and the stars will all come out

chapter thirty-three! ☆

THE NEXT DAY, LESS THAN TWO WEEKS UNTIL CHRISTMAS, IT WAS A FIVE PERSON EFFORT TRYING TO GET THAT GODDAMNED TREE INSIDE.

"We're almost there," Dave said encouragingly, holding the trunk of the Christmas tree as they once again tried unsuccessfully to jam the top of it inside. All that ended up doing was scattering pine needles across the porch. It had been fifteen minutes since the first attempt, it was proper December cold, and Landry was quickly losing feeling in her red, frozen fingers.

"You're lucky you weren't here for the soundboard," she muttered under her breath, and maybe she was a little miffed. Her arms were sore and tired; it had been quite the feat dragging this tree from the boulder all the way back to the cabin, all she wanted was for this to be over. "Adam, can you help me on this side, please?"

"Yeah, no problem."

He shifted, Adam now on Landry's side and Nate and Taylor on the opposite, Dave holding up the trunk, and they once again readied themselves to try again.

"On three," Nate said, looking determined. "One."

"Two," Landry continued, taking a deep breath. Her blackened lungs were about to need all the air they could get.

"Three!" Dave exclaimed. "Fucking push!"

"AGHHHHHHHHHH!"

Landry was not the only one who nearly screamed with overexertion, but sure enough, with enough force from the five combined, the tip of the tree was jammed through the front door and officially into the kitchen. She didn't even care about the mess of pine needles on the tile or the sweat pouring down her back: it was finally inside.

Still holding the tree, she breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh, thank God."

"Hard part's over," Dave announced. "I think."

"You think?" Landry exclaimed in disbelief, dread pooling in her stomach at the thought of getting it down the basement stairs.

"Let's get this fucker inside, man," Adam grunted, and the five of them went to push the tree further inside once more. "We all ready? Let's go!"

"AGHHHHHHHHHH!"

☆

"TREE'S UP, CHECK."

An hour later, Dave looked around, assembling a checklist in his mind. "Decorations are up, check. Bins are put away, check. Taylor's stoned, check. Anything else?"

He thought hard for a second, but he couldn't think of anything.

All boxes completed, he looked back at the group. "You guys mind if I head out for a bit? I need to check on some errands."

"Sure," Landry said brightly. "I think we got the bulk of today's work done anyway."

It was Christmas at the cabin. As soon as they'd somehow wrestled the tree into submission in the corner by Taylor's kit, they'd started decorating, and now the whole of the basement was merry and festive and twinkling. The pine needles scattered everywhere would be a bitch to clean up, but nobody seemed to be thinking about that. For now, everyone but Dave was sitting back on the couch, content with their hard work.

"I won't be long," Dave said, clearly distracted, and mounted the stairs.

Landry stared at the Christmas tree. It was so long since she'd had one at the apartment, since she'd assisted in its decoration, and she wasn't exactly sure how she felt about it.

It was beautiful, for sure. The tree had been loaded with ornaments from over the years, everything from a small purple ornament with faded text -- David's First Christmas 1969 -- to a shiny cannabis symbol ornament that Taylor had insisted on putting up.