A Fortunate Blizzard Ch. 01

"Okay... Maybe I'm a little more bruised than I thought," she said with a faint blush starting on what must be icy cheeks. Then a wince of pain colored her expression. "I think I might have twisted my ankle trying to climb out."

"I got you," I answered as held her close to keep her steady on her feet. "Do you think you can make it back to your car?"

"I think so," she nodded, "If you can keep us both from slipping."

Despite the bulk of our winter coats, with my arms snugly wrapped around her, I could feel the shape of her body. And it was a very nicely shaped body. Curves in all the right places. To be heard over the gusting wind, our faces were just inches apart. Being this close, I could tell she was very attractive under her hat and scarf. Her red lipstick stood out in contrast to her smooth, ivory skin. Lightly applied mascara highlighted her pretty blue eyes. And as I took in my rescued driver, I was hit by a wave of familiarity.

It must have been the same for her, for she blinked and blurted out as recognition also bloomed on her face, "Josh? Josh Olson?"

"Uh...yeah," I replied, stunned. I tried to place where I knew her from. And then it all just clicked. "Nicole Booker? Is that you?"

"That's me," she confirmed with a surprised smile as we huddle together in the middle of the storm.

Nicole Booker. One of the most popular girls in our class during my time in high school. She had been on the cheerleader squad, the star in most of the school plays, and part of that elite click, which seemed to form in every school. Above everyone else. Nicole had that sort of natural beauty that some girls were blessed with. With her chestnut curly hair, a classic hourglass figure, shapely legs, and a chest that had provided most guys - including me - their early masturbation imagery.

She had a long list of boyfriends during our teenage years. Unfortunately, I had never been one of them. Back when I was a freshman in high school, pimple-faced and still hopeless around girls, I'd tried to ask her out on a date. At that age, I was still naive enough to think I had a shot with her. I had never really asked a girl before, and my mumbled out proposition went over like day-old roadkill. To Nicole's credit, she did let me down pretty easily, but her clique of ever-present friends made sure to tease me about it for weeks. But then Nicole had gotten into some problems of her own with a girl named Betsy Smith, and my transgression was largely forgotten. After graduation, I really had no idea what happened to her. I recalled a few Facebook posts made it sound like she was going to school down south, but I had never bothered to find out.

Shaking myself out of high school memories, I tried to pull myself back to the present and the problem at hand. "Um...your car. Went into the ditch. With your friends," I said, feeling very stupid as soon as I spoke.

But Nicole did not notice my witless words. She nodded, "I hit the brakes, but all that did was send the car spinning. Everyone was screaming the entire time. Then we just slammed into a wall of snow."

Despite our heavy clothing, I could feel her begin to tremble in my arms, and I didn't think her shivering was from just the cold. I gave her comforting squeeze and said firmly, "Nicole, it's going to be fine. I'm here. We'll get your friends out."

"Thank you, Josh," she whispered close to my ear as she clung to me. I felt a surge in my confidence. Nicole Booker, the high school beauty, was in my arms. She was my damsel in distress, and I was her big hero.

Bracing an arm around Nicole's waist to help keep her from slipping, I shouted out, "Alright, let's go!" as the wind once again picked up in intensity. Keeping our steps small, we returned to where her car had gone off the road.

Getting closer, I could make out the car was an older model BMW 4 door sedan. That tracked with what I knew of Nicole's parents, they were pretty well off. Luxury car for their only daughter. The glow of my flashlight peeled back the darkened interior of the Beemer, and I saw movement from within. With the snow still spinning around the light made it hard to make out their identity. Nicole had said her friends were in the car, but I was not sure who or how many. A few seconds later I got my answer as the rear driver side door was forced open and someone pulled themselves out of the pitched sideways backseat.

Long blonde hair whipped around in the wind as the tall figure of a woman stepped into the snow. She wore a thin blue jacket, a matching scarf, a short dark dress leading to skin-colored leggings, and petite ankle-high leather boots. Said boots quickly sank deep into the snowdrift, and the wearer let out a high pitched squeal of alarm.

"Shitteee!! That ez cold!!"

Her strong french accent surprised me. Then a shout came from within the Beemer. "Zoey! Get back in here!"

The woman, her name apparently was Zoey, attempted to pull her stuck boots from the snow, but ended up floundering about as she tried to work herself free. As she struggled, I realized her legging weren't leggings at all, but cream-colored nylon stockings. The light of my flashlight showed that Zoey had long slender legs, like a model's. Very nice to look at. But her thin hosiery bounced against my Wisconsin sensibilities. She was woefully underdressed for this weather.

"What the hell is she wearing?" I asked Nicole as we drew to a stop at the rear end of her car. It was as close as we could get without dropping into the deeper snowbank.

"It's a long story," answered Nicole with a huff to me. Then in a louder voice, she addressed Zoey. "Give me your hand, Zoe. We'll pull you out."

Zoey had managed to pull one boot out and was wobbling about with one foot still stuck in the snow. Her movements ended up causing her to sink deeper into the snowdrift. At any other time, it could have been comical, but at these temperatures, frostbite was a real possibility. Grabbing hold of the car to steady herself, Zoey refocused on Nicole and me. Blinking in the beam from my flashlight, she looked at me with an uncertain glance and then extended her hand to Nicole.

Nicole took Zoey's hand but was not strong enough to pull the blonde out. With Nicole's twisted ankle, both nearly toppled over into the snow. Interceding, I helped Nicole to the edge of her car, and let her rest on its crooked bumper. I handed over the Maglite and told her to keep it on me. Nicole nodded, and then I took a tentative step in the deep snowdrift. The white powder was loose enough that I could easily sink into it. I knew the ditch along this side of the road was deep enough to swallow me whole. My boots dropped in a good foot into the fluffy snow, but I managed to resist sinking further and to close the distance to Zoey.

"Here," I said to the under-dressed blonde, "let me help you out."

Zoey shot Nicole another questioning glance. "Who ez he?" she asked.

I supposed I should not have been annoyed. I was dressed in a thick coat, heavy boots, woolly hat, wide scarf, big insulated gloves, and I was half coated in the ever falling snow. I mean, Nicole barely recognized me when we were face to face. To Zoey, I was just some random stranger in the storm. Still, her reluctance to my help grated on me.

"I'm the one trying to get you out of this snowbank!" I shouted.

"It's okay, Zoe," put in Nicole's from behind me.

Interrupting, a third voice again came from inside the BMW. "Zoey? Nicole? What the hell is going on out there?"

From my new vantage point, I could see further into the front seat of Nicole's car. A third woman dressed in a long black coat was trying to push herself up in the far corner. The Beemer's sideways angle made it difficult to get purchase in the front seat. She was craning her head around, trying to see what was going outside of the car. I caught a brief glance of goldish strands tucked under a wool cap before she sank back into her seat.

"I found help," answered Nicole with a tried sigh. "This is Josh, he's a friend from my high school. Josh, this is Zoey stuck in the snowbank, and Kelsea is the one still in my car."

Kelsea managed to prop herself up by half-crawling half-standing on the front passenger seat to poke her head out of the open rear door. Her face was pretty, wide dark eyes in a small round face, framed in strawberry-blonde hair. She flashed me a quick smile. "Here to rescue us?"

"Uh, yeah," I said a bit lamely to first Kelsea and then to Zoey. The two ladies were gorgeous, and I was once again feeling a bit tongue-tied. But then I saw Zoey was beginning to shiver, and I concentrated on getting both women out of this mess.

"Here," I said to Zoey as I grabbed on to her arm. "Let me get you out of this snow."

I tried pulling on the blonde, but her left leg was stuck fast in the deep snow. Without seeing many options to get her out without falling into the same frozen trap, I crouched down and wrapped both arms around her slim waist. Zoey let out a yelp of surprise as I yanked upward and pulled her from the entrapping snow. She ended up slung over my shoulder like a big sack of potatoes.

Over my shoulder, Zoey let out another high pitched squeal in accented french, "Wat ez you dooiiing!?"

"Sorry!" I apologized as I managed to turn with the wiggling woman tipped over my shoulder and take a step back to the road. Her dress hiked up as I carried her and I could feel her legs pressed against me. From her position, the right side of my face was against her thighs. Although I was focused on getting her out of the snowbank, I could not help but notice Zoey's stockings were attached to a garter belt. I saw the pale, bare skin of her upper thighs. With my wrap-around scarf the only barrier between us. I felt her body shiver against me.

Carefully I hunched down, returning Zoey to the firmer ground next to Nicole. They both clung to the BMW's trunk as I worked my way back to help Kelsea. She had managed to get herself to the open passenger door's threshold. Getting to her required me to go further into the snowbank, and I sank in past my knees. I heaved myself forward through the snow towards the Beemer. Keeping herself on the edge of the car made it easier for me to reach Kelsea. Awkwardly I succeeded in pulling her to me and scoop her up into my arms. She was on the shorter size, and I could carry her without too much trouble.

From her nestled position in my arms, Kelsea blinked away falling snow and asked, "Josh is it?"

"Yes," I panted as I struggled to close the BMW's door. Kelsea's added weight was making us sink even deeper into the snow.

"Well, Josh, thanks for being a manly man and carrying me," she replied with a sardonic grin, "but I think all I'm doing is making it worse for the two of us."

"If I put you down, you'll sink into this damn snowbank as well." I got one leg extracted from the entrapping snow and climbed a few feet up the embankment. But I was rapidly dropping us deeper into the drift.

"I can grab on the side of the car and climb up the rest of the way out," countered Kelsea. Glancing up at her friends at the top of the ditch, she added, "Then we can pull you out."

Before I could protest, she was scrambling out of my arms and grabbing hold of Nicole's car. Her feet kicked against open air for a moment, but then she gained a foothold on the side of the Beemer and pushed herself upright. Impressively, Kelsea managed to balance herself on the edge of the roof and climb higher towards the tail end of the car. Then with a bit of an ungainly jump, she reached the side of the road with a flourish of flying snow from her landing.

The three women then quickly huddled together at the edge of the road. Likely for warmth, but also for some sort of conversation that quickly turned into something boarding on a fight. I could only make out a little in the howl of the storm. Angry accusations about who was to blame that they were now stranded in the middle of nowhere.

As they argued, it seemed they had forgotten about me. I lumbered forward but was not able to make much of a headway. I was hip-deep in the snow, and it was continuing to blow in from the fields and was quickly working to cover the BMW and me.

"Uhhh," I grunted as I tried to extract myself from the pile of this icy white shit. I was not making any progress.

"Enough," came Nicole's irritated voice from above me. "I don't care whose fault it was. We're here now. Let's just get out of this fucking weather."

"My place is just down the road," I shouted up to the three women. They turned, and all of them gave me startled stares.

"A little help?" I said as spread my arms to make a show of how deep I had sunk into the snowdrift.

Kelsea was the first to break out of their surprise and gave me an embarrassed grimace at my predicament. "Sorry, Josh didn't mean to forget you."

Nicole also saw how I was stuck in the snow and her face reddened. "Oh damn, I'm sorry too."

"Just help me out of this, and we'll call it even.

Nicole directed my flashing toward me and my icy imprisonment as she addressed her two companions, "Well, ladies, let's go rescue our rescuer."

They formed a half-decent chain with Nicole holding to the Beemer's bumper, Zoey latching on to Nicole and stretching her willowy arms out with Kelsea at the end. They managed to get close enough to grab my outstretched hand. They pulled, and I managed to slush forward in the hip-deep snow. It took some doing, but with their help, I slowly extracted myself from the snowbank and reached the firmer side of the ditch where I could climb the rest of the way out.

Finally free, I joined my rescuers huddled on the side of the road where I rested my hands on my knees, bent over while I tried to catch my breath. The three women were the same as they panted from their efforts. We all huddled close together while the swirling snow continued to fall. There was a long moment of quiet and then I heard Kelsea mutter, "I still can't a signal on my phone,"

"Reception has always been spotty out here," I puffed out an answer to her. "With this storm, the nearest cell tower is likely down."

"You got a landline back at your house?" asked Nicole.

"Yeah," I replied as I straightened up.

We were all cold, wet, and freezing, and there was no debate on what to do next. With me leading, Nicole, Zoey, and Kelsea started down the road back to my parent's house. We took the middle of the road, not worrying about any further traffic. It was slow going. The pavement was still slippery, and Nicole moved awkwardly with her twisted ankle. She leaned on Zoey as the blonde helped her along. We walked in silence, not wanting to shout over the roar of the blizzard.

About halfway back, I saw Zoey was beginning to really shiver. Her jacket was far too thin and short for this frigid winter night. Those nicely shaped legs of hers were barely covered and exposed to the whipping winds. With her time of being stuck in the snow, she had gotten far too cold. I didn't know where Kelsea was from, but Nicole was a Wisconsinite like me. She knew frostbite was a real possibility for Zoey. I saw her begin to take off her coat to let Zoey wear it. Nicole's was a fashionable dark gray wool jacket with faux fur hood. Plenty warm, but it would be a bit small for the taller woman. Mine would be a better fit as Zoey and I was close in height.

"Here!" I yelled as I stopped Nicole and began unwrapping my scarf. I quickly unzipped my coat and pulled it off. Biting cold assaulted my exposed arms and ripped into my unfortunately too thin shirt. Damn, it was freezing. But I pushed the clawing cold aside to help Zoey.

I wrapped my jacket around the surprised blonde and leaned in close to her so she could hear without me shouting. "You need to get warm. You're starting to turn blue."

"Merci," she whispered as she pulled my coat tight around herself.

We resumed walking, and I wrapped my arms tight around myself to keep some of my body heat from being ripped away by the gusts of freezing air. We had not gone more than ten paces when I felt an arm wrap around my waist. It was Kelsea. She huddled in close to me, holding her body against mine, trying to shield me from the worst of the winds.

"Thanks for helping Zoey," she managed to say as we struggled down the road.

"Yeah, no problem. Why the hell is she only wearing those clothes in weather like this?" I grumbled.

"Southern France and North Carolina's winters are a lot milder than this shit," brooded Kelsea.

Her answer did not make much sense to me, but I would have to worry about it later. We were getting close to our destination, and we all desperately wanted to get out of this weather. Getting to the gravel driveway got us away from the slick iciness of the road and we stomped up the path. As we panted our way up the driveway, the glow of the floodlights began growing in intensity. Then the outline of the house appeared out of the gloom. Now I was really beginning to shiver, and I gave up keeping pace with Nicole and Zoey. I started running, and Kelsea kept up with me as we closed the remaining distance to the outside door and the promise of heat within.

Flinging the old oak door open, whirling frozen flakes carried into the kitchen. But they did not last long. The house's temperature was blessedly warm. Kelsea and I bustled in, and the new temperature was immediately welcome on my chilled body. Despite this, I weathered the frigid cold of the outside a little bit longer and held the door open as Zoey and Nicole also stumbled their way inside.

Once we were all in, I slammed the door shut and leaned back against the wooden frame and let out a long sigh. "We all in one piece?"

"Mostly," came Nicole's resigned reply. With Zoey's help, she had already made her way to the smallish square kitchen table and sat down in one of its chairs. She shrugged out of her coat and began pulling off her boots. Under all her winter clothing, I saw Nicole's legs were also in stylish stockings like Zoey's. Indeed as the three ladies discarded coats and scarfs, hats, and boots, I saw they all wore elegant party dresses.

Out of her winter clothing, Kelsea wore a maroon gown. While her shoulders and arms were bare, the dress wrapped her slim upper chest, then over her hips, and swept down past her knees. Her strawberry blonde hair was shoulder-length, heavy mussed from the storm. Kelsea was even shorter than I had initially guessed. Likely only 5'2, but not dainty or fragile. She had a firm and athletic looking body.

Given Zoey's lack of cold weather wear, I had already gotten a good look at part of her attire. As she peeled off my heavy coat, I saw she had on a short slinky black cocktail dress. It at least played conservative with her bust, hugging her modest-sized breasts, but not showing off much skin. However, her skirt did everything it needed to do to show off her well-toned legs. She had a dancers frame, long and delicate. And just like Kelsea, her lengthy straight blonde hair was a mess from the winds outside

But Nicole's clothing was the one which held my attention. A blue-green number which hugged her hourglass figure like an emerald sheath clinging its way down her body till it reached midway to her knees. That beautiful chest of hers was made the focus of dress with its deep V neckline. Bare skin from the sizable swell of her boobs was tantalizing visible if you looked at Nicole from the right direction. As with the others, Nicole's dark hair was wildly windswept, but to me, her disarrayed wavy locks only added to her beauty.

I had to shake myself as I watched the women pull off their remaining snow-covered outdoor clothes. All three lovely ladies were beautiful and seductively dressed, ready for something far more interesting than my parents' dull old kitchen. And me. In my blue jeans and t-shirt, I felt utterly lacking in comparison.