Dear Santa

She met him in broad daylight – the sun brighter than anything she had ever seen in her life. And, thankfully, he didn’t sparkle. He didn’t burn up from the sun's touch either. He smiled, happiness lying behind his sparkling green eyes. He didn’t look at her once, but she couldn’t keep her eyes off him. For some reason, she just never wanted him to leave her sight.

Soon, snow began to fall. It contrasted so perfectly as it landed on his dark hair, then almost blended into his skin on contact. The man smiled even wider. He didn’t move. He just enjoyed the white gift from above. Most people hated the snow, but he saw the snow for what it really was – magical.

He pulled out cigarette and placed it between his lips. Not once shifting his eyes, he pulled out a lighter and lit up. Smoke drifted past his lips and up to the sky, dancing around with the snow.

Eventually, he noticed the girl next to him, staring at him so intently. He laughed brightly. "Hi," he said, turning towards her.

The girl blushed. "Hi," she whispered back, her breath visible before her eyes.

He blew out another puff of smoke, which somehow managed to avoid the girl's face. She smiled despite herself. "I'm Oli," he spoke, right as a snowflake fell on his cigarette, removing the flame.

A small laugh left the girl's lips as she looked at Oli, who was muttering something to himself as he pulled out another cigarette. "I'm Michelle," the girl said, her voice stronger than before. She stuck her hand out to shake.

Oli smiled at her hand. He finished lighting up his newly placed cigarette and then placed his hand in hers. Her hands were so cold, despite the devastating cold around them. However, the hand that was placed inside Michelle's was colder than the snow that fell around them. Without thinking, she quickly removed her hand and placed it at her side.

"Sorry," she said, trying to think of a different reason as to why she would have done that. "Germs," she concluded.

"It's fine." And a puff of smoke drifted into the air. Michelle followed it with her eyes until it became one with the sky. "You cold?" he asked. Michelle brought her eyes back to Oli and smiled.

"I am."

"Let's go get you something warm then." He wrapped his arm around her, making sure that he didn’t touch any actual skin. Michelle looked up at him and smiled as they began to walk. He winked at her, causing her to blush. Oli just laughed.

&&

Soon enough, they were in a Starbucks. It was loud and busy, everyone filling themselves up with just enough coffee to keep them alive as they rushed along for their last minute gifts.

"You're not drinking," Michelle observed. They were sitting at a small table. Michelle drank her hot passion tea earnestly, loving every bit of it. However, Oli's hot chocolate had been idle for the past five minutes.

"I'm not thirsty?" he questioned. Michelle just laughed.

"Drink up, boy. Drink up, for tomorrow we die."

Oli smiled, lifting up his cup to his lips. Right as he was about to drink, his brow furrowed and he asked, "But tomorrow's Christmas; I don’t want to die then."

"Oh, all right, in that case, drink up for the day after tomorrow, we die!" Michelle exclaimed joyfully. Oli laughed and returned a smile.

"That doesn't flow out the same way, though."

"You're right," Michelle said with a pout. "But you're the one that didn’t want to die tomorrow so you'll just have to deal with it."

"Fine, I suppose I will." Oli took his drink to his lips and drank it all down in one gulp. It was as if he had no need for the air that all human beings needed. "Happy now?"

"That I am."

"Good. Let's head out, I need to smoke."

&&

"I have a question."

"All right," Oli told Michelle as they walked towards her house. It was starting to snow harder and it was getting a lot colder. They just needed shelter and Michelle's was closest.

"I know it's strange, but why I can't I see your breath? Like, I can see mine, I can see his" – Michelle pointed at a random person passing by – "but not yours. Is there a reason behind that?"

Oli laughed nervously. "Magic?" he questioned. Only the word came out of his mouth, nothing else. It was odd, unexplainable.

"You're not Harry Potter, are you?"

Oli smiled and lifted his hair off his forehead to reveal the lack of scar. "Nope. It'd be cool if I was."

"Darn," Michelle said, looking slightly disappointed. "I love Harry Potter."

"Well, in that case, I am Harry Potter."

Michelle laughed as she walked onto her property. She was living there with her best friend Daryl, who was out currently out with her boyfriend and probably wouldn’t be hope at all tonight, leaving Michelle and Oli all alone as the snow grew more worse every second.

She unlocked her front door and let Oli in. She dropped her purse off on the kitchen counter and shed one of her layers. "I'll start a fire," she said, walking over to the small fireplace in the center of the living room.

"No!" Oli yelled, more powerful and painful than Michelle could have imagined. He knew that his fangs were visible and quickly shut his mouth, not wanting Michelle to see. "I just don't like fire. Sorry."

"But," Michelle stammered, slightly afraid. She was so sure that she had seen something behind his lips that she hadn’t before. "You light up your cigarettes a lot."

"I don’t mind little fires," Oli replied, trying to be calmer, trying not to be so angry at her or himself. "But, but," he stammered, "what if someone fell in?"

"Like Santa Clause?" Michelle joked, trying to lighten the mood for both of them. She hated the tension. Even though she had just met the guy that day, she didn’t want him mad at her. She was half afraid of what would happen if he was, and then the other half just wanted him to like her – like her lots and lots.

"Yeah, Santa for example. What would happen if he came down the chimney and caught on fire? Everyone would blame you and hate you for ruining Christmas." Oli walked over to Michelle, smiling. He brushed a small piece of hair out of her face. "And I don't want the world hating you."

Michelle brushed and shivered at the coldness of his touch. "The whole world wouldn’t hate me," she said, lifting her hand up and brushed his hair out of face, "just the Christians counties."

"In that case, you could run away to Japan." Oli laughed. His hand was still resting on the side of her face, as if it just belonged.

"Would you run away with me?" Michelle whispered, looking at his lips, afraid of the truth his eyes were holding.

"Of course."

&&

"Here, wear these. Daryl won't mind," Michelle told him, throwing a shirt and some sweatpants at him. The snow was so bad that there was no way that Oli could leave. "I'll be next door, don’t come in."

Soon, Michelle popped out of her room, wearing a fair of matching flannel pajamas. She walked over to Daryl's room and saw Oli perched on Daryl's bed, looking cute in her clothing. Michelle held back a laugh.

"So goodnight," she said, stepping into the room and sitting down next to him on the bed.

"Yeah, goodnight," he replied. "Thanks for letting me stay here."

"It's nothing." She stood up and headed towards the door. Hanging off the doorframe, she turned around and said, "Sleep tight."

Oli laughed. "And don’t let the bedbugs bite."

&&

Dear Santa,
I know this is was supposed to be sent to the North Pole, but I didn’t know what I wanted until now. So, dear Santa, if you could just exchange whatever it is that you brought me for that boy in the room over there, I'd be eternally grateful. Thank you, Santa.

Love,
Michelle

Michelle smiled as she put the note next to a batch of cookies. She didn’t leave any milk out. It must've gone sour by the time Santa arrived. He could always get into her fridge if he really wanted it.

Michelle picked up one of the cookies and began munching on it, afraid. Santa had never been good at getting her what she wanted. What if he didn’t once more?

Michelle shoved the rest of the cookie into her mouth and made her to her room, ready to sleep, ready to dream of the man next door. If Santa didn’t bring him, at least she had her dreams.

&&

Michelle woke up at six in the morning. She bounced into Daryl's room, ready to wake Oli up. Only, he wasn’t there. Daryl was.

"Hey, babe," she said, looking at Michelle and smiling.

"Where's Oli?" she demanded.

"The guy that was here?"

"Yes," Michelle said urgently.

"Oh, when I got home I kicked him out of my bed and onto the couch, sorry."

"Oh, okay." She smiled. Then she remembered her note to Santa. She really hopped that he hadn’t seen it. She bounded out of Daryl's room and into the living room. Oli was standing by a window, smoking. Michelle smiled and laughed.

"Oh, hey," he said turning around and looking at her. She looked so small and Asian and cute. "You look nice." Michelle beamed at him, lost for words. Where had he been all her life? Then her smile was crushed.

"I read your letter to Santa."

"Oh," she whispered.

"And, well, I just realized that I don’t have a gift for you." He paused, throwing his cigarette out the window and walking towards her. "So, I'd like to give you me."

Michelle laughed. "Isn't that a bit cheap?"

"Maybe. But it's the only thing I know you won't return."

Michelle couldn’t help but smile. "I guess that's true. Santa always sucks at picking out things for me."

"All the more reason for you to want me. I'm the only one that got you just what you wanted."

Then he made everything better as he leaned down and kissed her.

Dear Santa,
Next time, don’t even bother trying.
I already have everything I want.

Love,
Michelle [/i[