As a tiny little bell jingled above the door of Mama Minnie's Christmas Shop, a familiar face walked in and looked around at the quaint little store, taking in the all too welcoming atmosphere that radiated from it. There were small snowman trinkets scattered throughout a variety of homemade bookshelves, and the distinct smell of pine traveled through the air.
"I'll be with you in just a moment, dear!" a cheery voice chimed through the almost empty store. "Just finishing up a batch of Christmas cookies."
The man who had just walked into the just nodded to himself and continued to meander through the area. There were a lot of items in such a small space. Still, each of these items held a sweet little charm to it that large malls and mega stores just couldn't capture. Whether it be the hand-knit stockings, the cute snow globes that housed a rather pudgy looking snowman, or even the mistletoe that hung from the ceiling, it just gave an aura of- well, of Christmastime.
Just then, a small elderly woman burst through the opposite end of the room, carefully adjusting her bright red apron to a more comfortable position on her delicate frame. She then removed her wire frame glasses and used a small silk cloth to clean them to perfection.
"Now, how can I help you?" the lady stated in a congenial tone.
The man then walked forward from his current browsing, and the old woman's eyes lit up more than they already were.
"Justin!" she exclaimed as she walked out from behind the counter, extending her arms out for a hug. "Justin, my how you've grown, young man. Come and give me a hug!"
The Hawaiian let out a small laugh before returning the old woman's hug, trying not to damage her in any way.
"Mrs. Wargin," Justin replied in a similarly happy manner, "it's nice to see you too. How have you been?"
"Busy as ever." Mrs. Wargin said, brushing some flower off of her apron. "But I take it that you have been as well. The modeling business never seems to get a break."
Justin nodded as he removed a rather bulky green jacket, draping it over the counter.
"Well, what brings you all the way out to Canada during the winter?" she continued, motioning for Justin to follow her as she took some small steps towards the kitchen. "If you hadn't been here for that reality television show, I'd say it'd be complete suicide. Wouldn't you rather be in Hawaii? It's much nicer than here."
Justin followed the woman and nodded as he took his first step into the kitchen, which appeared that Christmas had thrown up in there. Tinsel was scattered randomly over the mahogany cabinets, and various Christmas lights were intertwined with it. Taking a seat at the small dinner table that was nearby, Justin nodded yet again.
"Well," Justin stated as Mrs. Wargin scurried about the cooking area like a madman, "I came out here for another photo shoot, so I thought I'd stop in and say hello."
Nodding as she continued fiddling with a microwave, Mrs. Wargin let out a small chuckle.
"See, Justin, what did I tell you? This store will always keep you coming back for more and more till you hit the floor!" Mrs. Wargin chuckled as she finished up with the microwave. "Still, I have a feeling there's something else that you came out here for. Or rather, someone."
At that, Justin hung his head a little, trying his best not to show agreement with that statement. See, during the third season of Total Drama, Justin had finally come to terms with his feelings for a certain queen bee named Heather. He'd wanted to tell her this revelation so badly, but was unsure whether or not this would end up as just one giant phase he would go through, like so many other girlfriends he'd had in the past. Then, to throw salt on his torn and bleeding heart it seemed, Alejandro had swept Heather right off of her feet and they had been together for almost six months now.
Still, Justin was a model and he had work to do, no matter how torn up his heart might've felt. It was on a return trip to Canada for a winter clothing shoot that he had stumbled across Mrs. Wargin and her little shop. Justin had lost his way and decided to stop in just to ask for directions. Before he knew it, he had struck up a long conversation with the elderly woman and night had fallen over the town. Insisting that he should stay the night, Mrs. Wargin continued to stay up with him and, after a few minutes of prying, heard Justin's tale of love and loss.
"I take it that this little silence is a yes?" Mrs. Wargin stated as she placed a small blue mug in front of Justin that was filled with piping hot coffee. "Or are you just trying to avoid conversation?"
Justin sighed and took a small sip of the reasonably hot liquid in front of him.
"No, I guess you're right." Justin stated as he placed the cup down on the table. "It's just that Heather's with someone now an-"
"So?" Mrs. Wargin interrupted. "What does it matter?"
Justin seemed a little confused at what the elderly woman meant. Mrs. Wargin probably understood this using her years of experience (or some elderly person mind tricks), and nodded in comprehension.
"Justin, let me ask you something." Mrs. Wargin continued. "Do you see that picture right next to your arm?"
The elderly woman pointed to a tarnished picture in a small glass frame that rested on the center of the dining table. Justin picked it up and looked at it, taking note of the smiling couple that was sitting on a park bench.
"That man there was my husband, and I wouldn't have had him if I kept my feelings locked up inside." Mrs. Wargin said. "In fact, I'd probably be just a lonely old woman who spent her life frittering away at making homemade sweaters just to make a pretty penny in this society. But, I didn't. I stepped out of my comfort zone, took a chance on love, and look how I turned out. I'm 81 and I still have more energy than some of the kids these days!"
Justin nodded and set the picture back down, making sure to not cause the frame to crack.
"I get what you're trying to say Mrs. Wargin," Justin replied, "but you don't know Heather like I do. She's a strong, one-track minded girl. I don't think she could love someone like me."
The elderly woman set down her coffee and went over to Justin, rubbing his shoulder gently.
"Justin," she concluded, "you'll never know until you try. You'll never know until you try."
The male model looked up at the woman with a thankful smile, which she returned easily.
"Now, can I ask you to do me a favor?" Mrs. Wargin stated. "There's a massive blizzard that's supposed to be sweeping in soon. If you couldn't tell by the weather of course."
Justin looked out the lone window in the kitchen and say large streaks of white blustering quickly by the pane, causing a loud whooshing sound as it did so.
"I need to head out to the grocery store and get some more ingredients for the Christmas Cake Cook-off. I'm not letting Betty Thatcher win three years in a row. My cake is the best and those judges know it!" Mrs. Wargin ranted as she looked angrily out the window, hoping that Betty Thatcher could feel the determination coming from the kitchen. "In any case, I trust you enough to watch the store while I'm gone. Think you can do that for me?"
Justin stood and shrugged his shoulders. "I don't see why not."
"Glad to see common courtesy hasn't died." Mrs. Wargin praised. "I won't be more than fifteen minutes. Hold the fort down, make sure that stray cat from the alley across the street doesn't get in here and do-"
"Don't let those hooligans from the Spinelli house in here, because they're no good little pests." Justin finished with a slight smirk on his face. There was something about Mrs. Wargin's rules that were so simple, yet completely outlandish.
"Atta boy." Mrs. Wargin responded as she threw on a small brown jacket over her apron. "And make sure that nobody steals anything from the store while I'm gone. 'Kay?"
"You have my word." Justin replied in a mock British accent. "Anything for the fair maiden of this Christmas palace."
Mrs. Wargin let out a small laugh at this and walked over towards the door, hastily placing a leather cap on her head.
"I swear you make me feel sixty years younger, Justin." Mrs. Wargin complimented. "Such a charismatic young man."
And with that, Mrs. Wargin disappeared out of the door and into the swirling whirlwind of snow that had accumulated in front of the store's windows. Justin assumed a place behind the counter and slowly hummed a Christmas carol to himself, awaiting the return of Mrs. Wargin from her grocery store escapade.
Time passed rather quickly, much to Justin's surprise. Before he knew it, twenty minutes had passed, and there was no sign that Mrs. Wargin was returning. Feeling slightly tired from the intoxicating aroma of all things Christmas, Justin pulled a stool up to the counter and flattened the upper half of his body on the glass counter. It was no queen sized bed with goose down comforters and freshly fluffed pillows, but it was decent enough right now.
As luck would have it, Justin actually had a decent nap. Who knew glass could be so comfortable? At any rate, Justin slowly arose from his little snooze, rubbing some crust out of his eyes, and looked at the clock that was on the wall behind him.
"…It's five o' clock?" Justin exclaimed as he shot up in his stool, almost falling out as he did so. "Where's Mrs. Wargin?"
Then Justin cast his eyes to the store's windows, and was alarmed at what he saw: snow was flying by at an extremely rapid pace, a small whooping sound could be heard down the street from an old car horn, and the faintest sound of the neighbor's children screaming in jubilee at the giant snowfall pierced the almost silent air.
Standing up, he took a few hesitant steps towards the door, unsure whether to go out and search for the old woman, or just stay inside where it was safe and warm. As he reached the door, and large bundled blob came hurtling towards the door, and barreled in, smacking the model in his nose and sending him toppling back.
"Gah!" was all Justin could say as he landed with a thud on the soft carpeting. "My nose!"
The figure who had just burst through the door turned around and mumbled something through their thick scarf along the lines of, "Sorry."
The model just let out a small groan before picking himself back up off the ground.
"It's alright." Justin replied as he felt his face. "It's not like I haven't been hit in the nose before."
Justin then cringed a little at the injuries he suffered due to Chris and his sadistic ways.
"Still," the boy continued as he moved his hand away from his face, "since the snow is like this, why don't you stay a while and- well, would you like some coffee?"
The figure nodded, removing their scarf from their face and giving a slight smile. Justin then turned around, facing the kitchen area. The figure removed her gloves and threw them carelessly off to the side, where they landed on a rack of old Christmas CD's.
"Thanks, Justin." a familiar female voice chimed as she started taking off her extremely poufy coat.
The Hawaiian froze in the middle of his step and turned around, trying his best to not blush at the girl.
"Heather?" he asked as he eyed the figure carefully. "Is that you underneath that fashion nightmare?"
The queen bee let out a small scoff as she undid the last button on her jacket.
"Well, glad to see that you're still as friendly as ever." Heather replied as she slipped the so-called 'fashion nightmare' off onto the welcome mat in front of the door. "And yes, it is me. Shocking, I know."
Justin just nodded slowly and turned back around towards the kitchen, his head and stomach filling with more than just butterflies as he went to go reheat some coffee for his unexpected visitor. Stepping into the cooking area, Justin took a deep breath and contemplated what he should do.
Pouring the now lukewarm coffee into a mug, he weighed his decisions, and he imagined a small angel popping out of nowhere onto his right shoulder, and a devil on his left.
"Justin," the angel stated calmly, "don't do it. She's happy with Alejandro. Don't ruin this for her."
"Yeah, sure," the devil replied, "and let this golden opportunity go to waste. Snatch her while you can! It's not like Alejandro will know."
Justin just looked at his shoulders and slowly placed the coffee mug in the microwave, and tried to reassure himself that he wasn't going crazy. This kind of thing happens all the time to people. Right?
"That isn't the right thing to do, and you know it." the angel replied back. "Just let her go. There are plenty more fish in the sea."
"But none with as great a pair a' legs as that raven bombshell out there, eh?" the devil stated, nudging his shoulder against Justin's neck.
Just then, a smaller version of Mrs. Wargin appeared and knocked the devil on the back of his head with a frying pan.
"Justin, remember what I said." the old lady stated as she twirled her frying pan in her hand triumphantly. "Remember it well."
The angel sighed and folded his arms over his chest, sending a small glare to Mrs. Wargin.
"Do you always have to ruin these moments?" he asked. "It's our job after all!"
"I don't ruin them," the old woman retorted, "I just hate the sound of you two chattering away in my kitchen. I deal with you two enough on my own time, so leave my guests alone!"
Just then the sound of the microwave timer going off snapped him out of his little… fantasy, and he took a deep breath and decided on what he should do.
"You'll never know until you give it a try." Just thought to himself. "Just give it a try."
And so it has begun! Like I said in the summary, this is a special Christmas request fic for CharlieHarperFan88 (who wrote the incredibly awesome "Married With Total Drama" story BTDubz), and I couldn't be happier right now. It's stuff like this that makes my heart smile: seeing Heather fall in love, and Justin be- well, Justin. So, how did I do guys? Did I do terribly? Did I do pretty decently? Lemme know people!
Anyways, might as well say this is just gonna be 4-5 chapters and won't be a major priority over the other two stories I have. I just felt like cranking this first chapter out because my dear requester has been so patient with me! ^-^
Also, if you have a request you'd like me to do, feel free to let me know via PM or review. I'd be happy to do it! Later my party people!
- Allister, gon' be it on the floor