Electric Love

“Whose brilliant idea was it to get married on Christmas?”

I already knew the answer; I just wanted to make sure everyone else realized how ridiculous it was. No one wants to go to a wedding, let alone one that interrupts the happiest time of the year. I suppose Cassie figured everyone would want to spend this joyous holiday celebrating her marriage. She was wrong.

“That would be Cass, of course.” Lexie was smiling at me, but I knew she thought it was as silly as I did. “Oh, come on, Sam. Just a few more hours and it’ll all be over with.”

It wasn’t that I hated Christmas. Or weddings. Or marriage. In fact, I liked all three of them very much. It was just that I’d been hearing about this day for a little too long.

I’d spent the last 2 hours pulling down my bridesmaid dress through the ceremony and all of the silly photos Cassie had insisted we had taken. Now I had to survive the reception and then I could go back to just being Sam, Cassie’s normal friend who spent Christmas with her family cooking gingerbread cookies and unwrapping gifts, instead of wearing way too tall high heels and an insane amount of bobby pins.

Just a few more hours of dinner, dancing and cake to live through before the whole thing was over.

Cassie had spent countless hours turning her reception hall into a winter wonderland, complete with Christmas trees, pretty little ornaments and gorgeous white lights strung along the walls. It was like any girls’ dream come true.

I sat through dinner and the toasts, laughing on cue and smiling at her father’s sweet sentiments. Tyler, Cassie’s ever-thoughtful husband of a few hours, gave his new father a hug while Cassie wiped away her tears. The best man gave a real laugh of a speech, which I’d heard once before on YouTube. I wasn’t going to tell on him, though.

When all the speeches were finished up, it was time for dancing, which was something I could do. Even though I was sans date, I was lucky enough to have a few friends there so we could have a little bit of fun. The open bar definitely helped.

I’d just finished downing my first ‘Evergreen Ecstasy’, Cassie’s signature drink for the wedding, when Lexie trotted off with the best man. To be fair, it only seemed right that the best man and maid of honor have a little celebration of their own. It was Christmas, after all.

“You know, I think that drink tastes a bit too much like a Christmas tree to actually be good.”

Harry and I had met long before the wedding, mostly at parties at either Cassie or Tyler’s house. We’d never really talked, though, which I always attributed to the fact that he had too much hair and I didn’t have enough make-up.

“It’s alcohol,” I said, as I put my empty cup down on the head table. “It doesn’t have to taste good.”

Harry laughed at that, because I guess I was a little funny when I’d had a drink.

“Would you like to dance?” he asked, apparently forgetting that any minute we’d be doing the bouquet and garter toss, and both of us being single, we’d get roped into it whether we wanted to or not.

“Yeah, that’d be good.” Apparently I forgot about it too.

Harry gently took one of my hands and pulled me away from the head table, towards the dance floor in the center of the ballroom. Tyler and Cassie were dancing in the middle, and everyone who wasn’t dancing along couldn’t take their eyes off them. As over-the-top as Cassie had been about the wedding, it was obvious that the two of them loved each other very much.

“I still remember the first time Tyler met Cassie,” Harry said, smiling at me as he placed his hands on my hips. I wrapped my arms around his neck, noticing he smelled a bit like warm cookies. “He gushed about her for days. About how she had this glorious laugh. Personally, I think her laugh is just okay. But I’m happy for the two of them.”

“I don’t think Cassie was quite as fond of Tyler at first, but it’s cute how much he liked her. I think he had to grow on her a bit first.”

“That’s kind of typical for Tyler.” Harry laughed. He had a pretty glorious laugh. “I still remember the first time I met you, Sam.”

I chuckled at that, scrunching up my nose. “What? Really?” I thought back to when I first met Harry, but I couldn’t remember the exact moment. All I could remember was that it was quite some time ago.

“Oh, yeah. It was at Tyler’s ugly sweater party, a few weeks after he and Cassie made it official. You were wearing this great sweater with Christmas tree on it, and it actually lit up. I think that’s why I remember it so well. Because you were standing in the corner with Lexie with your twinkling sweater and I remember thinking ‘wow, that girl really does light up the room’.”

All I could do was laugh, because Harry couldn’t honestly be serious, and I really did have a great sweater that year.

“What? What’s so funny?” Harry said, laughing a little bit with me as if it was just contagious. “Come on, Sam. I’m being serious.”

“No, no, I just think it’s funny you remember.”

“You don’t?”

I shrugged my shoulders. I remembered that party and laughing with Lexie about how horrible everyone looked. But I didn’t even remember speaking to Harry that night. I’d had a little bit of egg nog, but definitely not enough to forget something like that.

“I remember a little bit. I don’t really remember talking to you, though. Of course, that was years ago.”

“Oh no, I don’t think we were properly introduced until at least a month later,” Harry said, shaking his head, before twirling me around on the dance floor. “I just saw you and thought how beautiful you were. I guess I just couldn’t forget it.”

“Oh, come on, Harry. Now you’re just being silly.”

I always knew Harry to be quite charming. From what Cassie told me, he always knew exactly what to say, and any time I talked to him before that, he was kind and caring, but with that cheeky smile I’d come to recognize him for.

“What? How’s that silly?”

I cocked my head to the side, curling up my lips at him. “All that over lit up Christmas sweater?”

“It wasn’t just a lit up Christmas sweater. It was the way you laughed.” He shrugged his shoulders so casually, as if he’d danced this dance a thousand times before. “I watched you laugh and thought ‘this must be how Tyler feels every time he sees Cassie laugh’.”

That did make me laugh, because Cassie always did this thing where she’d snort when she thought something was too funny, and I really hoped I didn’t look like that.

“It must be all this Christmas cheer and wedding bliss making you crazy.”

Harry opened his mouth, but before he could the DJ blared over the speakers, announcing that all the single ladies should stay on the dance floor for the bouquet toss, while Beyonce played in the background.

“Well, I guess it’s time for the best part of the wedding,” I said, a little too sarcastically. The bouquet toss was the worst thing for anyone who was single, because it was so embarrassing and no girl really wants a bunch of torn up flowers.

Harry smiled at me while he dropped his hands from my waist. “I better leave you to it then.” He took a step back, leaving me with all the other single women. “And try not to get clobbered!” He called, which was probably supposed to be funny, but was really more frightening.

All the men had left the dance floor, leaving me with a bunch of desperate women, most of them my age. I made note that Lexie was nowhere to be found, and could only guess that she was still off with the best man.

When Cassie tossed the bouquet in the air, I knew immediately that I wasn’t going to catch it. She’d thrown it more towards the floor than the air, and I was much too far in the back to dash forward to grab it. Not that I really would have even if I could.

As quickly as Cassie had thrown her bouquet, they had her seated on a chair so Tyler could scantily pull off her garter. I spotted Harry toward the middle, and like me, he really had no chance of catching the garter either. He didn’t look to upset by it, though.

I headed off to the bar while Cassie and Tyler took photos with the winners, only to hear Harry behind me just a few seconds later.

“I told you that drink was awful,” he said, motioning to the ‘Evergreen Ecstasy’ in my hand.

“And I told you that alcohol doesn’t have to taste good.”

Harry laughed at that, because again I guess I was pretty funny.

“You know, I was serious, Sam,” Harry said, leaning against the wall while he looked at me. He had his lips turned up in a perfect half smile that showed off his dimple.

“About the drink? I know.”

“No, about you.”

“That I should have won the ugly sweater contest?”
“No.”

“That I laugh like Cassie?”

“No.”

“I’m all out of guesses,” I finished.

Harry chuckled, but said nothing else as he pulled me back to the dance floor. I could have protested if I wanted to, but I really didn’t. Being here, with Harry, at this silly little Christmas wedding felt like exactly what I needed.

“So, you never said what kind of sweater you were wearing,” I said as we stepped onto the dance floor, Harry’s hands on my waist and my arms back around his neck.

“Oh, tell me you didn’t forget.” Harry had that cheeky little smile on his face, which basically proclaimed that he knew I had.

“Remind me.”

“It had this creepy little elf on it. To be honest, it looked more like garden gnome than elf, but I still didn’t win.”

I vaguely remembered that sweater with the beady little elf eyes and the way it stared into my soul. Lexie had pointed it out to me, and we’d laughed about it for nearly half an hour. The fact that Harry was wearing it must have slipped my mind. I didn’t know him then.

“That must be why I don’t remember you,” I said, “it was so creepy that I blocked the whole thing out.”

Harry laughed at that, shaking his head slightly. “Must be.”

The two of us said nothing else as we swayed back and forth on the dance floor, Cassie and Tyler just across the way. She was too busy staring at her husband to notice anything else, but I had a feeling if she saw me dancing with Harry she’d make some comment about it. Lately, she’d been trying to set me up with anyone with a pulse, though it never came close to working out.

“Harry?”

“Sam.”

“Can I ask you something?”

“Is it about my sweater?”

“Definitely not.”

“Then ask away.”

I nodded my head, taking a deep breath as I took one long look at the gorgeous decorations around us. It really was a winter wonderland.

“When you told me about the first time you saw me, what - uh,” I stuttered, struggling to come up with the right words, “what was the plan with that?”

“Plan?”

“You know, like dance with me, sleep with me, whatever.”

Harry paused, pursing his lips as he was clearly surprised by what I had said. I was a little surprised by it myself.

“I guess I didn’t really have a plan, but it definitely wasn’t that,” Harry said. “Why would I need to have a plan?”

This time, I was the one that paused. “Isn’t that the way things are supposed to work?”

Harry shook his head quickly, his hair falling in his face in the best way. “No, not at all. I’m supposed to tell you how beautiful you are. You’re supposed to know. We laugh about all the time we spent just being friends, and then everything just happens, you know?”

“I guess I’ve never had things ‘just happen’ before.”

Harry chuckled at that. “Well, you should probably get used to it, because things ‘just happen’ all the time.”

Cassie came up to us just then, laughing wildly with Tyler by her side. She had mistletoe in her hand, and she smiled at me before holding it above Harry and I’s heads as best she could.

“It’s mistletoe! You two have to kiss.”

I thought about all of the awful things I had said about Cassie under my breath and wondered if this was some sort of punishment for that, but I could tell by the look on her face that she thought this could only be a wonderful thing.

I looked back at Harry and he didn’t seem nearly as hesitant as I was. I guess he had more time to prepare for this than I did, seeing as he’d remembered all the way back to the ugly sweater party.

“I swear, I didn’t plan this,” Harry said with a laugh, removing his hands from my hips to hold them up in the air, proclaiming his innocence.

Cassie shook the mistletoe in the air, smiling between the two of us. “Come on, kiss!”

Harry smiled at me, and I knew I could say no if I wanted to, but I didn’t. I took a step closer to him, breaking apart the distance he’d made when he pulled away from me. He took that as a good sign and placed one hand back on my hip while the other moved to my hair.

I wanted to warn him that I had too many bobby pins to mess with, but he didn’t seem to care, and I decided if he didn’t than I shouldn’t either. He leaned forward just a little bit more, and I could feel his breath on my lips. He smelled like the peppermint cookies Cassie had passed out to everyone, and it felt like the perfect end to my Christmas.

When his lips finally pressed against mine, all I could think about was his sweater, and that party, and all of the time we wasted being just friends.