Ski Lodge

19// Storm

We gather the supplies and leave the lodge. As we step outside a sharp chill smacks me in the face. We start slowly heading back to our townhouse. The snow is falling heavily at this point and visibility is really low. I'm struggling to see five feet in front of me.

Emmett is walking faster than I am, and I'm struggling to keep up. The bags in my hands start to fill with the falling snow and they get heavier and heavier around my wrists. My tears threaten to freeze a shell of salty water around my eyes and blind me.

I manage to blink the tears out of my eyes, and I can no longer see Emmett. He's too far ahead.

"Emmett! Emmett where are you?" I call out in the strong wind as the snow rushes past my face.

"I'm here!" A voice out in front of me calls. I stop because I can't figure out from which direction his voice is coming. I start to feel very turned around and disoriented. A bubble of stress pops inside my chest.

"Emmett?!" I cry out. "I'm scared!"

"Hold on! I'm coming." I hear his footsteps in the snow as he makes his way to me. I start to see his dark outline in the snowfall then he's standing right in front of me. I'm hyperventilating.

"I won't make it back! We're going to die!" I wheeze in between words.

"Come on, Trisha! We have to keep going," he yells against the wind; I can barely piece together what he is saying.

"We're going to die," I'm mumbling as I try to breathe. I can't feel the air. It's just snow entering my lungs which are tight with terror. I drop the bags of supplies and grasp my heart. It's beating so hard it feels like I'm having a heart attack.

"Trisha!" Emmett yells through the wind. "Trisha, look up! Look up at me!"

I can barely hear him. I hardly notice his presence.

"I'm so scared!" I'm practically screaming at this point.

Emmett grabs my chin in his mittened hands. He tilts it up so I'm forced to look into his brown eyes, which at this moment are filled with concern or maybe pity; it's so hard to tell through my anxious fog. Then his eyes flick down to my mouth. He steps forward, running into me, and then, he kisses me.

His lips are so soft and warm, and they melt the freezing snow that's been making my lips go numb. I try to ignore my pounding heart as I deepen the kiss, reaching my arms around his neck. He pulls me closer, and I noticed that he's unzipped his coat. He wraps the sides around me, and I feel his body heat, enclosed by the thick coat, wrap around me. His tongue plays at the opening of my lips, so I part them. As my lips relax, the rest of my muscles let go of a tension I didn't even know they were holding. My heart is still racing, but I can no longer feel it thumping in my toes. My mind goes blank as I feel his tongue tickle my teeth. He runs the tip over where I've been chewing my lips and holds me tighter as if he's trying to heal my top lip through a hug.

I let out a sigh through my nose as I feel my body relax into his. As soon as I've finished melting into him, he pulls away. He reaches down to pick up the bags in one hand, and he grabs my mitten in the other. "It's straight ahead," he says as he pulls me towards the townhouse.

Once inside, my mom hugs me, and Emmett's mom hugs him. They apologize for letting us go out into the storm, but I can barely hear what they're saying. I just need to sit down. My body feels faint either from the panic attack or the kiss. My hands and feet are numb. I slip into a trance on the couch; the last thing I hear is my mom yelping from the kitchen and footsteps running towards me.