Chapter Text
Enid loved her room. It was so big, with a huge round window and had a balcony (a balcony!). The first thing she thought when she entered Ophelia Hall was that it would be so cool to make parties there (or just a chill hang-out with friends). But the room was also on the top of a tower away from the others, which meant that didn’t had access to the central heating nor the communal fireplaces that were around the building. Which meant it was fricking cold.
She had been trying to study the whole morning for her exam next week, but it was just impossible. She was fully clothed (with her biggest sweater included), wore two pair of her fuzziest socks and had covered herself with the duvet and a blanket. But still nothing, the cold had crawled inside her and refused to let go, no matter how hard she tried.
The thing is, she could go somewhere else, of course, but that would mean she wouldn’t either concentrate at all. Although Enid usually loved noise and people (and the combination of both), she actually needed a lot of time, effort and silence to focus and get into “the zone”. After living in her crazy house and sharing everything with her rowdy brothers, she had realized in the last term that the quiet atmosphere of her room was ideal for her to concentrate, and her grades had improved consistently since that discovery. The library was acceptably warm, but full of people, and gosh, she couldn’t stand studying with so many distractions and noises around. She briefly thought of going to Yoko’s room, but she was hanging out with Divina and preferred to let them have some privacy. Especially since she was always hanging there lately when she wanted to ramble about her roommate’s weird things, which was most of the time. Besides, as Yoko was a vampire, she probably didn’t have the heater on, so if not freezing, the room would be cold at least.
There was another problem with all that. Wolves don’t get cold. Once you wolf-out the first time, your body learns to regulate the temperature and radiate a lot of heat. Enid of course didn’t. Besides, she wasn’t used to this cold, she was from San Francisco for goodness’ sake! It was not uncommon for students to sometimes bring heaters or fans from home to keep in their rooms, but her parents insisted that once she wolfed-out, it would have been a waste of money. Asking her mother to buy her a heater would have been just the perfect starter for another lecture of how disappointing it was of her not to be a real werewolf. “Yeah, I think I think I'd rather die of hypothermia, thanks”, she mumbled.
Wednesday, on the other hand, looked like she wasn’t aware of the freezing cold of the room. It was her writing time, and of course, she was bound to make the most of it under any circumstances. She was sitting up straight and still as always, with a pair black sweatpants and an oversized black hoodie, as she was comfortable in the cold, but needed the correct blood flow for writing. However, today her pace was slower, more spaced than usual. She knew what she wanted to say, but the words just didn’t come right. She had been writing this last page of the chapter for the third time this morning and was starting to get frustrated. Her roommate’s whimpers and teeth chattering was of course another additional distraction (not that she was worried that Enid was cold or anything, it was the annoying noise that bothered her, of course).
Eventually, around noon, Enid got up her chair shouting “Okay I can’t take it anymore!”.
Wednesday stopped her writing, hands still over the typewriter. “You need to be more specific than that, Enid. What is it that you can’t take no more?”, she asked as she turned her head slightly to the colored side of the room.
Enid stared at her with wide eyes for a second, then shook her head and walked to her wardrobe with the duvet still wrapping her all over. “The cold, Wednesday, the cold!”, she said dramatically as she looked through her clothes for the warmest outfit, “I know you like this morgue-like vibe but I’m literally freezing! And I really really need to pass the test next week and I can’t fricking concentrate if I can’t feel my body, and if I don’t die of hypothermia now my mom will come and kill me for failing the test so either way I’m a dead wolf” she rambled without taking a breath till the end. “I’m taking the next bus to Jerico”, she continued, “and buy an electric heater or anything I don’t kn-”.
“I’ll go with you”, interrupted Wednesday closing the lead of her typewriter. Enid stopped in place and her duvet fell over.
“Really?”, she asked with a hopeful and surprised smile.
“I seem to have fallen into what people call ‘the writer’s block’ and my writing time is being extremely unproductive, “Wednesday explained on her way to the wardrobe, “If I’m not going to do anything better than that, I hope that a change of scenery will help clear my mind to finish this chapter”.
Enid felt a sudden burst of joy knowing that Wednesday (I-don´t-like-people-or-going-out-or-spontaneous-things-Wednesday) was willing to spend the afternoon with her downtown. She was trying not to get her hopes up, but couldn’t help but smile widely at the thought of that bonding activity.
“Furthermore” continued Wednesday, “I require the adequate blood flow to continue my activities; I need my fingers for writing, playing the cello and solving murders. I will get another heating item for myself, if possible”. Enid sat down in bed to put her boots on.
“Cool, roomie! We could get them matching”, said with a cheeky grin. Wednesday sent her a murderous look.
“I could also set the room on fire in your absence instead”. Enid giggle at her response.
Wednesday just put on her coat in a thoughtful silence. Her threats had no effect in her roommate (she seemed to be amused by them?) and the problem is that it didn’t bothered her at all. In fact, she actually liked that Enid giggled at them. She would never admit that, of course. That train of thought lead to a conclusion she wasn’t ready for yet.
“Wow, I’ve never seen you with that before.” said Enid from the center of the room, getting Wednesday out of her head. “You look… nice”. Wednesday was wearing a black thick wool turtleneck sweater, dark gray “prince of Wales” patterned pants and a black long coat that made her look like a noir film detective. Enid, on the other hand, was wearing pink corduroy pants, an orange and white striped sweater with too long sleeves, and a bubblegum pink parka too stuffed to move around comfortably.
Wednesday stared for a second and simply responded “Well, I’ve never wore it here before”, as she stepped towards the door.
“Wait!” exclaimed Enid as she was reaching for the handle. She approached hopping with a sheepish smile and two wooly items in her hands. “We should wear the snoods, you know, umm, for the cold!”. Wednesday let out a slow exhalation and took the black snood from Enid’s hands.
“Hurry up, you don’t want to lose the bus”, simply said.
She really was going soft.