A Merry Merry Love! (A SHORT STORY-COMPLETED)

A Merry Merry Love

I was hungover and the only string holding me to the new morning was the smell of coffee wafting from the kitchen.
I jolted up and lunged out of the doorway full of hope to hug my friend tight after such a long time and never let go. She was the one who would do this for me- knew I love the smell of coffee the first thing in the morning and her coconut smell. Of course, she would also be the only one to have my keys.

Breathless, I opened the door and, the handsome back of my boyfriend greeted me with a smell of something burning on the stove behind him.

With my hope squashed, I rushed forward and turned off the flame while picking up the pan to submerge it in the basin of water. He turned around and, his eyes followed the mess he had made.

"Oh, shit! I wanted to do this perfectly on our first day of vacation together," he replied sheepishly, his hands rubbing his neck, disheartened.

"It's not a vacation. This is my freaking home and, I wanted to be back home since the shooting ended and before another filming began. Never mind. Just forget it," I snapped venomously at him. My anger wrongly directed I know.

"hey hey sorry bab----" he said apologetically.

"I am going out for some good coffee and bagels since its Christmas and, I can't ruin my mood," I replied calmly eyeing the now somewhat uninviting coffee in the pot.

Why isn't she here to meet me?
After all, I am home after a long time.
And her face was the only one I hoped to see.

#*#*#*#*#

I walked through the crowd and came up my doorstep, my concentration on finding the keys while handling the oversized bagel box and coffee.

That's when I saw a red package with green ribbon on my doorstep.
We don't celebrate Christmas in our Hindu culture but, as a child, we liked hiding gifts for each other in our family and friends. Beautiful how we take good things out of every religion and make it a culture of our own.

"To YOU" the tag read.

I tore it open and, after reading the dedication on the manuscript, I slumped down on the cold steps while my eyes moved through the pages like following a tennis ball.

#*#**#*#**#*#

I ran and, the walls of my heart begged me to stop as my breathe wheezed, till I reached her cafe.
Opening the door with the bell jingling, I scanned for her recent blue-colored hair through a swarm of people laughing, chatting and having a good time. So much unlike the war raging inside my heart. It was kind of peaceful, the war. Controversial I get it but, I felt my heart expanding like how the flower blooms even though the confusion and question reverberated all over my skin.

"You are up early! I never thought to see you so bright and early during your break period. I imagined you drunk and slumped on the couch in front of your TV. Riza even joked about not seeing you on part-time duty here until the late evening. " her loving voice carried over from one of the tables behind me, soothing and melody-filled.

I turned and saw her clearing one of the tables with the manuscript hugged to my chest painfully tight. She was not the one who sent this to my house. Nobody can be that calm after confessing their whole heart out, would they?

Her eyes still on her work but her voice hushed "Let me tell you. They were betting on you. My dear sister is going to lose a lot, I hope," she smirked.

"How much did you bet? I asked.

"oh, I didn't. I knew----," at that, she looked up and saw my hands.

Her eyes widened and, at the same time, we realized who was trying to be cupid. A giggle erupted from behind the counter and a soft "I won big time" along with it.

My eyes hooked on her face and, she glared at the countertop. Swinging her hips with the rag in her hands, she stalked outside.

I was right beside her.

Wringing the mop in her hands as she usually did when she was nervous she mumbled "This is not right. You were not supposed to read that. I was writing for fun."

"Fun?" I asked.

I flipped open the haphazard and tear-stained pages.

"To my only love and best friend.
loving you
and seeing you kiss someone else,
has broken me in a thousand pieces.
The pain of the world, let me carry it alone,
since for that love
I can break again and again
and thousand times over."

As I read every word, she kicked around the cans lined up against the wall, frustrated and nervous.

"If in my absence you got another best friend with whom you have lived the same childhood all over again as described in this book, then I hope you never get to kiss her as you did in here," I demanded and gestured to the pages which slipped through my fingers accidentally. "because you are a coward."

She whimpered and crouched down to collect the pages, clearly upset either because of my words or the dream she built in the pages swirling on the ground due to the wind. I hope both.

I held her shoulders and pulled her up.
I crashed my lips on her, crumpling her pages in between us while her eyes flooded and drowned with tears.

I'll never let her go.
I decided.
But first thing first, I need to tell her about the giant handsome guy I brought home without letting her know. In my defense, it was a drunk decision. Nothing good ever comes out of it.
Well, now it will rain wrath in some moments.

"It's really a merry Christmas!" I murmured against her lips loving the feel of the softness.