Let it snow

	I had finished shoveling the back deck when my phone vibrated and I got the news.
	“My powers gone out!!:(“
	I looked from the screen to the window outside and the mid-January hell outside, only just having gotten out of my sweat soaked snow gear. A decision clearly had to be made.
	“Best of luck with that.” I typed. The reply was instantaneous.
	“Come over.” She said. I was on the verge of arguing the point but the photo she sent right after was more than enough incentive to slide the snow gear back on. So there I was, wading through the worst blizzard of the year due to the fact my girlfriend refused to move out of the slums she lived in because ‘the view from the street was nice.’
	I was half frozen by the time I arrived outside her building, hammering on the buzzer until I heard that mechanical click and I could open the door. I found her waiting in the hallway for me. She was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen and I thought that every time I saw her. My eyes soaked up her tan skin, her fluid and silky golden hair that was only just contained in a ponytail thrown over the shoulder and her slightly pointed ears.
	But right now she looked utterly miserable with a thick blanket obscuring her more human half and a pair of warm brown eyes staring out longingly towards me. From under this a brown serpent like body began to coil in on itself so as to not take up as much space on the floor, or maybe to conserve heat.
	“Hey.” I said, moving to embrace her. She recoiled.
	“After I get you out of those wet clothes.” She said, leaning in to peck me on the lips. She began to awkwardly turn around in the narrow hallway, trying to maneuver a good seven feet of tail in a space designed with only humans in mind. I followed her back into her apartment and began to strip down while she watched attentively, her eyes glimmering.
	“Well don’t stop there.” She encouraged, retreating into her blanket as deeply as she could. She bit her lower lip in a comically seductive way but that predatory look she gave me was enough to at least suggest she might be serious. I snorted.
	“You wish.” I teased, knowing full well that Lilly had a way of getting what she wanted from me. After wrestling the last boot off I turned to look around her apartment. It was tiny, far too tiny for a woman of her...nature. The lack of walls separating it gave the whole room this open quality and the comically sized heaters situated at opposite ends of the apartment were cold and dormant. There was a bookshelf built into the left wall across from the kitchen and it was overflowing with books; ‘A Guide To Human Courtship’ being displayed prominently alongside a copy of The Great Gatsby and some god-awful romance novel she made me read to her. Every blanket and pillow in her apartment was piled up like some kind of nest on top of her bed.
	“Want me to look at anything?”
	“Mmmm, my man braving the storm to fix his lovers power. How romantic.” She purred, her voice seeping into my ear like honey.
	“That’s me.” I said with a little smile.
	“Alas, I think this one is a little beyond your skills. We’ll have to handle this the old-fashioned way.” Lilly said, holding out her hands and beckoning for me. I crossed a living room dotted with flashlights turned up like miniature lamps, casting large shadows over everything as I sat down on the bed beside her. She placed her hands on my shoulders and brought me in the rest of the way.
	“Thank you for coming over.”
	“My pleasure.”
	“Not yet.” She promised, dragging me into her coils. The tip of her tail traced circles around my zipper; she had been practicing that trick. Resting her chin on my shoulder while outside the wind pounded and howled, Lilly sighed contentedly and began to rub her chest into my back.
	“Much better.”
	I was wrapped tightly but squirmed every now and then as much as I could. She liked that, alternatingly tightening and loosening her grip on me. It was relaxing and oddly calming and we sat in silence like that for a few minutes listening to each other’s gentle breaths. After awhile she began to stir as heat returned to her.
	“What do you want to do now?” She asked, both of us knowing full well what she wanted and was waiting for. I sighed dramatically; secretly glad she couldn’t see the smile creeping over my face as I planned my attack. In truth, one I'd been thinking of doing in a more grand, romantic way, but the timing was perfect.
	“What is it?” Lilly said concernedly.
	“I still can’t believe you live here. This is the second time this year I've had to come over, I worry about you.”
	“Don’t mock my apartment when you live in a shithole, too.”
	“I’m not mocking. But I love you too much to let you stay in what you yourself admit is a shithole.” I said. I had her there and she began to fidget.
	“Well its not like I can go anywhere else in the middle of January. Where else could I live?” Lilly asked.  I tried to look around to meet her gaze. The silence was thick with implication. It stretched on and on before finally being broken by an earth shattering squeal that made me regret being locked in her grip as she entered what felt like a death roll, threatening to asphyxiate me.
	“Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes!” She said, the words pouring out so fast it almost sounded like one prolonged yelp of triumph. Somehow she had ended up on top of me, her hair cascading around our faces like a thick curtain. Love and devotion poured from watering eyes that quickly became hungry.
	“Now, stop stalling and come here.” She said huskily as her tail began to slide down the front of my pants.