In Fair Verona

XXXVIII

"Would you two wake up," Auguste says. I slowly open my eyes. The living room is almost pitch black.

"Auguste?" I mumble.

"Yeah. Phoebe just went to get candles. God it's so cold in here."

I go to sit up and then become painfully aware about how much Isaac and I are touching.

"There's no power yet?" I ask after yawning. I look out the window to see the blizzard has stopped.

"No. It's only five," Auguste says.

"Did you just get home?"

"Well yeah. I went to Ximena's house for a bit. They did shut down the road and it took forever for them to fix the wire issue. I think Phoebe went home with Amber for a while because the busses were so unorganized. The roads are really bad right now too."

"Oh. So your both back now?"

"Yeah."

"Where are Gwen and Richard?"

"They don't get off work till like six, seven ish and it's really bad traffic right now plus there was a major crash on the hill."

"Sheesh this weather is really messing things up."

"Yeah. We don't have a lot of dinner options though."

"Bet now you're upset this household doesn't have any processed food."

"I'd rather be eating an apple right now then some rice crispy bar."

"Can't relate."

Back at Vancouver I don't think I'd ever eaten a proper meal. Except for the times I ate at Arianna's. Pizza pockets and fruit loops were my dinner for seventeen years.

As soon as I sit up and take the blanket off I immediately regret it. It's freezing.

"Yeah okay no," I say pulling the blanket back over me and curling up into a ball.

"Would it be evil to order pizza?"

"And how do you suppose they made the pizza, Isaac?"

"I don't know. Some places use fire oven things."

"And you think they did all this in the pitch black store."

"Whatever."

Phoebe emerges into the living room with a lit candle.

"Lucky for us, Grace has a thousand of these. Unlucky for us, they're all scented so we're all going to have horrible headaches."

"Suppose we could cook a hot dog over one of those?" I joke.

"Yes, it'll only take three hours. Each."

Auguste goes to grab food in the kitchen. They both have their winter jackets on. Isaac and I have to sit close because the blanket is only is so big. Plus he's warm.

Phoebe stares at me for a moment.

"You two do know we have beds right? They're a lot comfier and warmer."

"I suppose," I shrug.

It falls quiet and we all just sit. I watch the candle flicker.

Phoebe hums as she looks through a drawer where we keep all the board games.

I'm still freezing but I keep my gaze on the candle. I really badly want to place my head on Isaac's shoulder.

"We could play life. The actual version not the iPad version. Although I wonder if the app works offline."