Disclaimer:
*singing off-key to the tune of O, Little Town of Bethlehem*
O, little town of Disclaimer
I don't own total Drama
As Heather had threatened, Alejandro had been in huge trouble for the radio stunt he'd pulled. Or rather, trouble that lasted about two minutes; to Heather's irritation, he had somehow managed to smooth talk her into forgiveness, and though she'd childishly sulked for a good hour or so, she knew Alejandro had managed to get away with it.
The day had finally arrived when Alejandro and Heather were going to pick out the Christmas tree for their apartment. Both of them had very different perspectives on the occasion; while Alejandro grinned, eagerly thinking of how the tree would soon be standing majestically in their lounge room covered in elegant gold and silver baubles, Heather scowled out the window as they drove to the tree farm; all she could think of was how stupid the whole idea of a tree was, and how it was going to shed pine needles all over the floor.
The grey buildings of the city they lived in rolled past as they drove out, making way to a slightly more natural landscape, then finally row after row of green trees, topped with the white snow that had been falling lightly for a few weeks now and lined up in an almost military formation. Heather glared at all the trees as though they had personally offended her in some way.
"We're bringing an insect-infested, messy piece of rubbish into our house," Heather said gloomily. "Why the hell are you so excited?"
"Because, like most normal, non-Heather people, I find this exciting." he slipped out of the car, feet crunching on the thin layer of frost that coated the parking lot of the tree farm. As he usually did, Alejandro opened Heather's door with a dramatic flourish, and Heather scowled back; she hated when he did that, and was certainly not going to thank him for the gesture. It was extremely cold, and the faint wind bit at Heather, who tugged the expensive designer coat she wore more tightly around herself. As much as she actually liked the cold- it gave her an opportunity to shop for Burberry coats, Hermes scarves and prada gloves- Heather did not like being in wide, open places like this where her make-up would be damaged by the wind and potential snow.
"Just pick a tree and let's go," Heather muttered. "What about... That one?"
She gestured a hand vaguely in the direction of the tree closest to them, but Alejandro clicked his tongue.
"No, Chica," he objected. "That one is far too patchy: do you see the part there with almost no branches?"
Heather squinted up at the tree, but didn't really see much of a difference between it and any other one of the trees there; in her opinion, they were all just as stupid and ugly.
"We can't get one that's too big," she told him, scanning the rows of trees. "I mean, how the hell would we carry it into the apartment?"
Though their apartment itself was extremely large, Heather was clueless as to how Alejandro imagined they would carry a monstrously large tree through the building into it. They could hardly travel in the elevator with it, and Heather was not willing to be seen carrying a Christmas tree through the upmarket apartment building they lived in, scattering pine needles all over the usually immaculate marble floor.
"We will manage, Heather," Alejandro dismissed. "It should not be too hard for someone as perfectly muscular as I am (Heather rolled her eyes at this) to carry a mere tree up a few flights of stairs. And it will be wrapped in plastic, you know, which should make it easier to carry."
He paused for a moment, before staring into the canopy of snow-sprinkled trees that stood in front of them and grinning.
"I think I see a good tree, Chica," he told Heather smugly, and Heather frowned, squinting into the trees. To her, they just looked like a blurr of green branches. She could barely tell where one began and another finished.
"Uh... Which one?" she cocked an eyebrow at Alejandro, who smirked in response.
"I will show you, Heather." He took off, pushing through the rows of trees to find the one he wanted. Sighing, Heather followed, before cursing loudly when theheel of her boot sunk into the thicker layers of snow, leaving a tiny round indentation in the damp substance. Alejandro turned around, before smirking at just how irritated Heather was looking.
"How am I supposed to walk in this?" she demanded, gesturing angrily to her feet, which sunk further into the snow with each step she took.
"Well, it is your own fault for wearing stilettos out to an area you knew would be snowy..." Alejandro teased her unsympathetically, and Heather gritted her teeth.
"I'm not looking at stupid trees if I can't walk without sinking about two feet into the stupid snow." Heather told him furiously. "It's going to ruin my shoes, and I just bought them?"
Alejandro chuckled; he loved just how aggravated Heather got by the most trivial first world issues.
"I can carry you, if you want," he offered her with a smirk, but Heather narrowed her eyes.
"I'd rather ruin my shoes," Heather responded drily. Alejandro shrugged, before continuing deeper into the tree farm, deliberately taking long, brisk strides so that Heather, who was hobbling along shakily in the snow, had trouble catching up. Occasionally he would throw taunting comments about hurrying up over his shoulder, making Heather growl as she struggled to keep her balance. Finally, Alejandro reached the tree that he had singled out, Heather catching up a good two minutes later and muttering under her breath about shoes and inconsiderate boyfriends.
"It is a beautiful tree, is it not, mi ángel?" Alejandro gestured to the plant he'd chosen. Heather blinked at it unenthusiactailly.
"I bet a bird's died in there." she said drily after a moment, and Alejandro snickered at her pessimistic comment.
"Shall we get this one, then?" he asked her. Heather shrugged stiffly.
"Yeah. Whatever." she dismissed; she honestly didn't care what tree Alejandro bought, and right now she just wanted to get the one they were near to save herself potentially walking around for hours and completely destroying her expensive boots.
"If you do not like it, I am sure that if we keep walking around and looking, we will find something..." Alejandro told her slyly, deliberately emphasing the word "walking" to taunt Heather a little. She narrowed her eyes.
"No!" Heather snapped hastily at her boyfriend. "This tree is perfect! Get it!"
"Do you love the tree?" Alejandro prodded her mischievously, and Heather scowled at this; she refused to love any of the commercialised Christmas trends.
"No-" she began, but Alejandro cut her off, clicking her tongue. He knew getting Heather to volunteer enthusiasm would be like getting blood out a stone, which was why he constantly resorted to deliberately tricking or cornering her into doing something festive.
"Then if you do not LOVE it, it is not perfect..." Alejsndro hedged slowly. Heather gritted her teeth.
"Fine! I love the stupid tree!" she lied, throwing up her hands dramatically. "Happy now?"
Alejandro folded his arms, leaning back smugly.
"Si, I am," he said bluntly, giving Heather a self satisfied smile that she really wanted to slap off his face right now; she was not in the mood.
"You're going to be dead if my feet get frostbite- or, worse, my boots are damaged." Heather threatened, and Alejandro laughed.
"You really need to re-evaluate your priorities, niña..." he teased her, earning himself another glare from Heather that was cold enough to rival the frosty environment they were in.
"Can we just get the stupid tree and go home?" she huffed.
This task was easier said than done; Heather had to continue standing in the snow while Alejandro sought out one of the employees of the tree farm, then attempted to show off his "expert tree cutting skills". By the time the tree was down, Heather had sunk half a foot into the snow, and the icy water was starting to seep into her boots. She was not happy about this, and made a mental note to ask Alejandro (by ask, she meant swipe his credit card when he wasn't using it- he never minded, anyway) to buy her new designer boots.
Heather had never been happier to leave somewhere than when they finally pulled out of the tree farm with their Christmas tree paid for and wrapped up tightly in a tarp to prevent any pine needles from shedding into the backseat of their car.
"You know, this is just another reason for me to hate Christmas," Heather told Alejandro drily, before slapping his hand as he reached for the radio dial as he drove. "And if you even think about putting the radio on, you're dead."
"But I thought you enjoyed listening to music, Heather," Alejandro said, a note of innocence in his voice that immediately made Heather suspicious. She narrowed her eyes at him.
"You know that every station will be playing stupid Christmas carols, and after that stupid Christmas carol thing you pulled with me, I've heard enough Chrismas carols for a lifetime." Heather scowled, crossing her arms. Alejandro chuckled at this.
"Mi àngel, it is physically impossible for anyone to be sick of Christmas carols," he told her matter-of-factly. Heather gave him a derisive glare.
"If you play any more Christmas carols, or dedicate them to me in any way, you will be the one who's sick... Or, rather, injured. Got that?"
"Of course," Alejandro said obediently, smirking out at the snow-dusted road he was driving along. "I understood the first twenty or so times you said it."
"Good," Heather sniffed. "Because if I hear even one note of another Christmas carol, you'll-"
"Spend Christmas in a dumpster while you burn my collection of boots on the fireplace?" Alejandro finished for her with a smirk; since the incident with the radio, Heather had used this threat (word-for-word) several times. "Si, I know."
"I mean it," Heather told her boyfriend, narrowing her eyes at him. "Don't look so smug. It's bad enough I have to have this stupid tree in my apartment-"
"Your apartment, is it?" Alejandro laughed. "Who made the downpayment, mi amor? Who pays the mortgage and the bills? If you want to play that game, then I should technically call it my apartment, and if it is my apartment, then I am entitled to have a Christmas tree in it if I want..."
Heather paused for a moment, trying to think of a way she could argue with this. After a few seconds, she slumped back into her seat.
"Yeah, well... I picked out the couch..." she muttered pathetically. Alejandro just smirked.
"Don't put the stupid tree there!" Heather whined, as Alejandro set the Christmas tree down in the corner of the lounge room. "It blocks out the light!"
Heather didn't actually care where Alejandro put the Christmas tree, but she had made up her mind to be as difficult about it as possible, just to annoy her boyfriend; it seemed fair, since he had been annoying her as much as possible for the past few weeks about Christmas.
"It does not block the light, Heather," Alejandro argued. "For someone who allegedly does not care about this Christmas tree, you are muy opinionated about where I should put it."
"It so does block the light," Heather quipped back stubbornly, folding her arms. "And I'm only 'opinionated' because I don't want that eyesore in the way all the time."
"Fine, Heather," Alejandro conceded, leaning against the arm of the couch and evaluating the tree for a moment. "Where do you believe it should go, then?"
"Well..." Heather tapped her chin with one manicured finger for a moment, feigning thought. "I do know a good place for it..." a nasty smile spread across her face. "A bonfire."
Alejandro rolled his eyes; he should have expected Heather to say something immature like that.
"Very childish, Heather," he informed her with a smirk, patting her teasingly on the head just to annoy her; it was one of Heather's pet hates, and as he'd expected she glared at him, shoving his hand away.
"Don't do that," Heather snapped. "You know I hate it. Besides, it messes up my hair."
Alejandro smirked at her irritation, before turning back to the Christmas tree.
"Well, I think it looks good there," he decided. "And it will look even better when it's decorated..." he gestured to the boxes of the brand new, unopened decorations that they had picked out not long ago. Heather could see that her boyfriend was wracked with enthusiasm for pulling the trinkets and baubles out of their packaging and hanging them on the tree, but despite the minute twinge of motivation to help him that she felt, Heather resorted to sprawling out across the couch and giving Alejandro directions on where and how to put each decoration on the tree.
"That part's too crowded," she whined. "But the stupid ball thingie over there..."
"Must you describe everything as stupid, Heather?" Alejandro smirked, hanging a simple gold ball from one of the branches. "Perhaps I should get you a thesaurus for Christmas."
"Perhaps you should." Heather mocked, flipping her hair habitually. "It would be something heavy to hit you over the head with every time you pissed me off."
Alejandro couldn't help laughing at this; he was actually considering buying her a thesaurus now, just as a joke gift to tease her. (He had actually already purchased a considerable amount of gifts for his girlfirned.)
Heather watched as Alejandro set up the decorations around the apartment, feigning disinterest. She hated them, she really did, but there was a tiny, buried part of her that did want to join him. Still, Heather's pride and disdain toppled that part of her, and she continued to watch Alejandro in an almost aloof manner. Far too quickly for Heather's liking, he had managed to transform the whole atmopshere of the apartment with garlands of silver and gold, elegant and expensive ornaments, and of course the large and majestic (majestic in Alejandro's opinion, though Heather took great pleasure in telling him it looked like a green toilet brush) Christmas tree.
"Doesn't this look beautiful?" Alejandro said emphatically, appraising his handiwork. Heather looked up for a moment, staring around the room.
"Hmm... No." she said simply, before looking back down at the magazine she'd been idly flicking through while Alejandro decorated their home. Her boyfriend just smirked at her nonchalance, before holding a gold bauble in front of her face. Heather scowled at it.
"I saved one for you," Alejandro informed her, and Heather rolled her eyes.
"What do you want me to do? Smash it?" she asked him drily, and Alejandro shook his head.
"No. I think you should put it on the tree, Chica." he smirked. Heather cocked an eyebrow in disbelief.
"Seriously?" she scoffed. "Why the hell would I want to do that?"
Alejandro leaned in closer to her, gesturing at the tree.
"Come on, mi amor," He coaxed her. "You know you want to... Just put this one decoration on the tree..."
He was waving it in front of her face just to annoy her. Telling herself it was only to shut him up, Heather snatched the glass ball from his hand and stomped over to the tree, shoving it almost violently onto a branch and getting a few pine needles stuck on her hand. Alejandro grinned triumphantly.
"Happy, now?" Heather huffed, and he nodded.
"I am so proud of you! You put a single Christmas decoration up!" he teased her. "Do you know what this means?"
One of Heather's perfectly shaped eyebrows arched disdainfully at him.
"That I've finally snapped?" she volunteered dully, and Alejandro shook his head.
"No..." he drew out the word dramatically, before grinning. "You are starting to get into the Christmas spirit!"
Heather shook her head frantically at this, disgusted by the whole idea.
"In your dreams." she told him angrily. The smug grin on Alejandro's face did not falter. As far as he was concerned, getting Heather to hang a single bauble was almost a miracle, and it was an indication that there may be the slightest possibility that Heather was wiling to give the holiday a chance.
It took me way too long to update this, especially since I actually have had this chapter written in a notebook for ages and just couldn't be bothered to publish it.
Also, all Aleheather fans, I hope you liked what happened at the end of TDAS ;)