Seeing as we currently had winter, it wasn't as if I was just wearing a t-shirt and some barely there pants, but I also wasn't dressed for the Arctic, which it felt like right now. My coat, which provided a certain warmth, wasn't however working for much longer since at some point the warmth stopped working and I began to shiver. great, just great. With my luck, I'd probably freeze to death before boarding started.
Letting out a deep sigh, I tried several times to rearrange myself in a way that I was maybe feeling a little warmer - or at least a little more comfortable but gave up the fight, eventually. There was just no way realistically. So, I got up and grabbed my stuff, deciding that walking around for a little while might work better. I wasn't planning on a workout that made me sweat, but at least something that brought up my temperature and stopped the shivering for a while.
Looking at my watch, I knew there was no way I'd keep myself constantly busy until boarding started, but maybe every while or so I could go for a walk. And who knew? Maybe I'd stumble upon an area that wasn't quite as cold.
I had been walking for a good five minutes when my phone started going off like crazy, indicating I had received a whole lot of messages all at once. Looking at my display, I wasn't too surprised to discover that they were from my mother. All ten.
She hadn't taken the news about my delay until tomorrow too well - as expected - and was currently telling me I shouldn't have planned my trip this way. Or should have booked direct flights that couldn't be canceled. For a moment, I wondered whether I wanted to waste the time and energy and explain to her that direct flights could just be canceled as easily as other flights, but figured it was fruitless. It would end in the same conclusion as always, which was that it was my fault one way or another.
I was just typing and deleting and retyping a response, which I figured seemed okay enough, when I ran into someone full force and would have probably tumbled to the ground had it not been for a strong pair of hands to steady me.
"Sorry, I didn't see you," I mumbled and heard a somewhat amused noise.
"Hard to see me when you don't watch where you are going," came as a response from a familiar sounding voice. Looking up, I saw the guy from the gate once more, still holding on to me.
"Didn't you want to get a hotel?" I asked, confused, especially after he had seemed so insisting.
"I still do. Just decided I will grab something to eat before I get to the hotel."
As if to prove his point, he held up something that looked like a salad. "My offer still stands," he tried one more time, but before I was even able to reply, his hands sort of brushed my hands when he moved to put his salad back to where he had retrieved it from a moment ago. "Jeez, you are like a block of ice."
I wanted to reply in some smart and sassy way but drew a blank regarding responses. So, I just shrugged. What else was there to say, really?
"I'm not sure why you are so set on spending the night here, especially since you seem to already be on your way to freezing to death when there are plenty of hotels down the road. I'm certain if it is due to the departure time, the airline won't mind rebooking you on a later flight."
"Why are you so invested in what I do or don't do?" I asked, confused by his persistence. Seeing him shrug, it took a moment for an actual reply.
"Don't know. Call it my good deed of the day or a weak moment during which I feel an immense need to show off my knight in shining armor skills.
Looking at him for a long moment, he certainly ticked all the right boxes for knight in shining armor in a way - though in a more polished and domineering way, He also managed to tick all the boxes in the tall, dark and handsome categories and had I mentioned his scent? Jesus, that could bring to your knees. In a good way. Though not that way.
I saw him move and a moment later, his already impressive statue became even more impressive when he got out of his coat and draped said coat around me, stunning me speechless - for several reasons. Mainly because... it was unexpected and confusing me on so many levels.
My eyes had subtly followed his movement as if in a trance and I believed to have spotted a familiar looking name.
"Did that label just read ARMANI?" I asked, more to myself than to him, though he still responded. I felt rather dumb for that being my first thought. As if there weren't any more pressing issues.
"Is that good or bad?" he countered back, stunning me some more for unknown reasons.
"It's Armani," was my rather unhelpful reply, which still seemed to make him smile at least. "I'm sorry," I muttered a minute later, feeling like I should at least try at seeming grateful, which I was, because his coat was not just incredibly warm from him, but seemed to keep the cold out in general and smelt heavenly. I couldn't stop myself from grabbing the lapels and pulling them closer. "Thank you."
He just nodded and I was embracing the wonderful warmth that seemed to penetrate my body suddenly when I heard my phone go off once more. Damn, I had forgotten about my mother for a second. But she clearly hadn't forgotten about me.
Finding my phone in my coat pocket after several attempts, I saw my mother had started off on another flood of messages, still as much in denial of the circumstances as before. Never mind that she was currently sitting at home, not freezing her ass off. Though, I was no longer either, in all fairness.
I started typing another reply, but already knew it wouldn't lead to anything, because...well, because it was my mother. There was usually only her way or no way.
Skimming over the flood of messages she had been sending, I was already thinking about possible replies, not really noticing anything around me. Typing frantically and somehow upset as well, seeing as she really was blaming me once more for nothing, I could have changed or influenced to begin with. This was ridiculous, having to explain yourself for something that really could have happened to everyone.
"Taking the risk of sounding repetitive, but my offer still stands," I heard a somewhat deep rumble, though I only really took note of the end of that sentence.
"Hu?" I asked smoothly and looked up from my phone, still irritated by my mother.
"You really do not make this easy and make me seem like some insisting fool," he replied, almost laughingly. "The hotel? My offer still stands. Especially seeing as you will probably be a cube of ice by the time the flight leaves."
I looked at my phone that had buzzed a couple more times, saw it was a reply from my mother, and let out a sigh. What else was there to say? Hadn't she already said everything she could possibly say?
"I... um... I really appreciate your offer," I said, taking another good look at him and figuring he deserved my full attention. It was rude to have him stand in front of me, engaged in a conversation and then suddenly ignoring him by texting my mother.
There were only a few reasons I could give for not getting a room at this point, especially seeing as I really was freezing to death at this point. And at some point, pride was overruled by the principle of survival and what would it change if he learned that technically I wasn't able to afford a room?
"But?" he asked, and I needed to laugh.
"Truth be told? I can't really afford a hotel room. I am coming from a wedding that was way too expensive to be just a random guest and yet I'll probably be spending a good year paying that card statement off. So, as much as I would like to take you up on that offer for a cab ride, it would be pointless, since I can't afford an actual room right now."
I could tell he wasn't expecting my answer, or the honesty it went with. Probably set on fending off another excuse, he seemed at a loss what to do with my reply.
"Who gets married this time of year?" he asked, sounding astound and making me laugh in the progress. Interesting that this was what stuck out the most for him. Or maybe he didn't want to point out the obvious elephant in the room.
"Someone who wanted to reenact Disney's Frozen," I just commented dryly and saw him smile at my joke. "Though, joke aside, the wedding was in Vegas, so it wasn't as cold as it currently is here."
He just nodded and we fell into silence, which stretched on for a good while. At least, it felt like a while. It was he who spoke first, surprising me when he wasn't requesting his coat back. Which would have been my first thought.
"Not wanting to tempt you into fiscal irresponsibility, but is the fact that you really might freeze to death worth saving the hundred bucks a room might cost you?"
He had a point, especially when considering that I wasn't the most responsible person to begin with when it was about money. I had a whole lot of shoes in my closet to prove that point. Or clothes that had been worn only once and then never again because they were bought for a special occasion. A lot of special occasions.
I thought about his suggestion once more, as well as his comment about health versus a hundred-dollar bill, and finally agreed. Because he was right. In the long run, I'd probably be spending more than 100-dollars in doctor's visits just because I would overnight in a freezing terminal building.
"Let's go then. Hopefully we still find a place," I finally agreed. And a moment later, we were on our way to the taxi ranks and seemed to get lucky when we managed to get the last one available.
"Is it just me or does that snow seem to only increase with each mile we pass?" I asked, looking out the window and not seeing anything. At all. Just white flurry and nothing else. Not even whether the road was lined with anything, or the road, for that matter.
Instead of my companion's reply, the cab driver felt the need to answer. "Will only get worse. They said on the radio that this might be the worst blizzard in the past few decades."
"I'm sorry?" I asked, more shocked than anything. The worst blizzard in decades?
"They always say that, and, in the end, it doesn't come to it," I heard a remark to my right and wasn't sure whether it was said to simply comfort me in a way.
"I guess we'll see," I just stated, not sure what else there was to say. In the end, it wasn't like I could change things, anyway.
"I just realized that we never actually exchanged names. I'm Carlos," he said a moment later, offering me his hand in what seemed a rather unorthodox move. Judging by the looks I noticed from the cab driver through the rearview mirror, he thought so, too.
"I'm Stephanie," I eventually replied, laying my hand in his and noticing right away how warm it was. Seriously? He'd just been standing in the blistering cold in just a dress shirt and was like a portable heater, while I was draped in his coat and still felt like the Arctic would seem and feel like the Sahara right now.
About five minutes after we had left the airport, we pulled up in front of a hotel that didn't look like the usual motel-type places I was used to. It wasn't the Four Seasons either, but that wasn't what I had expected. It was a nice and decent looking hotel, which I would have probably expected to find in the countryside in Upstate New York and not anywhere in the middle of nowhere in North Dakota.
"Welcome to the Sunroof Hotel," we greeted by a cheerful receptionist before we had even managed to be fully inside the spacious lobby.
"We would need a room for the night since our flight got canceled," Carlos just stated matter-of-factly.
"Okay, let me just have a quick look at what I can do for you," she started and typed, staring tense into her screen. Not the best of signs… "I'm afraid we only have one more room available," the receptionist stated after a solid minute of frantic typing.
"Oh," I started as reply and at the same time registered Carlos saying firmly 'We'll take it," pushing a credit card over the counter a second later.
The receptionist typed some more, taking the card and asking us for some ID at the same time. Five minutes later, we were set up, presented with keycards for the room and given instructions how to find the room.
I didn't even register at that point that no one ever had spoken about or mentioned prices in general.
The room was on the top floor and when Carlos slid the keycard in the designated slot, opened the door and held it open for me to step in first, I realized that the top floor wasn't all that seemed to be top regarding this room.
Spacious, warm and airy, the huge floor-to-ceiling windows would flood the room in plenty of daylight – if it wasn't night. Smooth and very thick carpet was displayed throughout the entire room and just a few steps and me sinking into the plush carpet told me just how luxurious this was. A large TV mounted on the wall and something that looked like a workspace to one side and a larger table with chairs scattered around completed the room. My eyes drifted to the large and so inviting bed and stopped there, taking a moment to realize what was wrong.
It was just one bed. For two complete strangers. And there was no couch or something similar in sight. Sleeping arrangements would certainly be interesting.