Page 19 of Catch Yourself a Snowmance
I push off the counter and walk toward Alyssa. I stick my pinky out. “Pinky promise you won’t tell Noelle or Liam we are planning to see one another after vacation. They’ll get way too much satisfaction that their diabolical plan to meld the friend groups actually worked at that level.”
Alyssa sticks her pinky out and locks hers with mine. We stand like that. Neither one of us releasing the hold we have on one another.
“I already told Noelle she was right.”
“Right about what?” I ask, still holding onto her pinky with mine.
“Right that I misjudged you initially.”
“Because of the Dorito dust?”
She giggles and pulls her hand away slowly. “Yes. That … I was wrong.”
“You saw a piece of who I am. It’s not like I’m not that guy. Sometimes I have Dorito dust on my shirt.”
“There’s a lot more to you than that.” Alyssa tucks a strand of hair behind her ear.
“Thanks.”
I want to compliment her, but I’m afraid it will be like a fire hydrant when the cap comes off and I’ll end up telling her how beautiful she is, and smart and kind and funny … How I love the way she makes me feel at ease, how I’m amazed at the way we can sit quietly together and not have to say anything. I’ve only known her for two days. So I keep my mouth shut.
“I’ll get the light,” I tell her.
She walks ahead of me, pausing in the doorway. I hit the switch when I’m standing right next to her. She looks up overhead and laughs softly, pointing at the beam. I glance up.
“No. When did that get here?” I ask her.
“I think Noelle brought it. She wanted excuses for kissing Liam.”
“Like they need mistletoe?” I chuckle.
“Right?” Alyssa agrees.
We look up at the mistletoe, and then our eyes catch in the dim light of the hall nightlight someone plugged in.
I don’t know what comes over me, but I start singing, “Do you wanna kiss a snowman?” from the Disney movie,Frozen. My voice is so soft it’s almost a whisper, but the house is so still I feel like I’m singing into a microphone.
Alyssa giggles. “Disney tunes?”
“Too corny?”
“Definitely.”
On an impulse, I reach down and clasp Alyssa’s hand in mine. Then, in a move of boldness or stupidity, or a strangecocktail of both, I place a soft kiss on her knuckles. I glance at her eyes while I do. I’d kiss her for real, but there’d be no turning back if I did.
Alyssa smiles at me. I gently lower her hand. We stare at one another without saying a word.
And then, before I know what’s happening, she stands on tiptoe and kisses my cheek. She whispers, “Goodnight, Carson,” with her mouth still near my cheek.
I lean in toward her ear and whisper, “Goodnight, Alyssa. Sweet dreams.”
And then we walk quietly down the hall. She turns at her bedroom and I continue on to mine.
Chapter 7
Carson
And we’re going to have the
