The Secret About Christmas (2 page)

Hayden

I watched her intently as she interacted with the little blonde girl. I couldn’t hear a word either of them spoke, but I could tell that the little girl was getting to her. I could visibly see her heart melting as that little girl pushed that strand of hair out of her face, and I couldn’t help but wonder what this girl was all about. I knew she was irritating beyond all hell, snotty and demanding, and no matter what I said to her, I seemed to leave a bad taste in her mouth, but what was under all that hostility?

I was more than excited when the girls let me know that it was time for lunch. I was physically and emotionally exhausted, and more than anything…I needed a drink, and a stiff one at that. I pushed my way past the crowd of kids, making my way to the backroom as fast as possible. When I walked through the doors to the locker room, I made a beeline for my locker and took a long swig of my little concoction that I kept in a water bottle. As I reached for my sandwich the locker room door squeaked open, and I didn’t even have to turn to know who it was.

I was continuing about my business, when I felt her standing behind me. “Can I help you?” I spoke without turning around, which I could only assume struck a nerve because the tone in her voice was definitely one of irritation when she responded.

“Not now.” She huffed as she practically ran back up front.

I was about to go after her, but just then my phone started ringing in my pocket. When I glanced down at the screen, my father’s name lit up, and I let out an irritated sigh. I was going to decline the call, but given the current career predicament I was already in, I figured answering it would be the better alternative.

“Hey Dad, what’s up?”

“Aren’t you supposed to be working?”

“I am working, Dad. I’m on my break.” My anger was slowly starting to rise as he tried to get a rise out of me.

“Fine. Look, your mother wants to know if you will be coming home for Christmas.”

When my dad put me out in nowhere Minnesota, I figured me coming home for the holidays was kind of out of the question, but apparently I was wrong. “Really? I mean, yeah. If you guys are offering.”

“Whoa, I’m not footing the bill
this
time, Luca.”

“Don’t call me that.” I muttered under my breath.

“Your mother would love to have you here for Christmas, so start saving up. You hear me? After all the bullshit you’ve pulled over the last five years, you’re lucky you even have a job with the company still.”

“
Mom,
would like me to come home? Not you? I should’ve known. Tell Mom I’ll call her after my shift today and we can talk about it. I gotta get back at it, so I’ll talk to you later.” I didn’t give my father a chance to answer before I was hanging up and tucking my phone back into my locker, but it began to ring again. I quickly answered, thinking it was my father calling back to berate me for hanging up on him.

“Hayden?”

“Oh sorry, yeah this is he.” I clearly didn’t recognize the voice on the other end.

“It’s Rebecca from last night. I was just calling to see if you wanted to
meet
up again tonight?”

“Oh hey, Rebecca. Um…yeah. I get off around nine. How about I come by your place around nine thirty?”

“Sounds good. See you then.”

I hung up with a smile on my face. At least the girls were easy in this damn town. Since the day I arrived I haven’t even had to take a girl on a date to get into her pants. It was a cakewalk. As I made my way back out to all the waiting kids, I couldn’t help but notice that she was standing in the corner, avoiding eye contact with everyone. I don’t know what it was about this girl that had me worrying about her, but it was starting to get on my damn nerves.

I sat down in my Christmas throne, and gave a nice big wave and a ho, ho, ho, to all the waiting kids. Man this job sucked. Needless to say, I wasn’t a big fan of kids. When I waved, I caught her looking straight at me with a look that I didn’t quite recognize. Maybe hope? She let the next kid through, and my attention was quickly taken away from her and back on the job at hand. We were about ten kids in when a tall, overly muscular police officer came strutting up to the front of the line.

He began speaking with Noel, and I could visibly see the look of irritation splayed across her face, causing my irritation with
her
to quickly dissipate. I wasn’t sure why, but my first instinct was to be protective of her. If I wouldn’t have had a child on my lap at the current moment, I would’ve ran right over there to her defense, but judging by the look on her face, and the hand on her hip, I could tell she didn’t need
any
help.

I refocused my attention back on the little girl that was sitting in front of me, trying to ignore the entire situation that I
really
didn’t want to get involved in. “So what would you like for Christmas?”

The little girl began to bounce up and down on my knee while letting out a small giggle. “I want a rocket ship.”

“A rocket ship, huh?” I was a little confused as to why a little girl would want such an obvious boy toy, but I let it go.

“Yes, and I want it to be pink, and purple, oh and it has to have a unicorn tail, oh oh and it has to have seats for
all
of my pretty princesses.”

It was quite the laundry list of things, but my job was to please the kids. “I think I might be able to do that for you. Now do you promise to be a good little girl?” I was waiting for her to answer, but just then
Elf Christmas
decided to raise her voice an octave too loud, because the entire line of people and store were staring in her direction. I looked down at the bouncy little girl on my lap. “Time to go to your mommy, cutie. Santa has to go have a talk with his elf.” I placed her on the ground and stood to wander off in the direction of the commotion, but I felt a small tug at the hem of my jacket. As I glanced down, the little brunette was smiling wide.

“Make sure you are stern with her. My mommy says that is the only way kids will listen when they are in trouble, and I am guessing she is in
big
trouble.”

“She sure is, and thank you…”

“My name is Chloe.”

“Thank you, Chloe. Merry Christmas, sweetheart.”

“Bye Santa.” She gave a quick wave, and then disappeared into her mother’s waiting arms. Now it was time to get to business.

I slowly approached the two that were going at each other, trying not to offend her, and
really
trying not to piss off Arnold Schwarzenegger Jr. “Hey, do you guys realize that you are causing quite a scene in front of all of these people.” I whispered as I glanced around at our growing audience.

“It’s not my fault.” She was quick to shout out.

“Honestly, I don’t care whose fault it is. I just want you to stop fighting in the middle of the store. You’re freaking all the kids out, small fry.” I instantly cringed as the nickname she made extremely clear that she hated, came flying out of my mouth.

She turned in my direction, finger pointed straight at my chest. I was waiting for her to get all huffy and pissy with me, but for some reason, she was at a loss for words. Though I had only known her for less than twenty-four hours, I did know that if she wasn’t reacting to me, then it was definitely serious business. She dropped her finger and turned towards the officer.

“Please leave.”

“I didn’t even do anything wrong.” He pleaded.

I wasn’t about to offend an officer of the law, given the fact that I most definitely didn’t have the best track record with them, but he was being a bit aggressive. “Look officer, I’m not sure what’s going on, but I think it would be best if you left.”

“I’m sorry,
Santa
, but I’m pretty sure
this
is none of your god-damned business.” Disdain dripped from every hasty word he spoke.

“I don’t think I heard you correctly,
buddy
. Who the hell do you think you are?” I pushed his shoulder lightly to get my point across, and he took that as an invitation to full on push me. His hands pressed roughly against my shoulders, sending me back a few inches. In all fairness, this guy had at least four inches on me, and probably eighty pounds of muscle as well.

“Stay out of it, fat guy.”

Adrenaline rushed through my veins as I stood toe to toe with this jackass, and as much as I wanted to lay into this guy, all I could hear was my uncle’s voice telling me that I needed to behave, but not only that…there were now about a million people watching us. I backed up a few feet trying not to further agitate this guy, but he moved with me. Fortunately, so did my little elf friend. She stood between us with her hands on both of our chests, holding us apart. As soon as the warmth of her hand reached beneath my shirt, my anger instantly faded, catching me completely off guard. What the hell was it about this girl?

Noel

Somehow I was now caught in the middle of their dick measuring contest, and from what I could tell, there was no way
Santa
was winning this one. Officer Miller’s size in itself was enough to even freak me out, and I had dealt with my fair share of guys like him. I swear, I don’t understand men, and I don’t even want to pretend that I want to try to. As far as I was concerned, both of these guys could take a flying leap.

Officer Miller started pushing hard against my hand, causing a massive amount of pain, when I had finally had enough. “STOP!” Oh-kay, that came out louder than expected. I glanced around at all the people staring, and was instantly mortified. Pretty sure my face was going to be plastered all over social media as of right now. I turned towards the massive line of people that had already been waiting for forever to see Santa, knowing they were about to get even more irritated with me. “I’m really sorry everybody, but Santa is going to have to take a quick five minute break.” All the grunts and whining started, and I knew I had to do something quick.

“Hang tight boys and girls, I promise Santa will make it up to you just as soon as I get back. Free photos for the next thirty people, how about that?”

I was shocked when I heard his voice blaring over the chaos of the crowd, but even more shocked that he was offering to pay for that many photos. I glanced between the two of them, trying to compare them to one another, and wondered why I was even bothering. I wasn’t looking for anything with anybody. My life was in complete and utter disarray and I had no room or time for someone who would only bring more baggage along for the ride.

“The both of you go…NOW.” I half-shouted as I gently pushed both of them towards the back hallway. Once we walked through the double doors, I spun around, and laid into them. “What the hell?” Of course
Santa
was the first one to try and defend his actions.

“This is not on me.” He threw his hands up in defeat, and I could visibly see that
something
was bothering him.

“If you weren’t putting your nose where it obviously
doesn’t
belong, the situation could’ve been resolved by now.”

“Look, both of you just stop.” I turned towards hottie Santa first. “Um…” For the life of me I couldn’t even remember if I was ever told his name, and if I was, I most certainly didn’t remember it at this moment.

“It’s Hayden.” He whispered.

“Right…Hayden. I will handle the situation on my own, if you don’t mind.” He headed towards the door, and I instantly felt bad for the way I was snapping at him. “But thank you.” I gave him a half-hearted smile, then turned my attention to Officer Gorgeous as the door shut behind Hayden. “I’m not quite sure what you are trying to accomplish by coming to my place of work, but your actions were completely uncalled for. Why are you even here?”

“I was just trying to apologize for this morning. I know how flustered you were because you were going to be late, and I just wanted to make sure that you didn’t lose your job.”

I wanted to be furious with him, but it was literally the sweetest thing I had ever heard. Maybe not in a traditionally romantic way, but romantic all the same, especially given the fact that I was the one speeding and breaking the law.

“I didn’t mean to cause a scene, you have to believe me.”

I glanced up at him from under my thick black lashes, and almost lost my nerve to speak. “I appreciate it, I do, but it was really unnecessary.”

“Well in all honesty, I also came by for another reason.”

“To witness me in all my elf glory?” I laughed.

“No, although I must say, you make that outfit look good. I wanted to see if maybe you would go out with me?”

I could feel the heat rushing to my cheeks, and I was suddenly extremely grateful for my olive skin. “I’m not sure how appropriate that would be.” What the hell just came out of my mouth? Appropriate? Really?

“It’s not like I’m your boss.” He smiled.

I stood there like an idiot, his every word catching my undivided attention, and not being able to force myself to utter a single word. The room went quiet and I could tell that he was waiting for an answer from me, and I could tell that until I answered him, he wasn’t going to leave. “Fine.” I muttered under my breath.

“I’m sorry, what was that?” His cologne invaded my senses as he leaned toward me, capturing my attention once again.

“I said, fine. Can I go back to work now, because although you came here to make sure I didn’t lose my job this morning, I
will
lose it now if I don’t get back out there.”

“What time do you get out of work tonight?”

I had said yes, but now he was just being pushy. “Tonight doesn’t work for me. I’m sorry.”

“Okay, tomorrow night then?” His excitement was extremely apparent, but committing to this date was suddenly difficult for me.

“Sure.” My hand reached for the door to push it open, but he gently wrapped his fingers around my wrist.

“I’ll pick you up here tomorrow, around nine thirty?”

Before I could get another word in, he was brushing past me and walking out the door. I stood there, mouth open wide in shock. Officer Gorgeous was most definitely a man’s man, and I was intrigued. My body reacted to him in a way that hit me at my core, and seeing him be so damn persistent actually made me feel wanted, for the first time in a long time. If only I didn’t have to go deal with Hayden now.

When I walked back into Santa’s Workshop, you would never even know that chaos had just ensued not long ago. Hayden was back in character, and doing an amazing job at making all the kids beyond happy, as well as their parents, and Nora had taken my place at the velvet ropes. I made my way over to her, but she shook her head and gave me a stern look.

I stopped mid-stride, but I had no idea what I was supposed to do. All I could imagine, was after the drama I was going to be fired. Today had seriously been the worst day I had experienced in a long time, and that’s saying a lot. All I wanted to do was go home, and shower off this horrendous day. I was about to walk back into the backroom, but Nora was running towards me before I could do so.

“Nora, am I fired?” My heart was beating a million miles a minute as I waited for her to answer.

“Oh my god, no, of course not. It’s rotation time. Sorry, I thought I told you about that. You get the photo booth now. All you have to do is ring up the purchases, and help the families pick the picture they want.”

I let out the deepest sigh of relief as I gave Nora a gigantic hug before running off in the direction of the photo booth. When I got to the desk where the other elves were standing, I turned around to see if Hayden was looking my way. To my surprise, he was completely focused on the kids he had at the moment. Not that I wanted him to ignore his job and pay attention to me, but I honestly thought that maybe he would at least be looking in my direction.

“Noel?”

I quickly focused my attention on the girl next to me who was calling my name. “Yes.” I responded excitedly.

“Do you need me to show you how the register works?”

I glanced down at the antique of a cash register, and let out a small giggle. “No, I think I can get it.”

“Okay, if you need any help, just holler at me. I’ll be taking the pictures.”

“Thank you-“ As much as I wanted to pretend to know her name, I couldn’t even hide that I had no clue.

“Roni. My name is Roni.”

“Sorry. Thank you, Roni.”

“No need to apologize, hun.”

She took off and was back behind the camera in no time. I glanced past her, over at Hayden, but he was still paying me no mind. I guess after kicking him out of the back hallway, I deserved for him to ignore me. I wasn’t trying to take Officer Gorgeous’ side or anything, but judging by the way Hayden was acting now, I could only assume that’s exactly what he thought.