Modern Day Santa Claus

MDSC [21]

Chapter 21

The morning of Christmas Eve's here. The rest of the months passed with Jae barely noticing as she was flooded by papers and projects by teachers that wanted them to finish before Christmas vacation came. She never had the chance to meet-up or talk to Skye for the past two months. Not that she'd admit she was actively avoiding him. Ever since that talk about locking up the Grinch, she was uneasy whenever the Claus family fleeted in her mind.

She has been hanging out with Sam more. The weight of the Claus' secret was pulling her down but she didn't want to make Sam more worried than he already was. She just has to protect him in secret. Sam spent some nights in their house while they finish their projects together, with him helping more than Jae can. Before they knew it, it was already two weeks before Christmas.

Jae's vacation was spent mostly on babysitting Smith's children. She figured if the Smiths are gonna be out again on Christmas Eve, the children would spend Christmas again in their house like last year's. But the day before Christmas Eve, Mrs. Smith mentioned that Jae doesn't have to spend Christmas babysitting because they would be staying and having their own home party. Jae was pleased that she can spend more time helping around the house and maybe whipping up her own dish.

"If you leave the ham out too long, it'll burn," Jae's mom reminded her while she was busy staring at her phone. Jae looked up with her mom frowning at her. Sighing, Jae put down her phone and used the tongs she laid out to clutch the ham into a plate with tissue paper. She has already fried ten pieces of ham, twenty-five more to go.

"I hope Adams buy a good turkey," Jae mused as she placed more sliced ham onto the frying pan.

Pauline, Jae's mom, hummed in response while she was setting up the ingredients for apple pie. "What time is Skye gonna be arriving, hun?"

Jae paused for a minute. "I think he's just gonna drop by. No need to reserve him a meal," Jae said. The disappointment searing into her brain made her sigh. This year turned out to be so different from last year. She looked forward to seeing Skye back when she didn't know him yet and he was this mysterious person who claims he's Santa Claus. But now that they know each other better and he planned to imprison her own friend; her feelings about him changed.

He's dangerous to be around with. This is what Jae concluded after not seeing him for more than two months. Sure, Skye's harmless, but his family? His secrets? His power? That's what makes him dangerous. If only Jae had his number, she could text him and tell him he doesn't have to drop by anymore.

"Nonsense. We'll reserve him a meal and that's that," Pauline stated.

Adams arrived home five hours before seven p.m.

"What took you so long?" Jae asked him.

He brought out a wine bottle wrapped in a brown paper bag. "I bought this," he said proudly.

He started on seasoning the turkey at once while Jae was now assembling the club sandwiches she cooked the hams for. She already made five but decided to make ten more so she can give one to Sam if she can meet up with him before classes start in January. As Adams let the turkey sit on the seasoning for 2 hours, he preheated the oven. The Gonzales family busied themselves all afternoon in the kitchen.

By the time it was 6, the plates and utensils were already set up on the table. Jae was all washed up and showered as she wore a black and red dress that her mom bought for her this Christmas. She didn't have a chance to dress up the last two years but since she's spending Christmas at home, her mom thought it would be nice for all of them to dress nicely.

The top part of the dress was plain black and long-sleeved while the bottom part flows into a knee-length red skirt with Christmas patterns. Jae stared at herself in the mirror as she finished putting on a natural make-up look. Wow, she looks different. "I would totally date you," Jae told her reflection as she pointed a finger at it.