Sequel (Advent Calendar 2016)

THE 19TH DECEMBER

The 19th of December

...

Rob's sitting in the kitchen, eating his breakfast. When Kristen appears in the doorway, his face hardens. There's hurt in her eyes for a second, but then it's gone. Walking over behind him, she finds a bowl and opens the fridge. When she's poured milk and cereal into her bowl, she walks over to the barstool across from him. The second she sits down in her seat, he gets up from his.

"I poisoned the milk," he says, walking out of the kitchen. Even without looking back, he knows she's giving him the finger.

As he reaches the hallway, he thinks he hears her sigh.

...

"Can't you just try to not be so fucking uncoordinated," Rob says, grabbing Kristen's arm as she's about to fall for the third time.

They could have filmed the scene in a studio, but no, they have to film it on a real frozen lake in Canada in -5 degrees. He likes it when directors keep it authentic, but sometimes it just gets too authentic.

"I wasn't about to fall," Kristen mumbles, moving her arm free of his hand. Rob rolls his eyes at her.

"Okay, guys, from the top!" Steph yells from ten metres away.

They glance at her and get into their positions.

When Steph has yelled "action", Daniel grabs Chloe's hand and carefully glides backwards, dragging her with him. Rob's about to slip, but Kristen grips his wrist and the side of his coat before he can fall.

They look at each other, and Rob sees shock on Kristen's face, but it disappears after a second.

"Watch the fuck out," she spits as Steph announces they'll start over.

They do the scene a couple of more times but they both keep slipping on the ice. Every time the other is about to fall, they automatically reach out for them, and as soon as they're steady, they let go, making an annoyed comment about how they should be more careful or that it's "not fucking Bambi".

Rob notices how Kristen is freezing between takes and curses the costume manager for not giving her a warmer costume. It's minus degrees, for fuck's sake. He offers her his coat several times, but she declines it every time, claiming she doesn't need it.

When her jaw starts shaking and her lips have turned completely blue, he gets enough of her stubbornness.

"Kristen, just take my fucking coat!"

"Why?" She asks, almost unable to speak.

"Because you're bloody shivering, that's why!" He says frustrated, making a hand gesture towards her shaking body.

"Why do you care?"

"Your teeth chattering is make my head hurt," he replies after a moment. She glares at him, the look in her eyes saying, "you're making my head hurt".

"You're gonna get a cold," he tells her, putting his coat back on which he took off several minutes ago.

"I'm not."

...

As much as Rob wants to tell her "I told you so" as she goes around the cottage sniffing and coughing, he can't get himself to do it. He's annoyed at Kristen, but he's not gonna be an arse when she's sick.

"I boiled some water for my coffee. There might be some left for you to make some tea for your throat," he tells her when he meets her in the hallway.

"My throat's fine," she says, followed by a cough.

"I have tissues if you need them!" He calls after her, very well aware that he's annoying her.

"I don't!" She yells back.

Before he shuts the door to his bedroom, he hears her sneeze.

...

When Rob goes to the kitchen to get some dinner, the cottage is completely quiet. So you're in your bedroom. Boiling some water, he pours it over some cup noodles. Taking the noodles and a bottle of water, he goes to the living room, wanting to watch some TV.

It's first when he sits down in the armchair that he notices that Kristen is lying on the couch. She's asleep, her arm hanging from the edge of the couch, almost touching her book that has landed on the floor. Her glasses sit askew on her red nose, and her lips are slightly parted as she breathes through her mouth. He can't help but lift the corner of his lips by the sight. She might piss him off when she's awake, but when she's sleeping, she's kind of adorable.

Putting his noodles down on the coffee table, he gets up from the chair, debating what to do. He thinks she should sleep comfortably through the night, but he doesn't want to risk waking her as he carries her to bed. Instead, he carefully removes the glasses from her face, puts them on the table, and goes to her bedroom. Coming back with her blanket and pillow, he gently lifts her head so he can put the pillow underneath her. He takes out the cushions of the back of the couch to make more room for her and places them on the floor. Folding out her blanket, he lets it fall over her and makes sure she's tucked in completely. Going over to the fireplace, he fires it up to make sure she stays warm through the night.

When the flames cast an orange glow through the small living room, he goes back to the arm chair and eats his noodles, his eyes occasionally drifting to the sleeping girl beside him.

...

"I can't believe how clumsy you are."

"Well they should have put salt on the roads, then I wouldn't have slipped over! Dislocating your ankle isn't fun, Rob."

Rob laughs as he unlocks the door to their home, letting Kristen go first as she uses her crutches to move forwards. With a groan, she makes her way to the living room, where she sits down and discards the crutches for the first time that afternoon.

"I think we should keep a set of crutches here, just in case of accidents," Rob laughs from the hallway, as Kristen gives him the finger from the couch and groans again, "What about a wheelchair?"

"Not. Helping." she says through gritted teeth, watching Rob walk into the room and sit beside her, "It's always me, you never break any bones or dislocate things."

Rob laughs, kissing her softly. He moves the crutches away from the couch so that she can't trip over them, and gets up from the couch. Kristen tries, without much effort, to pull him back, but before she can do so, he walks towards a footstool and brings it over to rest underneath her feet.

"Better?", he asks her softly, his hands moving to undo her converse and pull them off her feet.

She smiles softly at the pressure being removed from her painful foot, but before she can respond to Rob's question, her quiet snores fill the room. With a smile, he takes off her other shoe and moves to sit beside her again, his hand brushing the hair off her face as she sleeps peacefully.

You're so clumsy, Rob thinks, a soft smile on his face as he looks at his sleeping girlfriend, but you wouldn't be Kristen if you weren't.