Only if There's Cuddling (Secret Santa for Dusty15)

[Arc Reactor]

Hi @Dusty15! I was your Secret Santa this year, and I hope you enjoy this story! Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!

Claire: 24 years old. Intelligent, a little shy, ambitious, loves to help people. Studying for semester finals before winter break. She’s not only stressed out, but she has a terrible cold. Lucky for her, her girlfriend, Angie, is not letting Claire go unless she gets some rest.

Angie: 24 years old. Fierce, outspoken, bold, ambitious, takes nobody’s bull. She comes off arrogant when you first meet her, but she is a real softie at heart. When she sees how stressed and miserable Claire is, she puts her foot down.

 

It was flurrying outside, and that made the lights and decorations put up all over campus that much more beautiful. Claire usually was the one between her and her beautiful girlfriend, Angie, to stare up in awe at the twinkling display of festivity while Angie was the one to stare in awe at Claire.

On this particular evening, however, Claire was on her way to meet Angie at the coffee shop where they first met to study for her biology final, and the decorations and lights and holiday cheer flew over her head, which was heavy with fatigue.

The sniffles from a couple of days ago hit her hard, and before she knew it, she was shivering in the middle of the night from a fever during finals week. Claire was never one to admit defeat, especially when break was so soon, but at this point, she was pushing forward only on copious amounts of coffee and sheer determination.

Even her heavy backpack, which was manageable on a good day, was close to caving her shoulders in. She wanted nothing more than to take her stupid bio final, throw all of her college shit to the side, and curl up next to her girlfriend. Angie’s body was akin to a furnace, and at the end of a cold, winter day, cuddling with her love was the only way for Claire to feel warmer.

With Angie on her mind, Claire walked into the coffee shop with a soft smile on her kind face. The cold air whooshed into the tiny, heated shop, but the tinkling of the bell above her couldn’t sound more like home. For Claire, the cozy, locally owned shop was where all the happiness in her life began. Two years ago, Angie had been a bright eyed barista with big dreams who caught the attention of a shy, but equally ambitious Claire. The two had hit it off and had quickly fallen in love.

Sitting in the booth at the complete back, Claire locked gazes with Angie, who looked up from her laptop at the sound of the door opening. Angie’s bright, twinkling eyes quickly shifted into a look of concern as Claire walked over towards her and sat in the chair across from her girlfriend.

“Hey babe,” Angie greeted softly as she closed the lid of her laptop and took Claire’s hand in her own. She brought Claire’s knuckles up to her lips and kissed each one, a tradition that they continued since the time they first began dating. “You don’t look too good.”

“Thanks,” Claire croaked, the words scraping against her sore throat. Immediately, she covered her face with her elbow, the singular word having irritated her throat enough to create a coughing fit. Claire turned to the side, her eyes tearing up at the rasping sensation that took away her ability to talk even more than it already had. Her lungs seemed to be depleted of air once she was done. Angie tsked, her eyebrows scrunched together in a frown.

“How long are you going to keep wearing yourself out until you finally take a hint and sleep for more than three hours?”

“Until after the bio final,” Claire responded as best she could, her voice now barely available, which was just excellent considering she was supposed to be studying with Angie.

“The bio final is in three days. That gives you plenty of time to rest and study later. I’ll help you out the day before. You’re going to be fine. Claire? Are you even listening to me?”

Claire would have answered her, but she was preoccupied with the buzzing in her sinuses. She must have sneezed at least twenty times that day, but it especially hit her whenever there was a temperature change. Considering she just walked into a toasty environment from a near freezing one, Claire knew that she was about to be interrupted at least more than once. Right as Angie called her name again, she turned to the side, her face covered with her elbow.

Hhh… hihESHHiew!

“Bless you.”

Eh… ehhETSHHiew! Huh… Ah, fu-- hihUSHHuh!

“Bless you,” Angie said again as Claire recovered with several sniffles. Claire reached inside her bag for the travel pack tissues she carried around everywhere, plucked several of them out before wrapping them around her red, quivering nose. Angie accepted a steaming hot chocolate that one of the baristas brought over while Claire blew her nose as discreetly as she could. “Poor thing,” Angie cooed as Claire put the tissues aside and curled in on herself. “How long have you felt this bad. I know you were sniffling a couple of days ago, but I can’t recall you having this bad of a cold.”

“I had a fever last night, and this morning, I woke up feeling like a bus ran over me. I couldn’t even concentrate on studying, and I’m pretty sure I bombed today’s anatomy final.” Claire coughed again as hard as she could to clear her throat.

“You must be feeling so awful. Here, darling.” Angie pushed the hot chocolate towards her girlfriend. Claire happily took it, an adorable grin on her face. The warmth of the steaming liquid down her abused throat was heaven. She quickly had to put her mug down, though, for an intense tickle took over her nose from the steam. She plucked more tissues out of her pack, wrapped them around her nose, and gave into the feathery sensation in her nostrils.

hehISHHii!... hehETCHuh!... hihISHH!... hhh… hh…

The tickle teased her, and in her moment of torture, she heard Angie tsk again. “Oh, honey.”

att’CHHiew!

Claire sniffed long and hard before burying her face in her arms, shivering from slight chills. She sighed at the comfort of Angie’s hand stroking her hair, then peeked up at her from where she had made a cocoon out of her head and arms. “Hi,” she whispered.

Angie shook her head fondly. “Hi,” she whispered back. “I’m taking care of you tonight.”

Claire raised her head to protest, but Angie quickly shot her down with one of her looks. “I want no ifs or buts. You’re not getting out of my sight unless you feel better.”

“But--”

“What did I say? Oh, and another thing. No studying tonight.”

“Angie, come on--”

“Nope. Not having it.” Claire pouted, but internally, she was ready to throw everything up in the air and give up. She had never felt worse, and frankly, she had had enough. “You’re going to finish that hot chocolate, and then you’re going to come home where I am going to make my Mama’s homemade chicken soup, and then, you’re going to cuddle with me on the couch while we watch Mean Girls.”

Claire debated arguing with her girlfriend, but Angie had that look in her eyes that meant that what she said was final, and God, if that wasn’t sexy, then Claire didn’t know what was. “Well,” she gave in, a happy, but tired, smile on her face, “if cuddles are involved…”

“Uh huh.” Angie reached forward and took Claire’s hand again. Somehow, Claire felt all the love in the world just from that simple touch. It made feeling like crap all day worth it because in the end, her Angie would always be there to take care of her. “I love you, baby.”

Claire smiled. “I love you too.”

The two of them left the coffee shop hand in hand, and despite Claire being sick, they kissed in the middle of the flurries, the streetlight painting their silhouettes against the canvas of the holiday joy.

[Dusty15]

Aww ❤️ Thanks so much,  @Arc Reactor! That was adorable

[AngelEyes]

This is lovely.