Spending The Night Together

 Winters were cold in Philadelphia. Especially when night fell on its snow-covered streets, and stone gray buildings towered with snowy tops. The only warmth for those who lived here was city-provided, central heating or a gas oven. For Akasha, it was an indoor day without either of the two.

 The weather could’ve been much worse, but all was calm and cold. For the moment at least. Philly was seeing a very shaky blizzard this year, making Canada sound like a honeymoon getaway. Being naturally cold-blooded though, lends many more difficulties to staying warm; hence why she wrapped herself in three comforters and a heated blanket.

 As she read her therapy books in her tight-knit ball, she heard the front door locks twist and jiggle open and quickly flung back and latched shut again. “You took quite a while getting only soup and some matches.”

A shivering voice came from the kitchen, “Shut it…. it’s fucking cold out there…”

Akasha peeked out from her covered fortress, “I know I know. What kind of soup did you get?”

“We could only afford that chicken noodle soup. 69 cents a can isn’t too bad…”

Slithering from the darkened kitchen came Junsei, a serpentine beauty much like Akasha herself, save for their striking difference in color contrast of white and purple. She was mid-way through her second semester of med school at Philly’s School of Osteopathic Medicine, while Akasha was only beginning her time at a nearby proprietary school for physical therapy. Even personality wise, you would never have guessed these two girls to be together as roommates.

The poor Shirohebi was shivering like a leave in rain, “I want to take a warm bath….so badly…”

“We can’t Junnie, we can’t pay off a water bill yet.”

Cold weather for them meant no job. No job, meant no money to pay for utilities. And because of that, there was no water running, and no gas to start the oven. The only thing they’ve managed to keep up with is the electric bill and the rent, only thanks to Junsei’s constant saving, and the kindness of the landlady, Ms. Couch.

The microwave beeped and Junsei pulled out a large red bowl, “We’re going to have to use this for a while, since you broke the last bowl.”

Akasha pouted. “Not my fault. You didn’t tell me it was hot…”

“It doesn’t take a degree in rocket science to tell a bowl is hot fresh out the microwave, Aki.”
Akasha sniffled and opened up the blanket fort for her roommate. and the two got comfortable enough to eat their copious bowl of soup.

. . .

 It was now 11:33pm. Junsei roused from her spot in the covers and slithered, dreary eyed into the bathroom. Akasha pulled the covers back over herself and wiggled in comfort from the remainder of heat left by her roommate. A little vibrating noise perked her ears. Junsei was brushing her teeth. Of all the things she was, Akasha wasn’t really a responsible person. Her roommate pointed that out to her many times. In truth, she was just too lazy.

 Junsei slithered out of the bathroom and into her room. There was only one bedroom in this apartment, and it was unanimously declared that it would belong to her. Akasha would’ve wanted it only because she might have a few guys over, but that actually was better on paper than in practice. Although she has, what she calls, god-like beauty, there’s still that stigma of slave-venom snake bitch that surrounds her every time she goes to a party. A small tinge of sadness sank in, as did sleep once more…

It was now 2:56am. The only way she knew that was because of the sudden drop of the clock that wrenched her out of sweet sleep. Akasha poked her head out of her blanket ball and through the dark of night, saw the blinking light through the crack of her roommate's door.  She slithered on to the floor, hissing at the coldness of the wood floor.