I'm hoping I finish the next arc by the time the one ends so I could continue updating weekly, but odds are not in my favour.

Winter Wonderland: Part Seven

Group Chat - Captain Thorne's Crew
Members: Captain Thorne, Cinder, Cress, Jacin, Kai, Scarlet, Winter, Wolf

Wolf: Scarlet's car stopped driving. She's stuck in the snow somewhere on the way to the farm.

Jacin: Better than being stuck at France's border.

Captain Thorne: I WILL DIG OUT MY SNOWPLOW. THIS IS AN EMERGENCY.

Kai: Scarlet's doomed.

Cinder: Wait, hold on. Meet at our place. I have an idea. It's better than your snowplow.

Captain Thorne: I'm offended.

Cress: If anyone's driving, please pick me up. I'm not driving in this.

Captain Thorne: You can ride in my snowplow.

[chat goes silent]

Jacin: I hate this chat.

-o-

Winter cheers in the garage as Cinder digs through all the stuff in it. A lot of it was outdoor supplies they've never touched or knew existed. The previous owner of their house left behind some yard supplies since they were moving into a condominium so they had no use for them anymore.

They're bundled up for the blizzard. Hats, scarves, mittens, boots, all of it. Cinder was rummaging through the garage for something she swore she saw when they moved in. During her early days in Commonwealth, she often roamed around the house to see what it was like.

"We're going out in a blizzard!" Winter exclaims.

Cinder nearly falls back, pulling out a snowplow attachment for cars from behind a rack of rakes. The plow punches her in the gut and she's winded, gasping for air as Winter rushes to help her.

"I hate the snow," Cinder grumbles as she figures out how to attach it to her car. She hopes this plan works or else she'll never hear the end of it from Thorne and his snowplow.

Winter cheers once the plow extension clicks into place. The girls look up and see Levana wearing her usual expression towards them: disgusted confusion.

"Now what are you two up to?" Levana asks, taking a few steps into the garage. Her eyes go back and forth between the girls and the makeshift snowplow.

Cinder and Winter look at each other before shrugging identically.

Levana doesn't even try as she walks back into the house. "Fine. Don't tell me."

-o-

Thorne was down for a snow day rescue mission. He didn't want to be useless and be the hero as much as he can and more. Since his snowplow was having a snow day of its own, he threw a shovel into the trunk with some snacks since they might be a while.

It took him an extra ten minutes to drive to Cress's house but she was walking down the driveway when he was pulling up. He leans to the side and across the gear shift to open the passenger door and she climbs in.

Cress groans as she adjusts to the heat in the car. She readjusts her scarf before glancing at him. He's looking at her with a playful grin.

"What?" Cress asks.

"We could take some time and show up late," Thorne suggests. He reaches over and holds her gloved hand. "Blame the snow. Scarlet will be fine."

Cress smiles, pursing her lips together as she looks down. Thorne's bare hand holding her glove, his thumb circling her palm. It's almost like he's holding her real hand. When she looks back up at him, she's tempted to blame the snow but pulls her hand back.

"No, we're freezing out in the farms because friendship," Cress states. It sounds like she's scolding him and neither of them saw that coming.

"Yes, ma'am," Thorne says, starting to drive. "By the way, Crescent Moon, that was hot."

Cress smiles, feeling her cheeks burn up. Suddenly it's too hot for her and she wants to take off her jacket or open a window. "Blame the snow."

-o-

Kai walks out of his room zipping up his jacket when hearing the twins running around the living room makes him realize something. Spades … he'll have to reserve some change for the swear jar. The twins are here. He's watching them. He can't leave nor could he bring them.

He misses the days when it was just him and his dad because if his dad was at work, he could leave without asking. He would just text his dad and, most of the time, his dad would be okay with it. Even when his dad would be at home, he was pretty lenient on letting him go out. Asking Torin or Mallory for permission was still weird for him to do but they were generous. Their rules were the same as his father's: don't do anything stupid and come home by curfew.

But now when he's alone with the twins since he couldn't leave them by themselves.

Kai's thinking of a plan but is relieved when he hears the front door open. Thank the stars! Kai walks over and sees Mallory arriving, fresh from the snow as the twins bounce around excited to see her back so early.

"My last appointment cancelled due to the storm so I called it a day," Mallory tells Kai since she could read the question on his face. She notices him dressed for the weather. "Where do you think you're going in this weather?"

"Uh, my friend had car trouble," Kai responds.

"Your girlfriend's the mechanic."

Skylar tugs on her mother's coat. "His girlfriend's his sugar mama."

Alarmed, Mallory looks down at her daughter. "Hey, don't say that. We'll talk about it later." She looks back at Kai. "Don't do anything ridiculous. Are you driving?"

"No." Kai glances outside and sees a car pull up. "My friend's here."

Everyone peeks out as Wolf steps out of the car and heads up the driveway. Usually, he would've waited in the car and texted Kai, which he probably did, but Kai didn't see since he was distracted with his potential plan and Mallory coming home. Before he knocks, Kai opens the door and Wolf smiles at everyone staring at him.

"Oh, uh, ma'am," Wolf says to Mallory.

"Hi," she responds.

Wolf looks down at the twins. "Hi girls."

The twins say nothing back because they're preoccupied looking at Wolf. Their eyes were wide in awe and lips parted in shock as they look up at him. Wolf glances at Kai who's embarrassed and Mallory who's grinning. She can recognize when her little girls have an instant crush and so can Kai. The only difference is Mallory finds it sweet and adorable whereas Kai finds it strange. He isn't sure if Wolf caught up but his snarky smirk says otherwise.

"Oh spades…" Kai mutters. He wonders if he should tell Scarlet two little girls were staring at her man.

Without taking their eyes off Wolf, the twins point at the swear jar for Kai. Instead, he pulls out five univs for them each to pay his debt. He's the only source of money for that jar since, even when he's talking on the phone in his room, someone in the house still hears him curse. Kai believes the twins sit outside his door keeping tally.

"Don't wait for me to eat. I don't know how long it'll be," Kai tells Mallory. He looks at Wolf to see if he'd answer with a time range and he shrugs.

"Mommy, why does Kai have pretty friends?" Skylar whispers loudly to her mom.

"Okay, time to go!" Kai exclaims, stepping out of the house. "I'll see you later."

Wolf laughs. "See you."

The boys are quiet as they head down the driveway. Kai glances over at Wolf and sees him grinning, knowing why and he hates it.

"You're an adorable big brother," Wolf says, stifling a laugh.

"Shut up," Kai responds.