Dear Santa Claus - 14 Short Stories Until Christmas

13th December - Oh, Christmas Cookies! (2)

Kate found Josh in their living room, watching old family pictures on the wall. For a moment, she stood in the doorway, observing him. Josh was good- looking, it was hard to deny. He was tall, muscular and radiated charisma. It was one of the reasons why she disliked him the most, because despite his personality, one look, one damn bright smile by him could let you forget a world. And Kate hated it that it could affect her.
Josh didn't notice her until she stood next to him.
"Why isn't here any Christmas decoration? It's soon." Kate eyes fell on the picture in front of her. It's her family. Her mom, her dad, her sister and her. All smiling, like nothing bad could ever happen. Her gaze was stuck at her sister. They looked a lot alike.

"It's complicated."
Josh side eyed her. "How is Christmas complicated?"
Kate whirled around, hissing sharply:" It simply is, okay!" Josh backed away and a tense silence filled the space between them. They both continued to stare at the pictures.

"May I ask what happened?", Josh inquired carefully, his gaze never left the wall in front of him. A queasy feeling filled Kate's stomach.
"Why do you think there is a reason?"
Josh shrugged his shoulders. "Your reaction." He paused, "I know we don't always get along well, but I've know you for a pretty long time now and I know when you don't feel well. You always react like that."

Kate thought about his words. How come he notice this kind of stuff? He said it often enough that he didn't care about her. But maybe he did.
"Why are we always fighting?", she suddenly thought aloud.
Josh turned to her. "Dunno. It's just easy that way."
Kate didn't know what to say or to feel. It was true, somehow. It was easy for him to get under her skin, but still that didn't explain why.

His eyes met hers and they looked at each other for a moment. The longer their gaze was locked, the more Kate felt weird inside, all warm and tingly. Kate broke the contact, focusing on the image of her sister again.
"My sister and I used to decorate the house together. But after she died... it just doesn't feel right anymore.", Kate explained, her throat sore and dry, her eyes watery.
Josh closed his eyes, rubbing his forehead. "I'm sorry. I'm an .. I'm an idiot."
Kate let out a deep sigh. „You couldn't know..." In Moment like this she felt the pain so badly, that her whole body hurt.

„This had always been our thing, you know. Mom hates decorating and Dad isn't good in it, so it my sister and I decorated the house together. She loved it. We were playing Christmas songs so loudly, our neighbors must have heated it. And we sang. We just sang our hearts out but we never hit a tone. Not even one." A slight chuckles escaped Kate's mouth as the memory replayed in her head. Kate let herself sink in the memory for a moment, she didn't notice Josh eyes resting on her, looking at her in a way he had never done before. A certain softness and sadness sway inside his brown eyes.

„Yeah, I remember Ashley. She was great.", he whispered, a little lost in his own memory of her. They went to the same school. Of course everyone knew when her sister died because of cancer. Some people still gave her that poor look of sadness. But she was used to it now. And she was used to the hollow words. „But I don't think that she would want you to stop decorating, getting into the holiday spirit." Kate shrugged. She knew that he was right. Ashley did tell her that they should continue their life as if she would have never left, but how could they. She wasn't here.

„My mom always makes me and my siblings decorate. Its the only time of the year that she is really with us. She travels around a lot because of her job.", he said, his voice melancholy. Then his lips curled to a soft smile. "So I wouldn't want to miss it for the world."
"You enjoy decorating your house for Christmas?", she questioned with her eyebrows slightly raised. For some reason it was hard for her to imagine, that the school's bad boy who switched his girl every three days, skipped lessons, smoked in front of the school and who couldn't care less about anything he does, enjoyed being wrapped in decorates and liked to lit Christmas lights.