"Love makes your soul crawl out from its hiding place."
- Zora Neale Hurston
"Here we are. It's that cabin over there, see?" Earth said, stopping behind trees so sheriff Anderson won't see Mix floating around.
"It's pretty, but our cabin is better," Mix said, jumping down from Earth's comfortable back.
Earth smiled, "of course it is. It has me."
"Can't argue with that," Mix said, tieing his scarf a little bit tighter around his neck. Earth was right it was windy and cold — the beauty of Winter.
"Okay, so the plan is: we'll go there. You'll pretend you are alone and if she asks how you know about this, you say..." Earth looked at Mix, waiting.
"It was written in my grandma's old diaries," Mix automatically replied.
"Good boy," Earth winked.
Mix grinned, stepping forward, "let's go then."
The cabin of sheriff Anderson was similar to the Ghost Cabin, yet Mix could see the differences already from afar. This cabin was newer; the wood didn't look like it had gone through so many seasons as Mix's cabin did, nor did it has that enrolling atmosphere that would pull you in.
Most of the space in front of the cabin was covered with Christmas trees of any type. Tall, short, wide, narrow, thick as well as sparse. Even their colour was representing the whole pallet of green. But above all, they all looked like a perfect Christmas tree. Mix wondered how was he going to pick one. Maybe sheriff Anderson could help.
Mix looked at Earth walking next to him, receiving one small smile in return. Mix smiled back and walked toward sheriff Anderson, "good morning, sheriff Anderson."
Sheriff's head turned away from one of the Christmas trees she was making sure was holding up properly and a welcoming smile appeared on her face, "Mix. What a pleasant surprise. You are here to pick a tree?"
"Yes, I'd love that." Mix leaned closer and lowered his voice, "but they are all so pretty, I don't think I can choose."
Sheriff Anderson quietly laughed, putting a hand on Mix's shoulder, "that's what I am here for. Tell me, Mix. Do you have a certain image in your mind of how should the tree look?"
"Hmmm, I would prefer a tall and thick tree with preferably darker green shade."
Sheriff Anderson nodded, her hand still on Mix, she pulled him to the farther back, "here are the trees like the one you mentioned. Take your time," she said but didn't move from Mix.
Mix's eyes were gliding from one tree to another taking a mental note of the ones that would pass until the final picking round. Another tree; Mix liked that one. It was probably the closest to the one he had imagined and then...
"Does she need to stay so close to you?" Earth stood in front of Mix, looking like he would love to be everywhere but there.
Mix laughed quietly for himself so that sheriff Anderson won't notice and stepped away from her, "Uhm, can I please be alone for a minute? I can focus better when there's no one around."
"Oh, yes, yes, of course," sheriff Anderson chuckled awkwardly, "if you need anything just shout, I'll be at the front."
Mix gave her a polite nod, "I will, thank you."
When he was sure that sheriff Anderson couldn't hear them, he looked at Earth, "happy, now?"
"What?" Earth tried to act clueless, "you didn't have to send her away."
"I had to. You were clearly in a bad mood."
"I wasn't."
Mix stepped closer to Earth, looked around to see if sheriff Anderson wasn't looking their way and then he turned back to Earth. "Someone was jealous, hmm?"
"I wa—"
Mix rolled his eyes, he pecked Earth's lips and stepped away, "no need to be jealous, babe. I'm exclusively yours; it's a lifetime deal. Besides she was just trying to help."
"With her hand on your shoulder?" Earth asked, but there was a playful tone to his voice, now.
Mix shrugged, "some people are just touchy."
"Fine," Earth chuckled, "let's pick the tree, my exclusive lifetime boyfriend."
"That's too wordy isn't it?" Mix pointed out.
"I don't care. I like the sound of it," Earth said with a warm smile.
"Cheesy much," Mix said but smiled back nonetheless.
.....
After much deliberation and going back and forth with Earth about which one to choose, Mix finally called out for sheriff Anderson to come so he could show her the gorgeous two meters tall and thick Spruce tree. It will look even better once they decorate it with Earth.
"Awww, you chose the perfect one, Mix. Usually, I deliver the trees I sell that day in the evening of the same day. Will that be alright?"
Mix didn't even think about how was he going to bring the tree with him to the cabin so hearing sheriff Anderson's words definitely made everything so much easier. "That will be perfect. Thank you. If I'm being honest I didn't even think about how would I take it home."
"You are not the first one who came here, picked the tree and then they had no idea how to take it with them." Sheriff Anderson laughed, "that's why I started delivering them myself."
"Uhm, that was a good idea you had," Mix nodded, "so how much it is?"
Sheriff Anderson shook her head, "nothing. Take it as my welcome slash Christmas present for you."
"I can't. You'll even deliver it to me. I have to pay you something."
"Seriously, Mix, you don't need to. But there is maybe something else you could do."
"Okay, I have nothing against her but I swear if she touches you again..." Earth said, putting his hand around Mix's waist.
"Ehmm, what is it?" Mix asked, being hundred per cent sure that sheriff Anderson wasn't trying to seduce him. Earth was just being dramatic.
"I have a nephew and he loves to collect those small flags of every country and he doesn't have Thailand yet. And I heard from sheriff Leblanc that you are going back to Thailand for your sister's wedding so I thought that maybe you can bring one back with you. If that's not too much to ask."
Mix let out a relieved laugh. He could even hear "oh," coming out from Earth. "That's not a problem. By any means, you can rest assured, I can bring a flag. Even multiple if you want to."
Sheriff Anderson's face lighted up, "thank you so much, Mix. My nephew's birthday is in January so I can give it to him as a birthday present. He'll be so happy."
"Happy to help. But is that all? I feel like that's not enough."
"No, no, It's completely fine. I'll have the flag and you'll have the tree."
"Well," Mix looked around, "I'll be going then. Have a good day and I hope you'll sell a lot of trees."
"Thank you. Have a nice day too and see you in the evening."
.....
Once they were from the view of sheriff Anderson, Earth took Mix's hand in his and kissed it. "It's a beautiful tree. Can't wait to decorate it with you."
"Me too," Mix nodded but then he started laughing.
"What is so funny? I wanna laugh too."
"I just..." Mix couldn't stop laughing, "the fact that...that you were jealous over sheriff Anderson...what were you thinking? That she is gonna ask me to kiss her or something?"
"Maybe."
Mix stopped laughing, "really?"
"I don't know." Earth sighed, "she was giving out mixed signals."
Mix stopped, pulling on Earth's hand to stop him too. "How about I give you really straightforward signal?"
"Like what?" Earth leaned in but before they could kiss, Mix started running away.
"You need to catch me to find ouuuuut."
"I swear if you fall, I won't take care of you, you little..." Earth shook his head and went on to play with Mix.
Mix was only a few meters away from him, clearly getting tired. Running in the snow wasn't easy. Earth smirked and wrapped his hands around Mix, bringing him down on the snow. "Got you." He grinned.
"I guess I have no choice just to surrender to you Mr Pirapat." Mix was breathing heavily, trying to catch his breath. Next time he will think twice before running in the snow.
"I love you like this," Earth said, brushing off snow from Mix's face.
"Like what?"
"Playful, happy."
Mix hmmed, "I love you like that too."
Earth leaned in, this time actually kissing Mix, hands gently holding his face. He could feel Mix's warm breath on his lips, the way Mix's lips were a little bit dry but still incredibly soft and sweet. He felt Mix smile into the kiss and deepen it. He felt Mix's hands gripping his shoulders, pulling him closer, closer, closer. He could even feel Mix's wild heartbeat despite all those layers of clothes.
It didn't matter that he still couldn't feel certain things, touch certain things. When it came to Mix, Earth felt everything. And it was even more intense than he thought was possible. It was like Mix was part of him. The better part of him.
To be continued...
P.S. Jelly Earth made his debut 🤭