Comfy Closets - Chapter 14: Chapter 14

Pulling up the collar of the thick hoodie to cover my nose, I shuffled along to the entrance as I fought against the chilling winds whipping around me. Autumn was definitely coming to a close as Winter gladly took its place. Shame, I really did like hoodie season. Now it was 'wear ten layers over your body' season.
As I leaned my weight on the heavy door, it opened with a firm nudge, and a gust of warm air rushed over me to escape into the wind behind. I quickly scuttled in like a penguin would to a warm rookery. Letting the doors slam shut behind me, I rubbed my sensitive nose against the oversized sleeve, glad it didn't freeze and just fall off.
It's been two weeks since the gossip about Leah and Blake broke out, and as expected, it was soon replaced with something juicier. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't keeping track of it. I just so happened to have a friend who updates me on all the gossip, even when I don't ask for it. Thanks, Camilla.
I walked to my locker and let my mind wander like it usually did this early in the morning. A smile unconsciously crept onto my face as I thought back to the events of the past couple of weeks. I have been spending quite some time talking to Leah since the dinner, whether it be face to face or through texts. Conversation flowed naturally between us, and the best thing was that I didn't feel like I needed to force myself to say anything to fill in a silence.
As you could tell, I was really excited about this blooming friendship, because it wasn't every day you found someone you just clicked with, y' know?
I snapped out of my mind's bumbling when I reached my locker, only then realizing that Ashton was already standing there with Zach and Gia by him, waiting for me. I felt my heart warm seeing these guys, their thoughtful little gestures that made me feel appreciated and wanted not going unnoticed. It's what made them the best friends in the world, and why we've stuck together and will continue to for a long time. We show the people important to us that we value them. It was that simple.
I stepped up to them and gave them a happy grin, already loving the start to my day. "Hey, guys!" They returned my greeting with smiles and hi's and continued their conversation about Disney movies while I went to get my books from my locker.
As for Zach, Gia and I have been able to spend more time with him and really get to know him, and as Ash said before, he was a pretty cool and funny guy. On first impression, I thought he was going to become like one of the dudes, a jerk who didn't care about school and would hurt others just get a laugh out of his friends. But no, I've found that he was kind, respectful and all-round someone who seemed to have his head on right.
Although, he did stick around with Ashton more than us as a group, but we were planning to go out together tonight to have some fun, so we'll see how it goes.
I only tuned into the conversation when Gia started getting heated. "No! Moana was a GOOD movie! She's an adventurer, can control the sea, and has wicked singing. Tell me that isn't what you define as good," she heatedly listed, crossing her arms as she glared at Ashton.
"Okay, yes. All that is good, but if you're comparing THAT to Frozen, there isn't a competition. I mean, they have Olaf," he emphasized with an eyebrow raise.
Suddenly, she lost some of her conviction. "W-well, well uh, they h-have that rooster! Hei-Hei!" she exclaimed, trying to save herself from her predictable loss, but even to me, it didn't sound convincing.
I looked to Zach then to see what he thought, and he only shook his head at the childishness of this debate.
"Mmhmm," was all Ash said, looking smug at his win.
Gia, not someone who accepted defeat easily, turned to us for help instead. "Guys, what do you think? Moana is the better movie, right?"
"Honestly, I prefer Tangled, the one with Rapunzel in it," I stated casually as I closed my locker door.
"That one is a really good one, but I prefer Toy Story. That's my favourite," Zach chipped in. "Can't beat a classic."
Gia had a look of feigned betrayal on her face, her mouth agape in horror. "You people have no appreciation for the art of way-finding, crab singing or demon-turning-into-Gaea miracles. I am disappointed in you people," she huffed dramatically as she turned her back to us. Classic Gia move.
Laughter erupted between the three of us as we successfully put her in her place. "Anyways, what were we planning on doing tonight? It better be good, because damn it, we still have school tomorrow," Ashton cursed, groaning softly.
"I was thinking a movie sounds good?" Zach suggested.
Gia turned back around and scrunched up her face in distaste. "Eh. We could do better than that."
I lit up as an idea popped up. "Oh, what about ice-skating?" I said excitedly, bouncing in my spot.
"Yes! I haven't done that in ages," Gia exclaimed, whilst the boys seemed less enthusiastic.
Suddenly, someone spoke up behind, startling me to a bouncing stop. "Hey, Lyssa! What's this about skating?"
I turned to face the newcomer, my heart doing a couple of somersaults with the knowledge of her presence. "Hi Leah," I said breathily, trying to keep my cool.
Wearing a grey knitted beanie on her head, she went to fix it cutely as she gave me a small, genuine smile. As she went to look at the others, I felt my heart miss her warm gaze and attention immediately. "Hey, you guys. What's up?" That was Leah Bennett, so casually and seamlessly entering a conversation like it was nothing out of the norm.
The others looked surprised at the interruption, but continued on, nonetheless. Gia had a mischievous smile on her face. The sly bugger was up to something, no doubt.
She decided to be the one to address her question. "We were just thinking of going out tonight for some fun." Her smile turned into a grin then. "Oh! You can join us if you want. It's gonna be such a good time!" she emphasized, slyly winking my way. I could practically hear her say 'I'm doing you a favour, homie'.
I internally groaned at her lack of subtlety but didn't go against the idea. Combing a hand through my brunette strands, I glanced Leah's way, hoping I didn't look too hopeful.
She nodded her head slowly, thinking the idea over. "Yeah, sounds fun. I don't have anything to do," she finally said. "Was it skating you were planning on doing?"
My stomach filled with butterflies then, now nervous but also very excited for tonight. Gia started bouncing up and down with excitement. "Yep! Ice-skating. I can't wait!"
"Gee, it's Winter now, so let's go hang out at a place that's just as cold. Sounds SO fun!" Ashton sarcastically mocked, his tone flat and lacking all the enthusiasm Gia had.
Gia retaliated with a resoluteness to her tone. "Nope. It's been decided. We're going ice-skating. But next time, I'll let you decide what we do," she added towards the end just to appease a pouting Ash.
"Well, okay. That's settled, so I'm gonna head to class before Mr Newman kills me. Come on, Ash, let's go," Zach prompted as he broke away from our little circle.
Gia shouldered her bag higher as she too got ready to go. "Alright, I'll see you guys at lunch!" Before she went to move away, she paused and put her hand up as a way to say 'hold up', directing her gaze to Leah. "Wait! I have a question. What's the best Disney movie? Moana, right?"
Leah contemplated for a second before she found her answer. "No, I prefer Inside Out. Just hits you in the feels, y' know?"
"DAMN IT!" was the last thing Gia said before she turned and stomped away.
I turned to look at Leah then, a nervous smile tilting the corners of my lips. "So... A group hang, huh? I'm surprised you agreed," I said as I started to walk in the direction of my first class.
Leah followed in step by my side. I was surprised she wasn't surrounded by her friends for once, but I wasn't complaining. I liked it when it was just the two of us. At that thought, the butterflies just doubled in amount.
"Yeah, well, I think it'd be a nice opportunity to get to know your friends. And, I get to be with you. That's enough reason for me to join."
Her grin just then melted me into a puddle. I don't think I could handle this much cuteness.
Trying to play it off, I rolled my eyes and chuckled. "That was so cheesy."
She laughed along as she nodded in acknowledgement. "I hope you like cheese then, because there's a lot more of that to come," she promised, a glint lighting up her gorgeous hazel eyes.
I felt a light blush stain my cheeks, a reaction that has been happening more often in her presence than anyone else's. "Don't worry, I'm loving it already."
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I came to a stop in front of the familiar house, a place where I have spent countless sleepovers at and consider as my second home.
Beeping my car horn to let her know I've arrived, I continued to rock out to the bop that was playing from the car speakers. As I was in the middle of my rap solo, the passenger door opened to let the shivering red-head in.
"Damn, it's freezing. I don't like Winter..." Gia groaned as her trembling hands gravitated towards the heater.
I started the car up and headed to Leah's place, humming in agreement as I continued to mumble the rap lyrics under my breath.
We arrived five minutes later, by which in that span of time, Gia had managed to take over the music and started playing some old country song just to annoy me. I stole my phone back and sent a quick text to Leah, then quickly changed the music to something more soothing to the ear. Like Sia.
As Gia complained about her unappreciated music tastes, a hazel-eyed girl opened the door to the back seats and started rubbing her gloved hands together after putting on her seatbelt. "H-hi you t-two."
"You alright? I'll turn up the heat for you," I said, furrowing my brows concernedly.
"Thanks, Lys."
Gia chose to make a comment then. "Yeah, she'll definitely turn up the heat for you," she mumbled so only I could hear. She then made her next comment a bit louder. "It's getting hot in here, isn't it?"
A gave her a split-second glare of warning before turning back to the road, but I think Leah caught the innuendo when I looked into the rear-view mirror to see she was playfully smirking back.
The redhead then proceeded to take control of the music again and started playing 'Hot in Herre' by Nelly. I couldn't possibly have become any redder after that.
We arrived at the place in no time and was met by the boys near the entrance inside the mall that held the skating centre.
Ashton was huddling into his thick puffer jacket, hands in his pockets as a scarf was wrapped around the lower half of his face. "I hope you guys are all layered up because it's already freezing just standing by the rink. Whose stupid idea was this again, by the way?"
Gia turned defensive at that. "Oh, shut up. You'll love it after ten minutes. Now, what are we standing around for? Let's go!"
I walked by the dirty blonde's side as we went to rent ice-skates. "So, you know how to skate?"
"Kind of?" she said unsurely. "I haven't done it since I was seven, so I'm not that confident in my skating abilities right now," she mentioned sheepishly.
"No worries. I'll help you relearn it in no time," I said, nudging her shoulder playfully.
"Alright, I'm trusting you then. You better not let me fall on my ass," she warned humorously.
We got our skates and quickly put them on, eager to get on the ice. I wobbled to the entrance of the rink with Leah and glided onto the ice with no hesitation.
Noticing that she hadn't followed, I looked back to see her eyes wides as she gripped the sides of the rink, standing only a meter away from the entrance.
"Oops, I got you. I got you," I said skating back and gently nudging her upright with my palm on her lower back.
"Yeah, I think I've lost all the skills from before," she quipped nervously as she tried to keep her balance.
I smiled reassuringly at that. "It's alright. Hold onto me, I won't let you fall."
Her hold on the rink slowly loosened, as she placed her hands one by one into each of my palms.
"Okay, good. Now slowly slide forward. One foot at a time," I gently coaxed. It felt like no one else was around us. All my attention was focused on her as she concentrated hard, the pressure of her hands not letting up the entire time.
We did this until we've gone around and reached the other side of the rink. "I think I'm getting the hang of this now."
Smiling at that, although also internally wishing for this to last longer, I slowly and reluctantly let her hands go. "Alright, you've got this," I encouraged.
She skated a couple more meters with me still skating backwards. "Hey! I've got it!" she exclaimed, lifting her hands up in celebration as joy shone in her eyes.
Suddenly, she started skidding forward a little too fast, crashing into me with a yelp. "EEEEP!"
I couldn't stop the momentum of her body, falling backwards with horror. My butt thumped on the ice first, with my hands thankfully there to soften the blow. However, with Leah's weight landing on top of me, I still ended up being pushed to lay down on the freezing ice, my head bumping off it slightly.
"Damn. My butt hurts," I groaned as I laid there trying to recover from that fall.
"Oh my god! I'm so sorry! Are you alright?" the blonde asked frantically as she quickly scrambled off of me to kneel by my side.
"Yep. I think I'm alright. It's just my butt," I chuckled lightly as I tried to brush the pain off. As I sat up slowly, I felt her hand support my back, letting it stay there even after. "I told you, I wouldn't let you fall on your ass," I said jokingly, taking in a deep breath to calm myself and clear the dizziness that suddenly flared up.
"Are you sure? We can sit out for a while," she suggested reasonably.
"No, really, I'm okay. Just need to catch my breath," I reassured with a smile.
A person skated up to us, and I realised it was Ash with a crease of worry on his forehead. "You alright, Aly? I saw what happened."
"I'm fine guys, really. Let's continue skating, yeah?" I tried to convince them. They looked unsurely at each other, but just sighed and helped me up as each of them pulled my held-out hands.
After making sure I was okay, Ash went on skating, leaving Leah alone with me again. "I'm really sorry, Lyssa. Maybe I should hold onto you for a little while longer," she suggested. "You know, just so we can prevent any more accidents from me."
I got the feeling it wasn't all because of that but happily agreed, nonetheless. Delightedly, even.
For the rest of the time spent skating, she kept her hands in the palms of mine or on my coat-covered shoulders, with mines occasionally resting on her waist. Just to steady her of course. Obviously.
I noticed that Zach and Gia were skating together for the most part. Gia did mention before that she was kind of attracted to him, and I could definitely see why. I mean, if you found a guy who was willing to talk about Disney movies without becoming a tad embarrassed, I'd say keep him.
Soon, Ash left the rink to rest and the other two followed. I motioned Leah to look too, and she agreed to leave with a nod of her head.
We all returned the rented skates and went about to look for food in this gigantic mall. Settling for the food court since they all couldn't decide, we all got our food and dug in as conversation flowed between us. It was nice to see that Leah so easily melded into this group, effortlessly starting a conversation with anyone. However, from the past couple of weeks, I've surprisingly found that she was quite a private person, as she never mentioned anything about her parents or siblings. I only found out she had a brother when I saw the picture in her room of her and her siblings together. She may seem quite open and friendly with everyone, but even she had boundaries to some topics.
Eventually, after sitting there and chatting for a while, we all decided to go home since it was getting late and we still had school tomorrow.
We walked to the parking lot together, all chatting and satisfied with the great outing we just had. We arrived and said our farewells, and instead of following me to my car, Gia went with Ashton and Zach.
"What are you doing, G? My car's this way."
The blue-eyed girl turned around and raised a brow in disbelief. "Girl, no way am I riding with you after you've bumped your head. I'm going with Ash, so byeee."
Although it sounded like she was ditching me, I spotted the look of mischief in her eyes as she knowingly smirked my way, subtly glancing at Leah before focusing back on me. I got the message, and let me just say, she was definitely the best wing woman anyone could have.
Soon, they disappeared around a car, and so Leah and I started making our way to mine.
She cleared her throat, making me look her way and into those hazel eyes that always had a way of captivating me. "Are you sure you're okay? I mean, you bumped your head..." she trailed off as her hand went up to touch and investigate the damage.
Her hand delicately brushed over the spot before letting her fingers feel it gently. Meanwhile, my eyes focused on her expression as she bit her lower lip worriedly, her proximity closing in to feel around the back. By now, we've stopped by my car, just standing by it whilst she inspected me.
"I can feel the bump," she murmured, her breath brushing over my face. We stood at around the same height, with me standing just slightly taller.
My nerves were buzzing as I felt my heart quicken in its pace. I felt my hands get clammy and my own breaths becoming shorter. The effect that she had on me was insane.
"It's only a small bump, I can handle it. And besides, I did promise you I wouldn't let you fall," I breathily let out, my eyes so focused on her hazel ones that I could even make out the ring of green that surrounded her warm honey browns.
Her hand dropped from the back of my head and rested on the spot between my shoulder and neck, the exposed skin tingling from the soft touch.
"What if I wanted to fall?" she asked softly, her lips barely moving as she took a quick glance down to mines.
I smiled then, confidence slowly building in me, enough to push away the shy thoughts aside. "Then I'll be there to catch you."
She returned the smile, with small dimples appearing on each cheek, almost like they were saved to appear in moments like these. "You know I'm really attracted to you, right?"
Before I could answer, she moved her lips closer and just like that, our lips met.
It was soft, delicate like we were testing the waters. My hands moved to hold her hips as her arms went around my neck. My heart felt like it was about to burst as I held her in my arms. All I could think was that it felt so soft, so right as our lips moved against one another, locked into a passionate dance of wonder.
Our lips separated after what felt like aeons, and all I could think was that I wanted to do it again. My eyes opened to see her beautiful hazels that I've come to adore.
"I'm really attracted to you too," I said, a playful smirk pulling at my lips.
She grinned at that, her dimples deepening so cutely. "Well, that's good."
Laughing now as the tension from before lessened, I stepped back a bit, so her arms now hung loosely around my neck. "Come on, I'll get you home."