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Ryan
At ten o’clock on Christmas Eve, the inevitable happened. The power finally went out. I’d been waiting for it to happen for days, and had thought that just maybe we were in the clear. Although the snowfall had slowed over the last day, the electrical lines were still weighted down, and the wind was as strong as ever. We were still laying on the couch, wearing nothing but our Santa and elf hats, when the lights flickered out and the furnace went quiet.
“Well. . .shit,” I muttered.
“We have the generator, right?” April asked, her face still buried in my chest.
She was drawing little swirls on my stomach with one finger, and it was making it hard to think. . .in more ways than one. “Yes, but the fuel won’t last forever. We’ll have to be strategic with it. Save it mostly for the furnace, and whatever we need to make food.”
“Sounds good. Do whatever you think is best,” she said without an argument.
Her agreeing with me was so unexpected that I nearly accidentally dumped her onto the floor.
We got up and got dressed in the light of the two candles April had lit earlier. She lit a few more, and placed them around the small cabin, creating a dim glow. It was already noticeably chillier; we definitely needed some form of heat. Pulling on my coat, I took a flashlight from our stash and headed down into the basement. I started up the generator with little problem, but I eyed the few gallons of fuel with concern. Most likely, we still had at least thirty-six hours before the roads would be clear enough for us to drive out. There was maybe enough fuel for ten hours if we ran it constantly. And even that was being generous. And assuming that the generator held out that long. Of course, the power could come back on at any moment, but we had to prepare for the worst.
I went back upstairs to talk it over with April. As I walked by her parents’ room, an idea suddenly occurred to me. I’d been in there once or twice in the past, and I vaguely remembered that there was a tiny woodstove in the corner of their room from before the days of modern heating. They rarely used it, but if it was in working order, it might just save us.
I heard April moving around in the other room, so I stepped into the master bedroom and inspected the stove. There was nothing obviously wrong with it that I could see.
“April, come here!” I called, after a few more minutes of my inspection.
“What are you doing in here?” she asked, joining me. She was still wearing her cute little elf hat, and it momentarily distracted me.
“There’s good news and bad news,” I said, focusing on the task at hand. “The generator works, obviously, but we definitely don’t have enough fuel to last as long as we need it to. But, if I can get this stove going, we can use it to stay warm in the evening, and keep the generator off all night, so we can save the fuel for tomorrow.”
“Won’t this be the only room in the cabin that stays warm all night, then?” She asked with a frown.
“Yes. We’ll have to sleep in here, together, and load up on blankets, but I think it will be fine. Is that a problem?” I’d been afraid to suggest the idea considering the “no sleeping together” rule I’d insisted on, but it really was our best option.
“No, it’s fine. Just trying to make sure that it doesn’t violate your ‘no cuddling’ rule.” She raised her hands in defense.
“First of all, we don’t have to cuddle. This bed is plenty big for the two of us. And secondly, these are kind of extreme circumstances, so I can let it slide.”
So why was I looking forward to having her in my bed all night long?
#
For the second time in as many days, April walked into my room in nothing but a towel. This time, I barely reacted.
“I was thinking, we should probably shower together, to save the energy, right?” she suggested.
I wasn’t entirely sure that we’d save any energy that way, especially if we got sidetracked and stayed in too long, but I was willing to give it a try.
“That seems like a good plan. Give me one minute,” I told her.
April was already naked and standing under the water by the time I arrived. I quickly dropped my sweatpants and stepped in after her.
“Care to help?” She grinned and held up a washcloth and the bottle of body wash.
“Sure,” I said simply.
I started soaping up her back, wondering for the thousandth time how we’d gotten to this place, where the two of us were actually co-existing without ripping one another’s heads off. When I’d been arguing with her that first day, I’d definitely never imagined something cozy like this. Well, I’d imagined it plenty of times, but never expected my fantasies to become reality.
April leaned back against me, her eyes closed as she sighed with contentment. I pushed her wet hair to one side, and kissed her neck, before wrapping an arm around her mid-section and pulling her against me. I ran the washcloth down her arms and around to her stomach before it hit me. This wasn’t something two fuck buddies did. Sex in the shower, sure, but not bathing each other. It was more familiar, and affectionate. Something that people in a relationship did. Yet, I hadn’t thought twice about the intimacy, and worse, Ilikedit.
Just as I had feared, the lines were getting blurred. We’d started off fine, but then we’d had that stupid snowball fight, and had decorated the tree together. All that normalcy had confused me. Especially when April mentioned that she’d suggested setting up for Christmas because she wanted to make the holiday nice for me.
It was all too emotional, and I needed to change the mood, quickly.
