Love Like Winter ❄️ Xavier Thorpe

Chapter 3: Your Love is Electric

Soundtrack:

"Cemetery Weather" by Isles and Glaciers
"1 Thing (ft. Kellin Quinn)" by Sophie Powers
"Swim" by Chase Atlantic
"Nonsense" by Sabrina Carpenter

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So, Xavier and I stay the night in his art studio shed. We watch another horror movie, and then stay up most of the night talking. At one point, he pulls out his sketch book and starts drawing me.

"Very impressive," I say when he shows me the drawing.

By the time 8:00 in the morning rolls around, I'm exhausted and I can tell Xavier is too. "Should we go back to our dorms and actually sleep?"

He smirks. "I think I slept pretty well, I got a whole 2 hours."

"Xavier ..."

"Okay, fine. I'll walk with you to make sure you get there safe," he says while pushing the futon back under the table.

I'm pretty groggy but also filled with happy thoughts and feelings from spending all night with Xavier even though all we really did was talk. On the walk back to my dorm, we don't say much. By the time we get there, I'm dreading him going away. This is the needy clingy shit Wednesday called me out on.

He takes both of my hands in his and looks into my eyes. "So, I had a great time last night. I never actually invite people into my art studio, let alone have sleepovers in there."

And he just unknowingly quiets my anxiety brain from last night thinking he'd had tons of other girls in there before me. "I had a great time too. Can we ...do that again sometime?"

"Anytime at all, Princess." He kisses the top of my head and smiles before we go our separate ways.

I carefully climb the stairs up to my dorm and want nothing more than to crawl into my bed. As soon as I open the door, Enid greets me suspiciously.

"So, where were you all night, Anna? With Xavier?" She tries to contain her giggling.

I nod. "I'm super exhausted though, Enid. I didn't do much sleeping."

She squeals. "Oh. My. God. You have to tell me everything!"

I hear Wednesday groan from her corner of the room.

"We mostly just watched movies and talked honestly," I say.

"You didn't even kiss?" Enid asks, quite disappointed.

I don't know how to explain to her that the sensual tension between us is thick enough to be cut with a knife. "I mean, we cuddled and he kissed my head this morning before we parted ways."

Enid shrugs. "I'm still happy for you! I'm just surprised because Ajax and me are always all over each other and we have to go behind buildings just to make out. You guys have a whole shed to yourselves."

"Enid, you sound jealous. Would you really want to hang out in a shed in the middle of the woods, at night? Surrounded by paintings of the monster?" Wednesday asks.

"Well, no, I guess not."

"Exactly, and ..." she is off by her phone dinging and her whole face falls after she reads what's on the screen. "I have to go. Don't follow me."

Enid and I look at each other and shrug. "I'm going to go hang out with Ajax and let you get some rest. Maybe you and Xavier can double date sometime with us!"

I nod in agreement before climbing into my bed and falling into sleep.

The next few months come and go very quickly. Xavier and I had most of our classes together and when we weren't in class, we're usually in his shed hanging out. One night, he suggests we play Pictionary, even though it isn't exactly fair since he's literally an artist and can make his art come to life.