A/N: I figured I'd post this before the weather gets too cold! Haha! R&R please. DISCLAIMER: Own nothing.
(KUDOS to anyone who can catch the Hairspray reference!)
The hot, stuffy weather was certainly the last thing Thomas Collins needed to put him in a less-than-cheery disposition. It was a typical afternoon in July, but it didn't seem that way to Collins. He felt isolated in some kind of dry, sandy desert with no means of hydration—or escape.
In reality, he was sitting on the couch grading papers. Nevertheless, there were beads of sweat on his forehead as he held a red pen in his sticky right hand. There was no possible way he could get through this.
"Collins!" Angel called out to him from the kitchen. Groaning loudly, he twisted the term papers in his hands, transforming them into some kind of fan for himself—it only waved even more hot hair toward him, but at least it was some form of oxygen.
"Yeah?" he shouted back.
"I'm making a milkshake for us before the damn ice cream in the fridge melts. What flavor do you want?"
No sooner did the words escape Angel's lips had Collins sighed in utter relief. "There is a God," he muttered as he sat up and wandered into the kitchen area. He hadn't even remembered until now that there was ice cream in the refrigerator.
Angel stood there in a white tank top and jeans; she was sweating just as much as he was. But she had a smile on her face even so. That was one of the many things about Angel that simply amazed Collins. She could put anyone in a happy mood. Her short curly hair was slightly matted from the humidity. This was certainly no day for makeup, skirts or tights. Collins thought she looked beautiful no matter what she wore anyway.
"Hi," she said, holding up two containers of ice cream. "Chocolate or vanilla?"
Oh, sweet Lord. Ice cream. Cool, creamy, delectable ice cream. "Angel, did I ever tell you that you're amazing?" he asked.
She giggled. "Yeah. A few times. I guess I was right in tellin' you not to eat a lot of the ice cream last month 'cause we might need it on a hot day. These are the only ones I had been able to afford. And look at us now; we're almost suffocating in here..." She wiped a little sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand.
Collins chuckled a little. "You're always right."
"I know, honey. Chocolate or vanilla?"
"Damn...tough choice...I've always been a vanilla person."
She nodded, grabbing a large spoon to scoop the ice cream. "Okay, then, we'll use vanil—"
"Wait! I like chocolate, too," he interjected. Collins began to think that the heat was getting to him—he was taking this decision between vanilla and chocolate all too seriously.
Angel raised an eyebrow. "Collins, it really doesn't matter. I think I'm gonna melt into a puddle in a second if you don't pick which one you want."
"Sorry..." Collins mumbled. "Which one's your favorite?"
Angel shrugged. "Well, I was a vanilla person." She took a couple of steps toward Collins, and he stared at her gorgeous arms as they coiled around his neck.
"Was?" He asked, slightly distracted by her eyes and a little lightheaded from the temperature in the room.
She nodded, smirking deviously as she moved her hands up and down his chest. "Yeah, but now I've tasted chocolate," she explained, "and I'm never goin' back."
"Ha-ha. Funny," Collins said, flashing her one of his big trademark smiles, "So, which one are we using for the milkshake?"
Angel crossed her arms in front of her chest. "I don't know, baby. You pick."
"Haven't we established by now that I can't choose?" retorted Collins, "You pick which flavor. You decide things quicker than I do."
Angel shook her head. "Honey, have you ever seen me at a shoe store? Decision-making isn't as easy as it looks when it comes to whether I'd look better in flats or heels with a particular outfit..."
"Baby, this ain't shoes we're talkin' about, it's ice cream!"
"I know that, I was just saying..."
Collins sighed. "Okay, okay...um...I don't care; just pick either one as long as it's cold."
"Will do." Angel took a deep breath and grabbed the container of vanilla ice cream. "We're going with vanilla."
Collins shrugged. "Okay, baby. Ima go finish grading those papers..." He leaned down and kissed her forehead, smelling a combination of strawberry, soap, and sweat.
Since she wasn't in her high-heeled shoes that day, Angel had to stand on tip-toe to kiss him on the lips. Collins found this simply adorable, and he kissed her back, pressing his hands into her back so to lightly push her body against his.
"Now that I think about it," Angel whispered against Collins' neck, "maybe we should use chocolate instead...you know...it's got...plenty of flavor..." She brushed her lips against his skin between every few words.
Collins shuddered against her touch, closing his eyes as the beauty of the moment with his Angel overcame him. The rest of the world, including the stuffy apartment, faded away for a little while, and it was just the two of them.
"Angel..." he whispered, sending chills up and down her spine, "My Angel."
She giggled. "I think we forgot it's, like, a hundred and ten degrees in here."
"Yeah," Collins murmured, kissing her temple affectionately, "so what do ya say we do some more 'forgetting'? Say...in the bedroom?"
Angel rolled her eyes. "Collins, sweetie, if there's anything we could possibly do to make ourselves cooler, it's certainly not that."
"Good point. So, are you gonna make that milkshake? Chocolate? Vanilla? Which is it?"
"Oh, God, please not start that again," Angel sighed.
Collins smirked. "You know what I just noticed, Ang?"
"What?"
"We could just put a little bit of both in the milkshake."
She blinked up at him for a moment, and Collins at first wasn't sure if she'd heard him. And suddenly she burst into a fit of laughter, clutching her sides and sinking down into a chair. Collins couldn't help but laugh along with her.
When the giggling subsided, Angel finally said, "I think the weather is getting us, baby. Why didn't we think of that earlier?!" She stood up and started preparing the milkshake when she stopped in her tracks.
Collins was heading out of the room when he noticed her abrupt pause. "Ang? What is it?"
"Um..." Angel turned around from the counter to look at him innocently, "The ice cream melted."
Collins inhaled another breath of hot, humid air. "Well. I guess it would be useless to drink a warm milkshake. Guess it's gonna be a long afternoon for us, huh?"
"So," Angel continued, taking a couple of steps forward, "Since we have absolutely no means of cooling off...how about we do some of that 'forgetting' you mentioned earlier?"
Collins pretended to think about this for a moment. "Hmm. Sounds intriguing enough. Not as good as ice cream, though."
Angel shook her head. "Maybe not, but I think I can convince you that it's almost as good." She bit her lip and raised her eyebrows.
"In that case," Collins said, "You lead the way."
Kicking the refrigerator shut with her foot, Angel grabbed his hand and they sprinted off into the bedroom.