Christmas Carols

o n e

  "Look, here they are again! I swear if they don't leave—"

"Chill, Scarlet. I think they're fun to have around and I'm going to open the door."

Before I can stop him, he rushes to the door and opens it, cursing the house with the singing of the carolers. Their obnoxiously harmonious voices fill the house and I groan, trying to cover my ears. Ezra smiles, happy at my dismay and starts singing off-tune with the carolers.

  I shake my head as each second I hear of the singing starts giving me a headache and I get the urge to scream. I open my mouth to let out a deafening yell but someone catches my eye.

  A girl. She has cascading blonde hair with the most gorgeous of green eyes which nearly make me fall over.

I catch myself quickly and shake my head, telling myself that I can't be attracted to any of the carolers. I look at her again and what I told myself is quickly forgotten when she winks at me.

   "I— I have to go," I tell Ezra and I run up the stairs, trying to forget the green-eyed girl.

  "Hey, Scarlet! Come back! Don't be rude to these wonderful Christmas carolers!"

   I barely listen to him and I lock myself in my room, in need of a private moment. I take a few deep breaths and I sit on the chair that faces my window, can't helping but looking down at the carolers. Specifically, the green-eyed one.

   "Stop it, Scarlet," I say, "she's a caroler. She's probably one of those obnoxious lovers of Christmas that believes in like, Santa Claus, or something stupid like that."

   I don't stop watching the carolers until they finally leave, walking to another house that they can torture. As they're walking away, the mysterious green-eyes girl locks eyes with me through my bedroom window and it leaves me with a sudden shock of energy.

   "Fuck. It's too late to save myself," I tell myself, angry with the reality of what's happened— I'm infatuated with the girl.

  "Scarlet, open the door up! It was so rude of you to leave like that!" Ezra yells as he pounds on the door.

  I roll my eyes and walk over to open the door for him. He comes inside to sit on my bed, and seems to be trying to figure out how to say something inside his head.

He always has to stick his nose in everything, but I suppose that we're the same in that way. We share a lot in common, from our personality to the way we look with our shared soft brown hair and chestnut colored eyes.

  "What do you want, Ez?"

  "Don't think that I don't know why you suddenly escaped to your room."

  "You obviously know— I mean, it's not a secret that I hate Christmas and everything that has to do with it."

  "It didn't seem like you hated that caroling girl, it seemed quite the opposite of it."

  "I don't know what you're talking about," I frustratingly tell him.

  "Sure, anyways, I'll go now since I have to meet with some of my friends at practice."

  He leaves my room and I sigh, angry that he somehow knows everything. I sit back down on my chair facing the window and I daydream about the beautiful girl who has caught my attention.

  I think about the possibilities with her and I start to hope that she'll come back— even if it is with her irritating singing.

    "Maybe I'll see her again."

  "Oh, you will, Scarlet. I got her number for you," Ez says, poking his head inside my room.

"You said you were leaving!"

"I know that sometimes you talk to yourself so I needed to trick you. You're welcome."

  "You jerk!"

  He laughs, saying, "you'll thank me later," and sets the piece of paper on my desk.

  I get up and I slam the door in his face, annoyed that he would do that. I eye the paper and feel conflicted with myself.

  Should I call her even though she's one of those Christmas people or should I just forget about her?

   I try to tell myself the latter but my heart keeps urging me to opt to the first choice.

  And I do. I pick up my phone and type her number in, saving her contact as, 'Green-Eyed Girl' and I send her a text saying, 'Hey. Are you free?'

  It takes a few minutes but she responds, asking the obvious question, 'who is this?'

  'You gave your number to my brother, Ezra, I'm his sister that ran upstairs.'

  'Ah, yes, you. Yeah, I'm free. What for?'

  'To come to my house right now.'

'Ok. I'll be there in ten minutes.'

  And that is how I walk myself into a mess and anxiously thinking about what I'm even going to do when she gets here.