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It was dark and early when Debra Shipman rolled in from her shift at the hospital, it must have just broached 0430 in the morning. The roads were all iced over from the previous days bouts of melting and freezing, now they were only getting worse as the snow fell outside in a thick layer that was made even more hazardous as the morning fog settled in- making it a dense wall of impenetrable white outside. Deb knocked her boots in the entryway attempting to rid herself of the clinging snow when suddenly a piercing ring filled the quiet house. Not wishing to wake Shauna any earlier than needed she slammed the door shut quickly and carefully rushed towards their mounted home phone. As she started her scripted greeting for the Shipman residence an automated message sprouted through the line interrupting her, “Due to safety concerns all Wiskayok bus routes have been cancelled as of 0400. The School District has since made the decision to move forward with the school closure. Please ensure if students and families leave their homes today they utilize extreme caution when on the roadways. Thank you.” At the sound of the dial tone Deb hangs the phone back on the wall to turn around and finish taking off her boots before toeing up to Shauna’s room, gently switching off her alarm clock. She leans down to give the sleeping lump of girl with the mess of brunette hair going every which direction a kiss on the forehead before descending back downstairs.
Deb slowly meanders around in the dark doing her typical morning routine of making herself a mint tea and having a few miscellaneous snacks straight out of the packaging- whether that be off of the shelves or out of the fridge. She eventually moves to the bathroom to get comfy by slipping out of her scrubs and into her robe to attempt to maintain some heat, but still shed the hospitals lingering aura. As she emerges from the bathroom wrapped in her fluffy white robe sipping her still warm tea she sees headlights glare into the front windows of the kitchen. Deb can’t make out the car just yet, but she’s guessing it’s a fellow student of Wiskayok High that has received the news of the snow day and has come to keep her daughter some company. She huffs to herself, the road conditions were bad enough as she left work and she’s been driving longer than she hadn’t been at this point in her life. The kids don’t care about their safety if they already have their mind made up about doing something. Deb just walks to the front door shaking her head to unlock it for the inevitable knock. She sees two figures jump out of the warm car and bustle up to the door before she hears a…
*knock, knock, knock*
As she opens the door to usher the girls inside she is greeted by a cheery looking Mari Ibarra and a scowling, shivering, clearly unhappy Natalie Scatorccio. Both with small bags slung over their shoulders ready to stay. “Well hello, good morning girls. I can’t say I expected to see anyone this early. What’s the occasion?” She asked with a soft tilt to her lips and a head canted to the side.
Mari, suddenly feeling a small bit of shame, looks down at Natalie before looking back at Deb and saying, “uh well I usually see Shauna every morning at school and I was the one that answered the call so I just still needed to be able to see her and I-”
Natalie sensing the immediate awkwardness Mari felt as she word vomited decided it was time to cut her off. “We’re gonna go snuggle with Shauna and then probably eat junk food later with some hot chocolate too… but first sleep. Definitely sleep. Please.” Natalie stated after landing a small jab to Mari’s ribs. Deb smiles at the sight of the bags underneath the blonde girls eyes, the taller of the two really did drag them over as soon as that phone hung up. “Mari was just laying out the whole plan in the car on the way here so… I figured I’d let you know,” Nat explained with a small wave of her hands.
Deb nods in understanding as she gestures for the two of them to shed their coats by the door, “well then I appreciate the heads up Natalie. Mari, you’re able to come see her anytime dear. Though I will let you know I didn’t wake her to let her know school was cancelled, so you may have to deal with her wrath as well as Natalie’s. I just went up to switch her alarm clock off.” The three of them made their way deeper into the house once the girls had shedded their coats and boots. As Deb checked the pantry for hot chocolate she asked, “before you guys head upstairs would you like a tea to warm up? I do a decaffeinated tea after work to have something sweet to fall asleep with. It would be good to warm you up though.” Once she sees that they do indeed have the prized item for the girls later she turns around for their answers.
Mari somewhat considers, however, her gaze is peering longingly towards the stairs where she knows Shauna is tucked away in her bed sleepily. “Ummm no ma’am. I should be good thank you though.” She eyes Nat with a twitch on her face as the girl counters her answer with, “actually a tea sounds really good. What kind do you have?” Mari huffs a breath out of her nose in exasperation and cuts in quickly, “well while you guys do this I think I’ll go lay down with Shauna, see you up there Nat. It was nice seeing you Ms. Shipman!”
Deb smiles to herself as she watches Mari fly up the stairs taking two or three at a time seemingly having no time to waste. She goes about making the tea for Nat and explaining that she does a mint tea with a spoonful of honey, sometimes a splash of milk if she feels like it. In Shauna’s room Mari pushes the door open slowly to avoid the big creak she knows that follows that would surely wake the girl. Once she has the opportunity she steps in and sets her duffel bag down gently, walking over to the lump under the blankets she finds an opening and slips into the bed with Shauna. In two seconds flat the girls eyes are open and she is assessing the stranger that has entered her sheets. If the almost neon yellow sweater wasn’t enough Shauna’s nose is overtaken by Mari’s shampoo and laundry detergent. Her senses instantly relax before she comes to the realization… Mari didn’t sleep here last night. What is she doing here?!
Shauna sits up and rubs at her eyes as she blearily looks down at the taller girl lying next to her with a shy smile. A mix of confusion and adrenaline rushing through her sleepy brain fighting each other. “Mar? What’s going on? What time is it?” The small leak of cold air creeping in from the window has Shauna slinking back underneath the blankets and huddling to the girl for warmth.
A smirk crawls across Mari’s face as she recounts the morning message from the school, “…so yeah I dragged Natalie out of bed and straight here. I couldn’t miss seeing your face, she’s down with your mom having a tea because she’s pouting.” Shauna hardly listens as she is barely awake, but she gives the girl a hug in contentment and hums as she breathes in her presence. “Well my morning is even better now… wait but you never answered my question, what time is it?”
Mari gives a soft grumble as she pats the top of Shauna’s head in an attempt to placate her, “shhhhh it’s early, shut your eyes. Nat should be up any minute.” The two take in the warmth of the moment and curl their legs and arms around each other’s bodies. A sleepy Shauna nuzzles her face into Mari’s neck and pulls the girls sweater tightly into her grip to keep her from slipping away. They lay entangled for just a few undisturbed minutes, starting to doze off as a grumpy blonde eventually bumbles into the room. Natalie drops her bag near Mari’s, not nearly as gently as the aforementioned girl and shuffles her way to the bed. Flopping on top of the two girls, “morning fucker.” Shauna opens her eyes at the sound of the lovely gravelly voice, before smiling up at the disturbed girl perched above her, “I appreciate the kind words of Natalie Scatorccio so early in the morning. You make me blush. Now come on, squeeze in here.”
Natalie does just that, she strips the blanket back before she finds a sliver of bed open on the opposite side of Shauna and makes herself comfortable. The bed just so happens to not be made for three people, but that does not matter when the pile of girls is so interwoven that you can’t tell where one ends and another one begins. It takes all of two minutes before there are three distinct soft snoring sounds coming from the bed.
Once the sun has made its grand appearance of the morning and the presence was undeniable Shauna opens her eyes and mumbles quietly to herself that she needed to pee. Now… how to get out of the center of the cuddle pile? Neither of the girls were awake and they both sleep heavily- at least at her house, while tangled up with her. She resigns herself to at least having to wake up Mari as she’s on the edge of the bed, “Mar… Marrrrrr. Mari.” Not even the twitch of an eyebrow as the girl puffs out small bouts of air towards Shauna’s face. Perhaps she’ll wake Nat and then step over Mari…? Shauna turns her head and tries her luck with the blonde, “Natalie? Wake up I gotta pee. Nat please. Nat.” The soft purrs of the girl deep in sleep are her only answer. What a tragedy to be in, maybe she could wait five more minutes. A few moments are passed by her staring at the ceiling counting the handful of glow in the dark stars that are left from Jackie and hers attempt at decorating the room when Shauna had been forced to move into the new house. Suddenly Mari shifts and her legs presses directly into Shauna’s bladder… NOPE. “Mari! I gotta pee! Wake up!” The sudden noise wakes Mari, in no time she’s up and out of the bed waving her arms frantically in the air looking for an invisible intruder. “The fuck is her problem?!” The gravelly voice returns for a second time that morning behind Shauna as she feels an arm tighten around her waist. “I yelled at her to get up cause I needed to pee. Speaking of which, gotta go.”
Mari seemed to gain consciousness again as Shauna shuffled past her to the door, she then ran her hands down her face before face planting on the bed wailing her tale of the intruder and needing to protect the women in the bed. Natalie rolled closer while giving her a soft hum, placing a gentle smooch on the back of the girls head. “Almost like how you woke me up this morning Mar…” then she gave her a sarcastic raise of her brow. The taller girl did not feel impressed, “no it was not, I may have squealed a bit in excitement too early in the morning… but then I made up for it with kisses and dragging you to Shipman’s house so fair is fair.” Natalie laughed at the girl and said, “mhm, right right right. Understood.”
Shauna walked back in rubbing the last of the sleep from her eyes, upon seeing Mari lying face down she gave her backside a firm slap and plopped next to her. The girl cried out, “the abuse! The abuse!” Natalie ruffled her hair a bit and told Shauna, “Mar thinks you gave her a heart attack with how you woke her up, she’s still recovering.” Shauna gave a fond shake of her head, “I’m sure she’ll survive. Did you guys have any plans for the snow day? Maybe Dungeons and Dragons, we could invite…”
Mari lifted her head and cut the other brunette off before she could finish, “no we are not doing that or inviting anyone over to do that. No one. I repeat no one is to know I do that with you. You’ve nerded me out Ship, I can’t have anyone else knowing that about me.” Nat scoffs playfully at the girl, “Mar we played with Tai and Van last time, do you have brain damage? Or are you just being dense?” Mari just stood and shook her head walking over to her bag, opening it and grabbing out her clothes for the day along with her personal hygiene items. “I have plans that don’t involve the other gaywads and DnD. I want to make breakfast, maybe bake cookies, have hot chocolate… maybe whoop some ass with snowballs. Then we can watch movies or something and eat the snacks I know your mom is hoarding. She wasn’t exactly sneaky enough to throw her wrappers away before we barged in this morning. Kay, I’ll be back!”
The blonde looked over to the girl perched sitting up on the edge of bed and smirked before putting her arm behind her head near the window, “she’s got her plan all laid out for today. Little miss high strung. I’m not mad though… no school, some hot chocolate, cookies and my girls sounds like a dream day to me. Your mom and I chatted this morning by the way, she digs me.” Oh boy, Shauna now vaguely remembered that Mari had mentioned her mom making Nat a cup of tea before the grump made herself known to the attic bedroom. If it was any consolation her mom had probably already been exhausted from just getting off a 12 hour shift and didn’t think too hard about both of the girls showing up that early for Shauna. Speaking of which, was Nat staying at Mari’s on a school night? That was a bit unusual, she’d have to ask later. “She’d have no reason not to like you Nat, you’re a perfectly respectable girl. Actually- you’re an upstanding citizen if I’ve ever met one.” Shauna teases Nat with a small push to her shoulder. The girl in front of her has had a harder life so far than Shauna or Mari could imagine and she doesn’t like to be one of the people that mentally gives those thoughts that surround Natalie any credence, even before she got to know her as she does now. She takes in the light as it comes in the window behind Nat’s head and lights up her hair, the light reflects off the snow on the windowsill outside and casts a glow that surrounds her face with a circle of light that has Shauna melting with adoration.
“High praise from the angel herself,” Nat exclaims quietly with a soft smile as she leans forward to lay her head down onto Shauna’s lap, suddenly shy at the look on the other girls face. The two then sit in silence as Shauna runs her hand through the soft dyed hair on Nat’s head and they soak in the alone time. Everything between the three was still relatively new, but comforting in a way that they hadn’t had or felt before in their lives. It was easy to just be themselves, they didn’t have to pretend to be someone else. Even as they joke and sometimes shut down ideas- Mari- it’s never with hateful intent. Mari was very willing to give into Shauna’s pleas just last week to play DnD, this snow day just so happens to be a day where she has a master plan already laid out.
As Mari comes back into the room she takes a moment to watch her two girls in their sweet embrace. Then the moment is over and she gets serious, forces them up and to get changed, orders teeth be brushed so morning breath is a thing of the past. The girls all stay in relatively comfy clothes, not wanting to spoil a day off of school by forcing themselves to wear jeans, but still looking somewhat cute and warm as they’re trying just a fraction to impress the other occupants of the home. Once the trio is ready for the day and has met the standards of one Mari Ibarra, they set off downstairs towards the kitchen.
The kitchen itself wasn’t an impressive feat but it was better than Nat’s, hell it was better than a few girls on the team who have invited Shauna over. She had always been curious enough to peak, her kitchen was set up like a square. It had plenty of space for three girls to roam about and not stumble into one another. Her mother’s appliances were just old and the kitchen didn’t seem to catch very good lighting on certain days of the year making it drab without artificial lighting, which she hated. Shauna despised the walk through kitchens that were essentially hallways shoved full of appliances. At least hers wasn’t that, she had to be grateful. To make up for the lack of new appliances she at least had a window over the sink that overlooked the backyard. At the thought Shauna moved over and slid the curtain down the rod, today seemed to be a good light day. The sun reflecting beautifully off of the snow.
Behind Shauna, Mari began pulling out the seasonings she needed then bacon, eggs, peppers, onions, cheese, bread, butter and her favorite coffee mix ins that she stashed here for times like this. Mari would be putting Nat on coffee and toast duty while she made the omelettes. Shauna’s job was to watch the bacon in the oven… she wasn’t very good with eggs as the girls had learned. Neither was Nat to be fair. Both girls could make a fried egg and obviously scrambled, but they couldn’t make an omelette however hard Mari had tried to teach them. Their process was not seamless, but it worked and it went without any real issues. No food burnt or wasted this time.
They decided to be civilized and eat at the table instead of sitting spread around on the couches. Shauna’s mom kept an immaculate table, Mari just made sure to ignore the small pile of mail that was definitely junk mail but the woman wouldn’t shred and throw away. She smiled as she watched the two other girls sit down with their plates. Mari loved cooking for them, it was an act of service that felt like love in her heart. As the girls dug in she finally took her first bite. They truly were without want with her around, her breakfast was so good. Nat voiced as much when she said around a mouthful of bacon and eggs, “Mari, damn this shit is so delicious.” Shauna nodded in agreement but smacked Natalie on the arm for talking with her mouth full. Mari smiled and brushed some hair behind her ear, “I’m glad you two like it, my dad showed me how to make them. I was about knee high to him and begging to cook. He got me a stool to stand on and told me if I didn’t fall on the stove he wouldn’t tell my mother. And we practiced omelettes every morning for like two weeks.” Nat reached her hand over to brush a gentle thumb over Mari’s hand. Her dad and her didn’t have a close relationship anymore, he became stricter as his children got older and just became someone that his kids didn’t want to be around. Mari gave a reassured smile to Nat, pushing any fears of sadness away. Not today, today is a good day.
“What’s up next on the list Mar?” Shauna asked and smiled before she took her last bite. Mari hummed and considered, she held up a finger that told Shauna to wait a second. Her chair was pushed back and she quickly ran over to the back door, there was a wooden beam that held a thermometer and as she squinted her eyes and peered through the glass the little red liquid inside read 27°. Perfect snowball fighting weather. Mari turned on her heel and faced the girls with a smile, “we’re gonna bundle up and have a little snowball fight if everyone is up for it.”
“I don’t have like snow suits or anything, but we can just layer a couple layers of my sweats or pajamas, socks and sweaters before we go out. My mom keeps a drawer of hats and gloves around here somewhere too.” That Deb in fact did do, you never wanted to be unprepared for the cold weather and the more gear you had the better prepared you could be for any situation. The cold especially is a brutal element, with biting qualities that are ruthless and unforgiving. It’ll sting your skin, wet you to the bone and have you shivering so hard your teeth clatter- all while looking as picturesque as a postcard. Nat nodded in agreement of Shauna’s earlier statement then added, “sweet, Deb’s always got the hookups for us.” The blonde then stood to gather the empty plates to take them to the kitchen. Shauna followed her with the coffee cups. Mari’s voice wasn’t far behind, “we’ll make sure we wash and dry the stuff we use before we leave Shauna. Won’t be assholes and leave a bunch of laundry.”
The most important thing for the cold was knowing how to layer properly, some may think they just need one big outer layer. But they truly need to be able to shed a layer or two and put it back on when needed. An innocent snow day doesn’t really qualify on the list of things that the girls take too seriously in the grand scheme of their current life, but one day they’d think back on this very day and wish for it again. As they pass clothes back and forth deciding on who should get which piece of clothing some hands decide to roam and start tickling. This is no cause for disaster, but one second the girls are standing some with three layers of pajama pants on, one with six. All looking goofy and puffed up. Then someone drops to the floor in a bout of laughter and cannot contain themselves screaming, “I’m gonna pee, I’m gonna pee! Stop, stop, stop!”
Nat takes in the scene before her very eyes, Shauna has attacked Mari! She has to help. As she goes to bend her knees she realizes the level of density the six pairs of pants provide and she decides to more or less fall onto the two girls, catching herself above them. Her hands find Shauna’s ribs and she digs in, immediately the other girl surrenders and pulls her arms back from Mari. The three of them laughing and sweating slightly in their bundled up state. Mari decides to swat Shauna’s chest in befuddlement, before pulling Shauna down on top of her for a deep kiss that has Natalie’s head spinning. It feels fake whenever she sees them do that. She knows it’s not a hallucination, but really? There is no way Shauna and Mari are kissing right now as she hovers over their legs and watches. Nat is brought out of her stupor by a gentle hand that grabs her hair and suddenly Shauna is planting one on Natalie. Yup, totally fake. Her mind is lying to her. Shauna’s lip are so indescribably soft. Natalie thinks that Shauna and Mari are plotting on her, because she knows they started using the same chapstick and lipgloss combo that somehow makes their lips as soft as butter. When Shauna backs her head up Nat realizes it had been Mari’s hand in her hair and she blushes harder at the situation.
Nat does her best to stand up smoothly, Shauna notices the struggle and helps her up before turning back and lifting Mari off of the ground. The three finish layering on their clothes and head downstairs to their boots, gloves and hats. As soon as the door is open all three feel the nip of the cold at their cheeks and the rush of adrenaline that fills you when coldness seems to be injected straight into your veins. Going out just to play in the snow and with a full belly is a much better day than some will have in the future as it turns out…
Shauna’s yard has a good handful of hiding spots she thinks, her eyes dart around taking in the familiar sight. There are the lone standing trees scattered about, there are the bushes that are more round than they are tall holding snow that could be scooped as you hide yourself in a crouched position, then there is the shed that houses the lawnmower and other equipment her mother has that could easily hide her body from incoming projectiles. Ah, her mother has a metal trash can that sits behind that shed. If she could get back there maybe she could grab that lid as a shield. She’d have to see where the other two split off first before she makes her determination. This is war.
“Okay ladies, no face shots. So like don’t intentionally aim at the head. If you get backsplash from being hit in the body that is just part of the game, sorry. Ummmmmm, oh no ice chunks in the snow if you can avoid it please. Ouch. Then when we’re done we go inside to strip and have hot chocolate! Game on, any questions?” Mari listed her few rules that pinged off of the top of her head and immediately Nat giggled at the, “no face shots.” Making a dirty joke out of it in her head, which Mari had ignored to continue on with her instructions. Shauna didn’t have any questions and she voiced that, Nat agreed. The three girls did a dorky huddle and puts their hands in, cheering before throwing their hands up and immediately breaking into a mad dash for different corners of the yard.
The trees and bushes lined the yard on opposite sides making the middle a dead zone if it were to be crossed now. Shauna huffed, Mari had made it to the shed before she could. Her boots seemingly had better grip on the slippery porch when she took off and she didn’t have any of the unstable wobble that almost took Shauna out. She instead hurried and took up residence behind a plump bush that had plenty of side coverage, Nat was on the opposite edge of the clearing. The yard wasn’t huge, Shauna could easily clear this distance with a snowball. Her main focus now was building her arsenal. It’s not good to build them as you need them, so off she went rolling and packing snowballs quickly but meticulously. Every few seconds she would pop her head up to see that the girls were doing the same, Mari had the stupid trash can lid propped up next to her. She was ready to block anything that came her way, Shauna wanted to call her a cheater but that’s just because she stole her idea. The gloves were working wonders but her knees were already taking a small amount of water through the pajamas. She would have to be quick about this victory if she didn’t want to become violently cold. Once her stack was impressive and she had cleared the snow in the surrounding area she decided she was ready. Shauna let out a call to the girls, it was just a silly bird noise but her adrenaline was pumping and the other two sprung into action knowing that their time was up. It was a standoff now, who would throw first? And who would aim at whom? The girls were standing, ammo clenched in their fists and they all breathed heavily letting out vapor from their mouths. A snowball flew, it seemed to be in slow motion and the way that it released some of the exteriors powdery substance had Shauna in a trance. Till she realized it was aimed for her, Mari. That rat, she dodged the incoming air strike and launched her first attack. Just as she released her snowball she felt a solid, thump, in her side. Natalie. Before she even looked down to see the spattered snow on her body she reached for a second snowball and turned her body towards Nat and launched.
She was having fun, Shauna couldn’t help the overwhelming feeling of excitement and she let out a laugh as she picked up her next round of ammunition. A snowball flew from Mari to Natalie and then the girl decided to do something stupid in the wake of her miss. She picked up a ball and ran full speed down the strip of lawn that was in Shauna’s mind a dead zone. Mari had her shield and one snowball as protection. She was done for. Shauna loaded her arms with the cold little things and started launching, Mari had been aimed for Natalie and left her back momentarily exposed. Not to worry, Shauna was here to fix that. A barrage of snowball fire rained down and pelted Mari, as soon as she realized her mistake she shrieked due to the cold penetrating her clothes down the back of her collar and she hightailed it back to the shed. Once in a safe place she yelled, “that was evil! I’m telling your mom!” Shauna laughed and sent a wave her way, “all is fair in love and war, my dear!”
The games continued until the three had hands that did not want to cooperate anymore due to the cold, their hands were begging for a glass of hot chocolate to wrap around to warm themselves up. They all piled inside the front door and stripped themselves of the outer wet layers and boots, hats and gloves. What they didn’t expect was to see Deb awake and making the hot chocolate on the stove. She thanked the girls for taking off the wet clothes and instructed them to drop the pile straight into the washer. Once completed they all agreed to bother Deb in the kitchen. She was still comfy in her robe after waking up but stated that she didn’t want to miss a day with the girls if she didn’t have to. She pointed to all the cookie ingredients that she had laid out for them before turning around and pouring them each a hot chocolate with mini marshmallows. Mari, now not in a rush to see Shauna like this morning, leaned forward and gave the older woman a hug in thanks.
The four of them migrated to the living room to sip on their hot chocolate while chatting amongst themselves quietly. The three younger girls felt their reddened fingers slowly warming to the point that they had regular feeling again, no longer stuck in the state where they tingle and sting. Shauna closed her eyes as she took a sip of her hot chocolate, her mom made it the best with a dash of cinnamon and dark chocolate. She let out a hum before turning to pull the blanket on the back of the couch over her and Natalie’s lap. Mari had perched herself in the love seat and curled up with Shauna’s quilt from her grandma.
Today was turning out to be the perfect day, Shauna had no reason to want for anything. Her needs had been fulfilled, her energy had been expelled, now they were curled up about to watch a movie before they baked cookies. Shauna’s mom may not understand what the two girls truly meant to her, but Deb understood that she liked the way that they had been a consistent loving presence that never comes with any stress. Deb loved Jackie, but sometimes Shauna and Jackie were not the best friends to each other. She couldn’t say the same about these two girls sitting in her living room… so the four sat and watched a movie picked out by Mari. Sipped their hot chocolate, a few of them going back for seconds. Then baked cookies before Deb made the girls an early dinner requested by Natalie’s growling stomach. The sunset came in the early evening and was greeted with the three piled high in Shauna’s bed just as the sun had found them that morning.