Snowed In

Annie blushed and smiled as her hand brushed against Niall’s when she handed him a glass of water. It wasn’t tea and it wasn’t even hot, but it was clean and fresh water. He smiled gratefully at her and murmured a thanks as he brought the small paper cup to his lips.

“So,” Annie whispered as she sat down on the chair across from him. They were still in the lobby as everyone else continued to scout out which parts of the lodge they could use for sleeping and where there was food supplies. “Do you think we’ll be rescued soon?”

“I don’t thinks so,” he said truthfully. He set the cup beside himself on the side table and sighed. “If the blizzard is as bad as it seems from the inside, imagine what it’s like on the outside. It’s got to be awful. I doubt the plows will be making their way up here anytime soon. But what we have planned right now is good.”

Annie frowned. “I just hope my family is okay.”

“Where are they?”

“At the bottom of the mountain by the town,” she answered.

Niall shrugged and settled further into the couch where he was sitting. “I think they’ll be fine. Unless there’s a major avalanche from the top, they’d be fine. If there was an avalanche, we’d be the first to go and then everything, all the wreckage, would fall on top of that little town.”

Her heart stopped beating for a few seconds as the possibility of losing her family to an avalanche was something she’d never even thought of. What if they did die in the avalanche? What if they did get trapped by all that snow? What would happen? Who would find them? Would anyone even notice?

Niall pushed himself up onto his leg, hopping over to her. He settled down on the arm rest and rested a hand on her shoulder. “Annie, everything will be okay, I promise. There won’t be an avalanche and we’ll make it here just fine. You’ll find your family and we’ll all be okay.”

Annie blinked slowly and regained her composure once she saw two figures racing towards her and Niall. Niall sat up when he saw Harry and Sam practically sprinting towards the pair. Through the dimly lit light of the lodge foyer, Annie saw rage in the purest of forms in Harry’s eyes. Sam’s face was white as a sheet as she reached out to grab Harry’s arm. When he jerked away, he turned to face Niall, his jaw set in complete anger and hatred. “What the fuck?!”

Frowning, Niall held a hand up in front of himself, bracing his palm flat against Harry’s chest as Harry continued to step forward. “What?”

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

“What the hell are you talking about?” Niall asked in complete confusion. He leaned backwards, his back touching the recliner.

Harry slapped Niall’s hand away from him. “You know what I’m talking about. How could you? You knew! I told you and you knew!”

“Harry, I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Niall started to say. Harry shook his head and drew back his arm, ready to let his fist collide with Niall’s face. Annie leaped from her seat beside Niall and jumped in the tiny space between Niall and Harry.

Her face was full of determination as Harry snapped his fist forward before he could see what had happened. Annie didn’t flinch as she felt the harsh contact of his knuckles against her right cheekbone. Pain radiated across the planes of her face and as her eyes watered with pain, she knew that she would develop a black eye by the morning light. She didn’t raise her hand to touch her cheek, but merely stared at Harry. “Are you going to calm down now?”

Harry blinked slowly, clearing the madness and rage from his eyes. “Annie?”

Niall cursed. “You just fucking punched her in the eye! You cunt!”

Sam shook her head. “Stop, okay! Please, just shut up, both of you!”

“Harry, sit down. Niall sit down. We’re going to talk this over like civilized people.” Annie held up her hands pragmatically. “Tell me what’s going on.”

“This doesn’t involve you, Annie.” Harry moved to stand up but Annie stood to face him, standing chest to chest with him. She looked up at him daringly. “Annie, move.”

“No,” Annie frowned. “Niall is my friend and I’m not going to let you beat his face in with your face because you’re being immature.”

“Sam has a thing for Niall,” Harry mumbled.

Sam let her head drop guiltily.

Annie shook her head. “No.”