Christmas Carols

t w o

   "Oh, Scarlet, you've got a guest!" Ezra yells from downstairs, in a sing song voice.

  I walk downstairs, excited to to see the gorgeous girl once again and my expectations are not disappointed when I see that she's delicately looking at me with her green eyes as I get to the brown door.

  "Thanks for coming," I tell her.

  She nods, giving me a precious smile and my heart starts beating a billion a minute.

  "I'll leave you two to your own things," Ezra says and as he's leaving, he whispers into my ear, "damn, I didn't expect you to move so quickly with this."

  I smack his arm, and he laughs while the girl seems confused at the scene.

  "Ignore him, he's. . . something else."

She smiles, and asks, "so, I don't want to be rude but what did you invite me back for? You didn't seem so happy the first time I showed up."

Because carolers are annoying as fuck.

"I was just— it doesn't matter. What matters is that you came because I asked you to. Thank you, really. Can I ask what your name is?"

"I'm Stella. What about you?"

"I'm Scarlet."

"That's such a beautiful name, you know? I absolutely love it."

It's out of my control as a dramatic tear escapes my eye, and I simply tell her, "it was my mom's name."

"Was?"

She seems extremely concerned about my sudden tears in the winter season, but I'm reminded of who she is: a caroler who celebrates this horrible holiday. My anger grows at the terrible Christmas memories, and the way it makes me feel is numbing.

"I'm sorry for asking. That's none of my business, I'm sorry."

Sorry. She's sorry. Of course, the typical round of pity.

"You should be," I harshly say, "you don't ask someone you don't even know about their dead mom!"

"I didn't know— I was just—"

"You were just what? You are just like the typical person that pities someone because one of their parents died. Well, I don't need that because I'm over her death! Honestly, it doesn't matter!"

"If you were over her death then you wouldn't be crying right now."

"And there you go again. Is that one of those caring skills they teach you when you join that caroling crap?"

"It's what I've learned since I'm a decent human being that cares about others."

I frown at her hurt face and I feel so angry, except this time, with myself.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to yell at you. You're right, I'm not over it, and I took it out on someone I don't even know. I'm such a crappy person for that."

"Well, you are a bit of a crappy person for that but I get it, dealing with a loss is hard. I can help cheer you up."

"Please don't say you'll cheer me up with caroling."

She pretends to be disappointed and says, "darn! You ruined my plans since clearly the only thing about me is that I'm a caroler."

"Sorry."

"Get a jacket on, we're going out."

"We are?"

"Yes, now hurry up because we need to get there before it gets too dark out," she says.

  I nod and rush upstairs to grab a black jacket and brown boots to put on. I run back downstairs when I finish getting ready and she sighs, looking at me from head to toe.

  "Is something wrong?"

  "Yes, it's going to be late! At least we're in walking distance."

  "Calm down, let's go. Ezra, I'm going out!"

  "Okay, be careful Scarlet!"

  I leave with Stella and shut the door behind myself, thinking of where Stella could be taking me.

  "I don't think you've ever gone to this place so don't bother thinking of where it could be."

"Fine."

I start to shiver at the coldness of the weather, and Stella giggles.

"What?"

"You're very red, are you really that cold?"

"It feels like it's below 0."

"It's not that cold. Do you want me to help you get warm though?"

"Sure," I say, curious at what her method could be.

She grabs my hand and wraps into hers, holding it as we walk to the mystery destination.

I'm holding hands with her. Woah, I'm holding hands with her.

After what feels like hours of walking, she finally stops and I look at the place, marveling at the beauty.

A garden surrounds the small wooden bridge that we're currently standing on, all over a frozen river. Everything feels perfect, and there's an atmosphere of winter joy. The only negative sight for me is the large, decorated Christmas tree in the center of the scene.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?"

"It is. If only there wasn't that huge Christmas tree in the center of the garden."

"I'm sure that the amazing frozen river and snow covered trees make up for it. It's gorgeous, I've always loved this place, especially in the winter."

  "You like winter time?"

  "I love it. My last name is Winters so I think that it just runs in my blood. Can we talk?"

"Depends. About what?"

"About why you hate Christmas," she says.

I shake my head, and try to forget the painful memory, "I'm not ready to talk about that with a stranger."

"Says the one that texted me and invited me to your house."

"You suggested coming here!"

"Yeah, I could tell that you needed to come here. What was your purpose in texting me though?"

Don't say to be my girlfriend. Don't say it!

I'm sure that's guaranteed to scare off a stranger, and I actually think she's worth keeping around. Even though she's a caroler.

"I want a gir— I want a friend."

I mentally scold myself and she smiles anyways, seeming not to have caught the gir part.

"I need a friend too," she tells me, adding a wink to her statement.

I gulp, taking in a huge breath of air and say, "well, it's getting late!"

"Not really."

"It is for me! I have to go, bye!" I quickly say and I try to run out as fast I can.

Except it doesn't work out.

I slip on the ice.

And I land on my butt.