All I Want for Christmas - Marina

Chapter 12: Maya

I am unable to look away from Carina because I know if I do, I will have to decide what I want to do next. I will have to decide how to react. It's as if she understands my thoughts, and she slowly places my hand back into my lap as she gives me a warm smile. "Take your time," Carina says.

Take your time. It's the first time someone has understood me. The first time that someone has been patient with me. She moves to take her hand out of mine, but I don't let go of it. I smile at her and give her hand a gentle squeeze to express my gratitude.

"Don't take too much time blondie, or else you'll end up at my age old and single," the woman next to me whispers in my ear making us both laugh.

"What are you two laughing about?" Carina asks.

"Your girl is flirting with me," the woman says making all three of us laugh. Carina hugs my arm and rests her head on my shoulder. I love that she doesn't ask if it's okay. She assumes because she knows how I feel.

"By the way, you should know something. My dad, he's my hero, but he can be a bit much. Just be patient with him," I tell Carina.

"I'm patient with you aren't I?"

*

Carina falls asleep pretty quickly, still holding my hand, hugging my arm, and resting her head on my shoulder. I try to sleep too, but I can't help but watch Carina. She looks so sweet when she's sleeping. I move her hair away from her face and let my thumb graze her cheek. I look at her for the first time so carefully without any interruption. I study the shape of her lips, the small freckle on her face, and think about how I could be so lucky to have someone as beautiful as her in my life.

I rest my head to the left on top of Carina's and sigh. I want to make sure my dad approves of her. His opinion means the world to me. Once I know he likes her, I will make the most grand gesture to tell her how I feel because she deserves the best. She deserves everything good in the world.

*

Carina and I wake up at the same time when we hear the flight is getting ready to land. I once again close my eyes and try to imagine running in my head. My thoughts are interrupted by the feel of Carina's thumb rubbing my hand again. I smile which she clearly notices.

"You should smile more often," she says. "Trust me I love the grumpy brooding Maya too, but this smile," she taps my face where my smile forms "...is to die for." It's the first time she's being so open and honest with me about how she feels. Before I know it, we've already landed. I look at her, and she has a smirk on her face.

"Were you flirting to distract me from my fear of landing?" I ask.

"I was flirting because I like you..." She said it. She admitted that she likes me, and even though I've already known how she feels, hearing her vocalize it gives me a sense of happiness, a totally different sense of happiness, that I've never experienced before. She bites down her lip seeing my reaction and adds, "...and because you looked like you were going to have a heart attack."

"You're so annoying," I take my hand out of her's jokingly.

"She's right blondie," the woman next to us adds and gives Carina a high-five.

"My name is Maya, by the way," I say to introduce myself.

"I'm Carina."

"Nice to meet you both. My name is Mary," she says.

"Are you visiting NYC or do you live here?" I ask.

"I live in Seattle with my husband Nicholas, and I'm visiting my children in NYC for Thanksgiving."

"Oh is your husband already there?"

"No he's still at home. Gets busy this time of year for him," she says. Everyone moves to get up, and I stop both her and Carina. I go to grab their luggage from the overhead bin and let Mary leave first. Before leaving, she turns to me and whispers, "Don't let her go. She's a good one." She winks and walks away.

Carina and I walk out of the plane and into the airport hand in hand. Even holding hands feels new because for the first time, we aren't doing this for anyone else but us. I enjoy the feel of her fingers intertwined with mine. It makes me feel emotions that I never knew existed.

I text Mason to let him know that we're here, and he responds saying he's already waiting outside. I'm not sure why, but I get super nervous as we walk closer to the doors. I don't want everyone to just like Carina. I want them all to love her. We step outside, and the crisp winter breeze hits us. Carina looks around at the massive amount of snow everywhere and smiles.

"Your smile..." Carina looks at me as I try not to make a fool of myself. "It's um, very nice." She starts to laugh. Why am I so bad at this? I can normally compliment women with total ease - granted I have never had feelings for any of those women before.

"You have such a way with words," she jokes making me shake my head and laugh at myself.

"Over here!" Mason yells from a distance. There are cars honking behind him so Carina and I pick up the pace and get to the car quickly. Mason and I give each other a huge hug, and I can feel Carina watching us. She seems slightly fidgety. I think she's nervous.

"And Mason, this is Carina," I say as I get out of his hold.

"Carina!" He opens his arms to give her a hug. "You're sitting with me in passenger. Maya can sit in the back."

"What? Hey!"

"SHOTGUN!" Carina yells. I look at her surprised. "I learned that one pretty quickly when I got to America," she says looking in my direction and then starts making her way to the passenger seat. We get on the road, and I see that the time is 5am.

"Okay so I need to hear everything. How in the world did you end up liking my sister?" Mason asks making Carina laugh.

"I like to think it isn't that hard to fall for me," I argue.

"Welllllll," Carina interjects making Mason laugh. Great. I signed up for a trip where my brother and my girlfr- I mean the girl I like, are teaming up on me. "I'll tell you everything!" Carina says enthusiastically.

*

We get home by 6am, and I once again feels my nerves kick in. We park and I go to get Carina's luggage from the trunk while Mason gets mine.

"Maya, please I can take my own stuff," Carina pleads.

"Nope, I got it," I say.

"Carina, just let her do it. She would never do that for me," Mason jokes. We walk into the house and my dad is walking down the stairs.

"Maya! How's my favorite kid!" my dad exclaims making his way down to give me a hug. I feel so happy seeing him after so long.

"I'm good dad!" I give him a tight hug. When he lets go, he looks at Carina, and I quickly introduce her. "Dad, this is my girlfriend, Carina." I think Carina is going to hug him but he extends a hand that Carina takes a step back to shake. I see Mason roll his eyes at our dad which irritates me.

"It's very nice to meet you," she says.

"Likewise," he says remaining short with her. He brings his attention back to me. "I was just about to go for a run at the gym. Do you want to come with?"

"Yes of course!"

"Really?" Carina asks. "It's like 3am in Seattle. Don't you want to sleep a little?" I see Mason look from Carina to our dad warily.

"I need to get accustomed to the time here so I don't think I'm going to sleep," I say to her. Dad smiles at what I said.

"Okay you two can go for a run, but Maya, why don't you show Carina the way to your room so at least she can catch up on sleep like the rest of us normal human beings." Carina laughs at Mason's joke while my dad keeps a straight face. I remain impassive as we walk upstairs. We get to my room which is when it hits me and Carina at the same time. We stare at each other. How did we not take this into account? We are sharing a room.
a bed.
together.