake my head and let him settle me on my feet. My eyes slant down the wood at the base of the steps, having rolled when he dropped them in time to catch me.

"I'm sorry," I say, turning and watching as he adjusted the remaining wood in his arms. "I'm clumsy when it comes to snow. Still not used to it."

Carefully, I walk down the couple steps of slabs and bend down to pick up the barks of wood, I turn back toward him. "I didn't mean to make you drop these either."

He shakes his head and reaches for them when I'm close, swiftly, I move them away just as he was about to grab ahold of one and walk up the rest of the steps to the door.

"I got it, it's the least I can do," I tell him as I catch his lingering stare.

As always, he says nothing but there's a small agreement of his eyes that takes time to settle as he lets me carry the barks of wood inside. The door was already unlocked which made it easier for us, mostly me, to walk through with no problem, as I suspected Santha was inside doing her own thing. The creek of the door brought her attention from arranging things on the shelf, her regular smile greeting us.