Ella and Lisbeth (part 2)

--- part 1: https://kuomu.blogspot.com/2014/02/ella-and-lisbeth.html ---

(Ella)

I arrived at Lisbeth's place at ten in the morning on Sunday, two days after the night we went out with Tamara and Paula. I had called her the day before, to hear if she was feeling okay. She had assured me that she was completely fine, and not feeling ill at all. We had arranged to go for a walk today. But I was not going to take any chances with Lisbeth's health.

"Hi Ella," Lisbeth opened the door. She was wearing comfortable clothes, sweatpants and a hooded sweatshirt.

"Hello Lisbeth," I said as I came in, carrying the large sports bag.

"What's that?" Lisbeth asked.

"That's a little suprise, you'll see it in a moment. How are you feeling?"

"I'm really fine, I told you yesterday, I was really just under the weather for a day."

"Hm," I said, sounding sceptical. "We should still be careful about your health."

"You, um, you think I need to wear the two jackets again?"

"Oh, definitely. And a few other things, just to be sure."

"Other things? What do you mean?"

"Well," I said as I bent forward and started unzipping the bag, "after we arranged to go for a walk today, I called Paula and Tamara and explained that we should make sure you dress warm enough. I asked them if they happened to have any leftover clothes in the category: as warm as possible. And then I went around to pick everything up. First of all," I brightly announced as she straightened up, holding a black garment, "are these snowpants, provided by Paula. Putting these on over your jogging pants should keep your legs warm enough."

"But... you really shouldn't have..."

"I know, but I did. So come on, try them on."

Not sure what to say, Lisbeth just accepted the snowpants and put them on.

"Next, we have this beautiful pair of white Moonboots, which Tamara gave me."

"But... seriously, Ella... it's not even winter yet. Those will look ridiculous in the current weather."

"Maybe, but you also got ill when it wasn't even winter yet. Warm feet are essential to staying warm entirely. Besides, I think they look cool."

"I really wasn't that ill..."

"Lisbeth, I understand that you feel ashamed to wear warm clothes. I'm here to help you over that. Downplaying your illness won't convince me. So just put them on, or we're not going anywhere."

Lisbeth sighed but she started putting on the Moonboots. Meanwhile I grabbed Lisbeth's black down jacket from the wardrobe. When Lisbeth had finished putting on the boots, I handed her the jacket. Without comment, she put it on and zipped it up.

"Now, before you put on your red jacket, we have a little something from me." I handed Lisbeth a pair of very thick mittens. They were black and filled with a material similar to down, with a waterproof outer layer. I helped Lisbeth pull them on so the cuffs came over the sleeves of her black down jacket.

"Now then..."

Lisbeth looked up in surprise when she heard the tearing sound of duct tape. I took her arm and started wrapping the tape around her wrist, over the down jacket's sleeve and the mitten. "What are you doing?" Lisbeth exclaimed.

"Basically the same as your trick with the hood's drawstrings," I replied. "Just a little bit more effective." I calmly kept wrapping duct tape around Lisbeth's wrist. "Other hand," I ordered when I was finished.

"But... no... then... I won't..." Lisbeth stammered, refusing to give me her other arm.

"Yes, then you won't be able to take off the mittens, or anything else really. That's the point. Now come on."

I grabbed Lisbeth's other arm. Lisbeth didn't really resist. Soon her other wrist was also wrapped in black duct tape, trapping her hands in the thick mittens.

"Okay, let's get you properly wrapped up again, so we can get going."

I pulled up Lisbeth's hood, zipped the jacket to the top and started pulling the hood's drawstrings tighter.

"Not too tight," Lisbeth protested, but I ignored that. I made sure only Lisbeth's nose and eyes were showing. Then I knotted the drawstrings, and, like before, took them around Lisbeth's neck and tied them again at the back. I proceeded to take Lisbeth's bright red down jacket, helped her into it, zipped it and tightened the hood as well.

"Now you're ready to go!"

(Lisbeth)

I couldn't believe Ella had once again dressed me up completely in warm clothes. I had secretly both hoped for it and been afraid of it, and I had not dared to make any suggestion in that direction, claiming I was perfectly healthy again. But Ella pushed through and here I was, trussed up as if braving a snowstorm.

I was really nervous walking down the street like this. But once we got out of town and there were fewer people around, I calmed down a bit and started to enjoy the situation. I literally couldn't change it anyway. As we walked on, I steadily got warmer inside my packing. I could feal the sweat dripping on my face. Finally I asked Ella if she could take off my hoods for a bit, because I was warm.

"Hm, okay, for a little while then," she said. She opened the zip of the red coat a bit and pulled down the hood. I waited for her to unknot the black hood's drawstrings, but nothing more happened.

"The other one too," I said.

"No, we mustn't let you cool down too much," Ella said decisively.

I wasn't sure I was better off like this. Now I was still in the tightly tied black down hood, with the red standing behind my head, looking even more odd.

Then we passed a group of young girls, and as my luck would have it, they asked us for directions. Ella was happy to help them, while I tried not to look at any of them directly. When the girls were ready to move on, Ella said, still clearly audible for them: "That's long enough, let's put your second hood up again." While she did so, I was sure I heard some snickering from the girls.

After another hour, we reached a town where we would stop for lunch. I asked Ella to take off my hoods outside the cafe.

"No, exposing you to the cold air would be a really bad idea now."

"It's really not that cold," I tried, but she was already going in so I had no choice but to follow her.

We took a seat and Ella took off her coat. I waited impatiently for her to help me out, but she just started looking at the menu.

"Ella... my coats please."

"Oh right, I forgot you can't get out on your own. One moment."

She stood up, and unzipped my red jacket and helped me out of it. Meanwhile a waitress approached.

"All set up for a winter, huh," she commented, smiling. "Can I get you anything to drink?" Ella order a coke and I quickly followed suit.

After taking off my red jacket, Ella finally got around to undoing the black jacket's drawstring and taking off my remaining hoods. "What about these?" I asked, holding up my duct taped mittens.

Ella shrugged, "I won't be able to get that tape off here, it would be too much work anyway. I'm sure you'll be able to use your fork still, and if you need help cutting I'll do it."

I thought it was pretty stupid I had to eat with the mittens on, but I saw no way around it. When the waitress came back, I hid my hands under the table so she wouldn't notice the tape.

In the end, I did manage to eat a salad while wearing the mittens. Once we finished, Ella of course showed no mercy wrapping me up as before, well within view of several people in the cafe. Then I had to wait while she put on her own coat until we could finally leave and continue our walk.

The whole ordeal was repeated as we made another stop for a drink in the afternoon, but for the most part, I still enjoyed the day. It was nice to be wrapped up warm with Ella taking care of me. 

Finally we arrived back home, where Ella helped me out of my red down jacket, then started cutting off the tape. I was still in my black down hood, but I didn't ask her to take it off first. I was rather looking forward to getting the use of my hands back.

"By the way, Lisbeth," Ella said casually, "From nown on, I expect you to be dressed like this whenever you go outside."

"What, with tape around my wrists?" I joked halfheartedly.

"No, but wearing everything else that you wore today," Ella said quite seriously. "I don't want you to get ill again and I'll help you overcome your misplaced shame about being dressed warm. So I'll be checking your clothes whenever I see you, and I'll tell the other girls to do the same."

I swallowed. On the one hand, this was what I wanted... but all the time? The thought was exciting and frightening at the same time. "Okay, Ella," I heard myself say.