Fur Coat

>>yawning, vision, present, imagine, acoustics

"I have to admit, I thought you were a lost polar bear the first time I saw you in that coat." I chuckled.  I twisted the tab from my beer can, and chucked it into the street. It plopped into a slushy puddle and disappeared.

Jackie's scoff was cut off with a yawn, and she covered her mouth with the paw-like sleeve of her giant fur coat. "Babe," she started, "you need to get your vision checked. I am the epitome of high fashion." We were both perched in the alcove of a building, and the acoustics bounced her voice from wall to wall. She called everyone babe, but hearing the term of endearment applied to me let me imagine for a moment that it meant something more.  "Besides," She continued, "my coat is not just a coat. It's a multi-purpose tool."  

I gave her a look.

"It's true! It's camouflage;" she said, spreading herself against the offwhite of the brick behind her and covering her face, in a comedic attempt at hiding, before leaning back into her usual slouch,  " good protection against barbed wire, stray hypodermic needles, and piles of glass; it's got as many pockets a girl could ever need; and it's much warmer than that thing YOU'RE wearing..." She said, grimacing down at my threadbare varsity jacket.

"Hey!" I pulled my jacket much closer around me, "don't talk shit about the jacket. It suits me." Truth be told my fingers were cold as ice and balled into fists in my too-small pockets, but  that was contrary to my point.

"Suit you, it does, but protect you, it does not." Jackie said simply.

I crossed arms and suppressed a shiver, "Hmph."

It had started to snow lightly. We sat there and watched the white flakes fall into snowdrifts and blow across the empty streets for a long time. Even in my sufficiently warm sleeping bag, the urge to shiver became too strong to ignore.

After a brief stretch of comfortable quiet, Jackie looked over at me again. I could tell that she was a little more tipsy than I was, and she gave me a sickly smile. "Igg, you're cold. C'mere."  

But she didn't wait for me to come to her. She, sleeping bag and all, wiggled up next to me. She unzipped her sleeping bag and then mine.

Suddenly I felt her arms snake around my slender waist and pull me up next to her. I was wrapped up in her coat, with her hair brushing against my cheek. She smelled like dampness and the cigarette butts she always saved in her coat pockets.

She grabbed my cold hands and put them on her bare hips. "s'warmer here." she mumbled.

I fell asleep almost instantly.

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