the accident of

She contemplated ignoring the phone call. It had been a rough day and there was simply no impetus left to do anything. It had started snowing already, and there was a certain appeal do doing nothing more than making hot chocolate and reading a book, and pretending the cold would go away if she avoided it.

But she had made commitments. For some reason that was important. They would, presumably, still be her friends if she cancelled, and there was no real reason apart from circumstance she was friends with this group at all--they weren't even united by the shared accident of birth--but she still honored her commitments. It had something to do with proving she had a choice, or perhaps convincing herself she cared.

"Hello?"

"Hey, are you coming out tonight? I just left."

"Yeah. Yeah, I was just about to leave."

"Cool. Did you want to get coffee or something beforehand? You know nobody is going to be on time anyway."

She looked out the window. Between the wind and the rainy snow, it was promising to be one of the dreariest evenings of the year. "There is nothing I want more than a coffee right now," she said. "Meet you there in five."