𝐏𝐚̊𝐥 𝐖𝐚𝐚𝐤𝐭𝐚𝐚𝐫 𝐈𝐦𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬

Christmas Time Blows My Mind

"Why are you trying to make me look so nice? I mean, it's only a Christmas party." You said to your best friend, Heidi, as she continued to brush your hair.

"Sure. 'It's only a Christmas party.'" She said as she placed the hairbrush down. "Okay, what do you think?" She asked as you looked at yourself in the mirror.

"Wow, it looks amazing." You smiled to yourself and looked up at her. "Thanks, Heidi."

"You're welcome. I bet Pål is going to go crazy over you tonight." You and Pål had been best friends ever since you could remember. Friends. (You met Heidi through Pål and Magne.)

"Oh, please. We're just friends." You said as you stood from your chair.

"Sure," she said as you both entered your bedroom. You started to get your things together when she spoke again, "I know how you really feel about him, you know." That caught you off guard, and you looked at her with a shocked look on your face.

"What? What are you talking about? I-I don't feel anything toward him. He's my friend! My friend." You repeated, your face getting red with somewhat embarrassment and nervousness.

"Sure. I'll leave it alone for now."

"Thank you!" You sighed, a bit angry.

Heidi had invited you to a Christmas party that was being thrown by Morten, Mags and Pål. She had been dating Mags for a few years and things between them seemed to be getting quite serious. But, you had to admit, you really did have a crush on Pål. You had for a while, actually. And maybe Heidi was right; maybe tonight was the perfect time to tell him, even though you didn't know exactly how. Plus, on top of that, confessing this was a major risk. The risk being your friendship ending. Yikes.
You finished putting your things into your purse and looked at Heidi.

"I'm ready to go." You told her. She nodded, and you both exited and left to go to the party.

As Heidi pulled into the driveway of the house, you started to feel more nervous than ever, butterflies in your stomach.
"You alright?" She asked you as she opened her door.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Let's go." You said as you both exited the car. It was freezing out that night, and the fact that you were wearing a short dress with just black tights underneath made it even colder to you. You finally entered the house, shivering quite a bit, but at least you had your coat. You put it on the coat rack and walked with Heidi to see the guys.

"Hey, Mags! We're here!" Heidi called to Mags. He turned around and smiled at Heidi, then hugged her. You felt sort of out of place, so you started looking around for Pål. You noticed him taking to Morten on the bandstand, so you stared at him, hoping he'd see you. Instead, Morten looked over at you.

"Pål, y/n is staring at you." Morten whispered to Pål, causing him to immediately look over at you and smile. He told Morten that he would be back, then stood up and came over to you.

"Hey, y/n." He said, somewhat nervously.

"Hi." You replied awkwardly. You both stood there for a moment in silence, just looking at each other. You looked at the outfit he was wearing; it was your favorite sweater of his. It always looked so good on him. You looked back up at him and smiled, he seriously looked absolutely adorable tonight.
"So, what are you going to be performing for this little concert thing you have planned?" You suddenly brought up.

"Eh, not much, and I'm not really happy about it, either. We're only doing one song." He replied, pulling a loose piece of hair behind his ear.

"Oh really? What song are you doing?"

"A stupid holiday version of Take On Me." You laughed. "Now, why do you think it's funny? It's stupid. Why can't we just cover a regular Christmas song?"

"I don't know, but I can't wait to hear it."

"Nothing much has changed, really. We just added some sleigh bells and just changed the tempo a bit, which will certainly get to me." He chuckled and looked down at the ground.

"Pål! It's time!" Mags called out.

"Oh, well I guess I have to go now. I didn't even know all the guests were here already." He chuckled, looking around the room at all the people.

"All right, then. I'll stand close to the stage to, y'know, get a better view, I guess?" You laughed nervously. He smiled and then started walking up to the bandstand.
"Good luck!" You shouted. He looked at you and gave you a thumbs up before grabbing his guitar.
You had to find a place that was closer to the stage, so you decided to stand in the doorway near the hall closest to it. You watched as Morten introduced the band and the song started. Maybe Pål was right, it did sound a little silly, but you still liked it. You looked at Pål and he looked back at you, giving you a look that said "see? I told you." You smiled to yourself and continued to watch as they performed. The chorus rolled around, and he stared directly at you as he sung "take on me!" You felt a slight blush come to your cheeks, for some reason.
After the song ended, Pål put his guitar down, hoped off the stage and walked over to you.
"I told you it sounded silly!" He said as he approached you, a slight chuckle in his voice.

"I know, but it still sounded great." You told him, leaning up against the doorframe and looking at him, a smile on your face. You noticed Pål glance above your head for a moment, then a slight blush appear on his cheeks, as well. You didn't think much about it...for now. "You alright?" You asked.

"Uh...yeah, fine." He glanced up above you again, peaking your curiosity.

"What do you keep looking at?" You then looked above you and noticed what he has been looking at. Mistletoe. "Oh..." Your cheeks flushed red, as well, and you avoided eye contact with him.

"Is-it's alright, I know you won't kiss me." He chuckled softly to himself, but he looked a bit hurt, staring at the ground. You knew that this was the right time to tell him how you really felt about him, even if he didn't like you back.

"No, I do want to kiss you...if you want to, too," you looked up at him, as did he, his eyebrows raised in shock, "look, Pål. I really like you, and I have for a while, but I get it if you don't-"

"Don't be silly, Y/N," Pål cut you off, "I like you, too. And I have since the first time I laid eyes on you."

"Wait," you were shocked, "really?"

"Yes, really," he moved a bit closer to you, a small smirk on his face, "so, you want to kiss me, eh? I think I can make that happen..." He nearly cut his own sentence off by passionately pressing his lips against yours, a small gasp escaping from your mouth as he did so.You were a bit shocked at first, but soon gave in and kissed him back. Boy, did it feel amazing. His hands went to your hips to hold you as yours went to his hair, gently stroking it. The two of you continued kissing for a moment before you were caught off guard by the sound of a camera snapping a photo. Pål slightly pulled away from you and looked up at whoever was there. It was Morten.

"What?" He asked. "I had to get a photo of that moment, it was bound to happen sooner, but oh well. Better late than never." Morten chuckled and walked away, Pål turning to look at you again.

"I love you, y/n." He said, to your surprise.

"I love you too, Pål."

Note: FINALLY I am finished with this story. I have been writing this on and off since May of this year, but I couldn't get myself to stay focused with it. I just told myself "you have to get this posted before Christmas," so I suddenly remembered that and finished it up. It's not the best, but I'm glad to have another story out. Yippee! (Also "yippee!" to the two new Savoy releases on Spotify, Reasons To Stay Indoors and Whalebone!)