Page 10 of Dreaming of an Omega Christmas
“I haven't seen any fireworks yet,” Travis said. The three of them laughed, but there was something strange about it. Before I could ask what the joke was, Elarian changed the subject, and for a time the conversation was forgotten.
Chapter Four
Travis
It was late afternoon when we got back from Traviel and Elarian’s. The sun was just starting to set and the air smelled of snow. I had somehow forgotten about the fact I finally had my own Christmas tree and was pleasantly surprised when I saw it in the living room. I smiled at it and my gave moved to the pile of ornaments beside it on the couch.
“Do you want to start decorating?” I asked.
“Sure,” Falkanar said agreeably. “Let's do it.”
I had some faint childhood memories of decorating the family tree, while listening to Christmas music and drinking hot chocolate. It seemed cozy so I made a couple of mugs and then searched for a good Christmas station on my tablet.
“What do we do first?” I asked, looking at the tree and holding my mug of hot chocolate.
“Probably the lights, otherwise they'd get caught on the ornaments,” Falkanar suggested.
I nodded agreeably and pulled out a string of lights. It took a few false starts, but we managed to work out a technique standing on either side of the tree and passing the lights around to each other as we worked our way up to the top. Halfway through we got the bright idea of plugging them in, and it became a lot easier to work them into the branches. I didn't know what it was, but decorating for the holidays was making me feel more at home here then I had than I felt in months. I didn't think I had stopped smiling since we went to go get the tree. Buying the ornaments and now doing the decorating just felt so homey. Maybe it was because the genie had taken care of everything and I hadn't done any actual decorating to speak of since moving in. There was no setting anything up. Even the rooms were painted what I considered the perfect colors, including a couple of daring accent walls with stripes, that I vaguely remembered seeing on a decorating show once, and wishing that I had the guts or the means or the wall to do it on. Maybe my sense of feeling at home was because I was finally physically putting my own touches on the house. Although I couldn't deny there was also something to be said for the fact I had someone to do it with.
More than once during our shopping excursion I found myself thinking of it asourChristmas decorations andourtree, and evenourhouse. I supposed for this holiday the decorations and the tree were ours. And even though Falkanar wasn’t staying here for long, I couldn't deny that whenever I found myself thinking of it as “our” house, it was a less than platonic thought. I couldn't stop thinking about the little incident while cutting down the tree. I was sure he had been about to kiss me. If he hadn't, I probably would have kissed him!
Decorating together had its own sense of intimacy that I hadn't expected when I invited him to do it initially. Our fingers brushed as we handed each other ornaments. Sometimes we got just a little too close reaching around each other to get to the tree, while the other was still placing something or fiddling with the branches. By the time we were done, we stepped back to admire the first Christmas tree that either of us could really call our own. I was starting to feel like I could really get used to this. Not just the house or the holidays, but Falkanar here with me in our house. I quickly pushed the thought aside and reminded myself that he was a wandering elf. Even if by some chance, I hadn't misread things, and he was thinking kissing me, I surely would be just a casual fling, not someone he wanted to spend an extended period of time with. Heck, hecouldn'tspend an extended period of time with me. He wouldn't even be here for Christmas.
But, as we stood there admiring the tree together, side by side – of courseI'll be home for Christmaswas playing in the background – I didn't just feel the spirit of the holidays, I felt a sense of romance as well.
Perhaps that was why I shifted my mug of hot cocoa to one hand and lowered my other, seeking his. His hand was by his side too, and it was all too easy to loop my fingers into his and gently squeeze. He was startled and turned to look at me in surprise, but didn't pull his hand away. I smiled. I didn't know what to say. I wasn't even sure what I was trying to convey by holding his hand. But he smiled back. And I felt like maybe I didn't need to say anything at all. His hand turned a little and his fingers entwined in mine. And we just stood like that for a couple of minutes.
“You were right about the twinkling lights,” I said, finally breaking the silence. “They look great.”
“You were right to stick to your guns and pick frosted ornaments,” he said. “Although I have to say I'm fond of the animals.”
“Me too.”
After going back and forth between classic glass bulbs or frolicking animals in Santa hats that were offered, I was glad I opted to just go for both, and have a tree with all of them. The bulbs added a nice elegance and the animals added a little bit of a playfulness. I liked the combination.
“Tinsel would have been too much,” I said, echoing what he said to me earlier in the store.
“Oh,” he said suddenly. “We forgot the star.”
As he spoke, I remembered setting it down on a bookshelf. I took a step forward to get it, just as he tried to go around me to get to the couch, where all of the discarded boxes were. We collided and some of his hot chocolate sloshed out onto my shirt.
“Oh, no,” Falkanar said. “I'm sorry.”
“It's okay.” I looked up from the stain to tell him it hadn't been hot enough to burn me, and that I didn't mind about the shirt, and found myself nose to nose with him. Time seemed to slow and we just stood there, looking at each other. Even though we had just been holding hands, and almost had a moment earlier in the day, my heart was pounding. As we stared at each other this time there was nothing and no one to interrupt the moment. It was just the two of us, here in my dark, lit only by a single lamp and the twinkling lights from the tree. The melancholy chorus ofBlue Christmasin the background. An appropriate song, I thought, given that I was suddenly very, very convinced I would indeed have a blue Christmas without him.
And then our lips met.
We kissed for a moment, as I took in the mix of peppermint whipped cream with hot chocolate, and an earthy spice. It reminded me somewhat of my memories of kissing the Elarian as Traviel. And I wondered if all elves had that sort of earthy spice taste to them, and yet there was something different about Falkanar. The taste was richer somehow, more nuanced, and I wanted more of it. I wrapped an arm around his shoulders and kissed him harder, poking my tongue questioningly against his lips. They parted and his tongue met mine, twisting and tasting each other. He moaned, and I almost wanted to just drop my hot chocolate and throw both arms around him. One of his arms wrapped around my waist and tightened, and we stood there, each carefully balancing a mug of hot chocolate in one hand while our other hands roved up and down each other, kissing for all we were worth. It was intoxicating. It was electrifying. And when we finally pulled apart from each other, it was all I could do to not set my mug down somewhere and start kissing him again.
“Um… sorry.”
“It's okay…”
He licked his lips and shot me a nervous smile. I returned it, and then stepped slowly around him, uncertain if I'd be able to stop kissing him if I started again.
“The star is on the bookshelf,” I said.
“The star? Oh. Right.”
