The sun light is glistening off the untouched blanket of snow making it sparkle like a blanket of diamonds. It was the first snow fall of the year on the first of December no less and it was still steadily falling. Yet school was not closed; I swear the second ice age has to hit before they close Madison schools. It has been that way my entire life. A snow day was a rarity in my childhood. I remember staring at the television screen, watching the names of schools, scroll across the bottom, waiting for Madison to come across the screen. Feeling the greatest disappointment when it didn’t or the greatest disbelief and joy if it did. Well, I am whisked back to my childhood that morning waiting for it to say Madison schools closed only for my hopes to be dashed when it didn’t happen. So now here I am bundled up on my front porch only my eyes are visible with all the winter gear I have on. At least I’m not like the kid in a Christmas story so bundled up that I can’t even put my arms down.

Tracy pulled up; chains attached to her tires.

I am enveloped in a comfortable heat as I climbed into the front seat and after buckling myself in, I immediately held my hands in front of the vent to warm them up, the gloves I wore were clearly inadequate.

"You look like you are going on some artic expedition." Tracy commented dressed in her light tan suede leather sheepskin lined coat with the hood up and black furry gloves.

"With Wisconsin weather I feel like I might as well be."

“It’s not that bad at least the high isn’t in the single digits.”

I was about to reply when my phone alerted me to a text, I dig my phone out of my pocket and look at the screen saying I had 1 unread text from Draya. I go to my messages and open the text it read {Call your parents at lunch today and ask them if it’s okay if I pick you up from school today and if you can spend the night at my house? I am going to need my personal little furnace today and I don’t want to wait until 11:00pm tonight.}

I quickly text back {I will, I don't think it will be a problem.}

"Who was that?" Tracy asked.

"Draya."

"Of course, I should have known."

"She wants to pick me up from school and have me stay at her house tonight, so I need to call my parents at lunch to clear it with them."

Tracy didn't say anything and just nodded.

When we picked up Hallie, she giggled at me saying "You don't have to wear your entire winter wardrobe at the first sign of winter weather Sare Bear."

Hallie was wearing a black coat with gray fur around the hood.

"I miss summer." I grumble.

My attire was completely forgotten when Kelsey climbed into the car wearing a leather lime green button up trench coat with fur on the collar and cuffs of the sleeves, with matching lime green fur hat and lime green leather gloves.

"Seriously Kelsey what are you thinking? You look like the grinch." Hallie said still laughing.

“It wasn’t my idea, my parents got me this, my brother thought it was hilarious too.”

“What does Dillon know? He is a 20 year old man who graduated high school with a 4.0 GPA and could probably get into any college he wants, which your parents have offered to pay for, yet he lives in your parents' basement and only has a part time minimum wage job.” Tracy said defending Kelsey.

I remember how cool and handsome we all thought Kelsey’s older brother was when we were growing up, it’s a shame, he turned out to be such an unmotivated loser.

When we picked up Raquel, she came out wearing a white fur coat with the hood up. Her hands are currently in the coat's pockets, with matching** **snow boots. It contracted dramatically with her dark skin. When she got in the bus and took the hood down, we discover she also had a matching furry scarf and earmuffs.

"Well, hello miss Eskimo princess." said Hallie.

"Screw you, I am rocking this look, and you know it."

"Yeah, I agree. White suits you RaRa." I say.

I held back a groan when we pulled up to the school and Tracy shut off the engine. I didn't like school ordinarily anyway, but I really didn't want to get out of the bus abandoning the comfortable warmth, but then Hallie who was sitting up front with Tracy and myself opened the passenger door and cold air swooped in stealing away the warmth that was surrounding me moments ago.

As we exited the car Brain disengaged himself from the snowball fight that was being held and ran over to our group, wrapping his arms around Raquel before the bell rang and everyone filed into the school for their first class.

Finally, it was time for lunch. I choose the chili and saltine crackers that was being offered that day. I set my try down with my friends at our usual table before I excuse myself for a moment to find a quieter area of the cafeteria to call my mom. Luckily for me my mom has her lunch at the same time as me and she always takes her lunch in her office. I find a relatively quiet corner before scrolling through my contacts before selecting the one I had been looking for. It rings three times before my mom picks up "Sarah, is everything alright sweetie?"

Of course, my mom recognized my number. "Everything is fine mom, but Draya sent me a text and wanted to know if it would be ok if she picked me up from school and if I could spend the night at her house?"

"Well, ordinarily I would say yes right away, but if the is going to be driving the thunderbird I just don't trust that car in the snow."

"I don't think she would be driving the thunder bird mom, she would probably barrow something better suited for snow driving from Celeste."

"Well, find out and then let me know and if you do go, I still want you to get your homework done."

"I will mom and if you can hang on, I will text Draya and ask about the vehicle situation."

"Ok sweetie, I'll hold on."

I put my mom on speaker while I send Draya a text. {Hey, mom is concerned about the vehicle you would be picking me up in being good for winter weather.}

She responded almost immediately. {Not to worry, I will be driving Celestes silver Subaru outback it has AWD and Subarus are known for being good winter driving vehicles.}

"Ok mom she says she will be driving a Subaru outback."

"Alright, in that case you may go, just call me when you get there ok."

"I will, thanks mom."

"You're welcome, now go eat your lunch sweetie and have a good rest of your day."

"Ok you too mom."

"Love you."

"Love you too mom, goodbye."

"Bye."

After I hung up with my mom, I texted Draya {Mom said yes!}

{Good I almost can’t wait to see you.}

{Almost?}

{Well, I would say can’t wait, but if I said that I would be picking you up right now.}

{Looking forward to it! 🥰💜}

With that last text sent I returned to the table to quickly eat my lunch. I was looking forward to the end of the day so much that I didn’t even care that the chili had gotten a little cold in the time it took me to make the call to my mother and have the short text conversation with Draya.

The rest of the day went by uneventfully. My classes seemed to drag by slowly, each tick of the clock bringing me closer to an evening with my Draya.

My last class of the day was study hall and I tried to get some of my homework done, but was having trouble concentrating as the thoughts of how I would soon be with my angel and spend the rest of the day with her were distracting. Honestly, I could use a cuddle session. As soon as the bell rang, I booked it out of there and made my way to where Draya usually picked me up. I spot the silver Subaru already waiting for me. I sprint over to it and climb into the passenger seat as the heat in the car engulfed me.

After getting in and closing the car door I practically launch myself over the middle console and wrapped my arms around Draya.

“Well, someone is certainly happy to see me.”

“I haven’t had any extended alone time with you for a while and you and me being alone in my room at night doesn’t count because my parents are right down the hall so it’s different.”

“I know; I think the last time you spent the night at my house was… my birthday.”

“Far too long for me. I demand lots of cuddles and attention and when we get to your house.”

“And what about more… intimate activities?” she asked, and I recognized that tone all too well.

“Start with cuddles and we’ll see where it goes from there.”

“Okay...now do you think you could release me? As much as I love having your arms around me, I think I would find it quite difficult to drive like this.”

“Hmmm…” I hum pretending I am thinking about it “…okay, but only because I know this will be more enjoyable in your bedroom.” I conclude unwrapping myself from around Draya and buckling myself in. I look at Draya as she drives engaging in one of my favorite pastimes of observing and admiring her. She was wearing a black turtleneck with a red zip up vest coat on top with a hood and brown fur lining the outer edge, dark blue jeans with a tapered leg that disappeared into brown leather winter boots. She had her hair pulled back into a high ponytail and I think this is the first time I’ve ever seen Draya with her hair up. It’s nice and shows off a pretty pair of medium size gold hoops but in the shape of hearts. I can see that she is also wearing the necklace I gave her for her birthday; in fact, I don’t think she has ever taken it off since I gave it to her; except maybe to shower because I know she did the morning after thanksgiving as we had showered together that morning.

"You're being awfully quiet, tell me what's on your mind."

"Nothing, well ok not nothing...just you."

"Me huh?"

"Yup I am admiring you...it's become one of my favorite pastimes."

"What do you admire most about me?"

"I only get to pick one? That's impossible because I love everything about you, I love the way you have your hair today its very pretty, but I also love it when you wear it down, long and soft, flowing over your shoulders and framing your face, I love your eyes and how they captivate me, I love how you wrinkle your nose when I Boop it in my playful moods, I love the way you smile at me and when I see it my whole world is brighter, I love the sound of your voice it takes my breath away every time, I love your cool smooth skin and how beautiful it is and how good it feels against my own when we lay together, I love it when you hold me how safe I feel protected by my angel, I love how you tease me about liking inaccurate vampire books and tv shows, I love that focused look you get when you are sketching and about a billon other things that would take too long to list. I love you, all of you everything."

"My darling princesses I...I... I am left without words. I love absolutely everything about you too princess, absolutely everything."

I smile at her affectingly and am smiling the whole rest of the way to Draya's house.

When we arrived at Draya's house, we went straight up to her room, stripped down to our underwear and crawled into her bed for a much needed cuddle session. As I laid there in Draya's arms content and happy, the rest of the word just fell away until it was just me and my angel and nothing and nobody else matters.

THE END Next story is titled Illness

I for some reason am having difficulty ending my stories, like sometimes I am in a good place for ending it, yet I feels too abrupt, but I think I did ok with this one.

Sorry for any punctuation, spelling or grammatical errors. Yeah, not my strong points.

Please leave me some feedback and a like as it keeps me motivated to write and I hope you enjoyed it. 🖤💜😃