Mistletoe & Holly
Kieren lounges on a tattered, old couch. The kind that would have been popular, trendy even, in the 70s, but has long since experienced worn. Nonetheless, the couch is his sanctuary. Kieren wraps his arms around his knees desperately trying to become one with the couch. He stares out the fogged window, his solemn reflection stares back at him. He frowns at his reflection. Wanting to hide from himself and melt into the background, he stretches his sleeve around his hand and swipes it against the moist window. The window is cold, colder than his hand, but not too cold for comfort. He vigorously wipes away dissipating his reflection and revealing the world outside. Everything is a single stroke of white. White street, white sky, white falling snowflakes. Eyebrows creased and eyes narrowed he mutters under his breathe, "I hate the snow. I hate being cold".
Amy sits on her knees in the center of her dimly lit living room. She pulls out ornaments from a cardboard box and meticulously places them on her tree. Her back is turned from Kieren, and she, busily at work, pretends to be un-perturbed by his statement. However, Amy has a tell. Whenever she gets pissed or is intently focused she gets this crease between her eyebrows. She was A. very focused on preparing her house for tomorrows Christmas party and B. she was in fact very perturbed that Kieren was not helping her. Amy carefully picks up a red and green patterned ornament. Cradling it in her hand she places it on the tree. The branch struggles with the weight and relinquishes the ornament to gravity. The ornament shatters across her carpeted floor. Amy's head falls back, her forehead violently creases between her eyebrows. I give up, she thinks to herself, audibly groaning.
Amy shuffles over to Kieren. She sits next to him on her couch, resting her head on his knees. She looks up at him sheepishly, "I know I'm boring you."
"I'm not bored."
"Yes you are. But I'll make you stay. I want tomorrow to be spectacular and that means decorations galore. So get off your arse and help me."
Kieren grudgingly lifts up from the couch smiling at Amy encouragingly. But she doesn't believe him. Kieren couldn't match Amy's enthusiasm for Christmas if he tried, but he doesn't try. He picks up a piece of the shattered ornament. His ghostly pale face and vibrant green eyes stare back at him. He quickly places it into the bin. Noting to himself to not look into the next ornament he grabs.
Amy steps back, as she inspects her work. She circles her tree and tweaks ornaments and fluffs branches here and there. Her eyebrows are lifted and her red, lipstick stained smile vivacious.
"Pretty good, don't you think?" Amy turns to Kieren. He sits legs crossed on her shag carpet, and is back to longing out the window.
"Kieren!" he whips his head to face her, "I said, what do you think?"
"Wonderful," Kieren responds with his crooked smile. Amy frowns at him skeptically. "Honestly, it's wonderful Amy. Your house looks very- festive"
Amy relinquishes her frown and sits next to Kieren. They lean their backs against her sofa. Amy is delighted with her progress and turns to Kieren for further praise. He doesn't share her excitement. He stares down at his hands absentmindedly rubbing them together. Is he trying to warm them? Amy thinks to herself. She opens her mouth to ask, but instead thinks otherwise.
"He said he would be back in time. I hate being that person who is consumed by their relationship, but right now we barely have one."
"Simon is still out on his recruiting mission?"
Kieren stares at his hands, "Yeah."
"This will be your first Christmas together!"
His lips are pursed, "At this rate, it doesn't look like it."
Amy stares down at her own hands and notices lint on her jumper. Annoyed and lost for words, she begins to pick and flick the lint off her jumper. It's a stereotypical ugly Christmas sweater, primarily black and patterned with mistletoe.
"Hey Kieren?"
He lifts his eyebrows in acknowledgment.
"Do you know the legend behind mistletoe?"
"Yeah it's the plant you kiss under."
"Yes but no. Lucky for you there is more to it and I know it!" Amy jumps to her feet and sweeps her hair behind her ears. "Get ready to be in the Christmas spirit BDFF." She rolls the sleeves of here jumper up to her elbows and gleams with excitement.
"Once upon a time there were the Greek gods. Frigga was a goddess of beauty and love, and she had a son name Balder. He was beloved by all. One day Balder had a dream of death, which greatly worried Frigga. To protect her son from any harm, Frigga crossed the earth seeking promises of peace from the four elements. Earth, fire-"
"-Wind, Earth," Kieren interrupts.
"Shut up," she laughs, "No more interruptions. So yeah, she got everything to promise to not hurt her son. But Loki, god of mischief, was jealous of Balder's praise. He discovered that she had forgotten to pray to mistletoe. Loki sharpened an arrow out of a mistletoe branch. He then gave the arrow tip to Hoder, the blind god of winter, who shot it, killing Balder. Distraught by Balder's death, all things on heaven and earth wept. For three days Frigga and the four elements worked to save Balder. Once Balder was restored to his health, Frigga declared mistletoe should never again be used for evil. Instead, if one crosses beneath the plant they shall be kissed." Amy dramatically bows.
"Pretty cool, huh?" She says as she kneels down next to Kieren.
"So winter killed him? But love conquered death?"
"Awesome, right?"
"Very actually. Do you have some?"
"Mistletoe? Come to think of it I don't think I do." Amy walks over to her boxes and begins to rifle through them.
"Forget it," Kieren smirks. He lifts himself up only to plop down onto the couch.
"No!" Amy grabs the nearest pillow and throws it at Kieren. "I'm going to get you your Christmas kiss." Kieren laughs.
Snow has accumulated dirt and begun to brown. The cold air cuts through the wind and burns the tips of Kieren's fingers. The town shops are decorated with ferry lights, but are not yet lit. They look cluttered and plastic when not shinning. The town is not so iridescent white as it his gray and gloomy. Amy and Kieren walk arm and arm down the pavement. Amy is perfectly merry with her greetings, while Kieren refuses to make eye contact with those they pass.
"This is the shop!"
"You said that last time," Kieren groans.
"Well the last shop did have some they just- ran out."
"What about the first shop?"
"Ohh no. You don't want cheap plastic ones. You need the real deal, for your real deal kiss."
Kieren rolls his eyes, but can't help but feel encouraged. Granted, he was not a big lover of the holiday or snow, but he did love Simon and Amy. Amy stops in front of the shop window. She leans her forehead against the glass and peers inside.
"Decorations, trees and more decorations. Come on-" she pulls Kieren forward. They walk past a sign on the door, but Kieren catches a glance before entering...
Rotters NOT Welcome
The shop is quaint, yet packed full with statues of Father Christmas, snow globes, themed dishes to jumpers. Kieren scrunches his noes smelling overpowering peppermint. Amy pulls at Kieren's hand as they weave through the crowd. Amy swoons over ornaments, "The shop is so warm". She rubs her hands together and pulls her coat off.
Kieren looks over his shoulder, careful to keep his head down.
"Kieren, look!" Amy gently cradles a small deer figurine. "Look at this cutie," her voice is tiny and high-pitched, like a little girls.
"Yeah, sure," Kieren dismisses her without bothering to look. "Amy lets get going," he adds nervously.
"Why?" Amy's face glazed for a split-second and then she frowns. "I know you might not like all this stuff, but we just got here and I want to look around." Amy crosses her arms and continues browsing the decorations. Leaving Kieren behind.
Kieren rolls his eyes and huffs. He knows they need to leave before A. they get caught and B. Amy realizes why they have to leave, for Amy was A. very opinionated and B. hated discrimination. Kieren walks forward and accidentally bumps into a little girl. She stares at him, her light brown plaits and green velvet dress motionless. He looks like death she looks like Christmas. Kieren lifts his hands gesturing her to be quiet, but the girl runs away before he has a chance to talk. Kieren sighs, but doesn't cry. He feels numb, and annoyed, and disappointed, and unwilling to continue on Amy's convoluted Christmas adventure. He turns around, heading towards the door, but hits a grey head. "Sorry, I'm just going" he murmurs.
The woman is stout, eye level to Kieren's shoulder. She wears a green vest with her name etched into the right pocket. Without looking at her outfit Kieren could tell she held authority. Her stern voice said it all, "I think that would be best. You are not welcome in my store." The woman is bleak and has an unforgiving receding hairline. She wore a Father Christmas hat in a failed attempt to cover it. Kieren nods his head apologetically and motions towards the door. He did not feel like fighting her. Why bother? Kieren thinks to himself. He lifts his hood over his head, shadowing his sullen downcast. Out of the corner of his eye he sees Amy. She jogs after him holding mistletoe in her hand.
"Look, you pouting oaf I found it! Told you I would!" she taunts proudly.
"I think we should leave," Kieren whines.
"Fine, fine," Amy rolls her eyes. "Let me just buy it then. Phillip will love it," she says defiantly.
The storeowner grunts. Amy lowers her eyes at the woman, surprised by her grim face. The woman's face is a flushed red and her eyes sparkled with ferocity. But despite her angry demeanor, her hands were shaking. She was scared of Amy.
"As I told the Rotter, you are not welcome here nor your service. Now leave."
"Piss of you nutter. I'm buying this-" Amy reaches into her purse and thrusts her money at the woman.
"No!" The woman steps back, hands out refusing Amy. Other customers are noticing their feud.
"You minge bag, daft cow," Amy feels a lump in her throat but ignores it.
"Amy, Amy," Kieren's voice is lost over her insults. Amy won't stop fuming.
"You plug-ugly arsemonger!"
"How dare you!" The woman narrows her eyes and rips the mistletoe out of Amy's hand. Leaves fall to the ground.
"This is my store. I have a right to serve those I wish. Rotters not included. Now get out," she points towards the door, hands still shaking.
Kieren pulls Amy away and out the door. She stares eye locked on the woman; she flips her off and declares, "Bah humbug".
They walk down the pavement towards Amy's car. Kieren with his hands in his coat pocket and Amy arms crossed. The stare ahead silently. Their boots slush through the melted snow.
"I'm sorry," Amy sighs.
"No you were right. She was a minge bag."
"I know that. I'm not sorry for what I said. I'm sorry I didn't just steal the damn thing. I promised you a Christmas kiss and I failed. Sorry."
Kieren stops in his tracks.
"It's okay Kieren. It will be fine-" Amy gently rubs Kieren's back.
Kieren's muted laugh quickly crescendos to a roar.
"Arsehole," Amy swats his head and continues walking. "I thought you were actually upset."
Kieren quickly catches up, arms swaying as he walks, still giggling to himself. He raps his arm around her as they walk. "It'll be fine. I'm not sad. I just think its adorable how much you care. It'll be fine," Amy looks up to see Kieren smiling. Amy abandons her anger and rests her head on his shoulder. She believes his smile and smiles back.
Kieren goes home for Christmas Eve "dinner". He slowly shuffles up his ice-covered driveway, being careful not to slip. But he does. "Fuck," he groans to himself. "Damn all the snow," he sighs. He spreads his arms stretched out straight to gain balance. Now, even slower, he makes his way to his front door. He reaches his hand to the handle, but pauses. He wishes he had spent more of the day with Amy. It is only six o' clock, which means he has to pretend to be happy for four more hours. He sighs, puts on a smiling face and enters his house.
The table is already set with festive place mates, his mom's best cutlery, and is adorn with food typical to everyone's Christmas Dinner. Roasted turkey, he can't eat, Brussels sprouts, that he wouldn't eat if he could, and roast potatoes, that he wishes he could eat. Jem secretly pops a pigs in a blanket in her mouth. Kieren winks at his sister and takes his place at the table.
Kieren's mother loves Christmas, as much as Amy if not even more. As such, they got a Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and New Years. Sure enough, Mrs. Walker walks into the dining room in her favorite jumper, wearing antler ears as a headband.
"Perfect timing Ren," she comes from behind and squeezes his shoulders.
"Anything I'm forgetting? Anything you need," She looks at her family's hungry eyes for a response.
"No dear, just for you to sit down so we can dig in," Mr. Walker smiles through his gritted teeth. He was not very friendly when he was hungry.
His family's conversation is muted, as with the food. Kieren was uninterested in neither the recent gossip of his distant relatives nor the exquisite taste of this year's turkey. But he smiles, and nods when his name is mentioned. Not bothering to add to the conversation. He sits staring at his full plate. Jem elbows him in the ribs, "Play along—for mom," she whispers. Kieren grabs his fork and begins to "eat".
Kieren eyes are unfocused, as he dazedly looks around his house. Like a camera lens clicking into position he discovers holly decorated on the fireplace mantel. Kieren walks towards the display and rips off a branch. Jem eyes him skeptically. His mom shrugs. Mr. Walker is too busy eating to notice. He walks back to his seat. Sits down. His family continues with their conversation of proper Christmas décor. Kieren ignores them completely. Forgetting his role in "playing along" he stares at the holly. Twirling the holly in his hands he feels sorry for himself.
There is a knock on the door, Kieren intently focused on his hands, doesn't hear the knock. "Kieren," Jem groans through a mouth full of food, pointing her fork towards the door. Kieren nods. He takes his time to cross his house. He wasn't interested in buying popcorn, or Christmas wreathes, and god forbid it is carolers.
Kieren opens the door and discovers Mistletoe hanging from Simon's hand. Kieren is paralyzed in that spot, but can't stop himself from smiling. Kieren shuts the door behind him. A warm feeling creeps up from the pit of his Kieren's stomach despite the cold air against his cold skin. Without hesitation Simon kisses Kieren. Simon is first to draw back. With an inviting smile he declares, "Merry Christmas".
Kieren lifts his holly above Simon's head and leans forward to kiss him in return. Simon laughs, "That's holly not mistletoe. It's unlucky to kiss under holly because it's toxic and-" Kieren kisses him anyhow. Kieren didn't care if he mistook holly for mistletoe, or if the shop owner hated him, for he had Simon.
Simon lifts his mistletoe back above him, now holly and mistletoe dangle above them as they kiss. A cold wave embalms Kieren as the hairs rise on the back of his neck. His mouth burns cold as Simon holds him tightly in his arms. Kieren can't stop smiling. Simon lifts out his hand to catch the falling snowflakes.
"Beautiful, isn't it?" A snowflake falls onto Simon's hand but doesn't melt. It lays there perfectly intact. For the first time Kieren didn't mind the cold or being cold.
"Yes, it is," Kieren smiles. The snow is cold. Simon is cold. Kieren is cold. But as Kieren's fingers intertwine with Simon's he feels his heart melt.