"Thanks." I climb into the passenger seat and Liam closes the door with a soft click. He walks around the car and settles into the driver's seat.
I pull the backpack off my shoulders and drop it in the backseat next to a gray Ivy University sweatshirt and a pair of folded jeans. The comfortable black upholstery of the seats has grown soft with age, but the car smells clean, a mix of aftershave and freshener.
"Ready?" Liam asks, his hand wrapped around the keys in the ignition.
"Yeah." I nod, taking off my beanie and pushing my hair behind my shoulders.
The sound of our seat belts clicking into place echoes through the silence inside the sedan. He drives at a comfortable pace through the campus, the Christmas lights on the trees and buildings passing by in a slow blur. Soon, we pass through the large wrought iron exit gates and onto the wide, fairly empty street that leads away from college. The air is heavy and cold; it chills our skin despite our sturdy winter coats. Liam turns on the heater before rolling up the windows.
If not for the streetlights and the three other cars on the road, the night is dark and calm. As we drive along the traffic-free road, Liam leans forward in his seat to turn on the sound system. A range of buttons surrounding a small screen comes to life and glows a shade of bright blue. Slow music starts to play so softly that I have to strain to hear the tones of the piano.
"Is this classical music?" I ask incredulously, turning in my seat to face him.
Liam shrugs his shoulders in a defensive gesture, his eyes leaving the road to meet mine for a second. The streetlights cast eerie shadows across his face, turning his bright hazel eyes deep and mysterious.
"I like it, it's calming," he says, a small smile tugging at the corners of his lips. His fingers are wound around the steering wheel in a firm yet relaxed grip. "I listen to it when I'm coding, too."
"Speaking of coding," I say. "Can I ask if you ever sorted the mess?"
"Huh?"
"You know, that day at the pool when you told me that . . . that it was you," I clear my throat, peeling my eyes away from Liam's hands. I lower my voice in an exaggerated impression of a panic-stricken Rick. "The source code's a fucking mess, dude."
Liam bursts into surprised laughter when understanding dawns on him. The carefree abandon in the sound is infectious; I can't help but join him.
"We're building a website," he says finally, his voice filled with obvious passion and excitement.
"What's it about?" I ask, leaning forward in my seat.
"I can't say too much about it," he admits, "but it's about swapping skills online. We're testing it with a small group in our class right now. That day at the pool, the website crashed for the first time. That's why Rick was so freaked out."
I nod, curiosity tickling the back of my mind about this secretive website. Just then, as I'm looking out at the street stretching ahead of us, I notice a few small white flakes drifting towards the ground.
"Is that snow?" I ask, craning my neck.
"Yeah," Liam replies, his face lit up with the same childlike delight as mine.
I roll down my window to extend my open hand. Harsh wind whistles into the car, turning my ears cold. A moment later, I manage to catch a snowflake in my palm. Pristine white and delicate, the ice crystal is perfect.
"Hey," Liam says, turning his intense gaze to me. "Thank you."
I smile at him confusedly. "For what?"
"For asking about the code," he says, his concentration returning to the road. "Nobody else does."
My heart melts a little along with the snowflake resting in the middle of my palm.
"Nobody except Vera, you mean?" I murmur, my voice low and hopeful.
He lets out a sad sigh. "Including Vera. I told her many times that I'm working on a website, but I guess she isn't interested enough to ask about it."
I turn my face away and focus on rolling the window closed. I feel like I've come out as the winner in an unspoken contest between me and Vera. I try to fight the uncomfortable feeling by looking for an excuse to defend my best friend.
"Anyway!" I say a little too brightly in an attempt to steer the conversation away from Vera. "I don't know how you write thousands of lines of code like that. I could never do it."
"I bet it's easier than your business course," he says with a modest shrug. "What are your subjects?"
"Well, there's finance, marketing, economics, human re—"
I stop short when Liam momentarily drops his head and pretends to snore as though in deep sleep. With a laugh, I reach out to punch his arm. He gives me a teasing grin before turning back to the road.
The snowfall remains light and slow, but I start to worry that it won't stay that way as we pull up in front of a compact two-story home in a small neighborhood. Most of the houses are already lit up with strings of multi-colored Christmas lights.
Liam cuts the engine and we climb out of the car together. Snowflakes land on our beanies and coats us as we walk up to the front porch. The walls of the house are painted a dull cream with blue trim, all the windows shut and curtains drawn.
"Is she even here?" I ask, trying to find any signs of life in the house.
"I hope so," Liam says, reaching out to ring the doorbell.
Nobody answers the door. Liam has to ring the bell five times before the door is thrown open. A guy wearing a dark purple bathrobe looks at us with bleary, hooded eyes. He leans against the doorframe for support and suddenly notices the snowfall.
"Holy shit," he whispers, squinting at the air behind us. "It's raining Tic Tacs."
"Um." I turn to Liam and he rolls his eyes. "Is Vera here?"
Instead of answering my question, the guy in the robe just turns around and walks into the house, muttering to himself unintelligibly. He leaves the door open behind him. Liam steps in and I follow. The air inside the house is not much warmer than the stinging chill of the outdoors. None of the lights in the hallway are on; Liam and I have to use the flashlight on our phones to follow the guy groping and stumbling in the dark. The sound of hushed conversation and high-pitched giggles grows louder as we follow him into a fairly crowded living room, lit only by a single table lamp.
Once my eyes adjust to the dim light, they land on a long glass-topped table in the center flanked by black couches, laden with lighters, small plastic pouches and pills of various colors. I turn away and scan the faces of the people sprawled across the seats. I find Vera slumped over one end of the couch, her face and arms coated in sweat despite being dressed in nothing but a pink camisole and jeans. Her shoulders are shaking; she appears to be laughing at something the girl next to her said.
"Vera!" I rush over to her. "Are you okay?"
Strands of her red hair are matted to her forehead. Her skin feels warm to the touch. She opens her eyes and looks up at me, her mouth twisted in a gruesome smile.
She squints for a moment and asks uncertainly, "Carmen? What're you doing?"
Assuming she wants to know why I'm here, I say, "You said you'd be back tonight. And you weren't answering your phone. We were worried."
The beatific smile on her face is wiped clean off when she pushes herself to a stand. I reach out and catch her before she falls back onto the couch.
"We?"
I raise my hand to gesture to Liam who is standing behind me, examining the pills scattered across the table. The sound of shattering glass echoes from somewhere upstairs followed by agitated voices screaming curse words. Suddenly, the howl of the wind intensifies, but I can't see the snow outside because of the drawn curtains. I turn back to Vera.
"You can come back with us now —"
"What? No! Get out!" Vera scowls, her voice quaking with anger. She pushes against my shoulders in an attempt to shove me away, but there is absolutely no strength in her limbs.
Liam looks up from the table at the sound of Vera's outburst.
"Come on, let's go." He steps forward, his voice firm and loud enough to be heard over all the chatter and laughter.
"I said no."
"Vera, please," I beg, staring at her closely. The outrage in her voice is confusing. Why is she mad at us?
"No," she repeats, this time more forcefully. "I'm not going anywhere! I want to stay here, and I will."
Some of the people sitting on the plush couches look up at us, dazed and intrigued. I lower my gaze to my feet, my hands clenching in embarrassment.
"Stop it, you're making a scene," I mutter, leaning closer to Vera. "You don't look okay. Just come back with us."
"No." Vera slumps back against the couch, raising her hand to twirl a few strands of her hair between her index and middle finger. Almost instantaneously, her rage appears to have evaporated, now replaced by spitefulness. She looks away from me before saying under her breath, "Fuck off, Carmen."
It's more pure shock than hurt that causes me to step back. My mouth pops open, but I don't say a word.
Liam speaks up instead. "What did you say?"
The incredulity in his tone is reassuring. I turn to look at him, standing an inch behind me. His eyes are a fascinating mix of green and gold in the faint yellow light of the table lamp.
"Ugh. I'm sorry, Mom," Vera rolls her bloodshot eyes and shrugs. The smooth pink strap of her camisole slips off her shoulder. "There, I apologized. Are you happy? Can you get away from me now?"
The girl sitting immediately next to her bursts into delirious laughter, and Vera smirks at her smugly. Her laughter seems to bounce off the walls and hit me straight on, leaving anger and hurt burning in my chest.
"That's enough," I say shakily. "I'm sorry we came here. Find your own way back to campus."
Without waiting for a response, I turn around and grab Liam by the arm, pulling him back to the unlit hallway. I stop walking when my foot comes into forceful contact with what I assume to be the leg of a table. My breath leaves my lungs in ragged gasps as I struggle to contain my tears.
"Hey," Liam whispers, stepping in front of me and putting his hands on my shoulders. "It's okay."
I lower my head so the top of it touches Liam's chest. I can't see anything; it reminds me of the pitch-black I saw behind the blindfold. Except this time, the circumstances are so unpleasantly different.
"Why is she doing this to herself?"
"I don't know," he says, sounding as frustrated as I feel. "Let's just get out of here, yeah?"
When Liam removes his hands from my shoulders, a strong jolt of disorientation hits me. I force it away and pull my phone out of my coat pocket. The flashlight throws its beam across the narrow hallway leading to the front door. The air grows noticeably cooler as we hurry towards it. When we step outside, I look around in disbelief at the white blanket of snow that has almost swallowed the ground whole. We weren't gone that long, were we?
"Whoa," Liam murmurs, raising his face to the sky. His cheeks are tinged pink by the cold, flakes of snow settling in between strands of his dark brown hair. I find myself staring helplessly. But when he turns to look at me, I rush to avert my gaze.
"Should we . . . ?" I hesitate, discomfited by the thought of entering the unwelcoming house behind us again.
"No," he says quickly as though he's read my mind. "We'll make it back. We should go now before it gets any worse."
I nod and the both of us hurry towards his car, its hood blanketed by white powder. Liam and I are shivering as he moves to open the passenger side door for me. I practically jump into the seat in desperation for some warmth.
"Are you sure we can make it?" I ask when he settles into the driver's seat and buckles up.
He sounds a little less confident than before when he says, "Yeah, I think so."
We start to pull away from the house and soon it's nothing but a speck in the distance, pushed out of visibility by the relentless snowfall. Liam grows silent — concentrating on the road ahead — the angular lines of his face sharp with strain. His hands are clenched around the steering wheel and mine are knotted in my lap. The two wipers are swishing back and forth, working hard to keep the snow away. The road soon feels as slippery as a bar of wet soap, the snow cascading in a tireless and violent stream. There are no buildings on either side of the road and no other cars in sight.
"Liam," I say, leaning forward in my seat, "please pull over."
Thankfully he obliges without protest but leaves the engine running. The frown of his lips eases into a more relaxed expression as he leans back against his seat and turns to me.
"What do we do now?" I wonder aloud, pushing my freezing hands into my coat pockets. Each ice crystal dropping from the sky hits the car with a small thud that makes it almost impossible to think straight.
Liam cranes his neck to look out through the windshield. "We have to wait until it eases up."
"Doesn't look like that's happening anytime soon," I say, staring at the dark blackness of the night and the stark whiteness of the snow. "Can we call someone for help?"
He nods and pulls out his phone. The light from the small screen throws a bluish glow on his face. He swipes his thumb across it and lifts the phone to his ear. I slump back against my seat and stare out the window, my forehead pressed against the icy window. The coldness of the glass seems to bleed through my skull into my brain, freezing my thoughts. I close my eyes, staying absolutely still as though any movement can cause all the hurt and fear and anger to return. But I'm pulled out of the haze when Liam's hand lands on my arm. I open my eyes and meet his gaze. Furrowed eyebrows and parted lips, the anxiety in his face is uncharacteristic and scary.
"What is it?" I ask, sitting up.
"We can't drive ahead or back like this. And we won't get help until the snow stops, which might not happen until a few hours."
"What?" Pulling my right hand out of my pocket, I raise it to straighten my beanie. The gray thread is soft and cool to touch.
"We're stranded, Carmen."
❅❅
I'm so sorry about the late update! I've had a really hectic two weeks, but I hope this chapter (a little longer than usual, sorry about that!) makes up for my lack of updates. Please vote and comment if you enjoyed reading. ♡
A warning: Driving during bad weather and heavy snowfall is very dangerous. Check out this link (https://www.travelers.com/resources/auto/safe-driving/winter-driving-safety-tips.aspx) and educate yourself, your family and friends about safety precautions while driving during winter.
A small announcement: I'm making a 'get to know me' chapter soon. If you have any questions for me, head over to the chapter called Ask Away in This Love and ask away!
Love,
Amethyst