Lily hung the lights up all around the living room. Following no particular pattern, she laced them between the pictures hanging on the wall. She had bought six packets, and she intended to use them all. It had taken two packets alone to finish the ceiling, which now twinkled with the lights draped elegantly in neat, uniformed rows. Once she was finished framing the photos she would make a start on the windows, and then move on to the kitchen. The soft melody of Christmas carols played from the stereo and she merrily hummed along, entirely content in her decorating.
James practically dropped the box on the floor it was that heavy. Stuffed to the brim with tinsel and jingle bells and stockings…you name it, James had it. With an impish grin he opened the giant box of Christmas decorations and began to gut it of its contents. Soon the sofa, and the coffee table were covered in novelty Christmas ornaments, dancing Santa's, and indoor snowmen, baubles spilled out onto the floor and James was wearing the most ridiculous of elf hats. There was even a Rudolph inspired Christmas stag head which he immediately hung on the outside of his door in place of a wreath. The top Christmas anthems blasting through the apartment he began to assess the carnage before him, picking through the array of décor and gathering any and all tinsel he could find (which was a lot) into his arms.
"And the fun begins!"
With all the fairy-lights in place to her satisfaction, lily opened the boxes of her other decorations. She let loose a wide grin as she removed the lid to the first box: her origami Christmas figures. She'd spent so much time making them she couldn't wait to finally hang them up. With careful excitement she pulled out a paper Santa, holding him up by the string attached to the top of his hat, and turned him gently in her fingers. She stood on arm of the sofa and tied the decoration to one of the many strings that adorned her ceiling, and soon he was joined by an origami snowman, angel, reindeer and Christmas tree. She continued to tie her origami decorations to the ceiling lights, carefully spacing them so it didn't look too crowded, and when she was done, she lay back on the rug and admired her handy work.
"Not what you would call conventional decorating" she admitted, "but I think it's bloody gorgeous."
She lay there a few moments more, the lights twinkling softly and her paper ornaments turning softly on their strings.
"WELL I WISH IT COULD BE CHRISTMAS EVERY DAY!"
James sang and danced his way through his flat, administering emergency baubles to every door handle possible. He had successfully wrapped every curtain rail, lamp stand, and table leg in reels of tinsel and there was still a pile up to his knees on top of the coffee table. He was still debating on where to put the Christmas tree but that was a work in progress, for now he was focussed on the potential outcome of 'christmas-ifying' the tops of his kitchen shelves by lining them with dancing snowmen.
"SO LET THE BELLS! RING OUT! FOR CHRISTMAAAAS!"
"Now, where shall I put you?"
Lily placed her hand on her hips, tapping her Christmas-sock-clad foot on the floor thoughtfully. Her internal debate consisted of where to put her larger, more cumbersome houseplants in light of the Christmas season. Most she had managed to tuck behind some furniture or in the corner of her bedroom, but this one, this one was special. Delicately ornamented with strings of fake jewels and tiny tissue paper stars, this was her version of a Christmas tree. She pondered on this dilemma, scanning the room for inspiration, and she found it.
"Aha!" There was a convenient amount of space in front of the French doors leading onto the balcony, and because of the cold weather she didn't need access through both of them, also she liked the way the fairy lights framing the doors would do make the jewels between the leaves sparkle.
She dragged the heavy planter into its new position and dusted off her hands with a proud smile on her face. And that's when she made the mistake of looking across the balcony.
"Oh wow…"
James stepped back, proudly beaming as he admired his creation. Before him stood the most garish Christmas tree one had ever seen. Red and gold tinsel striped the tree like a flashy candy cane, and the multi-coloured Christmas lights flashed brightly. A colourful array of baubles of varying size and other awfully festive ornaments were scattered amongst the branches, and in pride of place at the top of the tree …
"You beautiful bastard. I've done a pretty good job this year I think."
Taking a full 360°, he surveyed the room in all its festive glory. As his eyes passed over his Christmas tree he spied his red-haired neighbour staring into his apartment, shock painted across her face like a mask. He waved and gestured enthusiastically at his Christmas tree and Lily nodded slowly, becoming noticeably disturbed, and the pair stepped out onto their respective balconies.
"Good afternoon and a merry Christmas to you, dear neighbour of mine."
"What is that?"
"What a lovely greeting. I'm good thank you Evans, thank you for asking."
"Seriously…what am I looking at?"
James sighed in resignation. He was clearly getting no conversation out of his neighbour tonight.
"That is my Christmas tree."
"No…THAT!" Lily pointed and James followed her horrified gaze to the (frankly hilarious) sexy Santa Christmas tree topper.
"Ooooooooh…that. That is our dear old St Nick, fat and jolly as ever, in sexy Christmas lingerie – which we all know is his secret guilty pleasure…as a Christmas tree topper."
"And did the top of the tree really need to be stuck up his arse?"
"He seems to be enjoying it, don't you think?" He quipped with a deep chuckle. Lily looked on with a grimace.
"That's absolutely disgusting."
"I think it's hilarious."
"Why the fuck would you defile Santa like that?!" She shook her head in disgust and pressed her palms into her eye sockets. "I need to bleach my eyes…"
"Aww, come on Evans, lighten up a little," he laughed openly at his neighbours reaction to his inappropriately decorated Christmas tree, "It's Christmas after all!"
"How did you even find something like that?"
"If you know where to look, you can find anything."
"I'm going to have to keep my curtains closed for the rest of the year."
"I personally don't see what all the fuss is about."
"Well I'm sorry I don't find that thing at all amusing."
"No need to be such a scrooge about it. At least the Christmas spirit is alive in this flat, that's more than I can say for your flat."
"What do you mean?"
"There's no joy in your decorations. It's all perfection and nicey-nice."
"And what do you mean by that, exactly?"
"I mean you're a try hard."
"At least my decoration is pleasing to the eye…your apartment looks like a Christmas elf puked all over it."
"That's exactly what happened…how did you know?!"
"You're not funny."
"I'm hilarious"
"Either way…your flat is an eyesore."
"Just because I have a fun side and don't have a perfection stick stuck up my butt. You know who you sound like right now? The Grinch. You sound like the Grinch."
"Well I'm sorry I like to indulge in a little Christmassy aesthetic that actually tasteful…I mean look at the atrocity that is your Christmas tree."
"At least I have a Christmas tree!"
"It's literally right there!"
"That is not a real Christmas tree."
"I wasn't about to buy a temporary spider infested fire hazard that the landlord banned, which you clearly didn't listen to, when I have more than enough greenery already."
"Actually, for your information, it's plastic so HAH!"
"Oh great, contributing to the capitalist agenda and simultaneously destroying the planet. Great work, Potter!"
"Dear god woman! Could you be any more stereotypical?"
"Excuse me?"
"You boring, bland hipster! Miss, I care so much for the environment that I'll make that and my houseplants my entire personality!"
The rebuke stung and lily tried not to look hurt, instead letting the comment flare the anger that had been slowly growing inside her.
"That's rich coming from the guy who has never had a serious conversation in his life! Oh look at me, I'm the funny one and I have to make sure everyone I meet and talk to knows it."
"That's offensive but I'm gonna let it slide because it was a shit come back and we're getting off topic. You're Christmas tree is hardly a proper Christmas tree."
"It's a Norfolk Island Pine! It's literally a mini Christmas tree just with a longer trunk! And your plastic monstrosity is hardly a real Christmas tree either!"
"Well yours is weird and stupid and I win because at least mine looks like a proper Christmas tree."
"Oh you are such a child! Is this some sort of competition now?"
"Yes because my tree is better than yours because it's actually Christmassy unlike your pretty little, dainty pine thing."
"You know what? I'm proud of my decorating skills, and my flat looks nice and makes me happy. So you can shove your stupid, Christmassy…SHIT SHOW up your arse!" She turned abruptly and stormed back into her apartment.
"Oh that's real mature, Evans…"
"I hope you shit tinsel for a week!"
And with that she slammed the French doors and wrenched the curtains shut with a final glare.
"Well…that went fucking smoothly."
James released an exasperated sigh and ran his hand through his hair in frustration. Despite his indignation, he knew he'd pushed his neighbour a little too far this time, especially with that harsh comment about her personality. He didn't know what had come over him but her self-righteous, stuck up attitude towards him had really pissed him off. While he'd hope for a bit of light hearted banter, he hadn't intended to start a full blown argument.
Lily cursed James aloud for his stupid childish behaviour and his stupid sense of competition. She then cursed herself for rising to it and storming out. She looked at the closed curtains with regretful eyes, but then steeled her resolve, telling herself she didn't need that arrogant prat, especially when he clearly had no qualms with below the belt comments. As much as she didn't want it to, the comment he'd made about her personality really cut her deep, no matter how hard she tried to shake it off.
She collapsed into her arm chair and held her head in her hands, her head reeling as she tried calmed herself down.
"What a fucking prick."
In all the time she'd lived across from him, he had never annoyed her as much as he had done tonight, and the fact that it bothered her so much made her even angrier. Perhaps Christmas wouldn't be so merry this year.
Author's Note:
Merry Christmas Guys!
I hope you enjoyed this chapter, it was really fun to write something a little more angsty! It's be really nice to know what you think about this story so far; please drop a review and I hope you all have a lovely holiday!
Love, Hattie x