Three devilish angels on quest

23. Amber

Isolated points of light peek through the darkness. I blink.

The icy cold is gone. Although... it wasn't still burning.

I groan softly and finally open my eyes fully. A mountain of cuddly toys and Brawler dolls stretches out in front of me, between pin cushions and spray blankets. Apparently, I'm in Col's bed.

But before I can think about what I'm doing here, it falls so violently around my neck that all I see is white hair.

"YOU'RE AWAKE!"

Just as quickly as she threw herself at me, my girlfriend lets me go again. At least that's what I think until I notice she's been lifted back by a black and white striped scarf.

"Quiet, devil. You'll end up hurting her."

Edgar is leaning in the doorway and next to him is a pale robot boy who is smiling at me with relief. Lou! The dimples on his face are cute and I return the smile.

"Respect! You almost burned down the gift shop and she still doesn't hate you."

I have what?!

The next moment, the events of last night flood through me. The scenes play out in front of my inner eyes like a film. A love film with a tragic ending and dramatic sound effects!

"The shop! The fire! Oh no, what have I done! I am so sorry for that! I did not want that! Really not! You must believe me Colette!"

"Hey, we were able to put out the fire before anything bad happened. The main thing is that you're okay!", Col puts her hand on my knee reassuringly.

"How am I..."

"Lou saved you!" my BF blurted out the next moment. "He heroically ran towards you when the box tipped over! Before she could crush you, Lou threw a huge amount of ice over you, intercepting the monster piece. He then dug you out and brought you to safety! He also made it snow all over the store! You should have seen that! The fire extinguisher foam became hundreds of sparkling ice sculptures, everything glittered and - "

"Don't forget to breathe."

Well-intentioned advice from Edgar. Both for Col and for me. I stare at Lou with wide eyes. I've seen him a few times at school. In long range combat class and when I'm on the way to smoke. And now he is my saviour, so to speak.

Well, now the icy cold is finally giving way to the heat.

The robot boy stands uncertainly in the doorway and looks at me as if he wanted to say something but obviously didn't dare. Ed seems to notice because he rolls his eyes, takes Col's hand, and drags her out of the room and into the kitchen.

"Time to check on the hot chocolate before it threatens to boil over again."

"Oh, that's right!" Col says before the two of them are out the door and it closes.

Now Lou and I are alone.

Oh man, what do I say now? And why is there this sinking twitch in my stomach? When did I have my last e-cigarette?

"Thank you," I finally say, embarrassed, after a short silence.

"No, no problem. Ever-Anytime."

"I really thought the speaker was going to crush me. Please, how did you get me away in time?"

"I, I didn't. I was close, but not close enough to intercept the box. So, I threw as much ice cream as I could between you and the speaker, hoping that the mountain of ice cream would dampen the monster and that nothing would happen to you underneath. And it worked. I was able to dig you out unharmed."