Frozen(15)

I groaned. "It's a long story."

Justin made his trademark God-save-me-from-Neala-and-Darcy sigh. "When you and Darcy are involved in something together it usually is. Come over to me house and tell me about it - I'm chilling with Dustin until his ma is home from work."

I had nowhere better to go so I shrugged my shoulders and said, "Okay, I'll be over in ten."

Justin only lived a few minutes down the road from my apartment complex in a small housing estate just outside the village. I visited often because I currently was out of work for the moment so it meant I had nothing else to do. I wasn't a dead beat, I had a job, a great job, at the Holiday Inn as a receptionist, but the hotel was currently under construction. A year and a half ago the owners decided to rip the old hotel down, and rebuild a brand new bigger hotel in its place. I'd get my old job back in the New Year once the hotel reopened on January 3rd, it's guaranteed, but until then I was seeking unemployment payment from welfare just to help me get by. It's shite money, but at least it was something.

I put on my coat, wellie boots, scarf, wooly hat, and gloves. It wasn't just the ice outside that I had to worry about anymore, since I got home from Smyths yesterday it had started to snow enough to stick to the ground and cause problems. There was already a few inches on the ground. It was unheard of weather for Dublin, it only snowed once every five or six years, but the pending winter snowfall was said to be our worst in history. I haven't paid much attention to the warnings though, half the time the weather channel got it wrong anyway so I never took was they said as fact.

I locked up my apartment then headed out of the complex and onto the street. It took a little longer than usual when walking to Justin's house. The snow was so thick that I had to watch my step because I wasn't sure if there was ice under the layers of snow. It was better to be safe than sorry.

By the time I arrived onto Fairview Road, where Justin and his family resided, it had begun to snow again and it did nothing for my heated temper, or my ice-cold limbs.

"You look frozen," Justin's laughing voice called out as I hiked my way up his drive way.

I grunted, "If I wasn't so stiff and cold, I'd stick me finger up at you."

Justin smirked as I neared him. "The death like glare you're currently giving me is a grand replacement."

I couldn't help it, I smiled or r at least I tried to - I was so damn numb I couldn't tell if my lips moved or not.

"You look like you're constipated," Justin mused as I stepped into his hallway.

I groaned as Justin closed his front door, and the heat of his house surrounded me.

"Me face is frozen, you dick!" I said through my chattering teeth.

Justin laughed as he ushered me into his living room where it was even warmer. I scurried over to the radiator under the living room window and pressed me arse and thighs against it. I sighed in delight and stayed put as the heat caused tingles to spread across my skin when I began to thaw out from the cold.

"You sound like you're in a porno."

I kept my eyes closed. "Only you would think that, pervert."

I heard a giggle.

"What's a porno?" a small voice asked.

I opened my eyes and widened them to the point of pain. Dustin, Justin's son, was leaning against the doorframe of the living room with his arms crossed over his chest and a quizzical look on his face.

Justin was looking at Dustin with worried eyes, and after a few moments of silence he said, "Never mind... don't repeat it to your mother though."

Dustin smirked. "Is it something bad?"

Uh-oh, the kid had a blackmail look about him.

Justin awkwardly scratched his neck. "No... Not necessarily. Look little man, just don't tell your ma I said that word, okay?"

Dustin tilted his head to the side as he thought about it, and I smiled. He was the double of Justin with his blond hair and big eyes, but looked like his uncle when he was thinking.

I shook the unwelcomed pleasant thoughts about Darcy away, and focused on the cutie before me.

"What's in it for me?" Dustin asked his father.

I laughed. "He's your kid, there's no doubting that."

Justin grunted at me without looking away from his son. "I'll let you out of helping me wash the dishes for a whole week, how does that sound?"

Dustin considered it for a moment then suggested, "A week without washing the dishes and a week of last night snacks?"

Justin balked. "You're killing me kid, your ma will have me arse if she knows you've had sugary snacks past bedtime."

Dustin stood up straight, a sign to me that he wasn't about to back down.

"That's the deal, Da. Take it or leave it."

I covered my mouth with my hand so I wouldn't laugh.