Come As You Are Ch. 02

Author's Notes - Hello! The below story is Chapter 2 of the rewrite of "Come As You Are," a 19-chapter story I posted in Novels & Novellas back in 2019.

If you're reading this story for the first time, welcome! It's a tale I've put a lot of time and effort into, as well as a good bit of myself, and I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I've enjoyed writing it.

If you're reading this story for the second time, thank you! The players and situations are the same, but rewritten and reordered in a way that I feel is "closer" to the characters than the original was. I've also taken into account the biggest complaints about the first edition and hopefully corrected them to your satisfaction.

So, with all appropriately further adieu...

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Previously on "Come As You Are" -- Four lifelong friends reunite in the small ski resort town of Emerald Pines, Colorado, for their ten-year high school reunion -- professional chef Brenda Lattimore, celebrity video game streamer Sadie Bedford, ski instructor Michelle Min, and local business owner Colette Hansen. Over drinks and dinner the night before the reunion, the girls discover that unbeknownst to them, Brenda had slept with one of their classmates, the quiet social outcast Garrett West.

A strong blizzard during their senior year caused Garrett and Brenda to get snowed in together while working on an extra credit project at Brenda's house in the mountains, much to the dismay of Danny Eastman, a high school basketball star who was both Brenda's boyfriend and a frequent tormentor of Garrett. After walking on Garrett while he was changing and being surprised by how good of shape he was actually in, Brenda found herself thinking about him while falling asleep, leading to an intense solo session...

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Come As You Are

Volume I - Brenda's Story

Chapter Two - "A Winter's Tale"

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Scrape. Scrape. Scrape.

Brenda slowly opened her eyes as the sound of metal dragging against stone reached her ears. She rolled over, blinking the last bit of sleep from her eyes as she tried to focus on the alarm clock on her nightstand. The drowsiness quickly fell away as her brain processed the bright green numbers that couldn't have possibly been showing the right time.

"11 AM? We've been asleep since nearly midnight."

She wandered over to the window, oblivious to her nudity. The snow was still coming down thick and fast, dropping from a sky of steel gray, but she could make out a form dressed in all purple shoveling the front walk. A large bag of rock salt sat on the porch behind them. Even as the form swung the shovel and tossed the collected snow down the hill, fresh flakes gathered on the newly exposed stone. The wind tore at the figure's scarf, causing it to flail in the frigid air as the storm continued to unleash its fury.

Her cell phone chimed on the desk behind her. The snow's covered everything again, said the message from Danny. The salt helped, but barely.

Yeah, Garrett's shoveling and salting the front porch and the snow's winning, she texted back.

The whole town's losing to this storm. I'm going to try to dig out everyone again. It's good conditioning!

Don't hurt yourself. Call me later?

Promise.

Brenda grabbed a quick shower before throwing on a pair of gray sweatpants and a green Emerald Pines High School t-shirt, bigger on her since it had originally belonged to Danny before she appropriated it. As she pulled her hair into a ponytail, Brenda caught the faint scent of last night's nocturnal activities. She made a mental note to change her bedsheets today and shook her head. It had been fun and had definitely helped her sleep, but getting worked up over Garrett West was a secret she'd keep to herself.

As she stepped out of her bedroom, she heard a door slam downstairs in the kitchen. "Garrett?"

"Good morning!" his voice called back,

"Good morning." Brenda headed down the back steps to see Garrett taking off his parka. "How did you sleep last night?"

"OK. Your couch is super comfy. How about you?"

"I slept... Oh my God! You're soaked!"

He had hung his coat on a nearby peg, and upon pulling the purple knit hat off Brenda saw that Garrett's hair was absolutely shot through with sweat. His cheeks and ears were a deep shade of red, dotted with the melted remains of snowflakes. His scarf and gloves were caked with snow, and from his knees down his blue jeans were saturated to the point of appearing black. The t-shirt he wore was also drenched, clinging to his body. "You're dripping wet," she proclaimed in shock. "How long were you out there?"

"Since like nine."

"Nine? You spent two hours shoveling the sidewalk?!?"

"Yeah. The front porch, the front sidewalk, the upper portion of the driveway, the back porch, and I threw down that entire bag of snowmelt." He pulled one of his gloves off to wipe at his face. "It was a losing battle, but it'll make cleanup a hell of a lot easier once the storm blows over. And your woodpile's almost covered, so I hauled in some extra firewood too just in case."

"Thank you, but..." As Brenda saw the water dripping from Garrett's clothing she made a snap decision. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but take off your clothes right now."

Garrett did a double-take. "I'm sorry?"

"You've been out in the storm for two hours. Your clothes are soaked, you're as red as a cherry, and you're going to catch your death if you don't warm up and dry off. I'll take your clothes and throw them in the laundry, and you're going to march upstairs and take a hot shower." Brenda crossed her arms while her eyes drilled into her classmate. "You're screaming for a bad case of pneumonia," she said firmly. "If you get sick, there's no way to get you to the hospital. Come on. Clothes off, right now."

Garrett meekly nodded. He took off his scarf and gloves before bending down and unlacing his boots. He stepped out his shoes and kicked them onto the rubber mat before looking at Brenda. "Um... would you turn around please?"

Brenda felt a slight rush of blood to her face before she turned around. "Is it still bad out there?" she asked, turning her eyes towards the ceiling for lack of anything specific to look at.

"It's worse." She heard the sound of a zipper as he continued speaking. "It's a full-blown blizzard, wind and all. The news said this isn't ending until tonight. It's an absolute mess on both sides of the mountains. Denver's caught a foot-and-a-half and I'd call it... two-and-a-half-feet outside. Where's your laundry room?"

"Just put your clothes on the counter. My shower is..."

"Hold up. Do we want Garrett using our shower?"

Brenda's voice trailed off. The idea of Garrett in her shower, using her soap and shampoo, felt like an invasion of her privacy, not to mention how Danny would feel about Garrett using her shower.

"Oh, and he'd have to walk through our room, and we haven't changed the sheets after last night."

"Actually, no, use the guest..."

"No towels, no soap, no shampoo."

With both options denied Brenda made another snap decision, not knowing how many lives she changed in the process. "Use my parents' shower. Their bedroom is right up the back steps." Brenda could sense Garrett behind her just before a wet plop landed on the tile counter next to her. She looked over at the pile of clothing that was already forming a small puddle underneath it. "OK, let me... nope. Boxers too. The way your pants were soaked, I'm pretty sure your boxers are just as wet." Closing her eyes, she directed him, "Throw them on the pile, let's go."

She heard one more piece of clothing landing on the pile with a damp squelch. "I'm going to grab my spare boxers from my emergency bag..."

"I'll grab them. Upstairs. Quit stalling."

Last night was a fluke. The thought of a naked Garrett West walking through the kitchen did nothing for her. Brenda chalked up what she had done before she fell asleep to a weird imbalance of biochemistry. Once she heard Garrett reach the upstairs hallway she headed towards the living room. The clothes he had on were different from the Majesties' collection he had worn yesterday. Those old clothes would need to be washed as well. It would be a nice gesture on her part, repayment for all the work he had put in that morning attempting to fight off the snow.

His duffel bag sat on the living room table next to his Nano. Inside were the clothes Garrett had worn yesterday. They had been neatly folded and stacked - even the socks. She didn't see a pair of boxers, but there were several compartments that were zipped closed. The first one held his toiletries. The second one was inside the bag itself. Brenda unzipped the compartment and reached inside. Her fingers brushed against something round wrapped in foil. She instantly realized what it was and withdrew her fingers, but after a second pulled the compartment open, allowing her a better look inside to confirm what she had touched. A condom. Three of them attached together, sealed inside their foil packages.

"Garrett carries emergency condoms? But he's a virgin... right?"

She could feel the blush in her cheeks, but it was the momentary tingle just below her stomach that caused her to quickly zip the compartment shut. The third compartment at the end of the duffel bag contained the pair of boxers she had been looking for, a thick flannel pair with a red and black checkered pattern. She grabbed the dirty laundry from the duffel bag and brought them to the laundry room along with the pile of wet clothes in the kitchen.

After loading and starting the washer Brenda headed upstairs, fresh boxers in hand. She could hear the shower going in her parents' bedroom. The door to the bathroom itself was closed. She deliberated for a moment before knocking and opening the door just a crack. The wall-length mirror over the double vanity was beginning to fog up with steam. "Garrett," she called through the narrow opening. "I have your boxers."

"Thanks," she heard him respond over the hiss of the showerhead. "I guess throw them on the counter, please?"

It was a bad decision. She knew it was a bad decision. But Brenda heard herself say the words. "Actually, can I come in? We need to talk about this afternoon, and I don't want to yell back and forth across the bathroom. I promise to keep my eyes closed."

"If you want to keep your eyes open, go ahead," he responded after a moment. "I'll try to keep myself covered up."

Boxers still clutched in her hand, she pushed open the bathroom door and stepped inside. Her parents' bathroom consisted of a pair of sinks set in a countertop that ran along one wall underneath a long mirror. The toilet and a bathtub with jacuzzi jets sat opposite the sinks. The back wall was taken up by the shower on one side and the towel closet on the other. Garrett's upper body was visible behind the tile wall that compromised the lower half of the shower, distorted by water and condensation.

"You were right," he admitted as she set the boxers on the counter. "I needed to warm up. I didn't realize how cold I was until I got up here." Garrett was standing underneath the showerhead, his brown hair soaked as he let the hot water fall over him. "Thanks for making me undress... you know what I mean."

"You were going to catch a cold if you didn't get out of those clothes. I threw them in the washer, along with your clothes from yesterday. My way of saying thanks for all the work you did this morning."

"The clothes from my duffel bag?"

"Yeah, the dirty ones. I also threw the stuff you slept in last night in as well."

"That's all my clothes." Garrett turned to look at Brenda through the glass. He used his hands to wipe the water from his face as he spoke. "All I have left are those boxers."

"I didn't think of that. I'm sure my Dad's got something you would wear until your clothes are dry. If not..."

Garrett responded with a nervous laugh. "Yeah, Danny would kick my ass if he knew I was walking around your house in just a pair of boxers, let alone naked because you insisted I take my clothes off."

"For your health, I'd like to point out."

"Do you think he'd make that distinction?"

"Then we won't tell him if it comes to that."

"Oh my God, what is WRONG with us right now?"

"I'm joking," she quickly added.

"Look, I'm not trying to disparage Danny, I swear. If I never had to deal with him between now and graduation, I'd be a happy man. But I know how me being here alone with you looks to him."

"The past twenty-four hours have been kind of weird," Brenda admitted, "and that was with us spending most of them apart. We've made due so far though." She hopped up on the counter. "So what did you want to do this afternoon?"

"After spending another half an hour using up all your hot water? I guess polish off our discussion questions for 'Inherit the Wind,' call my folks to let them know I'm OK and wait for the storm to blow over."

"I like the first two things, but I feel like I've been a lousy hostess." She drummed her fingers. "How about I cook dinner? There's some venison in the freezer I can dethaw and throw on the grill top."

"That sounds delicious. I haven't had venison in forever. Mama Giovanni keeps pestering me to put some meat on these bones."

"I don't know," Brenda teased. "From what I saw last night you're a long way from starving."

"I'm sorry?"

"Oops."

"Damn it," Brenda said quietly to herself before raising her voice to answer Garrett. "I was coming to check on you last night before I went to bed and almost walked in on you while you were stretching and getting undressed."

"I'm sorry! I thought you were asleep and didn't feel like going to the bathroom to change!"

"Don't apologize. I should have called out first. But I got a good look at you, and you're not the scarecrow I remember from middle school. What were you doing last night? Some kind of yoga?"

"Just a basic stretching routine. I tried to get into yoga but it didn't really click with me. I stretch on my off-days from swimming."

"You swim?"

"Every other day if I can help it." After a moment, Garrett asked a quiet question. "Seriously, though? You think I look good?"

"You're no Danny or Gio, but if you keep this routine up you're going to knock them dead when you get to college."

"Wow. Thanks, Brenda."

There was a note of pride in his voice, and it was enough to make Brenda smile. Before she could say anything more a noise caught her attention. "I think that was my phone. Your boxers are on the counter. Yell out when you're done. I'll see if my Dad's got anything that you can wear." She quickly marched to her bedroom where her cell phone was ringing on her desk. "Hey babe," Brenda said after checking the caller ID. "How are you?"

"Sore," her boyfriend's voice answered. "I still haven't seen a damn snowplow make its way down our street. I swear if they push the snow into the path I dug..."

She couldn't help but laugh. "How much snow's fallen down there?"

"Three feet. They're saying one more foot in the next twelve hours and then it'll stop."

"Wow. No wonder they're calling this a storm of the century." Brenda had wandered over to the window. The snow had tapered off somewhat, but it was still dropping fast enough to have been considered a major storm under normal conditions. The sidewalk and front porch were visible, but only because a few inches covered the stone vs the three feet of snow that lay over everything else she could see. "Everything Garrett shoveled this morning is already covered again."

"Only that guy could lose to snow. Where's Scarecrow now?"

"He's in my folks' shower. He looked like a lobster when he came back inside from shoveling. The last thing I need is him catching pneumonia while we're stuck together."

"He's in your parents' shower?"

"Oh, shit."

Brenda leaned against the doorframe. The soft wood pressed against her forehead as she told Danny, "I didn't want him using my shower."

"And what the fuck was wrong with the guest one?" Danny said with an edge to his words.

"No towels, no soap, no shampoo. I told him to use their shower without thinking. It just came out."

"So your boyfriend can't use your parents' shower but a house crasher can?"

Brenda bit her tongue, swallowing her frustration. "I didn't want him using my bathroom," she pointed out. "I didn't want him anywhere near my bathroom. Or my bedroom, for that matter. Having Garrett here is bad enough. Having him in my bedroom, even for a few seconds?"

Silence came from the other end of the phone. When Danny finally spoke, it was with the calm finality that signified restrained anger. "Put him on."

"He's still in the shower."

"Put him on. A strange guy has been snowed in with my girlfriend for nearly 24 hours. I just want to talk to him for a second, OK?"

"For the record," she said as she left her bedroom and headed down the hall towards the master bedroom room, "he's been quiet and helpful this entire time and has done his best to stay out of my hair. He even hauled in all the firewood this morning so I wouldn't have to."

"He better have been a perfect gentleman, or else I'll kick his ass."

Brenda called out a little louder than she intended to cover up the sigh she tried not to make. "Garrett! Danny wants to talk to you!" She crossed the bedroom and stood outside the bathroom door. "Can I come in?"

"What? Danny wants to talk to me?"

"Yeah. He's on the phone right now. I'm going to come in and hand it to you." The shower was turned off, replaced by the sound of dripping water. Brenda pushed the bathroom door open. "My eyes are closed," she called out loudly, lying for the sake of her boyfriend on the other end of the phone. Garrett had opened the shower door and was leaning out, the lower half of his body still covered by the tile wall, a look of confusion on his face.

"Oh my God," Brenda's body called out. "His chest might not be too bad either..."

"Here!" She practically shoved the phone at Garrett. She turned around, arms crossed, her back to Garrett but her eyes on the bathroom mirror. From that angle, Brenda confirmed three things.

One, his chest was indeed on its way to being fantastic.

Two, his stomach was flat and without muscle definition, but those days were numbered.

Three, Garrett West had a great looking dick. Not as long as Danny's, but thicker and better proportioned.

"Girl, we are officially leering."

She would have kept staring, but Garrett started talking at that particular moment. "Danny, hey. Brenda said you wanted to talk... how bad is it down there in town? Yeah, same here. At least we don't have to go driving in it right? Uh huh. Yeah. Yeah, Danny, I'm tracking, but you don't... Danny? Look, let me... Danny, you don't have to worry about that."

Brenda, idly biting at a fingernail, turned slightly. Garrett had stepped out a little bit from the shower. He had turned his hips towards Brenda, hiding his penis but giving her a damn good look at his naked butt. "Danny," she heard him say meekly, "I'm not... she told me to use this shower, I... I'm sorry? You're going to... no, Danny, I won't. No. I promise. Yeah... yeah, I hear you. OK. Here she is." She looked over her shoulder to see Garrett holding her phone out. "He wants to talk to you."

Brenda took the phone from her houseguest, keeping her eyes turned away from Garrett's naked body. "What did you say to him?" she asked while pacing to the bathroom door.

"I told that cocksucker," Danny's voice hissed over the phone, "that next time he uses the guest shower, and if he pulls another stunt like this I'm going to slam his head into his locker so hard, next year's graduating class will still see the fucking dent."