Page 65 of Holly Jolly July

Jackpot.Used his own vanity against him. As soon as Matt’s around the corner I reach as far as I can to tuck the keys behind the bar. My arms aren’t long enough. I lean farther but still can’t reach. If I drop them, he’ll know something is up with his truck and it’ll blow our cover. Shit, I have like five seconds—

Someone comes from behind me, grabbing the keys. I startle, my heart hammering in my ears, and my life flashes before my eyes.

“Got it.” Mariah reaches the extra few inches and tucks them under the till before grabbing my hand and pulling me out of there.

We walk as fast as we can back to my car. Once we’re safely inside, we burst out laughing in relief.

“Did you see his face?” she cries, her breath coming in gasping wheezes.

“That was priceless!” I slap my knee.

“I can’t believe we did that! We almost got caught!”

“Totally worth it.”

She has the most gorgeous, full-fledged smile on her face, her skin is flushed pink, and her chest is rising and falling quickly from adrenaline. My heart squeezes, and by god, I’d prank a fuckboy every day if it meant making her smile like that.

“Well, sugar tits.” I slap her knee. “Let’s take you home.”

She cackles at her newest pet name, then nods, regarding me with a tilt of her head, eyes glittering.

Back at the cabin we’re still running high on endorphins and, with a bottle of champagne popped to keep the spirit going, we’re soon a little tipsy. We bumble around getting our costumes off, trading places at the tiny bathroom sink to remove our makeup. It feels oddly domestic doing this with Mariah, like we’re well-practised despite only having spent one night together. Once we’re rid of our outfits and back to our normal selves, I turn onHome Alone 2in the background and take out a surprise I got for her.

“What’s all this?” Mariah asks, rubbing moisturizer into her face as she looks at the table loaded with plain sugar cookies, tubs of frosting, and an assortment of sprinkles.

“I thought it’d be fun to decorate cookies together!” I vibrate with excitement, but Mariah’s eyes narrow with uncertainty. I gesture to everything set out, suddenly second-guessing my idea. Maybe I shouldn’t be forcing Christmas on her. “I feel bad that you never had any normal Christmas traditions, and my family and I did this every year—though we always baked fresh cookies, we never bought them from the store, my mom’s a great baker, and then we’d have a cookie decorating contest and it was so much fun and I feel like you should know what that’s like, but we totally don’t have to do it if you don’t want to, and I—”

She cuts me off with a gentle hand on my arm, giving it a squeeze. Her face has softened, and she gives me a little smile. “Sure. Why not?”

I clench my fists. “Great! I’ll show you what to do.”

Mariah is a natural. Even with a lifetime of practice my cookies look like a preschooler’s macaroni artwork. Meanwhile Mariah is creating literal snowy scenes on hers. I guess makeup skills have a lot of crossover.

“How are you doing that?” I ask, watching her technique.

“It’s all in the wrist.” She demonstrates, showing off her dexterity.

I follow her lead but create a weird ridge down the middle. “Oh no, I made a vulva.”

She snorts a laugh. “Oh my god, you did.”

“Well now I can’t ruin it.” I set it down and add some sprinkles around the edge for pubes.

“What the fuck,” she wheezes.

“I’m just following the muse.” I try to keep a straight face as I put a little pearl candy where the clitoris would go.

Mariah cackles. “That looks like way more fun. How aboutthis.” She ruins her winterscape with a few swoops and swirls, and a moment later my vulva-cookie has a penis-cookie friend.

I giggle. “It’s a bit droopy.”

“That happens sometimes, nothing to be ashamed of,” she quips.

Inspired, we each grab another cookie and keep this up. Before long, the table is filled with all sorts of festive genital cookies.

“You were amazing today,” Mariah says, breaking the companionable silence between us while we decorate. “I can’t believe Jax looked you right in the eye for like five minutes and didn’t even recognize you. You’re a gifted actress.”

I shrug. “I’m notthatgood. It was more your makeup skills than anything.”

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