Christmas Under The Mistletoe

Second Weekend in Advent - 5

There was a comfortable silence between us as we turned around to head back. For a little while all I could hear were our footsteps and my own breathing. From time to time my eyes flickered up to the grey clouds above us.

Maybe it will start to snow soon? Hopefully we'll have a white Christmas ...

Dean spoke up first. "You didn't know about my band, did you?"

I threw him a short glance and shook my head. "I could feel that something was up but I had no idea what." From the corner of my eye I noticed the broad grin on Dean's face.

"When did it become clear to you?" "The moment you stepped on the stage." I grinned sheepishly. "My friends had no idea either. We were quite surprised when you guys ran off. We were convinced you'd come with us."

"Does that mean you wanted me to stand next to you?" My head whipped around at his words and Dean shot me a wink. I rolled my eyes. "You wish. Actually I thought that it would be appropriate for a gentlemen to be with the ones he'd invited."

Dean chuckled. "Sorry that I left a bad impression." "You made it up with that concert."

"I'd play you another one." I shook my head lightly, ignoring his obvious attempt to flirt.

"Do you guys have many gigs?" I asked, curious to find out more about the guy next to me who was so full of surprises. He shrugged. "Not too many. But enough to be known in this town. I do lots of other things during weekends, so it's more like a hobby."

"What are your plans for the coming weekend for example?" "I'll help out at the children's center", he explained. "They have a Christmas party there for the kids in town." "That sounds cool." Dean looked at me with a pained expression. "Depends. It will last a whole day, and it's only my Mum, my sister and I in the kitchen." "Why only you three", I asked frowning, "Aren't there other people who'll help out?" "Of course it would be much easier this way because we could take turns", Dean explained, "But all the helpers backed out during the last week."

"I could help out, you know", I rambled. "For free, of course. I don't have anything planned. Lou's away for the weekend with her boyfriend and their families, but Ann might be free too." Dean looked at me surprised as if he hadn't expected me to offer anything like this. "I mean, only if this is ... wanted, of course." The boy beamed at me. "That ... that would be awesome!"

"Good." I grinned at him, way too excited about the fact that we were going to spend the coming Saturday together. "I'll be glad to help."

Dean cracked a smile. "That's really cool of you."

I rolled my eyes. "No need to become dramatic", I said calmly, inwardly screaming and giggling and jumping.

"No, really. Thank you." This time I didn't answer anything back, I just smiled at him, and when he didn't look away I didn't either.

I broke the eye contact when I thought that it was time to tame the butterflies in my belly. They felt like a group of drunk teenagers out of control.

"Lena?"

The mix of sincerity and playfulness in his voice made me search for his eyes a little cautiously.

"Yes?"

"Do you have a boyfriend I have to watch out for in case I treated you to a drink?"

My eyes twinkled. "Maybe?"

"Are you always this mysterious?"

"Nope, only careful. You could be a kidnapper."

"We had this already."

I grinned. A blast of air hit us and brought tears to my eyes. All of a sudden my smile felt like a grimace. I shivered.

Without another word I turned away and moved on and Dean joined me in silence. The ice cold air froze my face and crawled under my coat.

But it was worth it.

Being with Dean was worth it.

Because despite the grey weather on the outside I could feel the warmth that was spreading out on the inside of my heart.