Oh, Saint Nick

The drumbeat of my phones’ ringtone woke me up slowly from my half sleep state. Snuggling further into the small warm body next to me, I reached over to grab it from my bedside table. The coffee shops number flashed across the screen.

“What?” I mumbled sleepily into the phone.

“Hey I’m so sorry Emmalyn but we kind need you. Something’s come up for Logan and he won’t be able to make it here for another two hours.” Groaning at Nell’s voices I glanced towards the plain white clock hanging on my wall. 8.30am. Great.

“Give me twenty minutes.” I grumbled through to her before hanging up and staring down at the sleeping Evelyn curled up against me. Crawling out of the bed and dialing a familiar number in my phone I prayed to God that he was awake.

“Hey Emma.” Mason’s voice answered the phone I exhaled in relief. He was home, thankfully.

“Hey Mason, I have a huge favour to ask of you. Work called…”

“Of course I’ll take Evelyn.” Mason cut me off straight away. I almost fell back down onto the bed in relief. “I’m sure Jonah would love a play date, did you need us to come over and get her from you.”

I smiled at the mention of Mason’s son Jonah and the cute crush Evelyn and Jonah seemed to have on each other.

“No it’s okay, I’ll just pack some lunch and change her clothes and…”

“I can feed her, just bring her in her pajamas and pack a bag. I can do the rest.” I smiled widely, not knowing what I would do with Mason.

“I think I love you.” I told him honestly, grabbing the first clothes I saw in my wardrobe and trying to wiggle into my pants while holding the phone to my ear.

“God don’t tell Dylan, he won’t approve of me sleeping with someone else.” Laughing I hung up from Mason and quickly finished changing before applying minimal make up and brushing my teeth. I ran my fingers through my hair and only glanced in the mirror briefly. It would have to do. Rushing into Evelyn’s room I kicked some toys out of the way and grabbed her bag from her cupboard and filled it up with the first clothes I saw.

“Evie, honey.” I began to coo to her once I got back into my room, both our bags slung over my shoulder, my phone and keys in my hand I picked up a grumbling Evie and let her bury her nose into my neck. Rushing out the door I moved to the door across the hall and knocked on it quickly.

Mason answered it straight away. A pair of sweat pants hung low on his hips, the old shirt he had over his torso was stained thoroughly. He easily took Evelyn out of my arms and dropped the bag behind the door.

“Jonah’s still in bed so I’ll put her in there with him.”

“Thank you so much. I owe you.” I promised him, rubbing Evelyn’s back and pressing a kiss to her sleepy head.

“Just bring us some of your Christmas Brownies and consider us even.” He teased, swaying Evelyn from side to side. I smiled and turned to go before hesitating.

“Last night we had a little episode with decorating the Christmas tree. It ended in tears for everyone so she might be a bit quieter than usual.” I explained to Mason, who immediately began rubbing her back.

“Got it. I’ll call you if anything goes wrong. Promise” I thanked Mason again before finally leaving, rushing down to my car and, surprisingly, made it to the coffee shop in less than ten minutes.

“I’m afraid to ask what speed you were driving at.” Nell mumbled as I walked through the front door of the coffee shop to dump my bag out back, ignoring Dee’s disapproving looks.

“Where’s my little rascal?”

“At Mason’s for a couple of hours.” I yelled out to Dee, unraveling my scarf, and pulling my coat from my body. It was almost too warm inside.

“You should leave her there for the day, that boy won’t mind looking after her.

“That boy has his own son to look after and partner to spend time with. I’m not going to dump my problems on him too.” Ignoring the reproachful look she sent me, I headed out to the counter just as Nell opened the doors.

“So.” She dragged out the noise and made her way back to the counter towards me. I eyed her strangely while checking the till to make sure the money was set up properly. “Do you think Harry Styles will be in today?” She bumped her hip next to mine before resting it on the counter, watching me intently.

“I have no idea.” I told her, going back to the money before shutting the drawer.

“Well maybe he might want to see a certain someone.” She insisted, as a customer came in and I stepped forward to serve. We were both distracted for few moments making the coffee before she went back to bugging me again.

“You don’t honestly think anyone would look after Evelyn for no good reason right. Because I mean it could be considered extremely creepy.” She continued when the customer chose a spot on the opposite side of the shop to sit.

“Maybe he’s lost his nut.” I suggested, fixing the brownies sitting in the display case.

“Or maybe his nuts would like some tail.” Shaking my head I chose to ignore her statement and instead headed out back to grab more food from Dee.

“How much sleep did you get last night Emmalyn.” I hit my head against the cupboard groaning.

“Honestly if you two don’t stay out of my life I’m going to fire you both.” I warned Dee, grabbing the cake sitting on the counter, cooling. I glared at Dee as she cackled with laughter, her whole body shaking with it. I hated that I couldn’t threaten her.

I placed the cake in the display cabinet before moving to serve the next customer, an old, white bearded man.

“How can I help you sir?” I smiled warmly as the man stepped forward, hands resting patiently on his large round stomach that a red sweater was stretched over. I noted the Christmas colours the man had decided to dress in. His boots were even a deep forest green. He looked like a giant kid.

“Just a hot chocolate please Emmalyn.” I paused and eyed the man for a moment. “How about you Emmalyn Brown? Anything I can help you with?” Frowning I realised the man was Santa from yesterday, he must be on a coffee break and changed from his outfit. Unless he only played Santa on some days.

“Fine thank you.” I forced a smile to the old man and handed Nell the cup before accepting the man’s change.

“Are you sure there is absolutely nothing you want?” He continued persistently. I narrowed my eyes at him.

“Next please.” I said loudly and forcefully, glaring before he moved to the side, his shoulders shaking with chuckles.

“Who the hell is that?” Nell slid up next to me to ask.

“The Santa from yesterday, he knew mine and Evelyn’s names and insists on asking me what I want for Christmas.” I explained to her, politely taking the next order while watching Santa wearily. He was eyeing the chocolate chip cookies within the display case.

“Someone takes his job way too seriously, or he’s a stalker. Want me to spit in his drink?” Rolling my eyes and trying not to laugh I pushed Nell back towards the coffee machine with the next customers cup before serving the next person.

The morning rush was easy to handle between the both of us. No customer complaints or mix-ups that was always a good start to the morning. Logan finally arrived by eleven.

“I’m so sorry Emma!” Logan called, rushing out the back to dump his stuff before coming back to the front, wrapping his apron around his waist. “There was a shit load of family problems today.” He complained running his hands through his unusually messy black hair.

“It’s fine Logan. I understand.” I smiled at him, smoothing down some of his hair and letting him take over at the counter. Logan came from a large family with a single mum. Sometimes he got stuck looking after his younger siblings. I understood how hard it was to look after one child by yourself let along having many more so I let Logan go easily. I would hope someone would be just as understanding if I were in his position.

“Hey Dee! Did my brownies finish baking?” I called to Dee while grabbing my bag from the office. I looked in relief at the zero missed calls on my phone. Evelyn should have been okay then. I walked back into the kitchen to see a box full of brownies sitting ready on the counter. “Thanks Dee.” I pressed a kiss to her old wrinkled but warm cheek. She smacked me away with a tea towel and sent me out of the kitchen. Laughing I headed out and waved to Nell and Logan.

Hopefully Evelyn would be in a better mood after spending time with Jonah and I wouldn’t have too much drama to deal with. I would be in heaven if she were willing to have a long nap with me.

I tried not to jostle the brownies too much up the staircase and over to Mason’s door. Knocking on it I suddenly had the overwhelming urge to know that Evelyn was okay. Leaving her this morning after last night wasn’t something I wanted to do but couldn’t avoid. I just hoped that she didn’t hold a grudge against me for leaving her when she needed me.

“Hey, I brought brownies.” I smiled up at Mason when the door opened. Except it wasn’t Mason, the brownies almost hit the floor if Harry Styles didn’t grab them from my hands.

“Woah, I got them.” I stared at Harry speechless before glancing around the floor. Yes this was the right door. My own apartment door was directly across from us. I turned to look back in past Harry to see the familiar layout of Dylan and Mason’s apartment behind him.

“Um, what?” I garbled out confused. How on Earth was Harry here, right now, standing in front of me?

“Hi, again.” Harry just grinned, stepping back to let me in the door. “Evelyn’s been great by the way. She was a little quiet when I first got here, Mason said that she would be upset, didn’t say why though. But after breakfast we got her and Jonah colouring and she’s been brightening up ever since. She will probably be better once she sees you. Hope the shop wasn’t too busy.” I gaped after Harry who rambled on telling me about my own niece’s morning like we knew each other; like we were friends.

“I’m sorry but what are you doing here?” I blurted out, too confused to be embarrassed by the bluntness. Harry’s grin widened, if possible, and he headed down the hallway towards the living room, motioning for me to follow.

“I’m an old friend of Dylan and Masons. I was coming over today to catch up with them both.” Harry stepped to the side of the archway so I could see Evelyn and Jonah sitting on the floor with a large range of coloured crayons lying around them. Mason was further back, his back resting against the couch, watching the both of them.

“Aunty Emmy!” Evelyn dropped her crayons and scrunched her page up slightly in her haste to get to me. I caught her easily, stopping her from pushing me into the wall behind us, and hugged her against my chest tightly. Her little chubby arms wrapped around my neck and I buried my nose into her wild brown hair. She smiled like fresh shampoo. Mason had probably bathed Evelyn with Jonah. Hopefully he had pictures.

“Hey munchkin.” I squeezed her tighter again before pulling back and brushing hair out of her face. “How was your morning?”

“Great! I woke up with ‘Onah and then we ‘ad pancakes wif stawberries and then we watched ‘artoons and then ‘Arry came over!” She reached over in my arms to tug on Harry’s shirt, pulling him closer like she was presenting him to me. I shook my head at her trying to calm her down. She always had more trouble pronouncing words the more excited she got. “But you won’t ‘ere when I woke up.” Her mood changed and her face transformed into a pout.

“I’m sorry sweetheart, I got called into work and I thought you would enjoy it here more.” I pressed a kiss to her forehead and patted her hair back; she buried her face into my neck to hide her sniffles, my red hair covering her face from everyone. I rubbed her back soothingly. Meeting Harry’s eyes, I quickly averted and turned to Mason.

“Thank you for today. But you should have told me you were having company,” I gestured to Harry, “I would have just brought her with me.”

“Don’t be stupid.” Mason stood up to take the brownies off Harry with a gleeful look. “We didn’t mind, did we Harry?” Harry shook his head and stepped closer to us. I eyed him when he moved to try and meet Evelyn’s eyes.

“We had a good morning didn’t we Evie.” I watched as Harry gently coaxed Evelyn’s head from my shoulder and over into his arms. My hands clenched at my sides while Harry chatted with Evelyn, bringing a smile to her face again.

“Why don’t you stay for some brownies? I’ll get milk.” Mason didn’t wait for an answer but just disappeared into the hallway. I stood there awkwardly with Harry before moving to take a seat near Jonah while Harry still murmured softly to Evelyn. Whatever he was doing was working, because she began vibrating with happiness once again.

“What are you colouring in?” I asked Jonah curiously, leaning over to have a look. Jonah blinked up at me surprised before looking around for Evelyn. Satisfied with her being in Harry’s arms, he turned back to me to point out each reindeer. Only remembering the names of Rudolph, Dancer and Prancer. I had to help with the rest.

“You wait until you eat these brownies Haz, you won’t be able to find anything that taste like this in the world.” Mason walked back into the living room, with a tray full of glasses of milk. I flushed and helped him place the glasses on the coffee table, next to the brownies.

“I’m sure Harry’s eaten much better cooking around the world then my brownies.” I protested. Harry let Evelyn go and run off to get comfortable in my own lap, her hand eagerly reaching out to grab a brownie.

“I don’t know about the rest of the world, but I used to work at a bakery and they made some pretty great brownies.” Harry sat down on the ground next to Evelyn and I and reached forward to grab one from the box. I kissed Evelyn’s temple when she handed a brownie to Jonah sweetly; trying not to watch Harry eating his brownie. I didn’t need to watch him for his reaction, though. Instead he just moaned so obscenely I almost felt the need to cover the children’s ears. Mason just burst out laughing as I saw the surprised, gleeful look on Harry’s face. He finished the brownie in record time and grabbed the milk to take a drink before reaching for another one.

“Okay you win, these are literally the most amazing brownies I’ve ever eaten. Possibly the best food I’ve ever eaten.” Harry stuffed half a brownie in his mouth and closed his eyes blissfully. I snorted with laughter at his dramatic flair.

“This is no joke.” Harry mock protested around a mouthful of brownie. Evelyn frowned at him and reached over to smack his hand lightly. He looked at her perplexed.

“You aren’t allowed to talk wif food in your mouth.” She shook her finger at him before going back to her own food. I hid my smile in her hair, knowing that when we were alone she was more than willing to shove all food in reach into her large mouth. She was just like Erin, put on a perfect show for new people but was a right slob at home. Harry, however, quickly took a drink of his milk to help swallow the rest of his brownie before apologizing to us all. Evelyn smiled and nodded at him before she grabbed Jonah’s attention and their conversation fell into half-English and half made up words and hand gestures. I let Evelyn wriggle around on my lap excitedly and accepted a brownie from Mason.

“Seriously, what do you put in here for it to taste so good?” Harry stared down at his third brownie mournfully. I laughed and bit into my own chocolate goodness.

“Christmas Cheer.” I said as serious as possible while Harry pulled a face. “Now if I told you I might not get a free babysitter anymore.” I teased Harry after swallowing, not wanting to incur the wrath of my niece.

“Yes how strange is it that Harry so willfully looked after Evelyn yesterday. Damn near saint-like I must say Haz.” Mason’s eyes danced with mirth as he glanced between us, chewing merrily on his chocolate brownie.

“You look frazzled with work and I could see you were worried about her so I thought I should help.” Harry held up his hand in surrender before reaching for another brownie. I watched shocked, as he and Mason continuously downed the brownies without looking like they were stopping anytime soon.

“Well I wouldn’t make it a habit if I was you. People might start to get ideas, might start to think you’re a bit on the creepy side.” I grinned as Harry rolled his eyes and licked the excess chocolate of his lips. I quickly looked down at Evelyn at the gesture.

“They already get ideas.” He shrugged. “And plus I wouldn’t just do it for anyone.” I stared at Harry surprised as he stared back with a weird intention behind his gaze.

Mason cleared his throat loudly making me jump and dislodge Evelyn from my lap. I squeaked guiltily and helped her sit up. She glared at me reproachfully and refused to climb back into my lap. I chanced a look at Harry who was still watching us both, different emotions playing over his face; I couldn’t quite pick out what was winning.

“You should slow down and leave Dylan some.” I turned to point accusingly at Mason who had reached for his fifth brownie. He smiled guiltily but grabbed it anyway.

“We just won’t tell him that we had some will we Jonah.” His little boy turned to him excitedly and shook his head, his face covered in chocolate. “I’ll have to explain your sugar rush some other way.” He frowned, reaching over to wipe the chocolate off the squirming boy.

“We should probably go.” I glanced towards the clock and thought of the mess of apartment that was across the hall. We hadn’t even decorated the rest of the apartment yet let alone cleaned everything. “You should go grab your stuff Evie.” Surprisingly, without a fuss, she and Jonah jumped up and headed down the hallway towards his room.

“She can stay here for longer if you have stuff to do.” Mason said, finishing off his brownie and standing with Harry and me, I shook my head and grabbed my bag.

“I think we need to talk about Christmas and how we’re going to decorate, it didn’t go so well last night.” I admitted to them both, checking my phone for any messages. Only work or my parents called me now but both seemed to be working fine without me.

“Is that why she was quiet this morning?” Mason asked gently, coming around to wrap an arm around my shoulders. I nodded and let him hug me, comfortingly rubbing my back. “You’re doing a great job with her.” I smiled at Mason gratefully and glanced awkwardly towards Harry who was occupying himself by glancing around Mason’s apartment at their Christmas decorations and photos. It was a stark contrast to my empty and messy apartment. Maybe placing some photos up would be a good idea.

Evelyn and Jonah took this time to appear, both holding one side of the bag I had given Mason this morning, it was sliding on the ground between them as they pulled it to a stop in front of us, smiling largely. Laughing I bent down and swung it up onto my shoulder.

“Say goodbye love.” She hugged Mason first, he ruffled her hair before we stepped back and moved over to Harry. Evelyn and Jonah eyed us for a moment before we turned around, tugging Harry to face the wall with us. He stared at us both bewildered.

“We’re not allowed to look when they say goodbye.” Mason whispered to him. Harry raised his eyebrow as I tried not to laugh before motioning to glance behind us. We all both turned slightly to take a quick look behind us just as Evelyn smacked a great kiss against Jonah’s cheek before he pulled her into a hug. I smiled so wide my cheeks hurt, Harry looked like he might just cry from the cuteness that was radiating from the pair.

“They do this every time.” I told Harry as we all quickly straightened and looked back at the wall before the two realised we saw.

“You can turn ‘round now.” Jonah said loudly while Evelyn giggled. We turned around to them both holding hands and giggling with each other. I shook my head at the shakes that wracked my niece’s body. At least she was happy.

“Say goodbye to Harry now Evie.” I motioned to Harry who knelt down on the ground to be closer to Evelyn’s height. I watched interested in how they interacted.

Evelyn reached up and tugged on a piece of his hair, pulling the curl straight before letting it bob back against his head, curly again. Harry reached out and pulled on a piece of her long brown wavy hair in return. I glanced at Mason, confused, but he was too busy chatting with Jonah. Harry pulled Evelyn into a hug and she wrapped herself around his neck in turn as he stood up jostling her around while she laughed in glee.

“You’re a very strange person.” I commented to Harry when he kissed Evelyn’s forehead and passed her into my arms. Evelyn giggled into my arms when Harry just winked at us both. He was so open and friendly it was oddly unexpected.

“Thanks again for today Mason. I’ll see you later.” Mason walked me to the door while Harry kept Jonah occupied.

“You know we’re always here to help. Me or Dyl don’t mind looking after the little one if you need a break, or even if you need to talk.” Mason told me like he always did every time I thanked them both for doing a favour. I playfully ruffled up his short black hair before walking across the hall and grabbing my keys.

“I’ll bring more brownies over tomorrow so Dylan can eat some.” I promised Mason.

“Oh, bring some of those puddings as well.” Mason shouted over before shutting his door behind him. I shut our own and placed Evelyn on the ground, she yawned and padded her way into the living room, stumbling through boxes and toys.

“You want to nap sweetie or just quiet time?” I asked her when she clambered up on top of the couch, grabbing the red throw rug and cuddling up to it.

“Quiet time.” She nodded at me, her eyes however were already drooping and I knew it wouldn’t be long before she fell asleep. I headed down the hall to her room to place her bag in her room. By the time I cam back out her breathing had evened out and her eyes fluttered beneath her lids. Smiling, I pressed a light kiss to her cheek before pulling the blanket tightly around her.

I eyed the rest of the room knowing I would have to clean before finishing the decorations. I wandered in and around the small apartment putting toys in places, books and DVD’s back on shelves. Moving the couches back to their normal position since Evelyn had insisted on moving them the other day while making a cubby house out of sheets and pillows.

I fit as much as I could into the dishwasher before finding randomly stuffed toys in the drawers. Sometimes it was like Evelyn didn’t even pay attention to where she put her toys, instead of packing them up into her room she would just randomly put them in drawers out of the way.

I was surprised by the amount of stuff I had lying around the apartment, a few notebooks that I had recently bought from the antique bookshop at the Shopping Centre had been dumped in the middle of the kitchen table. I moved them into my own room where under my bed was a large storage box filled with decorated notebooks that I loved but wouldn’t use. They were too pretty to destroy with my own writing.

Evelyn didn’t wake up for another couple of house, just after I had finished pushing the rest of the boxes full of Christmas decorations into the corner. She yawned and sniffled, rubbing her tired eyes.

“Are you hungry?” I asked her gently, receiving a nod in return. I grabbed an apple to slice up with a drink for her, she made herself comfortable on the dining table chairs

“So do you think we might be able to finish decorating the apartment today?” I asked her slowly, waiting for a bad reaction. She just chewed on a piece of apple and nodded after a moment.

“Did you want to talk about how we want to decorate? Is there some things that we shouldn’t put out?” I asked her patiently, not wanting a repeat of last night. I want her to be happy for a change. I waited while she slowly picked at her apple, constantly looking down at her plate.

“I don’t want to do the star.” She said slowly and quietly without meeting my eye like she was afraid I would get mad.

“That’s okay, if you don’t want to do the star we don’t have to. We can just have a starless tree this year.” I gestured wildly making her giggle softly and confidently eat more apples.

“Once you finish that how about we get started.” She nodded and shoved more apple slices into her mouth; I was too relieved about the happiness radiating from her to make her slow down.

“What should we start with? Tinsel?” I dug into the box full of tinsel and pulled the different colours out. Evelyn squealed and grabbed ends of it dragging it around the apartment. I followed after her trying to rearrange it in ways that wouldn’t be annoying or fall down later on. We placed candles across shelves and Christmas statues all over the TV unit. Evelyn constantly played the reindeer that sung Jingle Bells while bobbing from side to side until she found the train set that lit up and moved around in a circle. I watched fondly as her eyes stayed alight watching the train constantly circle.

The doorbell rang; Evelyn refused to be distracted, however. I glanced through the peephole to see a head of brown curls in the way. Smiling softly, I opened the door to see Harry standing there already smiling back like he had all the time in the world.

“You know I only met you yesterday and you already know where I live. Some might find this creepy.” I teased him, leaning against the doorjamb.

“Others might be thanking God.” He teased back; I shook my head at his cockiness. “You have glitter everywhere by the way. All through your hair and over your face.” I winced and wiped at my face making Harry chuckle. “I think you made it worse.”

I sighed and looked down at my hands that were coated in red sparkles.

“Decorating for Christmas is more messy then I originally thought.” I stepped back out of the doorway. “Did you want to come in?” I didn’t wait for Harry to answer but instead headed back through to the kitchen to wash the glitter of my hands. I came back out to find Harry sitting next to Evelyn, watching the train go around with her. I noticed Harry held Evelyn’s stuff elephant in his lap. I must have left it at Mason’s.

“Thank you so much for bringing that over, she wouldn’t have been able to sleep tonight without it otherwise.” I grabbed it off Harry and placed it on the couch. Evelyn only just seemed to notice Harry was here and practically pounced on him in excitement.

“And here I thought she was just settling down for the night.” I grimaced to Harry who didn’t seem to care but instead focused just as much enthusiasm back on Evelyn. They had only been together a couple of hours ago but Evelyn insisted on showing Harry every inch of the house that we had decorated this afternoon. She commented on nearly every ornament as to why it was her favourite or why she had personally decided to place that bit of tinsel in that place. Harry followed along and seriously analysed everything with her. He didn’t once mock her instead he even offered different improvement which I watched amused as Evelyn refused to move most things Harry gestured at. He stopped trying after a while.

Harry soon had to go, which Evelyn begrudgingly allowed.

“So I’ll see you around?” Harry asked hesitantly as I walked him to the door. I was amused at his sudden loss of confidence.

“Well you know where I live and where I work. I guess it’s kind of up to you whether I see you again.” I nudged him softly when we reached the door.

“Do you work tomorrow?” Harry asked, his face trying to look innocent. I laughed and shook my head at him.

“Yes actually I do. So I’m guessing I’ll see you then?” I questioned, fingers holding onto the door. I found myself not wanting to shut it on him.

“I don’t know.” Harry shrugged nonchalantly. “Maybe if I get bored or I’m that desperate for coffee.”

“Or maybe some brownies.” I added on for him, his eyes sparkled a weird green in response.

“Goodnight Emmalyn,” Harry smiled charmingly before turning around and heading down the hallway towards the stairs, whistling a tune I couldn’t place.

“Goodnight Harry.” I said quietly before shutting the door and turning to see a small child behind me looking hopeful. Her hands wrapped around the “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” book.

“Yeah.” I continued to smile and reached for the book. “I can read that to you.” I answered her unspoken question. In return I received a warm hug and an excited niece.