Saturday, December 19th. 6 days 'till Christmas...
Al's Toy Barn wasn't just a name. Al owned a fairly large barn in the field behind the store. That's where the toy drive party was held.
When Jasmine arrived at the party, Aladdin was busy with the dogs they brought from the shelter. The dogs were in a large pen in the back of the barn. Several kids were inside the pen playing with the dogs, while some of the adults were gathered around outside the pen.
To keep herself busy while she waited for Aladdin to get some free time, Jasmine had joined some of the guests who were making gingerbread houses. Jasmine had never made one before and hers ended up looking terrible, but the kids at the table were more than happy to eat it to put it out of its misery.
Other than the pen with dogs and the gingerbread house table, there was also a section with a few tables of snacks and food and a section with games; mostly midway style games like trying to toss a plastic ring on the antlers of an inflatable reindeer head and throwing darts that looked like candy canes at balloons that exploded with red and green confetti when they popped.
Jasmine found Odette and her family at the games. There was currently a contest going on where kids wrapped strands of garland around adults and the kid who uses the most strands in one minute wins. Odette's stepdad, Stefan, was one of the adults getting tied up. He was encouraging the little boy running around him while the little boy was laughing hysterically. Leah was taking a video on her phone while Odette, John, Aurora, and Phillip were cheering the boy on. Jasmine joined in on the cheering.
When the Al's Toy Barn employee who was in charge of the contest announced they were at the fifteen second mark and started counting down, the little boy scooped up an armful of garland and just started throwing it at Stefan.
In the end, the little boy didn't win; but, it was all right because all of the kids who participated got a toy. When the contest ended, the group that had gathered dispersed.
"I didn't expect to see you here," Odette told Jasmine. "Isn't your dad's work dinner tonight?"
"It was moved to tomorrow night."
"We're glad you made it," Leah said. "We've barely seen you since Thanksgiving."
Jasmine's dad always worked on Thanksgiving, so Jasmine had dinner over at Odette's mom's house. "I know; I've been busy with all of my dad's events. But, don't worry, I'm still stopping by on Christmas. Nothing could keep me away."
"Wonderful!" Stefan said. He still had a strand of garland around his neck like a scarf. "It's so nice having a full house on Christmas."
Jasmine smiled at him. "I can't wait."
"Well, you'll have to excuse us," Aurora said. "Phillip promised some kids we would make snowmen with them outside and we shouldn't keep them waiting. Will you be at the Christmas concert tomorrow night, Jasmine?"
"Of course! I wouldn't miss your solo, Aurora. I shouldn't have a problem leaving the dinner early enough to make it."
"Great. We'll see you then." Aurora and Phillip headed out of the barn.
As Jasmine watched Aurora walk away, she spotted Aladdin and waved him over. Aladdin waved back and came over to them.
"Hi, Aladdin," Jasmine greeted. "This is my best friend, Odette, and her family."
"Merry Christmas, everyone," Aladdin said.
"Merry Christmas," they all echoed.
"Aladdin is one of the volunteers at the animal shelter," Jasmine told them. "He and I met at the gala."
"Do you mind if I steal Jasmine for a few minutes?" Aladdin asked.
"Of course not," Odette said.
As Jasmine and Aladdin turned to leave, Odette wiggled her eyebrows at Jasmine and mouthed, 'He's cute.'
Jasmine nodded in agreement as she followed Aladdin outside to a more secluded spot.
"It's good to see you," Aladdin told her.
"You, too," Jasmine replied. "How's Rajah?"
"He's been more ornery than normal since your last visit the other day. He's still okay with me, but he won't let anyone else near him. We had a woman come in yesterday looking to adopt the cat who's been at the shelter the longest; but, when we brought her over to Rajah, he attacked her. She ended up adopting another cat."
"Poor Rajah."
"Yeah, but I think he'll be all right."
"Me, too."
Aladdin cleared his throat. "So, I was wondering if you're free tomorrow? I have the day off and I would like to take you out."
Jasmine smiled at him. "Are you asking me on a date?"
Aladdin smiled back. "Yes."
"I would love to. But, my dad is having a Christmas dinner tomorrow night and I have to attend and help prepare beforehand."
"Oh."
"But, I'm going to the Christmas concert at the church tomorrow night, if you wanna go with me."
"I would." Aladdin reached into his jeans pocket and pulled out a folded piece of notebook paper. "Here's my phone number."
Jasmine took the paper and pulled her phone out of her back pocket. She entered the number and dialed it. Aladdin's phone started ringing in his pocket. She hung up.
"And now you have my number," Jasmine told him. "We can text later to figure out the details for tomorrow night."
Ringing jingle bells caught Jasmine and Aladdin's attention. Al was riding up to the barn in a horse drawn sleigh. He was dressed as Santa and had a bunch of red velvet bags packed with presents in the sleigh with him.
"Ho ho ho!" Al called out.
All of the kids outside stopped dead in their tracks and turned towards him. All at once they started getting excited and ran towards the sleigh. A couple of people dressed as elves came out of the barn and met Al. They unloaded the presents off the sleigh and brought them inside. The kids outside followed after him.
"This is my favorite part," Aladdin said. He grabbed Jasmine's hand and they went inside.
Al was now standing in the middle of the barn and all of the kids were gathered around him. Al held up his hands to quiet the kids.
"Santa has presents for everyone!" Al announced. The kids cheered.
The "elves" started pulling out the presents one by one and handing them to Al. Al then called out the name on the present. It took Al a little while to distribute the presents. The kids who were still waiting to receive theirs were getting antsier and antsier with every name called out; especially when the other kids started ripping open their presents. The laughter and chatter grew as more and more presents were opened.
As Jasmine watched the kids open their presents, she was brought back to Christmases with her mom. She remembered being that excited and happy. The children's excitement was contagious and for the first time in ten years, Jasmine actually found herself excited by Christmas again.
Jasmine squeezed Aladdin's hand and he smiled at her.
"Thank you for convincing me to come today," she told him. "I needed this."
OOOOO
After the kids had opened all of their presents, Eric saw John head outside. Eric went after him.
Eric caught up with John and fell in to step next to him. "Leaving already?" Eric asked.
"Yeah. I'm gonna go home and have dinner before meeting up with Vanessa later."
"Oh. I was hoping we'd get a chance to hang out a little bit."
They reached John's car in the parking lot of Al's Toy Barn and he unlocked the doors. "So, come have dinner with me."
Eric looked back at the barn, where Ariel and her family were. Truth was: he'd much rather have some down time with his best friend than go back to the chaos in the barn.
"Too busy?" John asked.
Eric looked back at him. "No." He opened the passenger side door and got in the car.
As John pulled out of the parking lot, Eric sent Ariel a text that he was leaving with John and that he'd see her at the tree lighting later. She'd most likely be upset he ditched her, but he'd deal with that later.
They hit a drive-thru to get burgers before going to John's. It was dark by the time they got to his house. When they went inside, John plugged in the Christmas lights he hung around the front window of his living room to give them some light. Those lights were the only Christmas decorations in his house; unless you counted the half a dozen decorative boxes of cookies from Tiana's Bakery stacked on his kitchen counter.
They ate the burgers on the couch in silence and Eric reveled in it. This was the first time in over a week that he's felt relaxed.
When they finished eating, John threw away their garbage, then sat back down next to Eric on the couch. "Do you have to leave soon?" he asked Eric.
Eric had gotten a text while they were eating; he assumed it was from Ariel, but he didn't check it. "Probably. Ariel wants me to go with them to the tree lighting ceremony tonight."
Because the Winter Festival was supposed to be as non- denominational as possible, the Christmas tree didn't go up in the town square until the weekend after the Festival. Eric hasn't gone to the tree lighting ceremony the last few years because it always takes place the weekend he and John are in Colorado.
Eric felt a small pang in his heart as thought of the were supposed to leave tonight; John's family was going to drop them off at the airport after the toy drive party.
Eric hadn't wanted to cancel the trip. He tried to convince Ariel that her family should only come for a couple days right around Christmas. But, that resulted in a fight where she accused him of being selfish because he cared more about "some stupid trip" than what was important to her. If Eric was being honest with himself: he's been questioning his and Ariel's relationship since that fight. She made it clear- in not so many words- that what was important to her had to take priority over what was important to him. She kept writing off John and his family because they weren't Eric's "real" family, they were just friends. She still didn't understand that John was the most important person in Eric's life and John's family is Eric's family.
"You don't have to go," John told him. "You're already home and with them being at the tree lighting, you'd have your house to yourself for a little bit. Or, if you want, you can stay here while I'm out with Vanessa."
What Eric wanted was to hang out with John tonight. John had been gone on his business trip for a few weeks and got back a couple days before Ariel's family arrived. But, Eric had been so busy getting ready for their visit, he didn't get a chance to really spend time with John after he got back. Tonight was the most time the two of them have spent together in over a month.
But, Eric wasn't going to tell John that. John had plans with his friend and Eric didn't want to ask John to cancel for him. Eric was still considering skipping the tree lighting, though. The prospect of having some peace and quiet in his own home was too tempting to pass up.
OOOOO
Vanessa got to the Tavern early. Mostly because she had nothing else to do. Her boyfriend, Gaston, owned the Tavern and was working tonight and the only friend she really had was John. Normally if she was bored she could just go over to Proteus' apartment and hang out with him. Since he didn't have much of a life to speak of, he was always home. But, tonight he was at some Christmas charity thing with his friend, Odette.
So, Vanessa sat alone at her table, feeling like the Grinch. She couldn't wait for Christmas to be over. When Proteus called last week and told her he wanted the three of them to spend Christmas together, Vanessa had actually hoped she and Meg would be able to finally work things out. But, then Meg decided to skip Christmas because, evidently, she couldn't even stand to be in the same room with Vanessa for one day.
It pissed Vanessa off that Meg still blamed her for their parents' death when, in reality, it was Ariel's fault. Ariel couldn't handle a few extra people showing up at the party and completely freaked out. She called her parents, crying, and begged them to come home and break up the party. If she hadn't done that, her parents never would have called Vanessa's parents and they wouldn't have gone to pick her up.
Of course Vanessa saw Meg's point. But, all Vanessa waned to do was go to her best friend's house for a little bit. She would have been back home before her parents were done with dinner. It was harmless.
It would have been harmless.
Ariel, on the other hand, knew calling her parents would have serious repercussions. Ariel didn't even tell Vanessa that she was going to call her parents so Vanessa would have a chance to leave before they got home. Ariel wanted Vanessa there because she knew she would get in trouble and she didn't want to get in trouble alone.
The worst part of all of it, was that Vanessa actually saw the aftermath of the accident. It had happened on Ariel's street and they all heard it from inside the house. Vanessa, Ariel, and Ariel's family all rushed outside. The drunk kid's car had gone up on top of their parent's car, crushing them.
Triton immediately called 911 and went over to the cars to try to help, but they were all killed on impact. When they realized it was Vanessa's parents, Athena forced Vanessa and Ariel to go inside; she didn't want Vanessa to see her parents. And from their driveway, she couldn't see them. But, that didn't stop her imagination from conjuring up an image of her parents crushed inside their car.
Proteus and Meg don't know Vanessa saw the accident. She told them she had been in Ariel's house the whole time and only heard it. She didn't want to have to talk about it. Though, recently, she's been thinking about telling Meg. Maybe if Meg knew, she wouldn't be so hard on her.
"Hey," John greeted her, sitting down on the other side of the table.
Vanessa blinked away the memory. "Hey yourself."
"You look like you're about to start crying," John observed.
Vanessa took in his slumped posture and bummed out expression. "Well, you don't exactly look jolly, either."
John shook his head. "I'm supposed to be on a plane right now, on my way to Colorado with Eric."
"Oh, that's right; this weekend was supposed to be the Big Trip."
"You have no idea."
Vanessa arched her eyebrow. "Yes, I do. You go every year."
"No, I mean..." John exhaled. "While we were in Colorado, I was going to tell Eric how I feel."
Vanessa smiled excitedly at him and leaned across the table. "Are you serious?"
"Yeah. But, I guess it wasn't meant to happen."
"What are you talking about? You still have to tell him."
John finally telling Eric he loves him was perfect on more than one level. Not only would it be good for John to stop keeping his feelings a secret, but if Eric feels the same way- and Vanessa suspects he does, even if he doesn't know it yet- it would kill Ariel. Eric would dump her for another man; which would break her heart and humiliate her in front of her conservative father. Obviously, John's happiness was more important. But, if Vanessa's friend's happiness coincided with her enemy's misery, even better.
"How?" John asked. "We've barely gotten two minutes alone since I've been back."
"Figure it out. You can't keep hiding how you feel forever."
"What if he doesn't feel the same? It could ruin our friendship."
"I don't know... Christmas is supposed to be a magical time when anything is possible."
John laughed. "You don't actually believe that."
"Okay, maybe not. But, still... just because your trip was canceled, doesn't mean you've lost your only chance to tell him." Vanessa gave him a mischievous smile. "You need to get that man under the mistletoe."