Nothing great

Steph continued to lead the way down the road as the rain fell harder. Lucy was shivering from being out in this freezing rain, but could see that Kate and Steph were doing just as bad as she was, so she didn't complain. It had to have been 20 minutes since they left the diner, and thankfully they saw no one, but still, the storm showed no sign of letting up. Steph had turned back toward Lucy and pointed off to one side of the road before quicking running off toward the direction she indicated. Lucy didn't hear what Steph had tried to say because the wind had picked up and the sounds of it raging around them made it hard to hear anything. Kate and Lucy ran after Steph and found her hiding in a small shack that had three walls with the opening, fortunately, facing away from the wind. Kate and Lucy quickly dashed inside beside Steph and stood shivering under the roof.

The wind still howled loudly around the shack and made it hard to hear, but not as bad as being outside. Of course, it also provided shelter from the rain and let the poor girls regain some measure of warmth as they rested. "Guess this wasn't a good idea," Steph said loudly to make sure she could be heard, "we probably should have risked waiting for Alice." Lucy was inclined to agree.

"Let's stand closer together," Kate suggested putting an arm around the other two girls and pulling them closer without waiting for agreement, "our body heat will warm us better that way.

"Good plan," Steph said without waiting for Lucy and pulled Kate into her chest. Lucy was so cold that she didn't care either. Lucy welcomely accepted Kate and Steph's bodies being pressed into her own, and Kate was right, even after only a minute or two, she began to feel better, altho the heat wasn't restricted to where their bodies met, but was saved from thinking about it too much by Steph speaking again. "Maybe we should risk your place," she said to Lucy, "what kind of person do you live with? Maybe they won't ask too many questions?"

Lucy didn't really want to say admit it, but she was starting to rethink a two or more hour walk in this weather. Hell, Lucy would happily streak right through the mall just to get home that much faster and have more time out of this freezing rain. "Well," she began slowly, "my brother is staying with me."

"Isn't he still in high school?" Kate asked Lucy in disbelief.

"Yeah," Lucy said blushing, "it's only his third day staying with me, but he will be around for a little while." Kate and Steph exchanged confused looks, so Lucy continued to explain. "He is wanting to get an internship for an advanced school program, and so our parents wanted to have him live on with me for a while as a sort of test run, because the internship will require him to live on his own."

"So," Kate said awkwardly, "that means you have a high school boy sitting in your apartment who will be treated to the sight of us all naked if we want to get out of this rain sooner?" she said clearly unsure of how this sounded. Lucy nodded. Lucy had no interest in letting her little brother see her naked, but it was sounding like a better idea than taking an extra 2 hours getting inside and into some clothes.

"Sold!" Kate and Steph said together, causing Lucy to jump slightly.

"Alright, well let's get going then," Lucy said, very aware of what this plan meant. She just hoped that he wouldn't tell their parents, the last thing Lucy needed was them thinking she was a nudist or some kind of party girl who came home naked sometimes. "So do we want to avoid the mall or go past it?" Lucy asked as Steph and Kate released her and turned to continue their walk for shelter and clothing, "or maybe we can go inside?" she mumbled to herself, thinking longingly about the heating it would provide as well as the ability to travel a good distance away from the rain. "We need to decide now, as the way around it splits off soon."

Kate and Steph once more exchanged looks before they once again answered Lucy together as if in one voice...