Mind Games.

chapter 33: Christmas Eve.

I slept soundly that night in the comfort of the warm bed sheets. They were as soft as a bunny and thick. The snow outside was falling gently the next morning. I smiled as I just laid in the bed, staring at the wall in front of me. The air was still, and I felt peaceful.
I sat up slowly in my bed and yawned, stretching my arms over my head. Then, I threw the blanket aside and swung my legs over the side of the bed. I grabbed my outfit for the day and laid it out on the bed.
After that was done, I went to the bathroom for a quick shower. I lathered my hair with some coconut shampoo and then wrapped myself in my red towel. My outfit was a white sweater with a black belt that went around the waist and some black skinny jeans with my boots. I put my hair in a loose French braid.
Since Mr. Marsh wasn't awake yet, I decided to start making breakfast. He had blueberries and chocolate chips, so I mixed up some pancake batter and plopped them into a frying pan on his six-burner stove. After a few minutes or so, Mr. Marsh came out of his bedroom.
His hair was messy, and I wanted to ruffle it. He was wearing a black men's tank top with a pair of grey basketball shorts. I could see his tanned muscles twining around his arms, and I could feel my cheeks flushing and blushing at the same time. How is that even possible? He smiled when he saw me cooking, and he sat down at the counter behind me.
"Good morning." I said, turning to look at him. He smiled and said,
"Good morning, what are you cooking?" He tilted his head slightly. I turned back to the pancakes and bit my lip.
"Pancakes, would you like blueberries or chocolate chips in yours?" I asked him. When I turned my head again, his eyes were lower then they were before. He looked up to meet my eyes and smiled.
"I'd like both, please."
"K," I nodded and turned back to the pancakes. I heard him yawned, then he stood up.
"Should we go shopping after breakfast?"
"Sure, why not?" I said. I turned to look at him. He nodded and then pointed to his room.
"I'm going to take a shower, I'll be right out." I nodded and watched him go. Leave your hair messy. What?
I shook my head clear of any wrongful thoughts and turned back to the pancake that was now burnt on one side. Crap, this one's yours. I sighed and poured some more batter in. I heard the water start for the shower, and for a moment, only a short moment, my heart wanted to go in there and run a hand full of shampoo through his flawless hair. Then my senses slapped me in the face with reality.
Stop it! He's your professor, and he can never be anything more. He'd never like you in that way anyway...
I sighed and took the perfect pancake off and set them onto a plate for Mr. Marsh. He came out from the bathroom after a twenty minute shower in a black sweater that outlined his perfectly proportional muscle arms with some black jeans and black dress shoes. His hair was damp, but it looked natural on him. He smelled like God sprinkled heavenly goodness onto him in the shower.
I smiled and pointed to his plate.
"Your pancakes are there." I ran water into the sink and started doing the dishes I had dirtied. He frowned and started,
"Alice?"
"Yes?" I looked up to meet his eyes. He pointed to the cupboard by my left leg.
"There's a dishwasher right there." I smiled and replied,
"I know, but I don't trust dishwashers. They don't always get the dishes done. I like doing them in the sink because then I know that they are done, and I won't have to do them again." When I finished, he smiled and said,
"That was a long and complicated response to my statement." He chuckled a little. I blushed and shrugged.
"Maybe, but I told you my reasoning." He nodded and took the second bite of his pancakes.
"Yeah, I guess." I sighed and finished the dishes.
"I'm going to get my money from the room, I'll be right back."
"Ok." He nodded. I walked with more hurry in my step then I intended. I shut the door behind me as I started to open my bag for my money. Right when I was about to leave, I stopped in front of the mirror that was hung over the dresser.
God, your posture's terrible.
Posture. I turned so I could look at myself from the side and pulled my shoulders back. Then, I stood up straighter and held my head up. Yeah, that's better.
I strolled out of the room and sighed.
"Are you ready to go?" I asked him. He nodded and set his plate by the sink.
"Yes. Grab your coat, we're walking." I nodded and took my grey zip up coat while he put on his black button up one with a red scarf and black hat. I put on my pink gloves and matching hat. When we had all of our winter gear on, we headed out into the white world of snow.
We both walked up the driveway to the road that led into town. People passed us by walking dogs and jogging. I closed my eyes and breathed in the cold air. That's another thing I've missed since living in the basement; winter. Snow, breezes, lights. Everything I loved and associated with Christmas was a Windows width away for 15 years of my life. We came to the edge of the town, and Mr. Marsh asked,
"Ok, what should we do first?" I snapped out of my trance and took a deep breath.
"Let's get the ornaments for the Christmas tree and a reef for the door." We started towards a little seasonal store called, 'Holiday Wishes.' A girl around Mr. Marsh's age with straight brown hair and freckles smiled at us as we walked in.
"Hello, Simon, merry Christmas!"
"Thanks, Terry." He said back, smiling. She gestured to me and asked,
"Are you visiting for the holidays, miss?"
"Yes, my name is Alice Chain." I said, putting out my hand for her. She took it and smiled.
"I'm Terry walkins, are you Simon's sister?" She questioned. I giggled and shook my head. Mr. Marsh looked over and said,
"She's a student of mine." Terry's eyes lost a little color, but she kept the smile on.
"Well, I hope you find everything." I nodded and walked behind Mr. Marsh to the ornament section. We found a huge package of red and gold bulbs, so we took those along with a string of lights, regular light bulbs, and some golden stuff to wrap around the tree with the lights.
We went back up to the counter and plopped our findings in front of Terry. She rung everything up and said,
"It's $10.59, but I'll give you guys a discount. That will be $6.98, please." Wow, that's nice of her.
Mr. Marsh handed her a ten and said,
"Keep the change, Terry. Merry Christmas."
"And a happy New year!" She called behind us as we walked out the door. I giggled while I held the bag of ornaments. He frowned and looked down to me.
"What?"
"Is she an old girlfriend or something?"
"Terry? No! She's just a good friend." He told me. I rolled my eyes and giggled some more.
"Well, you should take her out or something, because it's obvious she likes you." I explained to him. He just shook his head.
"Where to now?" He asked, changing the subject. I bit my lip and looked around. Then, I saw a little boutique with a sign that said, 'inscents...' I pointed to the store and asked in an excited voice,
"Can we go smell some inscents?" He frowned and then chuckled.
"I guess, if that's what you want." I giggled and ran to the store, flinging the door open and walking into the boutique. An elderly woman with giant glasses and curly hair smiled as she looked up from her book.
"Hello."
"Hi, are we allowed to smell them?" I asked her as Mr. Marsh walked in the shop. She smiled and said,
"Go right ahead." I giggled and turned to the walls lined with jars of inscents. The first one I smelled was an inscent labled, 'baking brownies.' I smelled it, but my nostrils told me to put it back. Then, I grabbed the one labled, 'green Apple.' It smelled good, so I turned to Mr. Marsh and said,
"Smell with me!" He gave me a weird look, then shrugged and walked over, grabbing random ones. I smelled an ocean breeze, forest rain, desert jade...
"Hey, look what I found!" He said, turning to me. When I looked to see what he was holding, it was a jar labled, 'ISIS.' I couldn't help but giggle.
"Uh, you should put that one back." I stated. He chuckled and then put it away. I took one that was labled, 'fiesta lime.' Then, after I smelled it, I closed my eyes.
"This one smells amazing!" He took one from the jar I was holding and put it to his nose. Then, he put it back and shrugged.
"Eh, it's ok."
"Ok? This one's the best!" I giggled and put the jar back. We left the store and headed to a bakery at the other side of the little town. When we walked in, I saw a cookie that was shaped like a raindeer. The man behind the counter greeted us with a smile.
"Hello, what can I do for you today?"
"I'd like a latte, please." Mr. Marsh said. The guy typed it in and asked,
"And you, miss?"
"I'd like a cappuccino." I told him. We paid and waited for our drinks to come. When they did, Mr. Marsh said to me,
"Open the lid." I did as he told me to do. They had somehow formed the cream into a Christmas tree. I gasped and looked back up at him.
"That's awesome!"
"Yeah, I love coming here, especially for the holidays. Let's go put our things back at my house, then we'll go get a tree." I nodded and we started heading back. We were about halfway back when I said,
"Mr. Marsh?" He looked over at me and sighed.
"Alice?"
"Yeah?"
"We're not in school, are we?" He asked, half-smiling. I blushed and nodded.
"Ok, Simon."
"Yes?"
"How did you ever find such an amazing place?" I asked him. He smiled and just stared ahead at the snow.
"I don't think I really found it, I think it just...found me." He stated. I nodded. We came to his house after another ten minutes of walking, so we set the bags onto the kitchen counter. I sighed and asked him,
"What now?"
"Now, we take a drive to the tree lot about six miles away to get a tree."
"We can't do that with the Lexus!" I exclaimed. He smiled and said,
"That's why I brought the Yukon, c'mon." He led me to the door that led to the garage. We both got into the Yukon and started to the tree lot.
Once we arrived, we walked inside the little cabin and greeted a man who resembled a lumberjack. He smiled and said,
"You folks here for a Christmas tree?"
"Yes." Mr. Marsh said. The man nodded and took us out into the snow where we saw a bunch of pine trees. We searched for an hour before we found the one we wanted and the man cut it down with a chainsaw. We tied it to the top of the Yukon and drove back to his house.