Christmas OneShots

𝙾𝚗𝚎 𝙸'𝚟𝚎 𝚋𝚎𝚎𝚗 𝙼𝚒𝚜𝚜𝚒𝚗𝚐

"𝙸'𝚖 𝚜𝚘𝚛𝚛𝚢 𝙸 𝚊𝚒𝚗'𝚝 𝚋𝚎𝚎𝚗 𝚊𝚛𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚍, 𝚋𝚞𝚝 𝚢𝚘𝚞'𝚟𝚎 𝚋𝚎𝚎𝚗 𝚘𝚗 𝚖𝚢 𝚖𝚒𝚗𝚍 𝚊 𝚖𝚒𝚕𝚕𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚝𝚒𝚖𝚎𝚜. 𝙸'𝚕𝚕 𝚖𝚊𝚔𝚎 𝚒𝚝 𝚞𝚙 𝚝𝚘 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚗𝚘𝚠. 𝚆𝚎'𝚕𝚕 𝚠𝚛𝚊𝚙 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚙𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚜 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚙𝚞𝚝 𝚞𝚙 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚝𝚛𝚎𝚎 𝚝𝚘𝚐𝚎𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛. 𝙱𝚎 𝚝𝚘𝚐𝚎𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛. 𝙱𝚊𝚋𝚢, 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎'𝚜 𝚗𝚘 𝚋𝚎𝚝𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚐𝚒𝚏𝚝 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚗𝚘𝚠 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝙸 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎, 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝'𝚜 𝚠𝚑𝚎𝚗 𝙸 𝚏𝚎𝚎𝚕 𝚒𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚖𝚘𝚜𝚝."

❆ ❆ ❆ ❆ ❆ ❆ ❆ ❆ ❆ ❆

"It's so slow," Kathryn groans, hopping up onto the counter next to me, swinging her converse-clad feet beneath her in tune with the Christmas song coming through the coffee shop speakers.

I peel my eyes away from my book to meet her gaze, but she's not looking at me. She's staring at the clock on the wall with an expression of longing and disappointment. It's just after nine in the morning, also known as our graveyard shift. For most food joins, the graveyard shift happens in the wee hours of the night and early morning while everyone is fast asleep. For coffee shops, on the other hand, that shift happens after the morning rush hour.

I drop my eyes back to my book and continue reading, assuming our conversation (if you can call it that) is short-lived. I get through a single paragraph before Kathryn yanks the book from my hands.

"Wuthering Heights? Really, Mads? How many times have you read this?" she questions, placing the book back in my hands. I roll my eyes and dog-ear the page before slipping the book back into my purse.

"It's a classic, Kat. You can never read it too many times," I reply. I lean back against the wall and avert my gaze to the windows that line the entire front wall of the coffee shop. Outside it's snowing, has been all week. The snow is coming down in sheets, making it nearly impossible to see anything beyond the sidewalks. Despite the weather, people still rush by, protecting themselves from the snow and bitter wind with anything they can get their hands on - their coats, scarves, a plastic bag, a newspaper, even a skateboard (I guess that's all a skateboard's good for in this blizzard). I chuckle as a man rushes by the coffee shop holding a hat over his head. Why not put the hat on? Seems to me that would be the more logical solution to his problems, but what do I know?

"When's Harry due home?" Kathryn asks out of the blue.

I tear my eyes away from the window and meet her questioning gaze. She's eyeing my phone, which lit up as I received a new text message. I picture of Harry and I appeared on the screen and must've sparked her question. With a heavy sigh, I lift the phone and open the text message, just one from my mum. She's asking when Harry and I will be heading back to Holmes Chapel for the holidays again. It's probably the tenth time she's asked me just this week.

"I don't know. He said sometime before Christmas, but he couldn't be certain. Jeff's got him doing a ton of promotionals right now. He said he's hardly gotten any sleep since he left for the states two months ago," I reply, my shoulders falling in a shrug. "I hope he gets home soon though. I hate being alone at the house this time of year. I haven't even bothered to decorate because it's just not the same without him, ya know?"

Kathryn flashes a sympathetic smile and nods. "I completely understand. Decorating wasn't the same last year while Nick was away on business."

"Have you and Nick decided where you're going for the holidays yet?" I ask, attempting to change the subject. I love talking about Harry, but I hate talking about him being away. It only emphasizes the fact that he's not here with me. I'm quite used to the distance now. We've been together for a two years and we were mates before that. I'm used to the traveling and the late-night phone calls. I'm used to the airports and tour buses. I'm used to going to bed alone and waking up alone. It's still quite depressing though. I get home from work each night and I'm alone in this big empty house. I cook dinner for myself and eat in front of the television until my eyes are too heavy. Then I get into bed and pray I don't fall asleep before his call. Then I wake up the next morning and do it all again.