Love In Actuality

12: Kyree

 

During dinner we made small talk about school and people and funny

stories while we ate the delicious food that put my dinners to shame. And that’s

really saying something, because I’m good at cooking. Not that anybody would

know that. Except Leigha. She’s the one person that knows everything about meeven what I’m feeling. We would always joke about us having some kind of

telepathy because no matter where we were in the world, if I felt sick, she felt

sick. If I was sad, she was sad. It was kind of creepy, really. I snapped myself

back to the present moment as Aaron paid the bill and the waitress flitted away.

He glanced at his watch that went remarkably well with his tuxedo. “What time do

you have to be back by?” he asked me, a small crease forming between his

eyebrows. 

“Whenever. She’ll be passed out.” It was cool how he automatically knew

who I was talking about. 

“Really. What’s up with that?” 

“Nothing.” I shrugged, making it casual. 

“You’re lying.”

“I’m not.”

“Why can’t you tell me?” Too far. He was getting too far. Pretty soon I

would run out of excuses. Time for the diversion. 

“So, how’s your cat?”

This threw him off so much I felt the urge to burst out laughing, but kept

myself in check. Heck, I even maintained eye contact. “What? What cat? I don’t

have a cat.”

“You don’t have a cat? Why no cat? I could’ve sworn you had a cat.”He got the weirdest look on his face. “My sister’s allergic. See, that just

goes to show what rumors can do.”

The waitress chose to show up at that exact moment, saving my butt.

Thank God. Off subject, successfully diverted, and now I could change the

subject before he remembered. “Mhm,” I said in response to his comment. “Why

don’t we go downtown? It’s so pretty at night.” 

“Yeah,” Aaron smiled. “I know this place down there with insane hot

chocolate.”

“Do you?” I questioned skeptically. 

*   *  *

He did. He really honest-to-God knew the best hot chocolate ever. It was

incredible. Especially when the air was so chilly- the temperature had dropped

fifteen degrees in the hour and a half it took us to eat dinner. It was nice, though,

in a way. A stroll through the square, sipping hot chocolate, it’s the kind of

moment you hear people telling stories about. I pointed out the gigantic

Christmas tree that stood near the edge of the square to Aaron and then started

walking faster. I swear, for me, seeing a Christmas tree was practically the

equivalent of being given a thousand dollars. I loved the holiday that much. We

no longer celebrated it because my family was so messed up we could barely

have a pleasant phone call, but separation only makes desire stronger. A breeze

swept over me, and I cupped the cup closer to my face. Aaron had given me his

coat when we got out of the car, but it only helped a bit. Still, a nice gesture on

his part. I gave him that much- whether this was a pity date or he really liked me,

he was a nice boy. 

“I wonder who has to put that up…must be torture,” I said to fill the silence

between us. Aaron just laughed, which of course made me giggle. “’Cuz, you

know, you have to climb on the ladder and put on all the ornaments and-are you

even listening?”

“Oh, yeah, that’s really interesting,” he replied, grinning, and then yawned.

I smacked him lightly on his forearm.“Not nice,” I said, but it wasn’t very convincing since both of us were

laughing. I looked up at the sky, admiring the way the clouds and stars

contrasted when the weirdest thing happened. 

A single snowflake fell onto my nose.