Escaping The Storm

"C'mon Devin, we're almost back," Mindy called over her shoulder back towards the rockstar who was lagging behind, doing his best to keep up with the Asian girl. Above them, black clouds swirled and snow steadily fell but each minute it was coming down stronger and the winds were growing more aggressive. If it wasn't for the fact that Mindy and Devin were already planning on ditching out on the rest of the hike to head back to the lodge they very likely would have still been far out in the middle of this storm, but thankfully the deck of the warm glowing lodge was within their sights now.

Mindy pressed forward and all but jumped onto the front porch when she reached it, giving her body a quick shake to get the loose snow off. "That was close, we were almost in that Dev...in...," Mindy absently said looking over expecting to see the rocker but finding no one. Spinning back around she saw the huffing artist stumbling towards her, covered head to toe in the pelting snowflakes. Mindy pursed her lips but as soon as Devin weakly crawled his way onto the porch, and collapsed she burst into laughter.

"Y-You are fucking f-fast for a nerd, you know that?" Devin heaved out as Mindy cackled above him, "Look I know I'm a burnout and everything but we did have a few gym classes together, and you never moved that fast during them," Devin lightheartedly joked at Mindy, a small grin forming on his face,

"How would you know, you and Nikki left fifteen minutes into every class," Mindy teased, reaching down grabbing Devin's hand, and pulling him to his feet, "C'mon, better head inside before they send the hounds looking for us," Devin groaned and reluctantly **** himself up and followed Mindy into the lodge.

To their shock, however, the only ones inside were Brian and Anna. The duo had been the first back and Brian hadn't let up on enjoying his Anna despite the circumstances. Some idle conversation and a warm cup of coca ended with the pair now all but cuddled on the couch together. The television absently played in the background, but neither knew what was playing. The only thing in the world for that exact moment was one another, and their lips were beginning to get tantalizingly close to one another.

"Oh shit, sorry!" Mindy exclaimed, diverting her eyes causing Anna to jump away from Brian, and Brian leaned right back in turn. His lips pursed with some minor frustration and he interlocked his hands over his head with a sigh.

"Guys! What are you doing back?!" Anna blurted out, her cheeks turning beet red,

"Snowstorm? Crazy Winds? Heated lodge, ringing any bells?" Devin lightly joked back,

"Huh? Oh yes! Right!" Anna nervously laughed back, sliding off the couch and to her feet, "B-Brian and I got back a little while ago because he said he felt a storm coming,"

"Felt a storm coming?" Mindy repeated, looking over to the blonde teen with a raised brow,

"Call it my sixth sense," Brian smirked, "I've been coming up to this lodge all my life, eventually I could start telling what weather would be coming, and...well, it wasn't too hard to read those clouds once Kenny messaged me." Anna let out a small giggle.

"Where is everyone else?" Mindy asked, looking back to Anna,

"They, um, aren't back yet. You two were the first," Anna replied, pulling her attention off of Brian,

"Wait so Nikki and Kenny are still out there?" Devin repeated with wide eyes, glancing out the window quickly, seeing the swirling trees and torrent of snow.

"Juliet and Avery too?" Mindy added on, her tone just as worried.

Almost on cue, however, the front door of the lodge burst open. Anna let out a surprised yelp and the four all rushed over only to find Avery and Juliet, drenched to the bone, but laughing hysterically. "It was totally a shortcut!" Juliet told the geeky teen between her giggles,

"Yeah, a shortcut that went off the path which made us roll down half of the mountain. I have an entire snowman inside my jacket!" Avery retorted taking off his glasses and shaking the melting snow from his lenses,

"Oh no, no, no, you aren't putting this on me! I told you to be careful when we went down the side, you fell first!," Juliet reminded the teen

"Because you grabbed me trying to save yourself and tossed me to the ground!" Avery fired back before the pair joined together for more wild laughter.

"Ahem," Brian roughly cleared his throat finally snapping the pair out of their small trance, "Afternoon, maybe it's just me, but for some reason, I think you two had a good time," Anna and Devin let out a short snicker and even Mindy couldn't fight off a smile as the two wet teens looked over at them in surprise,

"Yeah, we did," Juliet confidently replied, "We had a fun hike, and I'm betting it was better than the rest of yours," Avery stayed silent all but letting out a short breathy laugh as Juliet continued, "You got anything else you want to say about it?"

Brian easily raised his hands, "Hey, I'm not saying anything at all. I merely noted how much fun you two were having while being soaking wet," Brian said with a little bump of his brow towards Avery who lowered his head awkwardly,

"Oh grow up," Juliet retorted, not letting Brian embarrass her, though Avery's cheeks only went more blazing red, "Come on Avery, we should change," Juliet said, taking the nerd by the hand and leading him past the group, "Maybe we should have stayed out there too," She bitterly added, livid that Brian almost instantly ruined their mood,

"Oh Juliet come on, I was just playing," Brian calmly called out to Kenny's cousin who ignored him, "It was only a joke," The teen sighed causing Anna to gently rest a hand on his back,

"She probably just misinterpreted what you meant, I have a feeling she does that a lot," Anna gingerly said to the teen,

"Yeah I kinda have a skill in that," Brian said as he turned his head locking eyes with the blonde once more, "But...not with everyone I guess."

"Oh brother," Mindy said under her breath with a toss of her eyes,

"What's that Mindy?" Anna hummed,

"Just wondering where Kenny and Nicole are," Mindy quickly replied, "You said you heard from them?"

"Oh yeah," Anna nodded feeling a touch of shame as she hadn't acknowledged the lack of her best friend's presence, "They said something about not going to get back here tonight and they were going to hold up in the old watch tower."

"It's probably the smartest choice they could have made. Those things are perfect protection during this, and they have a wood stove inside for sure. So they should be A-okay."

"Not coming back?" Mindy's entire body shifted and she looked nearly queasy, "Maybe we should still...you know, keep an eye outside and keep the radios on us?"

"Exactly what I was thinking," Devin agreed, making his way to the window, planting his feet in front of it, and looking down the snow-covered mountainside.