Evy pulled into a small parking spot in an alley.

“Yeah, I know you were expecting a lab,” Evy said, sounding a bit bashful. “Or something probably better, but…”

She weakly gestured past the backyard near the parking spot, towards a one-story house.

“It’s cute!” I said.

The snow falling on it made it look even cozier than the cabin restaurant. We got out of the car, greeted by a good foot of snow on the ground.

“Maybe we should walk around to the sidewalk.” Evy said.

“Lead the way,” I said.

We penguin-walked down the alley and around the block through the snow and slick spots. I was unsteady on my feet, but I giggled each time I almost slipped and fell over. There weren’t many other cars driving and nobody else walking around the block, so the blizzard brought a gentle quiet to our surroundings, with only intermittent laughing from my near falls echoing around us.

“I have one neighbor with a snowblower that gets to it pretty quick,” Evy said. “There used to be a Cani with snow powers that had a pretty affordable service, but he moved to another town, and my landlord got cheap anyways.”

“Well, your landlord can figure all this out then,” I said. “Or I guess, our landlord. For the night at least. And then maybe the month if I get the job.”

“I already told you,” Evy said, suddenly grabbing my arm at my elbow. “You’re gonna get it.”

“I…” I said. I internally screamed at Evy’s grasp on my arm. She was somehow comforting and powerful at the same time. Then I was staring at her, and that damn “I’m hot and you know it” smile lured me in again. “Thank—whoa!” While I was lost staring at Evy, I slipped on the ice and flopped over into puffy snow. With Evy’s firm grasp on me, she tumbled too, landing right on top of me. My heart was pounding.

“Oh my god, that could have been so bad.” I said. "Good thing you're a doctor. If I was hurt, you could...fix me up."

Evy was on top of me still. Saying nothing. I couldn’t read her expression.

“Sorry!” Evy said, getting up quickly. “I was just spacing out a bit. Sorry.”

“I-it’s fine,” I said, admittedly a bit disappointed.

“Are you alright?” Evy said, holding her hand out to me.

“Yeah, the snow’s really soft and fluffy,” I said. “I don’t mind this kind of blizzard, honestly.”

“And we’re home, so we don’t have to worry about it for the rest of the night.” Evy said.

“Yeah!” I said.

We went into what was maybe my new home for the time being in Sky Clay. Once the snow was shaken off of us and our winter wear was put away, I took a look around the place, feeling like I did when I was in Zeta’s bathroom just a bit earlier. I didn’t want to be too judgmental here, either. With all of Evy’s talk about garbage, I didn’t really see much of a mess. It wasn’t a big place, with mainly just a living room, two bedrooms, and a kitchen on the main floor. Evy stopped the tour briefly to wash her hands from all the Like A Ski Lodge food. 

We returned to the living room, where I started scanning Evy's shelves. There were plenty of bookshelves that seemed to have a healthy mix of bound scientific journals, mainly about Cani studies, and all kinds of fiction. There were lots of figures on each shelf as well, which I thought was the cutest thing. They mainly seemed to be from anime and cartoons. Not stuff I knew super well, but it made me happy to know more about Evy’s hobbies. She scowled as she showed off her former roommate’s room, which was currently empty.

“They really cleaned out quick, huh?” I asked.

“Yeah,” Evy said. “They must’ve hired movers or something, ugh. But, thanks to you, I don’t have to worry!”

“Yeah!” I said, holding my hand up for a high five. There was a moment of awkward waiting, but once Evy noticed she reciprocated with a smack that probably had some leftover, built up fiery rage reserved for the roommate that abandoned her. It hurt, but it was also kind of awesome to feel how strong Evy could be again.

“So this would be my room, then?” I asked.

“Yeah, once we get the stench out.” Evy said. “I’m not one for tours, so sorry if I showed you all that pretty quickly. I can explain the little stuff later, like how you have to jiggle the stove handle to get it to go sometimes. But…aside from that, what do you think? Are you still good about it now that you’ve seen the place?”

“It’s fantastic,” I said. “And it’s so close to the school and…”

“What’s up?” Evy asked. “You’re trailing off there.”

“Sorry, I was just thinking,” I said. “You’re not this nice to every new recruit at the school, are you?”

“Hell no,” Evy said. “Well, I mean. I’ll help out. Just. I want to help you out a lot more.”

“Ah,” I said. Even though I was just outside and had just fallen in snow, I felt more like I’d been standing in an oven. Evy brought me to the couch in the living room and handed me two remotes and a game controller.

“It’s not a great couch, but it works,” Evy said. “I don’t really have people over, so I use it more for when I want to give my back a different bed when Sare was out.”

“Gotcha,” I said, sighing as I sat down on the couch.

“And here, one sec,” Evy said. “Put whatever you want on, I don’t have cable but my eGame Home has all the good streaming stuff on it.”

I nodded as Evy left.

“I know I’m a jumpsuit girl, but when I’m home I gotta be a bit cozier.” Evy said. “I’ll go grab you some blankets, too.”

I had an immediate thought of what kind of clothes Evy would feel cozier in. I tried to not think about how Evy was changing clothes a room away from me.

Evy hadn’t shut her door fully, leaving a sliver open that had my imagination racing. To distract myself from that, I made sure to text Zeta to let her know I was safe and had made it to my ‘hotel’ for the night.

Mainly because of how warm I felt, I abruptly took my sweater off, leaving me just in my camisole and pants. Now that I was comfier, I put an easy to watch sitcom on one of the streaming apps on Evy’s console, happy to see we both had viewed the same hundred-plus episode show in full.

Evy returned to the room with a couple blankets and some cans of soda, and I tried really very hard not to stare at her sleepwear. It was just a t-shirt and shorts, but seeing Evy in a t-shirt and shorts made me feel a lot of things at once.

“I know it’s more caffeine but…” Evy paused. Was she looking at me? Was she having the same reaction to seeing me slightly disrobed as I did to her? Frustratingly, I didn’t get an answer, as she turned to the TV. “Yes, Koz’s Pizza Place, great choice!” Evy sat down next to me on the couch, each of us getting under a blanket.

For the length of one 22-minute episode of Koz’s Pizza Place (with a few commercials thrown in, Evy had the basic plan for OKWatchThis), we sat relatively silently, chuckling a bit at the show, and for any brief arm bumps from how close we were sitting.

“I could watch this all night,” I said.

“Same here,” Evy said.

“It’s just a perfect comfort food show. And not just because of the pizza.” I said. “It’s also a good background show. You know?”

It took me a second to realize what she had just said. I figured Evy would laugh, and then go straight to bed because of how dumb I sounded.

“Yeah,” Evy said. “Really great to just have on in the background while you do…whatever.”

After that reaction, the focus on the TV seemed to slip away for both of us. I bit my lip with myfangs each time Evy leaned forward, resting her elbows on her legs. After we watched another episode, Evy yawned and stood up.

“Are you going to bed soon?” I asked. I sounded so whiny, but I didn’t want this to be over yet.

Evy seemed to think over her answer for a while.

“That depends,” Evy said. “Do you want me to go to bed?”

“I…” I said. I had to choose my next words carefully. “I think I’d like to put a few more episodes on in the background. While we…do whatever.”

Evy smiled. “I wouldn’t mind joining you for that.” She sat down back beside me, a bit closer than last time. She leaned her head on her fist as she had her elbow on the back of the couch, eyebrows raised. “What kind of whatever were you thinking, Stella?”

There was a brief pause between us, a last silent moment as we both had our eyes firmly locked onto each other, making sure we both wanted the same thing. Surprising myself, I reached out first, wrapping my arms around Evy. Fortunately, she reacted a split second later, and within an instant our mouths were desperately pressing against each other’s. Evy pushed me back onto the couch, and I let myself get lost in the kiss for a second. Once I felt some give on her end I pushed back on her, pressing her towards her end of the couch, both of us getting turns being dominant in a delightful back and forth game.

“I like this kind of whatever,” Evy said between kisses when she was over me.

“We are gonna be up all night,” I whispered as I trailed kisses up Evy’s neck, stopping at her ear. “Plenty of time for whatever. Right, doctor?”

Evy’s shuddering reaction was just what I wanted, and when Evy caught me giggling at it, she started laughing as well.

“We are going to have a very good night, Stella,” Evy said.