Flowers

Chapter 2: Alstroemeria

Ardell jolts, surprised by the noise. The knife clatters to the floor as Ardell takes a few deep breaths. What the hell is he doing, getting a knife? There's no way this person is a serial killer. Is Ardell stupid? Too many true-crime podcasts apparently. Maybe he should stop listening to those-

Another knock. Oh yeah, Ardell should open the door. He forgets about the knife and walks over to the door in a few quick steps. His hand grips the cold golden doorknob. He opened it, immediately seeing two people on his front porch. One was a tall woman, wearing a fluffy black jacket and hiking boots. The other was a man, a little taller than Ardell. He had straight light brown hair that was wet from snow, and he was wearing a red t-shirt and black sweatpants. Not quite clothes you should wear hiking, in Ardell's not-professional opinion. But to each their own. But these two obviously weren't a threat.

The woman was holding the man up, and he was limp against her. Uh... is he okay? His skin is super pale as well. The woman breathes an audible sigh of relief, taking a few steps closer. She started speaking, much too fast and disorganised to be comprehensible. Something about the man stumbling into her camp and passing out.

"Slow down, what?" Ardell said after listening to her quick rambling for a few moments.

"I think he has frostbite!" She says, almost cutting Ardell off. He quickly moves over and she rushes in, dropping the possibly unconscious man on the couch. Ardell doesn't really have time to be offended, like he usually would - and should - be. He kneels next to the man and inspects him more carefully. His fingertips and ears aren't red, so not frostbite. He's pale, cold, and shivering. Hypothermia maybe?

Okay, so this is a bonafide emergency. Ardell has had hypothermia before, and this looks exactly like it. Well, not exactly, but you know what I mean. Similar. The first step is to get him out of the wet clothes, right? The woman grabs a blanket from Ardell's bed and he feels a pang of annoyance. No matter. She tries to drape it over the unconscious man, but Ardell doesn't let her.

"Wait, he needs out of the wet clothes first. Go turn up the thermostat." Ardell directs. She nods and runs over to the front door, where the thermostat controller is. Ardell takes a deep breath and closes his eyes, taking off the cold man's wet shirt and pants, then immediately covering him with the blanket. Ardell doesn't want to see this guy shirtless.

"Is he okay?" The woman says. Ardell puts a hand over the unconscious man's mouth. He's breathing, and pretty steadily at that. That's... that's good.

"Uh... probably. I think." Ardell sits on the coffee table and takes a deep breath. Okay. So there are two strangers in his home. One of them may be dying. This is fine. A moment of silence.

"I'm Anika, by the way." The woman - Anika, I guess - says awkwardly. Nice to know the name of the woman who pretty much barged into his house. And, yes, Ardell is salty about that.

"My name's Ardell." He replies after a moment of silence. Another awkward moment of silence. Ardell checks the unconscious man's temperature. Not quite as cold, but he'll keep an eye on it.

"Uh... he is okay, right?" Anika mumbles. God, even Ardell knows it's awkward, and he's the worst at reading rooms.

"Indeed. He'll be fine." Ardell stares down at the man, fully taking him in now. His ashen brown hair is longer all around, just below his chin. Now that his warmth is back and Ardell's hand is - regrettably - still on his forehead, Ardell can see the man's skin is darker than Ardell's and sunkissed. That is an accomplishment, with them being so far North. The unconscious man has one hearing aid in his ear.

This time, Ardell doesn't notice the awkward air. Anika shuffles her feet where she's sitting. She's definitely feeling the awkwardness. It takes Ardell a good few moments to notice her expression, and he panics a bit. His home is not prepared for guests, and he's not mentally prepared to deal with interaction - especially with strangers.

Now, Ardell thought he was good at masking those feelings, but Anika noticed. Even worse, he thinks, someone who can read others well. Disregarding all his initial expectations, she chuckles warmly. "It's okay, dude." She says, seeing Ardell's confusion, "I'm not here to judge you or anything. Relax."

Ardell didn't notice he was so stiff until his shoulders relaxed and he exhaled a breath he had subconsciously been holding. He, finally, moved his hand from the man's forehead. That had definitely been there too long. But for once, he doesn't feel that all-encompassing embarrassment of not noticing a seemingly obvious thing. Despite himself, a smile spreads on his face.

Anika stands and shivers a bit. Her clothes are wet from all the snow. She probably doesn't have hypothermia like the man who is - annoyingly - still asleep on Ardell's couch.

"Um... you should go take a shower. Some of my friend's clothes are lying around, I'll look for them." Ardell stands as well and starts looking around for some of Junebug's clothes. They always leave stuff around when they stay over.

Anika smiles and nods, then speaks, "Thank you. Where's the bathroom?"

Ardell perks up and takes a few steps over to Anika's side. "Follow me," he says as he starts to walk away. She is much taller than him, it's a little embarrassing. He has to take two steps to match one of hers. He takes two towels out of the storage closet and opens the bathroom door for Anika. Ardell immediately second-guesses himself. Was that weird? Is that a normal thing people do? He doesn't have guests, and it shows.

"Thank you." Anika bows her head in a graceful motion, then walks into the bathroom. She shuts and locks the door behind her. Ardell stands there for a good few seconds before walking back to the living room.

The unconscious man - Ardell really needs to get this guy's name - is still knocked out. Whiskers is curled up on top of him. That's weird, Ardell sits down on the coffee table and just stares at him, not even processing that this is probably really creepy. Maybe he just doesn't care. Either or. Ardell gets lost in his mind, so he doesn't even process the fact that the man is starting to stir.

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