It's Mistletoe, You Idiot!

Ahh, Christmas. The certain time of year when your best friends ignore your pleads to stay curled up in your self-pity at home and throw you in a dress and heels, with the intent of taking you out to a party. Gotta love this festive season. I was only a little less resistant than usual because I needed to clean my thoughts of my latest love disaster. Said boy has to clean the outside of his house, thanks to my revenge seeking friends, Holly and Gabe.

So here I was, fake smile intact, my mood as blue as my dress, trying desperately to control my actions and not hit Ryland over the head. Sure, I loved the dude, but listening to Snoopy’s Christmas, the yodel edition wasn’t exactly a selling point in his friendship qualities.

Holly’s family batch was filling up quickly and claustrophobia consumed me, the smell of alcohol and idiots adding to my already throbbing headache. Darting off the chair I had been perched on and out the French doors; a sigh was released from my body as the fresh air hit me, ruffling my hair in greeting. My toes dipped into the sand as it greedily tried to consume my ankles, the party noises drifting out of my hearing range as I walked further down the beach, stuck in thought.

What a year, with everything from the daunting exams, new changes to adjust to, friends constantly flying off the rails and trying to keep everything from falling from under me. And having to say goodbye to the year and hello to the next was just that much harder after having my heart crushed not so long ago.

Being so caught up in feeling sorry for myself, I didn’t hear the soft padding of footsteps following my own. Arms wrapped around my waist, taking me by surprise and flinging me up, whirling my around twice. As soon as my feet were firmly planted in the ground, I turned around, ready to beat the crap out of my attacker.

“Alexander!” I fumed as he gave me that innocent, goofy smile.

“Heliena!” He mocked, laughing as I rolled my eyes and poked my tongue out at him in an oh soimmature way.

Alex Suarez. The boy I have known before tampons, make up and sex. The boy that despite being infested with boy cooties, has been one of my closest friends since my single-digit age. We’d been through a lot, and depended on each other more than our parents thought was healthy. But I was grateful to him for sticking around so long.

“So what are you doing out here, all by yourself on Christmas Eve? Vinz just convinced Gabe to start up a conga line... naked...” he shuddered suddenly, “Then again, it’s safer to be out here!”

“I’m just dodging all the common idiots and hiding from the holiday spirit,” I replied nonchalantly, flashing a smirk.

“Bah humbug!” Alex said with a laugh, giving me a gentle push and flicking up the sand with his feet.

It was quiet for a minute until Alex spoke up again. “Hey, I’m really sorry things didn’t work out between you and-" I intervened quickly.

“Please. I’m fine, don’t worry about it.” I followed up with the biggest, phoniest smile I could muster, but Alex saw right through it.

“Sure, that’s a lie we’ll both pretend to believe.” Alex muttered with a frown. “But you know I’ll always be here for you, right? No matter what?”

I flushed with happiness at his comforting words. “Thanks Alex.” I gave him a genuine smile. “Even if you do have boy cooties!”

Alex tried his best to give off a shocked expression. “Well for that, I’m going to do this!” He swooped down, cupping his hands in the sea water and flicking it upwards to make me let of a loud squeal.

“I’m so getting you back for that!” I yelled at him, chasing after him as he took off through the water down the beach, both of us kicking up the water at one another. We arrived back at the batch, emerging from the water, dripping wet and laughing out of breath laughs. The thump of the bass music greeted our ears as we arrived, Alex’s hand searching round until his fingers interlocked with my own. A nervous smile flickered across his face as he opened his mouth to say something, yet his voice was stolen away by that of another.

“You guys are under Holly! You gotta kiss now!” Holly yelled with a grin, leaning over the balcony to be above our heads, Gabe holding her there with a smirk.

“Isn’t that with mistletoe?” I asked in the midst of confusion, followed by a smirk when I saw Holly’s grin drop to a frown. She then proceeded to hit Gabe over the head with a loud ‘thwack!’.

“Dammit Gabe, it was mistletoe, you idiot!” Gabe rubbed the back of his head and pouted.

“It’s not my fault, I’m Jewish! You always have to blame it on the Jewish kid!”

“I’ll show you Jewish in a minute...” Holly threatened and Gabe smirked.

“Oh, kinky,” Gabe mumbled, letting off that stupid grin of his. Before I could yell at them to both shut up, Vinz came to the rescue, as she notified them of that Brendon had got his head stuck in the chocolate fountain. Not even Brendon knows how that happened.

“So, as you were saying?” I asked shyly, suddenly afraid of what was hanging from the tip of his tongue. Alex smiled, looking down at our intertwined hands and ran his thumb over my knuckles gently, trying to think of how to say what he wanted to say.

“I don’t wanna risk sounding like a cliché...” He started.

“I’ve always been a sucker for clichés,” I reminded him and he flashed me another smile, affecting me in ways I had never thought possible.

“Well, I guess the best way to start off with is, I...I don’t like it when some stupid idiot boy makes you cry, I don’t like it when you’re sad, and I definitely don’t like it when you don’t laugh or smile. I’ve known you for so long, and there are a few things I am sure of. I never want to make you cry, make you sad and I want to constantly make you laugh and smile. I don’t wanna just be that guy you run to when something is wrong, I wanna be more than that. I guess what I’m trying to say, Heliena, is that... I love you. I truly do.” Alex closed his eyes after the last word left his lips, as if he was afraid to see my reaction.

Without a second thought or doubt, I pushed my lips to his, Alex immediately reacting, his arms pulling me closer to him. Once we pulled back, he rested his forehead against mine, his smile mirroring my own.

“You don’t know how long I wanted to do that...” I whispered and Alex gave a shaky laugh in agreement.

“Heliena, happy Chrishanukah,” Alex said with a smile, and pulled in for one of the many kisses we would share. Finally, everything was perfect, even if it was only for now. With waves crashing behind us, my drunken besties calling out inappropriate things about our kiss and Alex’s hand held tight in mine, everything was how it should be. And the new year didn’t seem so scary anymore.

Because it’s never really Christmas without someone to smile about.