It was objectively not her fault.
That was the argument she planned on sticking with.
Because technically speaking, if Dean hadn’t distracted her by yelling from the kitchen that Tucker nearly lit a towel on fire again, she wouldn’t have walked outside in the first place.
And if Tucker hadn’t panicked dramatically afterward, she wouldn’t have forgotten the door locked automatically behind her.
This entire situation traced back to male incompetence.
Unfortunately none of that helped her now.
Because currently she was standing outside the hockey house at midnight in the middle of winter wearing:
and rapidly deteriorating dignity
Snow crunched beneath her slippers while freezing wind slapped against her face aggressively.
She stared at the locked front door in betrayal.
Then rattled the handle again anyway.
The idiots inside were asleep.
She groaned loudly and pressed her forehead against the freezing wood.
She considered ringing the doorbell.
Then remembered Tucker once threatened violence after being woken up at two in the morning because Dean “wanted emotional support garlic bread.”
So naturally her sleep-deprived brain came up with the worst possible solution.
Now, in her defense, Logan specifically told her once:
“If you ever need anything, wake me up.”
Technically this counted.
The snow continued falling softly around her while she marched around the side of the house dramatically clutching the sleeves of Logan’s hoodie over her freezing hands.
By the time she reached beneath his bedroom window, she was genuinely shivering.
“This is how Victorian women died,” she muttered to herself. “Consumption.”
Her breath puffed visibly in the freezing air while she stared upward at Logan’s dark window.
She bent down and scooped up snow.
Formed a terrible little snowball.
A muffled sound came from inside immediately.
“Rise and shine, pretty boy,” she whispered dramatically.
Then the curtain jerked open violently.
Logan appeared looking half dead.
Hair a complete disaster. Hoodie thrown on crookedly. Eyes barely open with deep sleep exhaustion written all over his face.
Then his brain slowly processed what he was seeing.
A girl standing in the snow beneath his window.
Throwing snowballs at his room.
His expression changed instantly.
She looked up innocently.
“I’ve been abandoned by society.”
He disappeared from the window instantly.
She heard loud crashing sounds inside.
A second later the front door burst open hard enough to slam against the wall.
Logan sprinted outside wearing sweatpants and one sock.
He looked genuinely panicked.
Before she could even explain, Logan grabbed her face between freezing hands.
“Why are you standing out here?!”
His eyes narrowed immediately.
“Okay in my defense I was trying to preserve everyone’s sleep.”
“I WOULD RATHER WAKE UP THAN FIND MY GIRLFRIEND FROZEN TO DEATH IN THE YARD.”
“To be fair they’re fuzzy shorts.”
Logan stared at her in disbelief.
Then without another word he yanked her directly against his chest.
She melted instantly against him with a pathetic relieved sigh.
“There she is,” Logan muttered, wrapping both arms around her tightly. “Jesus Christ.”
His body heat felt heavenly after the freezing air.
She buried her face against his chest dramatically.
“You absolutely did not.”
“The snow whispered secrets to me."
Logan laughed despite himself, the sound breathless with lingering panic.
Then he suddenly frowned harder.
“Wait. Why didn’t you knock?”
“…I didn’t wanna wake everyone up.”
For a second Logan just stared at her.
Then his expression softened so fast it nearly hurt.
Because she genuinely stayed outside freezing trying not to inconvenience them.
He immediately tugged her back toward the house while keeping one arm tightly around her shoulders.
The second they stepped inside, chaos greeted them.
Dean stood in the hallway holding a lamp like a weapon. Tucker looked prepared to call emergency services. Garrett sat halfway down the stairs looking deeply unimpressed.
Silence hit instantly when they saw her.
“…Why is she dressed like a Dickens orphan?”
“She got locked out,” Logan answered flatly.
Tucker gasped dramatically.
“YOU LEFT HER OUT THERE?”
“I didn’t leave myself anywhere!”
Garrett rubbed tiredly at his face.
“Twenty minutes,” Logan said darkly.
All three boys reacted immediately.
“T W E N T Y?!” “WHAT?” “Are you insane?”
“I was being considerate!”
“You stood outside freezing instead of waking us up?”
“She was throwing snowballs at my window,” Logan muttered.
Then Tucker started laughing so hard he physically folded forward.
“Like a tiny Victorian ghost.”
“She looked like she was about to ask for porridge,” Garrett added.
She glared at all of them.
“You people are horrible.”
Logan kept one arm firmly around her waist while shutting the front door.
Then he frowned down at her again.
“You’re literally vibrating.”
She opened her mouth to argue again but Logan simply scooped her into his arms suddenly.
“You’ve lost outside privileges.”
“She can’t survive in the wild.”
Logan ignored the chaos completely while carrying her upstairs bridal-style.
Her frozen legs instinctively pressed closer against his warmth while she buried her face against his neck to hide her embarrassment.
“You’re enjoying this power trip too much,” she muttered.
“You scared the hell outta me.”
That softened her instantly.
Because his voice still carried traces of genuine panic underneath the teasing.
When they reached his room, Logan sat her directly on the bed before immediately wrapping blankets around her like she was recovering from war.
Then he disappeared briefly and returned with:
and approximately seventeen blankets
“Are we preparing for hibernation?”
“You’re never going outside again.”
“You were one snowflake away from becoming a Hallmark tragedy.”
Logan knelt in front of her then and carefully rubbed warmth back into her freezing hands between his palms.
His expression stayed slightly tense still.
“You really should’ve just woken me up.”
His thumbs brushed gently over her knuckles.
“I don’t care what time it is. If you need me, wake me up.”
Something soft tugged painfully in her chest.
Because he sounded so sincere.
Like helping her was never a burden.
“I didn’t wanna bother you.”
Logan looked genuinely confused by that.
“Baby,” he said softly, “you standing outside alone in the freezing cold bothers me a lot more.”
Her heart melted instantly.
She leaned forward slowly until her forehead rested against his shoulder.
Immediately Logan wrapped his arms around her again.
“No, honey. No apologizing.”
His lips brushed softly against her hair.
“Just don’t scare me like that again.”
She smiled against his chest.
“You’re gonna kill me one day.”
“Yeah,” Logan muttered while pulling her impossibly closer. “Still worth it.”
