Snowed In

Annie smiled, interweaving her fingers with Niall’s as they sat in one of the rooms together. Harry, Sam, Liam, Alicia and Elsie had all gone out to look for wood to keep their small fire burning. Louis, Zayn and Brenna had gone to look for more blankets, leaving Niall and Annie all alone as she snuggled closer to him, breathing in his scent.

Ever since their kiss the other night it had been like a dream come true. Well, despite the fact they could freeze to death at any moment. But something was still bugging Annie as she sat there with Niall, and despite her attempts to hide it, he figured something was wrong. He gave her hand a soft squeeze, causing her to look up at him as he caught her lips in a gentle kiss.

As he pulled away she giggled, looking at him. “What was that for?”

“You look upset, I was trying to cheer you up.” He said, giving her hand another small squeeze. She sighed, running her free hand through her hair. “Come on Annie, talk to me.”

“Why did you sleep with Sam?” She asked, turning to him suddenly. His cheeks turned bright red as he pulled his hand from hers, scratching the back of his head.

“I don’t ask you why you slept with your exes-”

“Except you weren’t really dating.” She murmured. “You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to, I’m just curious.” A heavy silence filled the room as Niall and Annie sat there, but an unfamiliar voice broke it.

“I pushed him into it.” Annie and Niall both turned to the door where Sam was, blushing and keeping her eyes on the floor.

“Sammie.” Niall pressed. He was about to tell her that they both knew that wasn’t what happened, but when she looked up at him it clicked. Sam was covering for him, keeping Annie off his back so that they could have a fresh start to their relationship. Niall smiled, giving her a small nod.

As much as he wanted to go with Sam’s story, he also didn’t want there to be any secrets or lies between him and Annie. He and Sam were over and done with, and Niall wanted the girl’s friendship to last too. He took a deep breath, turning back to Sam.

“We both know that’s not what happened.” He whispered. He then turned to Annie, mustering up all his courage. “Harry said that Sam was using me and I got a bit possessive. I wanted to show him that for once a girl he was mad about liked me, instead of the other way around like it usually is.” He took a deep breath, reaching for Annie’s hand as Sam ducked out of the room, giving them some privacy. “I thought Sam was going to end up like you.”

“Like me?” Annie whispered.

“To be honest I thought you had a thing for Hazza. And when Sam and I found you two practically glued together I… I got jealous. I asked Sam if she liked Harry and she said no. I knew she was lying, but figured the two of us could make the best of a bad situation.” He took a deep breath before letting out a small sigh, looking at the ground. “I’m sorry Annie.”

When she took his hand he shot up, a bit surprised as she smiled at him. “Thank you Niall.”

“For what?” She then leaned over, pressing a small, soft kiss to his lips before she grinned.

“For telling me the truth.” They lapsed into a comfortable silence as she snuggled even closer to him, burying her face in his neck when another question started tugging at her mind. “Hey Niall?”

“Yeah?”

“Who’s a better kisser?” He turned bright red, running his hand over his face before he chuckled.

“I know that’s a loaded question.” He chuckled. She giggled, hugging him.

“And why’s that?”

“Because you and Sammie will start gossiping and one of you will kill me.”

“Oh we won’t kill you, we’ll just joke about the size of your trouser snake, she’ll tell me any weird sex fetishes you have, you know, that sort of thing.” They both busted out laughing as Niall hugged her tightly, kissing the top of Annie’s head.

“Well you know, they don’t call it the Horanaconda for nothing.” He teased, bouncing his eyebrows at her. She started giggled again as Sam, Harry, Alicia, Liam, and Elsie all came back inside, dumping what little they had on the fire before a somber air washed over them all.

“That’s the last of the wood we can burn before we start having to pull off doors.” Liam said darkly. They all looked at their measly fire before Brenna, Louis, and Zayn stepped inside, only one blanket in their possession.

“So this is it then.” Louis said simply. “We’re on our last reserves of staying warm.”

“Come on, we’ve got to be positive.” Brenna tried. “I have no problem snuggling with all of you in front of the fire, we’ll be fine!”

There was another silence before Alicia spoke, looking at Liam. “When we were getting gas the other day we saw wolves. They’ve never been that close to the resort before. And now with that one part of the roof having collapsed they might…” She trailed off as Liam wrapped his arms around her, turning to the rest of the group.

“They might be able to get in.” He finished. No one spoke before Elise finally said what was on everyone’s mind.

“So that’s it then? We’re dead?” Louis sighed, looking between them all with sad eyes.

“No one leaves this room.” He said simply. “Agreed? We don’t have anything to fight off a wolf. We’ll bring all the wood, blankets, and food in here and we’ll bunker down until rescue comes.”

“What about when the power goes out?” Sam asked, chewing her lower lip nervously. Harry sighed, giving her a small hug.

“Then we stay dark.” He said simply. And in the most perfect timing, a moment after Harry’s words had left his lips, the lights flickered out.