The whole room looked at me pleadingly.
"Fine! I'll give everyone 2 hours to pack. If one of you is still not done packing, I'm not coming," I stated.
The whole room scrambled to their feet. The girls ran upstairs to pack up and their partners waddled along behind them. I could hear screams from every room to grab something. Vernon stood over my doorframe and watched me pack my clothes, a book, my laptop, and my tablet. We walked downstairs to wait for the rest with 15 minutes left on the clock.
"5 more minute's guys!" I shouted.
"Where's my fucking perfume? Eric!" Lily screamed.
Vernon and I went inside his car and packed my duffel bag in his trunk.
"You bring a velvet blanket in your trunk at all times?" I pointed at the folded blanket.
"Sometimes I take naps in the car before a meeting. Calms my nerve. I have a small pillow too," he closed his trunk and showed the pillow on his backseat.
"That's so cute!" I took a seat.
"We made it on time!" Lily jumped off the porch panting and ran to Eric's car.
"Can we just go now?" I shook my head and smiled.
The road there was relatively empty, but it started to hail midway. There was a traffic stop and the workers told us to keep the speed to a maximum of 30 mph. It was a quarter pass midnight when the sleepiness hit me. Vernon had played some indie playlist from his phone and the heater in the car just made it too comfortable for me.
I tried my best to stay up and kept him company, but I must have dozed off soon after, because we had arrived at a tiny wooden inn by the time I opened my eyes again. He had covered me with his own camo coat and snuck his pillow between my head and the car window.
"We're here," he touched my shoulder.
"Thanks," I rubbed my eyes and take in the sparkly view.
We gathered at the reception table. The staff informed us that they only have queen-bed rooms available for the weekend. A large portion of the town had already been dominated by tourists. I was forced to share a room with my newly formed friend. He told me that I could take the bed while he slept somewhere else in the room.
The room was fully made of timber, down to its furniture and décor. The bed was huge, completed with a thick layer of duvet and four pillows. The lighting of the room was dim and golden. It coated the room like honey. The bathroom would be too cold for Vernon to sleep in and there was no sofa or chair big enough for his tall body. He opted to sleep on the floor and used his own blanket.
"Or we could both sleep on the bed and put our bags and the pillows in between. You'll catch a cold," I said worriedly.
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah, I don't move much when I sleep anyway."
We shared the bed and the blanket with two bags and two pillows in between. We slept in our outerwear too. I woke up to the smell of him making two cups of latte from the coffee machine.
"Here," he handed me the cup on a saucer.
"Thanks. How long have you been up?" I blew on the cup.
"Not that long. Just wanted to have some morning coffee. Sorry if I woke you up," he sipped his coffee.
"What time is it?" I stole glances to observe his morning look.
His hair was still in a mess and he had taken his coat off. I wondered if I woke up looking like an ogre while he still looked decent.
He looked at his watch, "Five pass eight."
Vernon took a seat on his side of the bed and enjoyed his coffee while reading through his emails. I opened my phone to see if anyone else were up. But I guess they were still busy doing couple things.
"Should we go skating today?" he said without looking away.
"I don't really know how," I stood up and put away our empty cups.
"Thanks. I can teach you. It'll be fun. We're already here too," he looked up.
"I'll ask the rest."
"They'll be busy dating. I'm sure they wouldn't mind if we just disappear."
"That's true. Watching them kinda make me sick."
"Let's get some breakfast before we start our day then," he smiled as I agreed to join his adventure.
"I'll take a shower," I said as I prepared my outfit for our activity.
The warm steamy shower rejuvenated my dry skin and helped with the lack of sleep. I could hear clunking outside the bathroom, but I couldn't figure out what he might have been up to. I changed into a thicker pants and undershirt to prepare myself for the unpredictable weather.
It wouldn't even hit below 25℃ where I was from. The extra layering was required to protect myself from the cold and for when I inevitably fall while ice skating.
"Oh, you're done," Vernon shifted his gaze to me.
"What were you looking for?" I folded my old clothes.
"Nothing. I was just rearranging my bag so I could fit more stuff in," he picked up his clothes.
"Okay, you better hurry up. Wouldn't wanna queue for the ice rink now, would you?"
"You're right. We'll just grab some poutine and start our session," he gave a brief smile and went inside the bathroom.
He had a brisk shower and reappeared in the room about ten minutes later. I was hiding under the blanket as the temperature kept on dropping. It was by far the coldest I had ever felt in my eight months of college here.
"You okay?" he peeked under the blanket.
"Yeah, just warming up."
"Ready to go?" he offered his hand.
I reached for his hand and he guided me out to the freezing bedroom.