Open Windows, Open Hearts

Bonus Chapter: Body Heat

Refusing the let the storm defeat her, Lisa clicked the notch for the windshield wipers, causing them to speed up, which helped her see a little bit easier. The snow was pummeling down as she carefully navigated the icy streets. It was Christmas Eve and Lisa and Chaeyoung were on their way to celebrate with their family and friends at Chaeyoung's mom's house. Even Lisa's parents agreed to attend, having eventually warmed up to her relationship with Chaeyoung, though they didn't have much of an excuse not to go since they lived right next door to Sandara.

It was a five-hour drive from their apartment in New York City to the suburbs of DC, where Chaeyoung grew up. Normally, Lisa could make the drive in under four hours, but the snow on this Christmas Eve has been brutal and with Chaeyoung in the passenger seat, Lisa was carrying precious cargo. They had gotten a late start, having spent most the of the morning and afternoon bickering about trivial things like how to pack the car properly with all the gifts and goodies they were bringing. Lisa nagged Chaeyoung about her inability to get anywhere on time after putting off wrapping the gifts, then insisting they be wrapped perfectly a half hour after they were already supposed to be on the road.

Chaeyoung was on Lisa's case about being grumpy and complaining that her parents were going to be there tonight. It was Sandara's idea to invite them and Chaeyoung agreed it was a nice idea, insisting to Lisa that they really did seem to change and want to be more involved in their daughter's life.
Normally, Lisa wouldn't have an issue with it, but she wanted tonight to be perfect, which was also why she had to apologize for being harsh to Chaeyoung about wanting to get there on time. Part of her grumpiness was because she wanted to avoid driving in the incoming blizzard. The other part was because she knew how much Chaeyoung loved Christmas and wanted her to have the perfect holiday. After realizing how stupid she was being, she made Chaeyoung a cup of hot chocolate and brought it to her while she was putting the finishing touches on wrapping the gifts. Chaeyoung happily accepted it and said that since she apologized, Lisa would no longer be getting a lump of coal for Christmas.

All was good between them now. Not that it wasn't always good. Sure, they would argue sometimes. Voices would raise and tempers would flair, but it was never over anything big and once they realized how dumb the arguments were, they would end up laughing about it.

Kissing and making up was something they did very well. Today just happened to be a bit of a stressful one for both of them.

They were not too far from their destination when "Christmas Wrapping" by The Waitresses came on the radio. Chaeyoung started absentmindedly singing along as she ran her fingers along the back of Lisa's neck, making her feel a bit more relaxed. Lisa smiled at the sight of the blanket across Chaeyoung's legs. Even with the heater on, she was perpetually cold.

"Keep that heater going. The snow is really coming down now," Lisa remarked as Chaeyoung tried massaging her shoulder a bit.

"Should we pull over for a while?"

"Eh...I think it'll be ok. I just want to get there."

"There's like zero visibility. Maybe we should wait it out for a little while."

Lisa contemplated Chaeyoung's suggestion. It really was getting more and more difficult to see, but she didn't want to be any later than they already were. It was almost 7pm and they were supposed to be there an hour ago.

"Well, let's just see if we can drive through it. It's bound to calm down in a few minutes."

She could see Chaeyoung nodding through her peripheral as her hands gripped the steering wheel tighter and her foot eased off the accelerator just a bit. Chaeyoung turned the heater up another notch and continued running her fingers along Lisa's neck.