Chapter 720: A Snowy Slumber, Part
Amanda’s shower was better than mine. It was the kind that had those nozzle-y patches that will vigorously sprinkle you down left, right and center like a carwash for humans. It was warm already the moment I pulled the lever on, and with the grime and dirt spilling down my bare skin, I also felt my fatigue gradual being siphoned off of my body before being swirled down the drain.
Hit a bit of a snag when it came to the foam and bubbles routine. Three silver trays jutting out of one corner, and all three were completely depleted of space with bottles and boxes for days in all kinds of shape and sizes. It was like I was I was staring at an all-you-can-scrub buffet of soaps, shampoos, and conditioners of every brand.
Clueless, I just picked the most inconspicuous of the bunch. Me personally, anything labeled shampoo or soap was good enough to douse myself with. Well, if anything, this was quite the enlightening insight of the effort that girl puts into looking her best every day. I should really start appreciating her more.
When I got out of the shower, dripping and shivering, I spotted a towel already folded and laid out on the sink for me-a patch of white blending in with the polish of the porcelain countertop. I didn’t even hear her come in... that sneak.
I got dried as quickly as I could before frostbite could settle in, putting my old clothes back on, obviously, since I didn’t have the foresight of being any spares with me tonight.
As I wriggled my left leg all the way though my pant-hole, I felt the heavy sway of my phone jangling in my pocket. Hmm, which reminds me...
I pulled it out, thumbprint already on the sensor, whisking me in to the open window of my most recent chat log, and my latest message shining the blue ticks of being thoroughly read already.
.....
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There right below it, shown in multiple blurbs was her reply, sent just a couple of minutes go while I was in the shower.
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And following Ash’s heartfelt replies were three extra messages containing nothing but a single heart emoji in each one. Guess somebody finally found out how to emote, opening a whole new world of communication available to her. Can’t wait to see how our texts would come to look like going, alas, for now though...
I let myself out into the hallway, the damp towel slung over my shoulder. If I could, I would have checked how the state of things were outside, unfortunately winter came bundled with free blinders for your windows, stacking high and tall in powdered piles whether you like it or not. Still, the significant drop in my temperature told me all I needed to know-it’s gonna be quite the cold night tonight.
Silence accompanied me with every step forward. I never realized just how empty and lonely Amanda’s apartment seem, the stagnant sight of household items, the darkness coating the empty space, it felt all quite barren, or do I just simply feel that way, because she was missing from the picture? So used to being with her, things were beginning to feel amiss when she wasn’t.
Hmm...
The familiar squeak of her door quietly welcomed me back in into her bedroom, and at once, it was as if I just entered a completely different place. The cold isolation of the hallway replaced by a comforting serenity, the warm yellow of a dimmed light bulb implanted on the ceiling flushing the room with its soft incandescent. And just like that, the empty feeling I felt immediately receded, vanished... because there she was right there-filling in that barrenness.
Amanda sat cross-legged on one side of the bed, a thin laptop balanced between her knees, and a blur of fingers clacking almost rhythmically at the keys. At the sound of my entrance, she looked up over the white shine of her screen, greeting me with a small delighted smile.
“Almost forgot I had a late-night stream plan for tonight, promised I’d give some horror games a try...” She said, glancing back down at her laptop. “Though I suppose it’s going to be tough for anything to top the horrors we faced at dinner, huh?”
She had changed clothes for the second time; this time, switching out her casual wear for something a little more nightly. I felt my gaze linger... which I’m definitely sure was what she wanted-because why else would she put on something like that?
I’m well aware nightgowns were a thing, but did hers have to be so... translucent? I could vaguely make out the paleness of her skin through the thin layers of silky white. The outline of her slender waist, the enthralling curves of her ample chest, how the soft fabric embraced the shape of her body oh so tightly. Honestly, being stark naked would have been less indecent.
Does she seriously sleep like this? To answer my own pure and innocent own question: no, of course she doesn’t...
“Didn’t know you played horror games too,” I said, masking my stunned silence with a clearing cough, looking out the window for something to else to stare at only to be met by more of winter’s blinds.
“I don’t. Tonight is my first-or was. Just sent out a post letting people know to come back tomorrow instead. I’m reading the replies right now... lots of disappointed people out there. Accepting people, but disappointed, nonetheless.”
“You screaming your lungs out, shrieking over every noise in the background while you regret every decision you made in life...” I gave an understanding nod. “Yeah, I’d be a bit put out too if I were them.”
“Oh?” She pulled the laptop down a little, revealing a wry little smirk lurking behind it. “So you’re saying you’d like to hear me scream and shriek tonight, do you?”
And... the provocation starts now. That didn’t take too long at all.
“What excuse did you give them, by the way?” I asked, sidestepping the question.
“The most reasonable,” She shrugged her shoulders. “That I’m feeling too sleepy for anything.”
“Are you though?”
“Right now?” A bigger smirk, and she quietly giggled. “Not really.”
I watched her fold her laptop to a close, stashing close to her side right underneath the glare of a bedside lamp. She stretch her legs out, the hems of her gowns crumpled and hitched up, exposing her shapely thighs, leading my eyes astray, trailing them to...
“Why are you still wearing your jacket?” She said, nearly chuckling again. “Are you really that cold? Do you want me to turn the heater up some more?”
I blinked.
“No, it’s... force of habit,” I said, taking off my jacket which was suddenly a whole lot harder to do for some strange reason. “I wasn’t thinking.”
“Wasn’t thinking...”
Amanda sat up a little more, peering at me with her head in a lopsided angle, her smile continued to linger... and more and more, I could feel my head going fuzzy at the sight of it.
“Now you’re just standing...” She remarked, shaking her head once in amusement. “Have you forgotten how to go to sleep?”
“That’s the question, isn’t it?” I said, swallowing down a gulp of cold air. “Are we?”
For an answer, she reached an arm out at the empty spot on the bed beside her, tapping down gently on the unwrinkled sheets, coaxing me, goading me... telling me...
“Why don’t we find out?” She said simply.
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