This is My December

The morning slowly crept by soundlessly, its warm light trickling into the winter cottage.

Its gentle beams caressed Elliot’s eyelids lightly, easing them open.

Elliot’s mouth widened to release a roaring yawn. Instead of awakening from his almost dormant state, he slowly turned to his side to fall back to his dreamy depths. He took full command of the couch, curling himself under the thick comforter.

Another loud yawn escaped his lips, his lids closing over his emerald irises…

Then just moments before he fell back into the warm darkness, a startling realization popped into his mind.

…Since when did I have so much room here?

Elliot snapped his eyes open, probing the couch for a trace of another human being, preferably one with striking red hair. He lifted his gaze upwards, looking all around the living room. Every moment that passed without even seeing a remnant of the golden-eyed girl brought further dismay to his distraught state of mind.

“No… no, she couldn’t…” Elliot stuttered, slowly shaking his head left and right in disbelief. “She… she couldn’t have…”

Elliot did not have the voice to finish that sentence. He simply held his breath. He expected Lydia to jump out of nowhere, scaring him half to death. To say that was one ‘hilarious’ joke. To tell him that she was not going to…

Elliot quickly heaved his torso up until he was sitting in a proper sitting position, waiting for some sort of sign of life… He sat patiently, his heart praying hopefully for some sort of miracle to occur, waiting expectantly for Lydia’s voice.

Moments passed by.

Everything remained silent.

Suddenly, Elliot’s heart began to sink. A frown tugged at his lips.

“She’s gone… Lydia’s really gone…” he whispered, to afraid to admit his words were reality.

His breath quickly grew uneven as he stared blankly at the clean sheets. He could not believe it. Everything that made up his being refused that fact to be true.

“…But whether I wish to remain ignorant or admit the plain truth, the fact is she is not here anymore,” he told himself swinging his legs over the couch. He stood to his feet, wobbling for a brief moment until he attained his groundings. Even though his mind was in a daze, his feet moved almost unconsciously towards the kitchen, probably controlled by his empty stomach.

The whole house seemed so lonely without that fiery girl making such a ruckus and disrupting its general placidity. It seemed so much bigger, lacking all other signs of life.

And to think… she never even said goodbye… he bemused bitterly, trying to push that sad fact from his mind, trying to ignore the tight lump wedged into his throat.

Of course, he should have known better than to make that selfish wish. Miracles, after all, do not happen anymore…

Then, just as he reached the kitchen’s threshold, the aroma of pancakes made its ways to his nostrils. He never paid too much mind to it though, keeping his gaze firmly placed on his shuffling feet.

The only thing that was enough to shatter his glum manner was the disquieting blare of a sneeze.

“AH-CHOO!”

Elliot jumped, instinctively raising his head towards the noise.

What was that?

Elliot felt his eyes were going to pop out from their sockets. he could not believe what he saw was real.

Standing meekly in front of him was the girl he thought had left his life for good.

“L…Lydia?” he stammered, gapinh at her as if she was some sort of ghastly apparition.

Lydia, in turn, snorted at his unintelligible outburst then quickly followed with a low cough. “Jeez, Elli, way to make a girl feel welcome… You really are a great host, aren’t you?”

After another low cough, Elliot asked, “B… but what are you doing here?”

Her golden orbs flickered with disappointment for a fleeting moment before she replied, “Well, um… trying to make food. I mean, if my poor uneasy stomach had one of your crazy concoctions, my ailment would become even worse!”

The dark-haired boy knitted his brows together, curious by her strange word choice. “Ailment?” he repeated inquisitively.

Lydia smiled for one moment than, quickly changed her expression to exemplify her weakened disposition. “Uh… yes of course! You heard me. I’m still pretty sick.”

She coughed once more, examining Elliot’s expression intently.

That redhead’s antics never seems to fail to baffle him. He did not forget that her temperature was fairly close to normal. It was impossible for her to get any sicker.

Wishing to see if his thoughts were correct, he waltzed towards her, quickly placing his hand over her bare forehead.

“… there’s nothing wrong…” he murmured.

Lydia squeaked, stepping away from him. “NO! I forgot to prepare those stupid heat packs I found… dammit…”

Her golden eyes slowly turned towards his deep green orbs, seeing that he was confused beyond all possible description. A wry smile tugged on Lydia’s lips as she took the opportunity to explain, “Yeah… I was planning to, um, make up a reason for me to stay! There goes my great ‘plan’…”

“Wait, what do you mean you were looking for a reason to stay?” Elliot quickly queried her.

Lydia winced at his inquiry, shrinking right before his eyes. She swallowed hard before she replied in a tight, soft voice, “Um… yeah. About that… Um, so how should I put this?”

“Don’t have a brain hemorrhage over it. I won’t kill you… much,” he said with a slight smile on his face, almost ready to break out laughing when he noticed Lydia’s expression blanched, her eyes widening in fear. “You know I’m just kidding! Just try your best and tell me.”

Lydia nervously nodded her head, arming herself with the steaming spatula and took a tentative step back. “Okay, um, so I have been thinking things out since last night, and I was sort of hoping that if I faked being sick, it would give you enough reason to let me stay. The food thing was just a back-up just in case it didn’t work out. I know you don’t want to eat that pathetic excuse of what you consider food.”

“So let me get things straight. You were trying to find a reason… to stay here?” he asked dubiously.

Lydia nodded her head and quickly cringed closer to the stove, holding the spatula carefully in front of her as she gauged Elliot’s overall reaction.

As usual, the dark-haired boy’s visage was lacking any emotion that would alleviate her misgivings over the ordeal.

“But I don’t understand. Why do you want to stay? I thought you had to do that huge expedition to find true joy for you mother,” Elliot asked.

“Well last night, I had exactly two epiphanies--- no wait! There are three epiphanies, but the third one is not important so I won’t be speaking about it.”

“Three? Dee Dee, what do…”

“ANYWAY! The first of the two I will be discussing is, obviously, the fact that I can finally go wherever I want not for my own selfish reasons, blah, blah, blah… Now the second one is pretty good! I figured this one out pretty much all by myself!”

“Fantastic, Dee. You’re not as hopeless as I once believed,” he sarcastically praised, rolling his eyes.

In response, Lydia pursed her lips. “Hmph! If you want to do things that way than fine! You won’t know my fantastical news.”

Elliot opened his mouth to offer yet another derisive remark, but quickly shut it. “Okay, fine… I’m feeling very generous this morning. Spill it out.”

Lydia looked at him curiously, surprised by his acquiescence, but did not press the subject any further. “Well, since you really want to know, I learned that my mother never specified I had to go anywhere!” Elliot’s eyebrows furrowed together, inciting a whirl of her golden spheres. “It’s not rocket science, Elli! My weird mind made up that part.”

“Wait, what?”

“Yeah, I don’t have to go to the far corners of the earth to find some sort of happiness in my life. I can stay where I am as long as I was happy.”

Elliot was, for lack of a better term, surprised beyond all possible explanation. “What? H…happy?”

Lydia dropped her head down for a moment, nibbling on her bottom lip as she hid a tiny flush. “Well, since I was kind of hoping I could stay here, I tried pretending to be sick again because apparently, you’re incredibly gullible, but I kind of forgot to do a few things…”

“Dee Dee, instead of going through all that trouble, why didn’t you just ask me like a sane person?” Lydia opened her mouth to reply, but Elliot quickly cut her off. “Oh yeah! You’re a lunatic. Everything makes sense now…”

Lydia narrowed her eyes into two even slits as she said, “I am pretending I did not hear that. The reason why I never asked you was because I was frightened of your response.”

“So what? Did you think I would say no?” he asked, and the redhead nodded her head.

“Well… there is no reason why you would want me to stay here. Though I am handy in the kitchen, I don’t think there is any other reason why you’d let me stay. So what do you say, Elli?”

Elliot looked at her for a few moments, still a little stupefied by her responses to his many inquires. With his wits still frazzled, he moronically blurted out, “What do you mean?”

“Oh my god! Elli, you are supposed to be smart! What type of medical student are you?” she berated before she released a low groan. “Will you let me stay with you?”

“What? Y…you w…want to st …stay?” he stammered. He just could not believe what he was hearing.

“Yeah, I do. You need someone to keep you in line… but I promise I will stay out of your way of course! I’ll cook your meals and leave you to your studies. I’m even thinking of enrolling into a university for some Culinary Arts classes. Look, I’ll do so much more if you just let me stay with you…”

Lydia paused, catching herself. “Oh! Oops! I didn’t mean to say that…”

Elliot felt his mouth plummet to the ground, his emerald orbs sparkling at the very phrase. “What did you just say?” he asked, walking closer to her.

“Nothing! I said nothing!” Lydia quickly mumbled out, taking her plate of pancakes and maneuvering around him. “Hungry?”

“Dee, don’t you dare change the subject! I just want to hear you repeat the last thing you just said,” he nearly demanded, his heart pounding in his chest.

Ba-dump. Ba-dump.

The redhead pursed her lips, processing his request carefully in her mind. “Oh! Do you mean about enrolling into college? Yeah, I guess it must be nice to finally to converse with some that is supposedly ‘literate’ and not some nonsensical dimwit.”

Elliot rapidly shook his black mane and said, “No! Not that! I want to hear what you said after that.”

Lydia placed the plate on the table and shrugged her shoulders. “Fine…Elli, I… I wanted to stay… with you. This may sound rather bizarre knowing this is you I am talking about, but I enjoy being around you. Being with you brings me more happiness than I deserve…” She allowed her sentence to trail off as she noticed Elliot’s whole expression harden.

Lydia dropped her head, feeling her heart sink in her chest. “Yeah, I told you it was nothing. Listen, maybe I should just l---”

Suddenly a pair of arms wrapped around her tiny frame, pulling her close.

“Lydia! You have no idea how happy that makes me!” the dark-haired boy exclaimed, holding her tightly. “I thought I was happy to see you were still here, but this… this day just gets better and better!”

Lydia felt a rosy warmth creep up her neck, shocked to be in such close proximity to Elliot… in a good way, she had to admit. She shook her auburn locks from her musings and asked, “Elliot, did you just admit that you are the lunatic or else little ol’ me is lost here!”

Elliot released the little confused female from his embrace and replied in a wide smile, “I’m sorry. Allow me to explain. First off, I was so happy to hear you are still here! I thought you actually left. I would have been… so lonely if you weren’t here anymore.”

Lydia fluttered her eyelashes confusedly as she repeated, “L..Lonely?”

“Well, yes. You’ve became such a pleasant, yet strange surprise… eh, that’s a lie. You haven’t been entirely pleasant.”

“You’re point, Elli?” Lydia said, resisting the intrinsic urge to smack him and his large head.

“Yes… sorry, Dee Dee,” Elliot eloquently apologized and promptly continued, “It’s just… even though you have a terribly large mouth, seem to lack any common sense, and have the mentality of a three year old child…”

“I said your point, Elliot!”

Undeterred, Elliot simply continued, “…I learned to tolerate your smart mouth. I even enjoyed being around you. If you left… I think I would miss you way too much.”

“Doesn’t sound like you’d miss me that much,” Lydia whined. “Sounds like I’ve been nothing more than just a nuisance to you.”

Elliot chuckled lightly under his breath and replied, “Well I can’t deny that. You really have been quite a pain in my side!” After seeing a slight pout spread over her lips, he added, “And it’s because of your stubborn attitude and loud mouth, I can’t simply let you out of my sight. You’d cause too many problems for the outside world.”

Her heart nearly leaped out of her chest. Her golden orbs widened. “What does that mean, Elliot? Does that mean I can actually…?”

“If you truly want to, Lydia. Even if you are an annoying twerpette, I’d think I can let you hang around me for awhile.”

With a loud squeal erupted from the redhead’s pale throat, flinging her body right into Elliot’s arms. “EEP! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you, Elli! You’re not a malevolent sadist after all!”

“Wait, I’m not finished quite yet, Dee,” Elliot said, a bright grin spreading over his lips.

Her spirits sank, her smile evaporating from her features. “What? You can’t be seriously telling me there’s a catch!”

“Oh yeah. There is, but I think it’s a very simple question . It’s not very hard.”

With a quick, nervous swallow, she said. “I’m frightened to ask, but I’ll bite. What’s your question?”

“…Just what was your third epiphany?” Elliot asked.

Golden orbs stared at him blankly, blinking several times. She chose to play dumb, saying, “I have no idea what you’re saying, Elli! You must be hearing things or something.”

“No, my hearing is perfectly fine. I specifically heard you say you had three epiphanies. What was the third one?”

“No! I refuse to tell you!” she asserted, her amber orbs flaring with defiance and obstinacy.

Equivalent obstinacy surging through his veins, Elliot refused to let the subject drop. “Come on, Lydia. You have to tell me. It can’t be that bad. It certainly can’t be worse then me being some sort of ‘donkey butt’ to say it nicely.”

“Ah!! Then that means I had for epiphanies!” Lydia chirped up, snapping her fingers at the very realization. “Thank you so much! I almost forgot about that.”

“Lydia, I’m not going to let you change the subject. It’s not that hard. Just answer the damn question!” Elliot insisted.

“But I don’t want to!” Lydia moaned.

“Gah, why are you so stubborn?”

“Then why are you so damn pushy? When I say I don’t want to say it, I won’t say it!”

“Then fine then. If you don’t answer the stupid question, you should get your whiney ass outside, Dee Dee! I already have a headache from listening to your squabbling.”

“Oh, so you think I’m squabbling? You’re the squabbler here, Mr. McSquabbly Pants! It’s not like I wanted to be here that much anyway!” Lydia shouted. She threw her head back to release a loud groan. “GAWD! Why are you so annoying? Of all the people I had to fall for, it had to be a sadist like you… What’s wrong with me?”

All anger dissipated from the air. Both of their eyes widened – Lydia’s with fearful realization, Elliot’s with unadulterated shock. His legs almost buckled.

“Ah, dammit…” She whispered, slowly covering her mouth with her hand.

Elliot immediately interrogated her. “What did you just say?”

“I said nothing!” She swiftly replied, taking a tense step away from him. “You heard absolutely nothing.”

“Don’t you dare pull that crap with me! I want to hear what exactly you said,” Elliot said – demanded really – as he took hold of her shoulders, forcing her amber irises to meet his inquisitive emeralds.

He could feel it, her heart thrumming against her chest, harmonizing with his own heartbeat.

Ba-dump. Ba-dump.

She swallowed, slowly dropped her gaze downwards. Her voice was soft, gentle and melodic, as she spoke. “By your expression, I think you heard me loud and clear. Why must I repeat it?”

“Lydia, please. I need to hear you say it again,” he asked. “Please repeat what you just said.”

A sigh rose from her throat, escaping from her lips. Without looking into his eyes, she timidly admitted it – her third epiphany. “I… I love you, Elliot. Even if we haven’t known each for a few days, I fell in love with you. Sure, you may be an annoying, kind of emo sort of guy, and I wouldn’t change a single thing about you.” She raised her gaze for one moment, gauging his reaction. Her heart sank deep into her chest, slightly disheartened to see his visage lacking any, if not all, emotion. “I’m sorry. See? This is why I didn’t want to tell you. Now everything is going to get all awkward and you probably wouldn’t want…”

All words failed her as she felt a pair of lips smash against hers. Her eyes rolled back, her whole body liquefying, pliant in Elliot’s strong arms. All thoughts seemed to dissipate to thin air.

Elliot broke away, seeming pleased as he gazed down at the entranced female, holding his arms for support. “You know, you talk way too much.”

All intelligent thought failed to register in her mind. All she was able to articulate was a loud, unintelligible, “Huh? What… what just happened?”

“Isn’t it obvious, Dee Dee? I kissed you.”

“I know that much,” she retorted with less fierceness then she intended, her rosy cheeks reddening to a tint reminiscent to her bright hair. “I am curious as to why you did it.”

“Now, I believe you are intelligent enough to figure that out. That is definitely not rocket science.” Seeing her molten honey eyes remained glazed with confusion and momentary euphoria, he elucidated, “It’s very simple: I love you too.”

Her breath was caught in her throat. No oxygen made its way down her lungs. Her pulse fluttered. Her heart skipped a beat. “You… do?”

“Yes! Sure, you’re a twit, but I wouldn’t care about that. As long as you were my twit. No one else’s. I doubt anyone would be crazy enough to handle your high levels of insanity anyway,” Elliot admitted.

“So it’s true? You… love me?” She asked, her own heart glittering in her eyes.

“I love you with my entire heart, my whole soul. I don’t know what I’d do without you, Lydia.”

“Same here, Elliot. What would you do without me? You’d probably be starving to death if you had to eat anymore of your crazy concoctions. I certainly can’t let you go, can I?”

“And I can’t let you go out killing yourself! If I wasn’t there that night, you might have no survived.”

“Yeah… a Christmas miracle…” she admitted. Elliot blinked several times, eyeing her curiously for her choice of words. Even Lydia was shocked, reiterating her words slowly in her mind.

“It surely was,” he agreed. At the same time, the two figures turned around, glancing back at the Christmas tree. Droplets of sunbeams illuminated the colorful decorations, casting a gorgeous array of color.

“Hey, you know something, Elliot?”

“What is it?”

“…I think I’m staring to warm up to Christmas.”

The dark-haired male drew the redhead closer as he whispered, “Yeah… so am I.”

Christmas is one, if not, the most miraculous holidays. It can cure the most downtrodden of hearts and guide lost spirits towards its most central meaning: spending the holidays with someone you love.

Miracles are always happening- just not in the form we are most familiar with. If you just looked hard enough, you could see one happening right before your eyes.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!