Chapter Thirty-seven

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"Angelina," someone whispered

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"Angelina," someone whispered.

My eyes were closed but I wasn't asleep. Unfortunately.

I groaned and shifted begrudgingly, hoping to get at least a couple more hours of sleep. My body was stiff from the uncomfortable position I'd slept in and a sharp pain cramped my neck. But my exhaustion prevailed over my need for comfort.

I felt myself slipping back into a dreamless state before being rudely interrupted by an icy hand shaking my shoulder.

"Angelina, wake up."

"Stop it," I grumbled incoherently, swatting the hand away.

The incessant person beside me chuckled. "Come on. The snow stopped."

At the word snow, my brain started functioning again. I remembered where I was and who was with me.

My eyelids flew open and I instantly regretted it. The overwhelming amount of sunlight flooding through the window burned my irises. I rubbed them until the pain subsided and purple and white dots peppered my vision.

I eventually blinked them away and looked outside to see a completely different scene from yesterday's. The sky was streaked with delicate pinks and blues as the sun peaked out from behind the brick buildings and smiled onto the heavy blanket of snow. It covered the entire ground and the tops of parked cars and streetlamps. The air was frigid but otherwise still with not a single snowflake in sight.

I sat upright, wincing at the unexpected pain accompanying it. It was like my muscles were frozen stiff and trying to thaw out. But I shouldn't have been surprised since I slept in an icebox of a car for who knows how long. It could've been more than five hours, which was nearly half the amount my body was currently screaming for.

"We should have service now. I'll try and call Josh."

I nodded as he stepped out into the winter wonderland and let a breath of cold air escape into his car. I shivered and wrapped Ben's coat tighter around my torso.

Ben's coat.

I almost forgot about that.

If there was a guarantee I wouldn't turn into Frosty the Snowman without it, I would've taken it off. But I wasn't going to freeze to death because of my pride.

My eyes followed Ben as he traipsed through the snow with his phone in hand. Judging by the small burst of cold air, I knew he must've been freezing. Somehow I knew he wouldn't have given me his coat just out of generosity. He was a considerate person, but this was borderline survival of the fittest. There was only one coat and he was under no obligation to give it to me.

When he came inside the car minutes later, his cheeks were completely flushed and his nose put Rudolph's to shame. He was trembling, despite his attempt at hiding it, sending a wave of guilt washing over me. How could I act so selfishly towards someone who wasn't?

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