Sequel (Advent Calendar 2016)

THE 4TH OF DECMBER

The 4th of December

...

"You still smoke?" Rob asks Kristen when Stephanie has announced they'll have a short break.

"Duh," she answers, already fishing a cigarette out of her pocket. He grins and grabs his coat, walking outside with her.

"Fuck," Rob mumbles, breaking the silence as he pats his pockets. "I think I forgot my lighter" he says, an unlit cigarette dangling from his lips.

"Here," he hears Kristen say beside him, and for a second, he wonders if she's going to light his cig the way they used to light each other's.She throws him her lighter, and his memories fade away.

He takes a look at the lighter, and lifts the corner of his mouth. Still the one I gave you, I see.

"So you've gone back to the real deal?" Kristen asks him, nodding towards the cigarette resting between his fingers.

"Wha'? Oh yeah, e-cigs were just not... enough," he explains before taking a long drag from the "real deal".

"Yeah, I totally get that. I've never tried e-cigs, but I've tried quitting a couple of times," she tells him after blowing out smoke.

"But you've never succeeded?" He asks, pretending he doesn't know the answer better than anyone else as he looks at her out of the corner of his eye.

"Uh, no. Well, the first time I tried to quit, I actually didn't smoke for... a month."

"Oh, really? When was that?" He asks, genuinely surprised; he can't imagine Kristen not smoking for more than a week.

"July 2013."

He thinks, then he gulps. They broke up in the end of July 2013. He looks at her. Her face is unchanged. He doesn't remember her not smoking that month, but then again, he was really busy back then. He wonders why she quit, and he stops dead in his tracks when something she'd said a couple of months prior sounds in his mind. He quickly starts humming to drown the memory out.

"You gotta be kidding me, Rob. Justin Bieber?" Kristen asks, her eyebrows raised as she looks at him.

He furrows his brow, then realises he'd been humming Mistletoe.

"It's on my Spotify playlist!" He defends himself.

"Yeah, but it didn't add itself to your playlist, did it?"

"Shut up, Kristen. Like you have a better Christmas music taste yourself."

"Okay, there is nothing wrong with Last Christmas!" She says defensively around her cigarette.

"No," he agrees. "Only when you've listened to it on repeat for five hours, two days in a row!"

"Shut the fuck up, dude, my cookies have never tasted that amazing and you know it."

He thinks back to that year. Kristen had been dancing around the kitchen, wiggling her bum to 'Last Christmas' as she baked her infamous Christmas cookies. He may or may not have watched her with a stupid grin on his face from the door frame.

"Maybe you just found another recipe," he says.

"Another recipe? Come on, man. You would notice if I just put in one cup of flour too much."

"I am quite familiar with the taste I guess," he says, his mouth watering as he thinks about the cookies in question.

"I actually have a batch in my trailer." Rob looks at her with wide eyes, his cigarette almost falling out of his mouth as he gapes. "You have what?" She rolls her eyes at his dramatic antics.

"You can have one," she tells him. He's still in shock.

Before he can respond, an assistant tells them that their break is over.

As they film a scene, Rob can't stop thinking about Kristen's cookies. Between takes, he mouths one-word questions to her, like "cinnamon?", "ginger?" and "icing?" She nods to them all, and whispers to him, that he has to stop, 'cause he knows it wouldn't be her Christmas cookies without all those things.

When Stephanie tells them that they're done for the day, Kristen walks over to Rob. "Wanna rehearse lines in my trailer again?" She asks him.

"Do I get a cookie?"

"You get two, if - you can eat the first one without doing any yummy noises," she tells him, knowing how cruel she's being.

"Kristen," he groans. "You know that's not possible. That's like saying you can have the world's best sex, but you can't moan." He blushes as soon as the words have left his mouth. She smirks.

"The world's best sex, huh? Is that what you compare my cookies to, Pattinson? Damn. I must be good."

Rob doesn't know if there's a double-meaning to her words, and he's not sure he should find out.

...

"One noise, and this cookie will be your last!" Kristen tells Rob, as she opens the big Christmas tin, pulling out a cookie.

He looks at her with a pained expression. She gives him her best bitch face and hands him the cookie.

He puts it to his nose and sniffs. Jesus fuck, it's Christmas.

"No noise!" Kristen reminds him when she sees the look on his face. He swallows.

He hasn't had these cookies in four years.

Taking a deep breath, he takes a bite.

He's instantly overwhelmed by memories. As the different Christmas spices whirl around in his mouth, pictures and sounds play in his mind. Christmas music, fireplace, cuddles, cold hands in warm ones, snow on black eyelashes, mistletoe, baggy sweater and knickers, Christmas tea, fairy lights, laughter.

He tries his best to suppress the noises that are threatening to leave his mouth.

"Do you like it?" Kristen asks, his lack of "mmm's" worrying her a little after all.

He nods enthusiastically. "It tastes like..." Kisses, warmth, love. "Christmas."

...

They're on the couch, Rob in one end, Kristen in the other. He's shirtless and in his boxers, she's wearing his t-shirt, both recently woken up. Rob takes a cigarette from the pack on the table, and puts it to his mouth as he throws the pack over to Kristen. When he's lit it, Kristen crawls over to him, smoke between her lips. Rob puts his arms around her and situates her in his lap. Leaning forward, he lights her cigarette with his own. They both take a drag, and then exhale slowly. They share a short kiss. For some time, they just sit there, Rob's arms around Kristen, Kristen in Rob's lap, smoking.

"I don't think I could ever quit smoking," Kristen says before putting the cigarette to her mouth and inhaling.

"Fuck, me neither," Rob admits, readjusting her in his lap.

"Maybe..." she begins, thinking. "Maybe if... Okay, I will quit smoking when..." Rob looks expectantly at her, awaiting her answer. "I will quit smoking when we try to have a baby."

Rob freezes. What?

"You would-" He begins to say, afraid the words might fall apart if he says them.

"Quit smoking?" She offers, studying his puzzled expression.

"Have a baby with me?" He finishes.

She bites her lip, still studying his face.

"Well, yeah, but I only said 'when'. 'When' doesn't mean now."

"Yes, but you didn't say 'if', you said 'when'. And 'when' means 'at some point'," he tells her. "When's 'at some point', Kristen?" He asks her, not even trying to hide his happiness.

"I just told you; the day I quit smoking, is the day I want to try for a baby," she tells him, his smile rubbing off on her. "So keep an eye on me, Rob, 'cause if I suddenly don't smoke anymore, it means you might become a daddy soon."