Fruitcake // h.styles special

chapter 2 - tree fire

"Oh no," Harry deadpanned from behind me.

I whirled around, my eyebrows arching at the sight of him all tangled up in a unfurled spool of ribbon. The red sparkly material was wrapped around his hands, effectively trapping him. He held up the tangled mess and shook it at me.

"Fucking hell, I never thought Christmas ribbon could be so strong." he whined, thrashing his arms in an attempt to break free. The erratic movement caused him to bang his hip against the table and startle a customer nearby.

"I'm going to have to eat off my own arm." Harry declared, clicking his tongue against the back of his teeth and sighing.

"Wow," I said in awe, "What were you trying to do."

Harry pursed his lips. "Wrap a present."

Harry, as I discovered, was not the best worker. We had gotten assigned to present wrapping. He was sort of tall and clumsy and was constantly tripping over his own feet. The elf skirt didn't fit him either. So here he was, a swearing elf in skinny jeans and tattooes on his exposed arms, writhing around in ribbon.

"You know what this would be good for?" Harry asked conversationally as I began to meticulously unwind the ribbon from his wrists.

"What?"

He glanced down at his hands tied in front of him, "Bondage. Especially around the holidays."

I sort of did this half sputter-half laugh sound of shock (not very attractive nor feminine) and Harry cocked an eyebrow and said, "Well, if you're into that type of thing."

"Well-" I began, tossing the ribbon into the garbage can.

Harry flexed his now free fingers. "So you wouldn't want to have crazy hot sex with me under this table right now." A child standing nearby widened his eyes and scampered away.

"Right now?"

"Right this very second as I am speaking sort of now."

I most certainly was not imagining it (not at all, not one bit) so I didn't understand why my cheeks were blushing such a fiery red, and I hoped he didn't either. Because when you're at work surrounded by children mostly under the age of five, you don't want to think about touching the butterfly on his stomach. Definently not appropriate. But still.

Harry unwrapped a candy cane and stuck it in his mouth, sucking on the striped sweet and staring at me while doing so. He pulled it away and licked a bold stripe up the side. Luckily, I didn't have to answer, because somebody interrupted.

"Oh look, it's Fa La La Finley!" my coworker Jeff exclaimed, coming up beside me.

"Don't call me that." I demanded darkly. "I won't feel remorse for scalping you."

Jeff chuckled loudly, but Harry removed his candy and asked, "Fa La La Finley?"

Jeff was another fellow "elf" whose blood seemed to pump pure christmas spirit. It was nauseating and extremely irritating, and most of my time was spent ducking behind shelves to avoid him. He seemed to think I was like the grinch, sing enough in my ear and I would transform into a holiday fanatic.

"Oh yes!" Jeff beamed, "We have Christmas themed names! You are?"

"Harry..."

Jeff clapped enthusiastically. "Nice to meet you, Ho Ho Harry!"

I began banging my head softly against the counter until Jeff walked away. Harry was laughing, all crinkly eyed and slapping a large hand over his open mouth.

"This," he exclaimed, "Is horrible. Oh my. How many more days until Christmas."

"11." I replied automatically, looking hopefully at the calendar on the wall.

Harry flicked the bell on my hat, "You're such a grinch."

"So are you."

"Luckily, I happen to like the grinch."

And then, I assume that because the moment was perfect- us joking around and him close enough that I could smell the peppermint on his breath and heat radiating off his body - that he had to ruin it in some sort of way.

We had scented candles placed around the store, cookie scented to give the place the whole Christmas atmosphere. And Harry knocked it over with his elbow.

"Shit," he said, and we both turned to watch it fall and the glass cup it was in shatter across the tile floor. But it didn't just break. The small flame leaped onto a tiny decorative rug around the Christmas tree nearby, and burst into flames.

The tree didn't exactly burst into flames, it was more of a slow, progressive burning that soon raged into a full out forest fire.

"Oh damnit." Harry said simply. A mother nearby screamed and clutched her child, as though it was her kid that was on fire, and pointed wildly to the tree.

"What do we do?"

"I don't know."

Harry muttered another string of poetic swear words, some that were new to my vocabulary, and grabbed the water bottle I had been sipping from. He struggled with the cap for a moment before lamely throwing the sprinkling of water. The lights in the tree begin popping as the fire roared. I took a couple steps back from the raging flames. It had grown into a bright bonfire that reeked of pine and sap.

Kids and adults were being ushered away, and our manager was screaming about how somebody should get the fire extinguisher, and geeze, how did somebody even loose the fire extinguisher.

"Oh my god." I screamed, as the fake presents around it began to burn.

Harry threw his hands into the air. "This is just great!" he shouted towards the heavens, "Tis the season, eh?"

And then he stopped, and lowered his hands. And it wasn't very romantic, but his features looked very soft from the glow of the fire behind him.

"This fire," Harry chuckled, "Would not be a good fire to roast chestnuts in."

The fire alarm shrieked to life above us. "You just did not."

"Wait, I have another. Looks like this'll be the hot Christmas night I was hoping for."

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"You set the tree on fire," my manager said grimly, his chubby hands folded on his desk. He glared at the two of us sitting before him, like children being scolded by the principle.

Harry squirmed in his seat. "Well, it was an accidental fire-"

"No excuses!" my manager shouted.

I took a small candy from the bowl on his desk. "Actually, that's a very good excuses. Accidents happen."

He slammed his fast down on his desk, making us both flinch and causing me to drop my candy. I watched it roll away under a chair.

"You two are trouble." my manager declared. And if I'm being honest, I sort of liked the way that sounded. The two of us, like a pair of sorts, lighting things on fire and causing trouble. Wreaking havoc on Christmas.

"You're being moved to Pedophile Patrol."

"No fair!" I shouted. Pedophile Patrol was shooing away all the creeps who hovered around the edge of the store and watched the kids.

We were dismissed without an argument, banished to scare away 40 year old men on the prowl. Harry's hand brushed mine as we walked.

"How about we leave?" he suggested, grabbing my arm and turning me around to face him. "Let's go do something fun."

"But the pedophiles-"

"The kids will be fine. You heard the man, we're trouble, so let's go find some. Think you're up for it?"

I glanced over my shoulder at the charred mark on the ground where a tree used to be, and back at Harry, who was blowing a curl off his face. I felt a smile creep onto my face at the though of us running through town.

"Let's go."