The Christmas Kiss

The Midnight Christmas Kiss

By Rae Mitchel

I run through the door into my church and nearly bash into an elderly lady, but stop myself just in time. It’s Christmas Eve and the blistering cold wind outside is the kind that makes you not want to leave the house for anything. But Christmas Eve service is just something I couldn’t imagine Christmas without. I pull my hood down and look around as the rest of my family walks in. For the inconvenient weather, there is still a large crowd filing into the sanctuary. Mothers escorting their unruly children, fathers following closely behind; cute elderly couples, and others who come alone wanting to feel the peace that comes with the dimly lit service. I don’t recognize a lot of them, but I do recognize one of my best friends, Ellie, standing behind a decorated table handing out candles used during service. I walk to the table, leaving my parents to tend to my twin sisters, who are hyper off the Christmas sweets they’ve been having all day.

                “Hey! Merry Christmas!” Ellie exclaims when she sees me walking towards the table. She runs around the table and gives me one of her giant hugs. “Merry Christmas!” I squeal back, returning her hug. “Wow, you look so beautiful tonight” she says as we pull away “Thanks! Hannah gave me the dress as an early Christmas present.” I exclaimed. “Wow I wish I had a sister to give me cute clothes, but I’m sure I’ll receive plenty of newly knit holiday sweaters from my grandparents.” She said, sarcasm taking over in her voice, “And socks from your aunts?” I add, we giggle as my mom walks over, “I’m going in to sit down, Hannah and dad are already there with the girls.” She says, picking a candle up from the table, “Okay I’ll be there in a bit, I’m going to help Ellie with the candles” I tell her, she walks into the sanctuary. I turn on my heel to face Ellie, “Now I have to pick the perfect candle.” I tell her as I examine the rows of evergreen candles on the table, trying to decide which candle I want. “I still don’t understand why you have to find the perfect candle” Ellie says, putting air quotes around “Perfect candle.” I roll my eyes at her and continue searching, “I believe that the candle I choose determines how perfect my Christmas will be, so obviously I want the warmest, brightest and most beautiful candle I can get.” I explain, which I’ve had to do for the past three years, Ellie never understands what I mean by my candle telling my future, she just rolls her eyes and goes to help a toddler pick his candle.

I’m just about to give up on finding my candle when a hand holding a beautiful deep red candle reaches under my nose, “Would you like this candle?” the voice belonging to the hand asks, I look up and find that the voice belongs to Noah, a guy who I’ve had a major crush on for the last three years, since he first began attending the church. Over the years he’s hinted that he might like me just as much as I like him; small gifts, meaningful talks, we’ve both been caught starring at each other from across the room numerous times. And of course the flirting, something both of us have mastered over the past three years. But I’m too shy to make a move and Noah never takes advantage of the moments alone we share. So we’re stuck in a never ending circle of flirting and cute couple moments that I shouldn’t even be calling couple moments.

My eyes meet Noah’s, giving me instant butterflies. His eyes are a bright emerald green and there’s a small twinkle in them that makes them look like they’re smiling, like they’re happy to see me. I feel myself blushing and look away before he can tell, “I know it doesn’t quite match your outfit but I figured you’d like the color” he continued, referring to the dress I was wearing, it was the same green color of the candles. We both laugh quietly at his joke, “Its perfect” I assure him, taking the candle from his hands. I accidently rest my hand on top of his and leave it there longer than I should, there are those butterflies again, I pull my hand away quickly. Noah takes a step back and runs his hand through his dark brown hair, “So, um, you look nice tonight, kind of reminds me of a Christmas tree, you know, before Christmas when they’re green and smell good, not after they get old and brown and stop smelling good, and you do smell good, not that I can smell you or anything, I just assume because you’re pretty and pretty girls smell nice and…” he says in one breath, stuttering over his words. I laugh at his attempt of a compliment, “Well thank you, I guess” I say, forcing myself to look Noah in the eyes and smile, “You look pretty nice yourself, you clean up well”. I wait for Noah to say something else, but no such luck. Before he can go on the church organ starts playing, signaling the service was about to begin, I look around and realize Noah and I are the only ones left in the hall. “Well I better go sit with my family” I say, rushing away into the sanctuary to find my family.