The Storm

            Cobb was never a big fan of snow or even the winter in general because it meant that his flowers would die and he’d have to wait until spring again to be able to plant some more. Spring was actually his favorite season because of that, but he also quite enjoyed the autumn because he loved the fall harvest and the weather was lovely. Definitely the polar opposite of the weather now with the snow storm coming in. So he just sat by the fire to book and a nice cup of tea to wait it out.

Suddenly his door slammed open and the sound sent Cobb flying into the air out of fear and he hid behind his chair. The loud howling of the wind died down when he heard the door close, and he peeked over the arm of his chair to see who was there.

“H-hello?” he stuttered out, feeling himself tremble.

“Calm down, Cobb. It’s just me.” Came the voice of his friend Lon the wolf-man.

 Cobb gave out a breath of relief. “Don’t just come barging into my house like…”

“Ah. Sorry about that, Cobbler.”

 Cobb sighed. “Please don’t call me that…”

 Lon ignored him and just got straight to the point. “So I’m out of grub and I don’t like what you eat, so let’s go eat somewhere!”

“But…it’s snowing outside!”                   

“Never mind that, it’ll be fine.” He walked over, grabbed Cobb’s arm, and pulled him outside. “C’mon!” He dragged Cobb over to his car and then practically shoved him inside and then got in and started the car up.

“I don’t see why I have to come with you…” Cobb said softly as he watched his cottage get farther and farther away from them. “How are you even able to drive in this?”

“It’s more fun when you’re with a friend, right? And I’ve driven in the snow plenty of times before, don’t worry about it!”

               

             The two were now about 30 minutes away from town and another 30 away from the diner that Lon was taking them too. There were plenty of places to eat in the village, but Lon insisted that they go to this exact diner because the food was apparently really good. Cobb didn’t want to be here because he didn’t really like going out that often and especially not when he was practically forced into it. Why he always went along with Lon’s shenanigans, he didn’t know, but he was definitely too much of a pushover to deny him; so he just sat there and sulked in silence as Lon drove.

                

              Suddenly the car started to make a really strange puttering sound and Lon pulled off to the side of the road just in time because the engine cut out.

                

                “What’s wrong with the car?”

                

                “Aha…well.” Lon laughed awkwardly. “Looks like we’re out of gas…”

               

                “We’re what?! Why didn’t you get gas before you decided to drive for an hour?!”

               

                 “I thought I had enough, and I didn’t really wanna stop to get gas in this storm…”

                

                 “Yet you had no problem with driving in this storm?”

                

                 “What can I say? I get irrational when I’m hungry.”

               

                 “No no no no, this isn’t good!” Cobb started trembling again. “We’re stuck out in this snow storm miles away from anything and it’s cold and it’s supposed to get even colder and it won’t be day light for hours and oh my god we’re gonna die out here!”

                

                “Cobb, chill out.” Lon put a hand on his shoulder to calm him down, but then he chuckled. “Haha, chill out. Get it?”

               

                “Please don’t even joke about that right now, Lon! What are we gonna do? We can’t just sit in here until morning, we’ll freeze to death!” Cobb put his hands to his face and felt like he was going to cry. He knew he should have just stayed home! Why did he always let Lon drag him into these situations?

               

                 Cobb started mumbling to himself. “Okay, so we’re about 30 minutes away from town, and 30 minutes away from the diner…so it wouldn’t matter what direction we go in. Unless we travel with the storm instead of against it, so it’d be easier and maybe faster since we’ll be pushed along by the wind. Yeah, that could work! But that’s not factoring in how fast we’ll start to get cold and then how—”

                  

                 Lon opened the car door and stepped out of it and into the storm.

               

                “L-Lon?! What are you doing?! We haven’t figured out a plan yet and you’ll let the cold air in if you just open the door like that! Not to mention you’ll get cold yourself if you just stand out there—”

                

                “Cobb! Are you just gonna sit there and freak out, or are you coming with me?”

                

                “But we don’t even have a plan yet!”

                

                “We don’t need one. It may be cold, but I’m a wolf-man, remember? You know how fast I can run? I can get us to that diner in less than thirty minutes if I run. And you can just take my jacket and ride on my back.”

                

                “But, won’t you get cold?”

               

                “Ah, maybe a little bit. But I’ll be fine. I have lots of fur, after all!”

                

                “Th-thanks, Lon.” Cobb hesitantly took Lon’s leather jacket and then got out of the car to get onto his back.

               

                   Lon took off in an instant and he really was fast, so fast that Cobb had to hold onto his fur tightly out of fear of falling off. He then realized he hated traveling this fast and closed his eyes so he didn’t have to see what was happening around him; bus almost as soon as he had shut them and lowered his body to avoid the wind, Lon stopped.

                

                “We’re here!”

               

                “R-really?” Cobb opened his eyes and saw the diner in front of him. “That was surprisingly fast.”

               

                “I told you I was a fast runner.” Lon grinned widely and let Cobb off of his back. “Alright, now prepare for the meal of a life time!” He led Cobb to the front door, but before they got to it, Cobb noticed the sign on it that said the place was closed due to the storm.

                

                “Aw man! I can’t believe they’re closed! Can you believe that? What bad luck!” Lon crossed his arms with a pout. “Ah, well. I guess we’ll just have to go back and eat somewhere in the village.”

               

                  Cobb stood there with a blank expression and he couldn’t even form the words to describe how angry he felt right now. After all that, and the diner was closed…after all that, and they could have just eaten somewhere close like Cobb had wanted do to in the first place.

               

                 “I hate you so much right now, Lon…” Cobb finally said and then turned away to walk out into the storm.

                

                 “Whaa?! Don’t say that, Cobb!” Lon whined. “I could have left you in the car, y’know! Hey! Get back here, you’ll freeze!”

      Lon ran after Cobb and the two of them ended up finding a 24 hour gas station. They got a pizza to eat and the owner was kind enough to let them stay there until the storm stopped. ­