City Girl Pt. 09

AN: Well, I got this chapter out faster than I did the last one. Maybe not as fast as I was hoping for but y'know holidays and whatnot. Speaking of which, I hope you all had a merry Christmas and a happy New Year.

I am currently getting adapted to a new schedule and am working out when I will have time to write. Fortunately, we aren't busy on the farm much this time of year so that's nice for the sake of this project.

Speaking of this story, I had someone ask in the comments of Part 8 how many parts I expect there to be and to be blunt, I don't have an exact number. I am very much a discovery writer and don't have much of a rigid outline. I understand it can be frustrating having to re-read previous parts, I myself like to read a series all at once if possible. However, I much prefer writing in shorter segments. That being said, I would approximate the number of parts to be somewhere around 15-20. I feel like plot wise I'm about at the midway point so that's my best estimate.

I get that having a bunch of small segments to read can be frustrating, but I feel like this method works well for me as it works well with my writing process. I apologize for my readers who find it frustrating.

Regardless, back to Chase and Sarah.

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Sarah returned to her bedroom after getting out of the shower. As she laid down, she found herself thinking about what had happened that afternoon. God had she gotten flustered when Stacy brought up the thought of sex. And as if that wasn't bad enough, Chase had to turn and make eye contact with her! She was pretty sure her face was just about fire engine red at that point as she looked away.

"If nothing else," she thought to herself, "surely that simple exchange had tipped him off to the fact that I'm into him. I mean, he didn't quite seem as focused as he usually was after that." She also realized that his distraction might have come from the fact that he got to see her in leggings for the first time.

She felt her heart flutter in her chest. The thought of him staring her down was a real turn on for her. She had caught him looking at her a couple times, but she never did catch the desire in his eyes she had been hoping for. Still, at least he'd been looking her over. That was something right?

The sound of the wind outside interrupted her train of thought. A look at her phone revealed that it was currently around 6:30, well past sunset. She looked out of the window in her bedroom at the dark, starless sky. The wind was howling away, carrying snow from the roof with it.

"Brr..." she thought to herself, pulling her sheets and comforter over herself and snuggling down into them. Thoughts about her neighbor crept back into her mind as she laid there listening to the wind outside. With herself bundled up and fantasies about snuggling up with Chase on her mind, she slowly drifted off to sleep.

When she woke up, she found herself shivering in her bed. She reached for the lamp on her nightstand and tried to turn it on. The switch clicked but the room remained completely dark. She tried again, and again before she realized that her power had been knocked out. A gust of wind outside explained the source of the power outage. At that moment, fear closed in around her like a pair of cold hands on her neck. She fumbled around on her nightstand looking for her phone. Once she found it, she unlocked it and called the first person that came to mind, her mom.

The call went through, but her mom never picked up. She tried again, with the same result. At that point, she looked at the time on her phone and found out that it was 5:10 in the morning. Her mom probably wasn't awake yet and wouldn't be up for over an hour. Her mind raced as she tried to think of someone she could call. Stacy wouldn't be up either, maybe Carla would, but even then, she was probably sleeping in since the diner was closed.

As she scrolled through her contacts, she absentmindedly ended up clicking on Chase's contact and calling him. She wasn't fully aware of what she was doing as she put the phone to her ear and listened to it ring.

"Hello?" Came Chase's voice from the other end of the line. She stood there, paralyzed for what must have been a couple seconds. "Hello?" He repeated.

"Chase?" Was all she managed to say. She knew she needed to call someone but she hadn't expected anyone to pick up, so now she found herself unprepared for what to say.

"Sarah...?" Was his reply. "Is everything alright over there.?" He asked.

"My power's knocked out." She said, still trying to process what exactly she wanted to say.

"Mine got knocked out last night too." He replied. "Is everything ok?" He repeated.

At that point her brain finally started working and she managed to articulate a complete sentence. "Hey Chase," she began, "my power must have gotten knocked out last night because I don't have any lights. I woke up a few minutes ago shivering from the cold, I don't how cold it is or why I woke up, but I know my power is out and it's definitely getting cold in here."

"Ok," Chase responded, "do you want to come over here since I still have heat? I think I can make it over there with one of the tractors to get you."

"It'd be nice, but don't feel like you have to." She told him.

"Ehh, they won't even think about trying to restore power until the storm ends and even then, we probably aren't super high on the priority list. We might not even get power back tomorrow." He explained.

"Oh..." Sarah felt her heart sink after hearing that news.

"Also, did you say it's already getting cold inside?" Chase asked.

"Yeah." She replied.

"And you woke up shivering?" He added.

"Yes." She shivered again both from the cold and from the thought.

"Have you layered up any?" He asked.

"Not yet." She asked, bemoaning the thought of having to get out of bed.

"If you're shivering enough to wake yourself up, you probably need to get warmed up," he cautioned, "that shivering means your body temperature is dropping."

"Well that's comforting..." She thought out loud, biting her tongue once she realized she'd actually said that.

She heard a sigh come through the phone. "Sarah, do you want me to come get you out of there? I have heat and everything over here."

"You don't have to do that." She preemptively said, not really thinking.

"I didn't ask that, I asked if you wanted me to." He sighed again. "If you're shivering already you need to get somewhere warmer." His tone had gotten more serious. "If you can, get bundled up the best you can and pack a change of clothes. I'll be over in a few minutes with the 2755 to get you. You're gonna stay with me until you get power back."

"Are you sure Chase?" She replied. "You probably shouldn't be going outside in this weather."

"Don't worry about me." He said firmly. "Get yourself around the best you can and I'll be over as soon as I can."

"Ok..." she replied. Chase then ended the call leaving her to her own devices. She took a couple seconds to psych herself up and pulled the comforter and sheets off of herself. The rush of cold air around her body made her breath catch in her throat and prompted another strong shiver. At that point she tore herself out of her bed and made her way to her closet. She grabbed her duffel bag and headed to her dresser. She grabbed two pairs of sweatpants and put them on over the shorts she slept in. She went back to the closet and grabbed two hoodies and put them on over her shirt. The fabric of the extra layers was cold at first, but they did help a little bit. At that point she returned to her dresser and pulled out a set of clothes and threw them in her bag before zipping it up and returning to her bed to cover back up.

The extra layers helped and she felt herself getting a bit warmer as she laid in her bed. As she warmed up, she started to feel herself drifting back off to sleep. She was prevented from fully drifting off by a sound that she recognized as the sound of one of Chase's tractors. A look at the window in her bedroom revealed a set of four bright lights pulling into her driveway. She reluctantly got out of her bed, grabbed her phone, and picked up the bag she'd just packed and headed for the door. As she passed her coatrack, she grabbed her winter coat and put it on, along with a pair of boots, before bracing herself for the weather she was about to walk out into.

As she opened the door, a gust of wind swept into the room, the cold air and windblown snow clawed at her face as she stepped out onto her porch. She closed the door behind her and made her way towards the lights in her driveway. As she walked through the storm and snow that was halfway up her shins, she saw a silhouette through the dark and snow.

"Get in the tractor!" Chase called through the howling wind. "I'll be back in a few minutes." As he continued towards her, she noticed a jug of something in his left hand. While she was trying to process what the jug was, a gust of wind caught her off guard and she stepped to try and regain her balance. As her foot hit the ground, she felt it slide off the sidewalk she was trying to follow and she almost instantly found herself half buried in the accumulated snow. The cold from the icy flakes quickly penetrated through the layers of clothing she was wearing. As she laid there processing what had just happened, she felt and hand grab her by her arm and forcefully but carefully pull her back to her feet.

"Are you alright?" Came Chase's voice.

She nodded in response. He started guiding her towards the running tractor and helped her climb into the cab.

"The heat's already on, hopefully it gets warmer in here fairly quick." He explained. "Wait here for a few minutes, I'll be back."

With that, he closed the door to the cab and headed back out into the storm leaving Sarah with only her duffel bag and her thoughts. The tractor cab was far from warm but she was definitely glad to not have the wind clawing at her anymore. A shiver washed over her again and she found herself wondering where Chase had disappeared to and what he was doing.

As the minutes passed, the cab gradually started to warm up and soon enough Chase returned to view and climbed up into the cab. A cold gust of wind rushing in while he had the door open.

"Alright that's that." He said as he sat in the seat.

"What did you do anyway?" She asked, starting to drift off again as she warmed back up.

"I went ahead and put some antifreeze in all the drains I could get to and drained the water lines I could. Hopefully you won't have to worry about anything freezing." He explained.

"So that's what was in the jug," she thought to herself, "antifreeze." She yawned as Chase put the tractor in reverse and headed back to his house. Within a minute or two they were in Chase's driveway right in front of his garage.

"Alright," he said as he parked the tractor, "let's get you inside." He picked up her bag and opened the door for her. The cold outside air blowing in woke her up enough to make her want to get inside. She climbed out and looked up expecting him to hand her bag down to her, instead she found him climbing down right behind her with her bag in his hand. As he reached the ground and turned to face her, he motioned for her to walk towards the man door to his garage. She nodded and did so, making her way through the garage and into his house. She instantly took a deep breath of the warm air. Her moment of relief was interrupted by the sound of her bag being set on the floor behind her, followed by the door closing. She turned around to find Chase heading back out into the weather. It took her a moment to realize that he was probably going to park the tractor.

She returned her attention to her bag sitting on the floor just inside the door. For the time being she didn't have an immediate need for it, so she just sat it down in the corner of the foyer before taking off her snow-covered boots. As she stepped onto the floor, she felt the snow that had accumulated around the bottoms of her sweats. She sighed realizing that she should probably take them off before walking through Chase's house. She took both pairs off and was about to hang them on the coatrack in the foyer when she heard the door open behind her.

She turned around just in time to meet Chase's eyes as he returned inside. The fact that she had just been caught in the act of getting undressed by a guy she'd fantasized about the day before made her heart skip a few beats. The situation wasn't improved by the fact that she caught his eyes darting down to what she assumed was her now exposed legs. She instantly felt a blush form in her face as she looked away and hung up her sweats.

"Yeah, go ahead and get out of your wet clothes. I'll go get out of my winter clothes and get you a blanket." Chase said as she heard him take off his boots before he disappeared around the corner into a room she couldn't see. With that distraction gone, she took of her jacket and one of her hoodies, both of which had picked up a bunch of snow when she'd fallen. She was left wearing only a hoodie, shirt, and the shorts she slept in. At least now she was somewhere with working heat. She remembered that her phone was in her pocket and retrieved it. She checked the time and found that it was just after 5:25. All of that had happened within ten minutes.

She put her phone in her hoodie pocket and looked up in time to find Chase returning to the room with a large blanket. "Here." He said, holding it out for her. She took it, unfolded it, and wrapped it around herself. The two of them stood there for a couple seconds before Sarah found herself facing a strong urge to wrap him in the blanket with her. Her own body forced her hand as she let out a yawn. "You probably should go lay down." He suggested. Her response was to give into her urge and wrap the blanket around him as well. She'd figured that, if he protested, she'd just brush it off as being tired. "I guess *we* should go lay down." He replied as she wrapped him into the blanket with her.

She managed to suppress her surprise. Did that really just work? Her half-baked idea to wrap him up in the blanket with her had just gotten him to lay down with her. Why hadn't she tried something like that before? The real answer was that she was petrified by the idea of making any kind of move. So why exactly did she do it this time? Maybe it was just the cold, maybe she really was tired enough that she wasn't thinking straight. Either way, she was now standing with her arms around the man she'd fantasized about being able to get her hands on for months. The exact feeling she was experiencing was hard to pinpoint, it was almost surreal, although again, that was probably because she was tired.

"Come on." He said as he awkwardly headed towards the next room, with her clinging to him like a needy child. As he reached the couch, he knelt down, picked her up, sat down on the couch, laid himself down, and laid her on top of him. In had become glaringly clear to her that she was extremely tired as she barely noticed any of that happening, but, she soon found herself laying down with her head on his chest and she almost instantly drifted off.

As she came to, she was entirely unsure of what she had just experienced. Honestly, it almost felt like a dream. Was she really out of power? Did she really call Chase for help and did he really come and get her? Those were believable enough, but surely she hadn't actually had the guts to wrap Chase up in her arms and surely he didn't pick her up and lay her down on the couch with him, right?

Well, if that was the case and it was a dream, she had a few things to explain to herself, even without opening her eyes. Like why she definitely wasn't in her bed, and why she felt an arm around her back and a hand on her side, and why she was under a blanket that wasn't her bed comforter, and why she could feel whatever she was laying on moving underneath her.

Her heart rate instantly started to increase as she started to realize that she was indeed laying down with Chase on his couch. As if she needed to double check what she had just realized, she slowly opened up her eyes and was instantly presented with a large forearm and bicep. It was covered by a shirt that she assumed was a thermal shirt like her dad would wear in winter. She traced the arm towards the hand end and sure enough, a large hand with some scars on it was laid on her side. She followed the arm to the other end and was greeted with a chest hidden by the thermal shirt and a T-shirt on top of it. The two layers of clothing made it a bit hard to see the muscle definition, but the shirt was just tight enough to hint at it.

She took a moment to look around the room to properly orient herself. She was laying on her side with her back against the couch she and Chase were laying on, and he was lying on his back underneath her with one arm around her back and the other around her front. She took a deep breath and snuggled in under the blanket.

"Are you awake?" She heard Chase ask. The sound of his voice when he was barely speaking and so close to her sent a chill down her spine.

"Mhmm." She replied with a nod. Her own voice a bit groggy. She could feel a familiar warmth building between her legs and a certain part down there was getting stiff and demanding attention. "Sorry, I need to go to the bathroom." She said as she tossed the blanket off of herself. She started to roll onto her stomach on top of him as she got up, hoping she'd be able to feel if she was having the same effect on him as he had on her. Unfortunately, as she moved she braced her left arm against Chase's bad shoulder and her thoughts were interrupted by him tensing up and grunting. She looked down at where she'd thoughtlessly put her hand and Chase reflexively grabbed at her hand before releasing it and grabbing his tricep instead. She quickly shifted her weight off of his upper body and stood up from the couch. "I'm so sorry about that." She explained, her panic evident in her voice, "I didn't think about you still having a bad shoulder." She was hoping that she hadn't injured something in his shoulder. On the bright side, depending on how she looked at it, her brain was the one controlling her thoughts again.

"I'll live." Chase responded, still clearly in pain as he rolled his shoulder around and rubbed it with his other hand. "The bathroom is down that hall just past the bedroom." He added, returning Sarah's attention to what she had initially intended to do. She found her way to the bathroom and, after relieving herself, she stood looking at herself in the mirror. She hadn't worn much makeup the day before, which she was grateful for now because she was pretty sure she didn't have a way to fix any of it. She then pulled her hood down to take a look at her hair. Unsurprisingly, it was a bit of a mess and she did the best she could to fix it. She let it out of the loose bun it was in before trying her best with her hands to get it back up and at least looking halfway decent.

Her mind drifted back to Chase. She really hoped she hadn't messed up his arm when she'd put her weight on it. She smiled in spite of herself. "That's what you get for thinking between your legs instead of between your ears." She told herself. Her thoughts were interrupted by her phone ringing, so she pulled her phone out and answered the call.

"Hello?" She said.

"Hey Sarah," she instantly recognized the voice she was hearing as her mother's, "sorry I didn't pick up earlier; I was asleep."

"It's ok mom." She replied.

"Are you sure? Is everything alright? Do you need anything?" Her mother asked, clearly a bit frantic.

"Mom, relax I'm fine." She told her, trying to assure her that everything was fine. "I called you this morning to tell you that my power had been knocked out by the blizzard. It's not like there was much you could have done anyway."