12 Days of Misery?

December, 12th

The next day at work, my boss set me the task of putting up the decorations I had purchased the night before. I couldn't help but complain to myself as I grabbed a ladder.

'Wouldn't Angie be better at this?' I thought to myself as I stuck tape to some tinsel.

Just as I was finishing up my shift I heard a little girl squeal in delight. Instantly my eyes searched for the source, my eyes landing on the Santa stationed just outside Kmart.

The little girl happily clutched her gift that she received from Santa. She was about to run off when all of a sudden she dashed back toward Santa.

'Maybe she had forgotten something, isn't she just too cute.' I thought again to myself as I wished I had a sister.

As soon as that thought popped into my head I dismissed it. If I had a sister, she would probably have to go through the torture of what Christmas now meant to me; that my parents were gone.

I looked back in time to see the little girl giving the Elf from last night a big hug. A smile crept onto my face as he let her go before bowing as if she were a Princess.

I admired this handsome Elf for his sweet actions. 'Every girl deserves to be treated like a Princess,' the quote popped into my head.

Just then he looked my way, our eyes meeting for a just a moment and his smile widened. I felt my cheeks rush red and smiled politely back.

'Go say hi Alice,' my conscious spoke. Geez she could be annoying. There was no way I could go over there and speak to him without looking like a fool.

Resigned, I adjusted my work bag and headed toward the exit. I was searching through my bag for my keys before I braced the icy wind outside when; I dropped my keys and a large hand bent down to pick them up.

'I believe these are yours,' his husky voice teased as he handed me back my keys.

Standing closer to him now I could see his rich brown eyes even clearer. He was tall, muscular and damn was he fine, but he did look different than yesterday.

'You shaved,' I heard myself say before quickly covering my mouth with my hand.

He furrowed his brows and tilted his head. 'Yeah nice going Casanova,' my conscious teased. Shut up! I yelled back.

'Did I really just say that out aloud?' I said to myself as I felt my face get hotter under his gaze.

'You did,' he said simply. I looked to the ground felling completely and utterly embarrassed.

'But it was cute so, thanks for noticing.' His voice broke through my mental break down.

'Im sorry, what?' That's all I could say and I stared at him in surprise.

'I said it was cute and thank you for noticing.' He smiled big and my heart did a flip. He just called me cute AND his smile was amazing!!

'Im Nate by the way,' he held out his hand and I stopped ogling quick enough to take his hand and reply.

'Im Alice.' I smiled when he took my hand, butterflies erupting in my stomach.

'So Alice, would you like to get a coffee?' Nate smiled again and I burned it into my memory.

'Are you sure?' I asked. I mean he was gorgeous and the looks he got as other girls walked by confirmed it, yet he was asking me. Me who was dressed in dusting jeans, my old work shirt, thick coat and oversized scarf, to join him for coffee.

He laughed at my response; it was a deep and heartfelt laugh that had me again wondering why this god-like man asked ME to have coffee.

'Im sure,' he smiled with his teeth and his eyes seemed to change again to a light shade of brown. A sight that I found myself wanting to see more of.

'In that case, thank you,' I smiled shyly trying to hide my reddened cheeks.