Inside Outside

1. Slippery Beginning

This is BeatriceButterfly, only one of the PsychoSisters. Hope you enjoy the first part of my story! :D Please comment!

POV: Arie

“They did what?” I rhetorically asked Aphrodite. “I mean like….”

“Aria, just ‘cause you’ve been completely sheltered from the male race your entire life does not mean that you have the right to never accept their Naturality.” Aphrodite giggled, “It seems normal for them to pee on the frickin’ fire to put it out.”

“But we only just roasted your mom’s organic crap marshmallows--which were surprisingly good-- when your brother unzipped!” I exclaimed.

“McKenna was the only one still below the deck, and she didn’t seem to care. She was too distracted by the snow stains on her new boots.” Aphie rolled her eyes at that. Yes, she was quite the fashionista herself, but never to the point of snobbishness.

“Fine, but you’ll never catch me doing that,” I said, now putting in my killer dumb-girl-but-slightly-serious question, “It’s not a tradition for girls is it?” James couldn’t help it anymore; this conversation was so awkward that no boy could help. Aphie had given me a lonely look when I had snuggled onto his chest and rested my legs on his for protection. Only as she starting defending her nutjob family's traditional manhood though. James didn’t move to push me off like I had expected for being my fallback. Rather he just sheltered me from Aphrodite’s glare while his chest shook from hysteria. 

“You guys want to go out in the snow?” James enthusiastically asked, ending the dispute he had had no part in. 

“Ugh… why?! It’s so cold ‘n’ wet.” Aphrodite complained, knowing she would end up outside of the huge cozy cabin. I suppose she could have gone downstairs with everyone else, but for some reason the usual group nonsense was not desirable.

“C’mon Aphie, it’s just like singing in the rain gutters, but like… not!” Back at home we found nighttime pleasure in exploring the woodland neighborhood. My eyes were bulging. Moments before I’d been practically asleep, but here was the tenth second wind. How can anyone stay calm with so much to be bouncy about? James had already gotten up. Surprisingly I hadn’t even noticed, too distracted by being out of breath attempting to excite Aphie.

“Here’s your coat Arie, I’m pretty sure the dog slept on it…” James’s grin was huge when handing over my black pea coat with white buttons and lining. I looked over to Aphie who was petting the shedding beast.

“Let’s drag him out, you can sqish him for warmth,” I said while tossing a silly look at Aphroditie. She seemed content with this, pulling on her second boot over her reindeer toe sock.

We had to sneak out the front door because Aphrodite’s Mom and Dad, the chaperones, had already gone to bed upstairs, and a few of our friends were making cocoa in the open kitchen down the hall. This was one of those days when I wished desperately that doors would close without the classic bang. We made it through, after the extremely slow pulling of the doorhandle, and walked out into the pitch black driveway. It led onto either a winding icy road or into the woods.

I minded that I stayed extremely close to James for protection, I could never deny the fact that I’m quite a wussie in the dark. After turning my head multiple times around to check that no serial killers were lurking behind, I grabbed James's arm, and was shocked by how hard it was. "Maybe I should clutch onto guys instead of squishy girls more often," I thought while grinning to myself.

Finally we settled down on the remains of an old oak tree, scraping off the newly fallen white first. Looking a little to mine and James's left, I could see the moonlight in the frozen lake. I stayed huddled up to James, my head on his arm, since I was too short for his shoulder. In the meantime Aphrodite settled in the Y of a tree on the other side of us. We weren't leaving her alone. She had her oversized puppy for woodland-serial-killer protection.