Love Like Winter ❄️ Xavier Thorpe

Chapter 5: Sound Sleeping and Weird Wednesdays

Soundtrack:

"Want You Like That" by Charlotte Sands
"Couple of Kids" by Maggie Lindemann
"it's quiet in beverly hills" by YUNGBLUD
"The Waltz" by Never Shout Never

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The next morning, I accidentally oversleep and am woken up by knocking on my door followed by Xavier shouting, "Hey, Sleeping Beauty, are you joining civilization today?"

I groggily jump out of bed and nearly fall over. "Shit, sorry, Xavier! You can come in."

Xavier opens the door and looks me up and down. "I sincerely hope you're putting pants on before we go to class. I mean, I don't mind you without pants but ..."

I roll my eyes and giggle before going and wrapping my arms around his neck, pulling him close to me. His arms snake around my waist and I bury my face in his chest.

"God, you're beautiful," he whispers in my ear, sending a shiver down my spine.

It's way too early for him to be saying things that make my knees weak, but here he is, doing exactly that.

I pull back so I can look in his eyes. "As much as I want to stay here with you, like this, we have to go to class. Plus, if anyone catches you up here, we'll both be screwed."

He sighs and kisses my nose. "I know, I know."

I walk over to my closet and found my Nevermore uniform while Xavier stands by the door. I pull my skirt on and then quickly turn around and change into the dress shirt, sweater vest, and blazer that are customary for Nevermore. I slip my feet into my converses and head back over to Xavier who is waiting by the door.

"Ready, Princess?" He asks while giving me his hand.

I clasp my hand with his and nod. We are already super late and there's so much I want to tell him about what happened last night, but it's going to have to wait until after our botanical sciences class.

Wednesday is at her desk next to Enid, like usual, so she must have came back to the dorm at some point last night, unbeknownst to me. She looks like her mind is on another planet. The teacher holds up a potted plant and asks the class if anyone can tell her what it is called. The room is dead silent.

"Wednesday?" She asks.

Wednesday looks up, startled. "Oh. Uh, that's Darlingtonia Californica, the cobra lily."

"Very good! Now, can anyone tell me what makes this plant different from most other carnivorous plants?" She asks, scanning the room.

I'm sure she expects Wednesday to answer, but she is zoned out again. Normally, it was a battle between Bianca and Wednesday to see who knew the most about plants, but with Bianca missing and Wednesday ... being weird, the questions are up for anyone's grab.

Divina raises her hand. "It doesn't produce a digestive enzyme and uses bacteria to break down its prey?"

The teacher is pleased and continues to spend the next hour talking about the wonders of carnivorous and poisonous plants. When class is over, Xavier asks me if I want to go with him to search the woods by his studio to see if there's any other clues as to where Bianca went. Divina and Kent come along as well.

We spend the next few hours searching but find nothing. "Why don't you guys go keep checking your usual hangout spots? Anna and I are going to go into town, grab some coffee, ask around."

The two of them nod and head back towards school. "We are?" I ask Xavier once they it's.

"Not exactly. I mean, we definitely can, but after we go see Weems about Bianca," Xavier says.