"It's snowin'." The woman was standing in front of the window, looking at the snowflakes touching the ground softly. She frowned and shook her head, going back to the table to sit down, grabbing a piece of bread in the process with ham and some cheese, putting the two on a spatula to make it grill, waiting for it, her arms folded across her chest.
"What's the matter now?" The other woman glared at her, feeling a wave of rage embracing her entire body, ready to slam her face inside her plate, breaking every bone she could actually break with her force. She stared at the woman longer, waiting for her to answer, and only received an odd look in response. She stood up, ready to throw the table through the window and simply went to the kitchen to grab something to drink. She took a glass from the cupboards and poured some vodka in it before grabbing the bottle of juice standing next to her, tasting of strawberries and cherries. She put the two bottles away, but stayed there, her elbows resting on the counter, still looking at the same woman who was annoying her. She sighed and drank from her glass, not even feeling the alcohol she put in it, taking another sip right after. She inhaled deeply and went back to the table, sitting down in front of the tanned woman who was driving her crazy.
"I was wonderin', do you always have to judge everythin'?" The tanned woman was now piercing the blue ones in front of her with her own, almost challenging her to attack her, a smug smile on her face. She looked at her face changing expressions, going from anger to rage, to then go back to a calmer state of mind. She waited for the answer, and wasn't disappointed.
"You know what Fang, yes. When it's about fucking you, yes. Is that enough for you?" the woman put her pink hair away from her face and inhaled deeply, looking at a shorter woman sitting next to her, feeling her hand on her leg. She softly pushed the hand away, glaring at Fang again. She scanned her, watching her brown hair falling on her shoulders, and her green eyes looking confused at the answer she had given, but simply threw her hand in the air, telling her to let it go. Fang dropped her shoulders and sighed; taking the cheese that was starting to darkened and put it on her potatoes. She took her knife, softly cutting it, and grabbed her fork to take a piece of it, filling her mouth with the food. She looked to her right, seeing the redheaded girl talking to the shorter pink haired girl in front of her, laughing softly, while the man at the end of the table was simply listening to them.
"Lightnin', can ya give me the salt, please?" Fang smirked in the woman's direction, feeling her eyes being pierced by the blue ones and was handed what she was asking for, Lightning scoffing as she gave it to the tanned woman. "Thanks". She put the salt over her food, watching the man handing his hand to receive it, but she simply looked at him and winked.
"Fang come on, give it to Snow. Or Serah will have your head." The woman looked at the redheaded who had just talked, then at the men to finally rest her eyes on the shorter girl. She finally gave in and handed the salt to Snow who thanked her in the process.
"You're so fucking irritating Fang." Lightning lifted her head up and looked at Fang, clenching her fist into a small ball, ready to be thrown across the table to crash on her jaw. She put her bangs away from her eyes, glaring at the girl in front of her before looking to her left, watching her sister closing her eyes in despair. The soldier, as some of her friends were calling her, simply stood up again and went across the room, standing in front of the huge window in the living room, and took big deep breaths to calm herself down. The rest of the table continued eating normally, trying to fill the void that what starting to take position of the living room. Fang, on the other hand, was watching the woman standing away, looking at her behavior. She frowned and put her elbows on the table, closing her eyes in frustration. She snapped open them as she heard footsteps in her direction, seeing the soldier put her coat and shoes on opening the window to go outside, and started walking across the garden, foam coming out of her mouth due to the extremely low temperature. She saw her standing still in the middle of it, the snowflakes resting on her shoulders and hair, her body starting to relax.
"Do you think I should go see her?" asked Serah, looking at Snow. He shook his head, telling her that it was probably a terrible idea, and put his hand on hers, squeezing it tightly. "What do you think Vanille?" the redheaded girl looked at Lightning standing in the garden and shook her head. "I think she needs to be alone, you know how she is." Serah nodded before grabbing her fork to take some ham, putting it on her plate and put her cheese in it, forming some sort of burrito with little pieces of potatoes cut up in it. She waited for it to get colder before cutting pieces, eating it cheerfully. She resumed the conversation she was having with Vanille, giving a quick sidelong glance at Fang who hadn't touched her plate since Lightning stormed out of the room. She frowned and shook her head, mentally kicking Fang and her sister for being such idiots. She sighed and rested her eyes on the redheaded, listening to her voice.
"Where the fuck is my lighter?" The pink-haired girl sighed, desperately searching for it, the cigarette hanging between her pink lips as her hands were looking in every single pocket until she finally felt the cold metal touching her fingertips. She took it between her fore and middle finger, grabbing it tightly and brought it in front of her fag, lightening the thing that was killing her, but that she fucking loved. She took a long drag, letting the noxious smoke fill her lungs before letting it out threw her nose, her body shivering from the cold. She looked at the sky, filled with grey clouds and watched the snowflakes falling from them, some reaching the point of her nose that she quickly brushed off with her hand. She took another drag and turned around, looking at the living room, distinctly recognizing her friends and family, and dropped her faint smile on the floor at the sight of Fang. She frowned instead and shook her head angrily taking a long drag from her cigarette before placing it in front of her, watching the paper slowly burning. She licked her lips that where slowly becoming shaped and regretted her action right away, making things only worse. She growled in anger and made her way to the house, taking another drag on the way. She could've smoked inside her house, but Serah didn't like the smell of it and after hours of arguing, they finally settled. Lightning could smoke inside her house but only when Serah wasn't around, and was now forced to face the awful temperature of 20°F. She stopped in front of the glass window and put her cigarette in the ashtray on the wall after taking a last drag and walked inside the house, sighing in relief as the hot temperature invaded her body. She took her coat and boots off and went to the hallway to hang it on the wall, the shoes resting under it before making her way back to the living room, sitting down again, ignoring everyone who was now looking at her. She took her glass of wine and poured some in it, bringing the glass closer to her lips and drank a sip, her eyes locking with Fangs. She stared at her longer, still holding her glass tightly while her other arm was resting on her chest. She shivered again and put the glass back on the table, grabbing something warm to eat.
"Cold outside?" asked Serah as she saw Lightning shivering, thinking that her question was absolutely useless. "Of course it's cold, it's snowing" she thought to herself, rolling her eyes at her own stupidity and received a small nod from her sister, to busy cutting the pieces of her dinner to actually answer. Serah sighed, thinking that once again her sister was being impossible to be around with knowing exactly why. For days she had been busting her ass off at work, training and finishing paperwork from her office at the New-York Law Enforcement. She was leaving every day at 7AM and was usually coming back around 7PM, but came home an hour later tonight because of traffic, people leaving the city for the holidays and fleeing the city as the snow was starting to settle in, since New-York was known to experience snow storms during the winters, making it impossible for anyone to leave the house. The younger sister looked at her sister again and put her hand on her shoulder, making her flinch then turned her head, and received a small smile from Lightning, putting a piece of meat in her mouth.
"Light, can you give me the wine?" Snow looked at her sister in law with a beaten look as she stared at him, and handed the bottle that he quickly took. He thanked her receiving a faint you're welcome in return and poured himself a drink. Things between them had always been chaotic from day one, and got even worse when he asked Serah to marry him. She could always find a sneaky comment on the fact that he was unemployed, that Serah was making all the money and that he was useless. She punched him once before as he made the mistake to call her "Sis", nickname she hated more than anything in the world and was still pretty sure to this day that he saw her putting a hand on her gun, hesitating to shoot him. When he told Serah about, she didn't believe him, but now, as she saw her sister getting more and more upset about little things, she was pretty sure that Snow had actually been telling the truth. The man drank from his glass and stood up, cleaning up the plates now empty on the table and was helped by Vanille who smiled cheerfully at him. They both took the plates, and went to the kitchen, placing them in the dishwasher.
"Snow, can ya bring' back another one? This one's empty, if that's okay with ya Light." Fang watched the girl nod and raised her thumb to Snow, indicating it was okay. She watched him bringing a third bottle and put it on the table, looking for the bottle opener that Fang already had in hand. She winked at him and took the bottle, tearing the paper and opened the bottle quickly, pouring the soldier's glass, Snow's and hers, the two other girls simply staying with a bottle of water. Fang looked at the clock and noticed it was already 11PM before looking outside and suddenly gasped. She stood up and turned the TV on quickly, the rest of the people staring at her confused until Lightning spoke up "Oh my fucking god." She came next to Fang, and waited for the news to appear. The man on TV was first talking about the season of skiing before making an announcement. "This is a special edition, a snowstorm is hitting the east coast of the United States, specifically New-York and Boston. Everyone is asked to stay home and to go out only if it is absolutely necessary. The situation should resolve itself in the next following days. We thank you for your attention." Lightning opened her mouth and rushed through the front door, slowly opening it and saw a mountain of snow in front of it, quickly closing it back. She put her head in her hands; breathing threw her nose and leaned on the door. Serah came next to her, waiting for her sister to speak. She watched her stand up straight, carrying a forced smile and looked at the people in her living room "Looks like you're all spending the night here." she said, throwing her arms in the air before making her way to the living room to fill her glass, taking a cigarette from her pocket. She saw the look her sister was giving her and frowned "Serah, I can't go outside. So just deal with it." She stared at her younger sister and brought the lighter to the cigarette, not having a care in the world about what her sister was thinking. She watched Fang sitting down in front of her, asking if she could take one. Lightning frowned and threw the packet on the table, watching her tanned friend taking one from it.
"Light, how are we going to sleep?" suddenly asked Serah, looking more concerned about this than the fact that her sister was smoking. It was after all her house. She watched her putting the fag in the ashtray and told Serah to follow her. She pointed at the guest room and told her that two people could sleep here, two others in her bed and one on the sofa. Serah nodded and said she would be spending the night with Vanille since they were both tired now, not having drank a single drop of alcohol, while Snow would sleep on the couch. "And I'll be sleeping with Fang, right." Lightning shivered at the sound of Fangs accent, hearing the words "Ya wish" resonating in her head and feeling her heart skip a beat. She clenched her jaw, shooting a dirty look at Fang before coming closer to her but simply sat down taking the cigarette that was consuming itself in the ashtray. Serah came back and warned everyone she was going to sleep, Vanille following her cheerfully. She gave a kiss on her sister's cheek, Fang returning it, while Serah was doing the same thing. They both made their way in the guest room waving at the three people in the living room.
"Do you mind if a take a shower?" asked Snow, his breath increasing heavily as he watched Lightning turning around. She nodded and went to the bathroom with him, giving him a fresh towel and indicating where everything was. He thanked her again and watched her close the door, mumbling something he didn't understand and felt grateful that he actually couldn't understand it. He turned the water on and put his hair off his face, whishing that the snow storm would end quickly.
"You don't mind if I take another drink?" Fang shook her head, and asked Lightning to pour herself another one, seeing her drink being slowly filled. Lightning stood up and put the bottle back in the fridge, looking by the window, sighing in despair at the sight of the snow still falling on the ground. She came back to the table and took her glass, taking a mouthful of wine, almost drinking it completely. Fang opened her mouth slightly, quickly closing it back to drink too.
"This is a nightmare." Lightning closed her eyes as she spoke, putting a hand on her forehead, slowly breathing in and out.
"C'mon. It's not that bad." Lightning opened her eyes and looked at Fang, an eyebrow rising brutally before she scoffed loudly.
"Not that bad? We're stuck here, we don't know when it will end, and I have to live with 4 people." She rolled her eyes and grabbed her drink again, finishing it completely.
"I see, so you're selfish, that it?" Fang stood up too, making her way to the window, watching the snow fall and feeling Lightning's eyes crushing her mind in a painful way. She smirked, feeling contented to exasperate her so much and turned around, leaning on the window. She watched the soldier glaring at her while she simply folded her arms across chest, her drink still in hand.
"I'm sorry?" Lightning was grinding her teeth together, resisting the urge to throw her empty glass at Fang and looked at her, wishing now that the window would break with her weight.
"I said that you're selfish. Ya said it yourself, not wantin' to live with other people." Fang saw Lightning taking a step back, making her way to the kitchen. She waited for her to come back for at least two minutes, spending the time staring at the ground, drinking from her glass every thirty seconds until she finished it. She shook her head and smiled, making her way to the kitchen. She saw Lightning waiting in front of the window, her shoulders being tightened with anger. Fang put the glass in the dishwasher and told Lightning she was going to bed.
"Me too, let's go." Lightning turned around, avoiding eye contact with the woman and made her way to the bedroom. She took fresh drapes out of her dresser along with a blanket and pillow and went back to the living room, putting them on the sofa. She went back to the bedroom and watched Fang standing in the middle of it, looking at her paintings. She ignored her and took some sleepwear from her dresser, giving them to Fang.
"Only a t-shirt is fine. I sleep in my underwear, unless it makes ya uncomfortable?" she heard Lightning laugh ironically, seeing her shake her head in contempt.
"Whatever Fang." Lightning took her sleepwear and went to the bathroom. She took her clothes off quickly and put her shorts and t-shirt on, brushing her teeth right after. She spit in the sink and washed her hands before looking at her own reflection in the mirror. She noticed her eyes were red, and thought she needed to sleep now. She made her way back to the bedroom, warning Fang that she had put a toothbrush on the sink for her, and watched her leave the room, lingering on her legs. Lightning frowned and slipped under the blanket, the fresh scent of orchids invading her nose. She took her phone and put it on the counter, setting a clock at 9AM right before and heard the door opening, feeling Fangs body going under the blanket too. The soldier turned the lights off and put a hand under her head, listening to the breathing coming from the person next to her.
"Can I ask ya somethin'?" suddenly asked Fang, making Lightning flinch at the sound of her voice.
"What if I say no?" she responded with an ice cold tone, clicking her tongue against her teeth.
"I'll ask ya anyway. Did ya ever try to be nice?" Fang smirked at her own question, knowing that it would probably set the soldier of, and was waiting for her to throw the first fist.
"Fuck you Fang." was her answer before turning around, her back against Fang and closed her eyes, hearing the small laugh coming out from her friend. She frowned even more and whispered "I fucking hate you." but made it impossible to hear. She breathed heavily and simply heard:
"I told ya, ya wish. Goodnight sunshine." Fang put on a smug smile and turned around too, closing her eyes and quickly fell asleep, the soft breathing of her friend rocking her.