Mr. Winter

As a reward for shovelling the snow in which he hated so much, Alyssa promised Garrett that they could go to the stores and he could buy some tree decorations so they could go pick out a tree and decorate it. This made Garrett that much more enthusiastic about shovelling the snow and it was done quicker than Alyssa had imagined, meaning they now had to brave the cold weather and the growing number of shoppers that the season brought in.

Much like the debacle of December first, Alyssa irritably trailed behind Garrett as he went to town with decorations, beads, more tinsel and bells.

"Lyss, do we want a star or an angel for the top of the tree?" Garrett asked her.

Alyssa had a permanent scowl on her face. "Whichever one will make all these people go away. God, I hate Christmas shopping. Can't all these people wait until two days before when we're tucked away with everything we need for the next three weeks?"

Garrett rolled his eyes at her annoyance. "I'll take your answer as a star," he said, placing one in their shopping cart. As they moved into the next aisle, Alyssa's eyes lit up as she saw what was in front of her and Garrett huffed.

"No, we're not putting candy canes on the Christmas tree."

Alyssa whined like a child. "Why not? I love candy canes!"

Garrett rolled his eyes. "They look tacky, they're sticky and you have to eat them in a week or else they attract rodents."

"Garrett you seriously underestimate my candy cane-eating ability.

"Come on Alyssa, grow up. We're not getting candy canes."

"Please Daddy?"

Garrett's head whipped towards his girlfriend so fast she swore it could have fallen off. "What did you just call me?"

"You told me to grow up, implying that I was a child, so now I'm gonna act like one. Please Daddy, I wanna put candy canes on the tree!" Alyssa exclaimed, gaining strange looks from the shoppers around them.

Garrett had now turned red at the attention from other people and sighed. "Fine, you can have candy canes."

Alyssa squealed and grabbed a packet from the shelf, putting them in the cart. She leaned up and kissed Garrett's cheek as they left the aisle. "Thank you Daddy," she said sweetly.

Garrett shuddered. "Please never call me that again, it's creepy and weird."

Alyssa laughed. "I'll save it for special occasions, like the bedroom," she joked.

Garrett rolled his eyes as they approached the register and paid.

Once they were home, Alyssa attacked the box of candy canes, managing to pull one free.

"I swear these things are people-proof," she muttered as she struggle to take the plastic wrap off the sugary treat. Garrett rolled his eyes and took the candy from her; unwrapping it and taking a bite off the end before handing it back to Alyssa.

"Garrett it's no wonder you don't like candy canes, you don't know how to eat them properly!" Alyssa said in shock.

"Lyss, there's no right or wrong way to eat candy canes. It's candy, you just eat it."

Alyssa shook her head. "I don't know a single other person who mauls candy canes like you just did. Eating a candy cane takes time and patience, which are two things you obviously don't have. If there's one thing I'm going to do today, it's going to be teach you how to properly eat a candy cane."

"Okay, how do I do that?"

"Simple as this." Alyssa stuck the end of the candy cane that Garrett had bit in her mouth and walked away.

"You can't just suck it, that takes too long," Garrett complained. Alyssa raised an eyebrow.

"I knew there was something going on while you were on tour. You boys must get too lonely on that bus together," she suggested.

Garrett narrowed his eyes at her and took the candy cane from her mouth. Alyssa stomped her foot and glared at Garrett as he held her candy.

"Give it back," she said in a low voice.

"Or what?" he taunted her.

Alyssa raised her eyebrows at him. "There's a whole yard full of snow. You don't wanna know what I could do to you when you least expect it."

Garrett imagined Alyssa waking him up by dropping a handful of cold snow onto his bare chest, opening his underwear drawer to find a large amount of melted snow, having snow put down his back while he was making coffee and Alyssa serving him a bowl of snow for breakfast. He cringed at those thoughts and handed the candy cane back to Alyssa, who grinned gleefully and disappeared into the living room with the candy back in her mouth.

Garrett eyed the box of candy canes, wondering if Alyssa was right in saying that the only reason he didn't enjoy them was because he was eating them wrong. He took one from the box and unwrapped it, putting it in his mouth before going to the living room where Alyssa was watching daytime TV. She looked over and grinned when she saw him with the candy cane.

"So, you admit defeat."

"I am not admitting defeat, I'm seeing if my taste buds have changed since I last ate candy canes," Garrett informed her, sticking his tongue out at her.

But in reality, he was admitting defeat because once he had finally finished his candy cane, he had realised just how good they really were.