Coming Home [Completed]

Ch. 23: Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas (Christmas, Part I)

A few days into the winter break, Charlie was hurtling across the sky on his own flight away from Pennsylvania. Only, he was headed in the complete opposite direction of Theo. His flight was from Philly to Denver, from where he'd go to a Colorado ski resort to spend the holiday with his mother and siblings. This despite the fact that Charlie could not ski.

That didn't matter much to Charlie. He wasn't in the mood to be very active on this little vacation anyway. He planned to just stick to the resort, try to finish reading Just Above My Head, and see what else he could do to amuse himself. Charlie wasn't in a very festive mood, but he didn't want to detract from his mom's holiday. She'd had a tough year and she booked this vacation for herself, with her children simply tagging along, although in Charlie's opinion that was well-deserved.

Charlie tried his best to avoid the rest of his family for the duration of the vacation. He avoided his mom because he didn't want to ruin her vacation with his mopping and he avoided his siblings because he didn't want them to ruin his peace and quiet.

For the first few days of their winter vacation, Charlie's plan worked to perfection. He'd turned off his phone so he'd have minimal contact with the outside world and instead spent most of his time reading and listening to music, which was fine by him. He spent most of his time at a small cafe, doing his best to look like an occupied and paying customer, through buying several iced coffees, so as not to be kicked out for loitering. At night, he switched to hot chocolate so he wouldn't overload on caffeine.

There were only two exceptions to this. First thing every morning, Charlie would either go for a run or spend an hour in the resort's gym. He usually didn't like resort gyms because they were small and filled with novices, which he wasn't used to. However, the freezing temperatures and lure of a few cute boys he'd spotted his first time at this resort's gym drew him there more than going for runs.

Second, the resort had a pond ice rink that was more decorative and for leisurely skates, but Charlie took advantage whenever it was depopulated to get a few laps in to keep up his skating abilities. There, again, he kept seeing one boy in particular. Once the boy also started showing up at the cafe in town he frequented, Charlie was ready to admit to himself that he was full-blown crushing, hard.

Charlie knew he had a type, blond and a bit preppy, but unlike his usual objects of affection, this boy appeared a bit older than him, probably in college. Charlie liked observing the other boy but tried to keep his staring as discreet as possible.

This mild infatuation would only ever result in observation, or at least that's what Charlie assumed, and he was fine with that, really. But, then, he actually met the boy.

Charlie had finished Just Above My Head after only a few days at the resort, so he searched google maps and found a bookstore in town. He considered himself lucky because if there hadn't been one he'd have been left to pick through the cheap, tacky romance novels in the resort's gift shop.

It was Christmas Eve when Charlie made his way down to the town's bookstore. Upon his arrival, Charlie realized he had absolutely no idea what he wanted to read next, which was a first for him. He aimlessly perused the shelves, which didn't help much, until he was interrupted.

"Run out of Baldwin novels?" A disembodied voice queried from behind Charlie. When he turned around, he saw it was none other than his mystery boy.

"Oh, uh, yeah, actually. How'd you guess?" Charlie replied, nervously, as he stroked the back of his neck with a mitten-covered hand.

"Just Above My Head is his last novel, so educated guess. I'm Jack, by the way, Jack Fulbright."

"You say it like you're James Bond," Charlie said, proud of himself for a somewhat witty retort.