SAM
"Cheese!" a girl said, alongside her boyfriend. They held up two respective peace signs with The Gregor in-between them, rocking his signature pose of doing absolutely nothing. The Gregor was held up by a wobbling Ned on his knees, so this couple could take their picture.
Sam did not like this a single bit.
He stood to the side with his arms crossed like the bodyguard.
Ned however was finally achieving his childhood dreams, reaching a level of infamy for stealing The Gregor. Tales of his crime had reached the tristate area thanks to Chad and his merry band of tipsy jocks. Indie sent Sam a warning. Surprisingly, one from Barbie too, who was given a group message between all the Bulldogs that announced a bounty on Ned's head.
Pooled together by the team, 200$ crisp dollars to the person who could reveal Ned's location. Another hundred to keep him there. Chad was also offering a free favor, which was vague enough to let people dream of just what the quarterback could do for them. Sam shuddered to think.
And the kids around here weren't stupid. At least not when it came to getting something. They were putting the pieces of the puzzle together: Ned was over six feet tall, carrying a red backpack that held the gnome, he was driving around on Santaland golfcart, and he had just left the school dance again.
They weren't impossible to follow at twenty miles per hour.
"Thanks, Ned," the guy in the couple rubbed The Gregor for luck, and Sam recognized him from Chemistry. This guy was gonna need more than just patting some clay to pass that class.
"Anytime," Ned said as if this kind of thing happened all the time.
He never knew how to say no.
"Alright, alright." Sam finally stepped in and shuffle the people away. He glared at others that threatened to approach, remarking. "Go find something more interesting to do. Unless you're Gregory Hines's mom, we want nothing to do with you. Goodbye. Bye."
Waving at the rest, the people dispersed, and they were forced to enjoy the Christmas Walk in a normal way. The Christmas Walk was hosted by a local church where businesses and other organizations set up themed displays like art exhibitions. All around the trail surrounding the church, trees were wrapped in lights. Tall Christmas trees made of light were everywhere, changing lights and flickering on and off. Most were timed to the music playing on hidden speakers. They passed a life-sized sleigh with animatronic reindeer. Sam looked out for the volunteers, who were in-charged of making sure nobody left the sidewalk or tried riding one of the light-up reindeer. They were basically the hooligan police and the boys were wanted criminals.
As they stepped into a tunnel of Christmas lights, kids were running back and forth, and families were taking pictures. Ned nudged Sam. "Would you consider tonight at date?"
Sam snorted out of surprise. He looked away to hide how pleased he was, keeping his eyes on the light to mask the twinkling lights in his own eyes. "You're asking me this now?" They were walking a few inches apart. Their hands threatening to touch.
He wasn't sure what made things a date.
And what made things a regular hang-out. Was it the feelings passing between them? Was it all different for now and for forever because their lips touched? If two people could kiss at any moment, could there always be a chance they were on a date? Sam would very much like to know the answer to that question too.
Towards the end of the tunnel, Sam noticed at little sign thanking the Barrett family for their donation of the lights. More and more, Sam could see these little signs everywhere, among the signs yelling at people to stay off the grass.
Glancing at The Gregor, Sam looked at him as if he could possibly weigh in on the topic. "Look Ned, full offense to your Christmas, if the Christmas Walk is our first date, it'll be our last date." Ned laughed, holding The Gregor and Sam added, "Also, three's a crowd. This little gnome has got to go—"
A tall blonde girl sprang out from the corner of Sam's eye. "GOTCHA!" She shouted like this was a battlefield and her prey finally fell into her clutches. Sam's bones hit the ceiling of his body, baffled by two bodies coming at them. He was pushed to the side while two girls lunged at Ned. The tall blonde girl grabbed Ned's arms while a shorter girl with long black hair latched onto The Gregor.
"Hey! Careful!" Sam snapped. He jumped into the circle, pulling at the shorter girl's arms and finding it was like pulling at chains melded to wall.
It was the cheerleaders, of course.
"Hold on! hold on!" Ned begged. "You're gonna make me drop him!"
"Good! Drop him! He's ours." The tall one shouted. "You stole him from us!"
Ned grunted, fighting so much he was pink in the face. "It's for the common good! I'm going to bring him home!"
"Are you stupid? He belongs to the Chipmunks!"
"It's not fair you guys get to have all the magic!"
"Oh, what?" the other girl piled on. "You think your school deserves it more?"
"We don't want to give it to the Bulldogs either," Sam insisted, pathetically sweating for not contributing much at all.
"Don't bullshit us." The tall blonde had a scowl like blazing fire. "We saw your footballers park outside. You're here to hand him off."
Sam snapped a wide eyed worried look up at Ned. "Shit."
"We need to hide," Ned agreed, when everything got so much worse.
Breaking and crashing through the chatter and the Christmas music, Chad's voice carried farther than a tsunami. "NED FLOWERS! We're back, we're sober, and we're here to take that little guy with us."
Sam stepped to the side, staring through the tunnel of lights with a shivering rolling down his back. He could hear Chad telling the guys to spread out.
"Hide, hide, hide," Sam insisted, pushing everybody onto the forbidden grass, including the cheerleaders. They scurried behind a huge red sleigh pulled by mechanical glowing reindeer. He slammed his back into sleigh, already out breath. He could hear the football players barking orders, carrying their musk of axe body spray.
"We're on the same side," Ned tried to explain. "Those guys want to destroy The Gregor."
"Ssh!" Sam hissed, throwing his arm out to hold Ned and one of the girls back and away from prying eyes, but she didn't try to move his am. "They're gonna cover the entire walk at this rate."
Stretching his neck, Sam was only able to catch a glimpse of Chad walking by before he had to drop back down. His sigh came out as a shudder. Glancing at Ned, Ned was already smiling apologetically at him. Ned whispered, "Still wouldn't call this a date, huh? Might be a cool story one day."
Sam shook his head. "There's a little too much of everybody else for me to consider this a date. When we're going out Ned, it better just be between me and you."
#
NISHA
Staring at Sam, Nisha let those words sink in.
She hadn't thought about it like that before. Looking at Adison on the other side of Ned, she thought about all the people who had a say in where their relationship was in now.
"You can't ask Addie, she needs to ask you."
"You paid for the last date, so wait until Addie has the money to pay for you."
"She's the cheer caption, so Addie obviously wears the pants in your relationship."
"It has to be perfect, Nisha."
Without thinking, Nisha pulled a handful of grass right from the ground. She watched dumb Ned Flowers with his dumb face make a dumb smile and he kissed his dumb boyfriend. Her fury crackled at her bones, sparking and filling her ears with smoke. She yanked on The Gregor, nearly swiping him for good, but Sam was ready for it. He latched around the gnome's stomach.
"Sorry, sorry," Ned said. He made his brown eyes all big and dopey, begging her. "Listen, I'm Ned and this is Sam. We were gonna give The Gregor to our school team—"
"I knew it," Nisha hissed and pulled harder.
It budged, but not enough.
"But we took it back from them. That's why they're pissed. Chad plans to smash The Gregor and I can't let him do it. This gnome means too much. I'd like to form a truce." Ned looked between Nisha and Addison with enough hope to fill a hot air balloon. "Help me get The Gregor out of here."
"Let us get him out of here!"
"How can we even trust you?" Addison asked a good question. Nisha was still on fire. She could hardly look at Addison. It was hitting her like a slow fall of bricks. One by one, each realization hitting harder than the last. And just when Nisha thought the hits were over, they kept coming.
Nisha hadn't realized it but this whole time she had been dating the entire cheer team. Date plans, outfits, when and where, every date came with a little girlish voice in her ear saying when the right and wrong time was to kiss, hold hands, and flirt.
What was more frustrating was that it took stupid dumb evil Ned Flowers and his foul mouth boyfriend to make Nisha realize the truth. Humiliating was putting it lightly. If there was a cliff nearby, she'd throw herself off it.
Ned asked, "What are your names?"
"I'm none 'yah and this is business."
"I'm Addison—"
"Addie!" Nisha gawked, but that didn't stop her.
"—Captain of the Chipmunk Cheerleaders and this is Nisha, our best flyer."
Nisha whipped out her leg to kick her, but she couldn't reach. This caused more struggling to keep The Gregor between the three of them.
"Addison," Ned said just to her because obviously she was the weakest link between the two of them. He said, "I don't blame you guys for hating my guts and just wanting to probably punch me and go, but the team is all over and this little guy has to escape. Work with me and we'll meet back up again. Here..." Ned shifted, being careful to keep his arm locked around The Gregor's neck to keep him close as he reached into his pocket. He revealed his wallet, an old brown leather thing chipping at the sides.
"Take my wallet. We have to see each other again if you have that, right?"
"But where are you going next?" Nisha asked, noticing the lack of a plan.
"We don't know," Sam admitted. "We weren't able to find what we wanted."
Ned nodded. He furrowed his brow in thought. "We'll just have to meet up. Maybe..." He struggled to think of somewhere. "We'll meet up at the town square. There's a booth. The Jensen twins sell Hot chocolate and bad Advice."
"Crissy and Mitchell," Addison agreed. "Of course. Okay, but have you thought of how we're going to get rid of them?"
"No."
"I have," Sam chimed in. And because Hell froze over, Nisha and Addison listened to this plan, agreed to the plan, and actually let that gangly eight feet tall goober take The Gregor with him. Nisha finally threw the grass at the wind.
Somehow, she ended up with Ned's backpack, stuffed to the brim with a fake Gregor. One of Santa's elves would be missing, specifically one with a pointing red hat she's letting stick out at the top. She hid behind one of the Christmas light wrapped trees, waiting for the signal.
She could see Addison hiding behind the sleigh. She was still whispering to stupid Ned Flowers. Nisha never wanted to throttle her so much. This was even worse than the time Addison let the team eat out for buffet pizza before a game with more tumbles than usual. The track field was still stained in places.
And then, Addison caught her eye and smiled.
She winked. It's what she did before every competition. They'd lock eyes before they were about to perform and Addison would wink. Not only did it awaken a thousand butterflies in Nisha's stomach, but it also gave her the confidence to flip circles around the competition.
When Addison winked, Nisha winked back and took off down the walk. She'd done more running today than she had her entire life. Running behind her, Ned was shouting for the entire Christmas Walk to hear, "Stop! Stop her! She's getting away!"
"Ned Flowers!" Some huge dude yelled and by the cut of his jaw and the shape of his blonde hair, he had to be Chad. Chad yelled. "It's time to meet your maker!"
"I don't have him!" Ned begged, out of breath, and playing up his dopiness. It wasn't clear if he was acting or not. "She's got him. The cheerleaders—! Th-they got him."
Chad whipped his nose around like a bloodhound, locking eyes with Nisha. With a sly smile, Nisha stopped long enough to flip them all the bird. It wasn't a part of the plan either. Nisha just wanted to do it.
"Get her!" Chad announced and like that, a bunch of dude-bros eyed Nisha like she was the prettiest girl at the prom. Her destination was the car.
Even if she could make it past every single footballer, she wanted to get the car before Ned and Sam could make it back to their golf cart. Nisha trusted them as much as she trusted the integrity of gingerbread houses.
Running back through the tunnel of lights, a goon was at the end with his arms wide to catch her. She turned to find herself trapped.
Nisha shook her head and ran right through the circles of lights into the slick grass. Her foot slipped, but she righted herself using a close giant-sized candy cane.
A hand appeared through the lights, his fingers reaching for the top of Ned's backpack. Nisha ducked alongside her fallen stomach. Quickly, fumbling back into a run, Nisha flipped the bag around, so she had it hanging on her chest.
She cut through the walk, jumping a lit fence and over and through an army of tiny Christmas trees. The boys were fumbling behind, tripping and landed like chopped trees.
It took all of Nisha's willpower to not yell "Timber!"
Nisha jumped back onto the sidewalk when Chad appeared out of nowhere, lunging for the bag. He had a fistful of pleasure when Addison whacked the meat of his arm with a plastic candy cane.
"Let's go," Addison said and grabbed Nisha's hand, but Nisha tugged on her arm back.
"We need to talk."
"Now?" Addison's eyes went wide. She yanked on Nisha again, successfully pulling her into a run. This time Nisha was letting Addison do the leading because the only thing Nisha could focus on was Addie. Addison and the bright blonde hair spilling out of her bun, her furrowed brow when she was focusing really hard, and the grip of her soft hands.
"This really isn't a good time," Addison said as she faked out a footballer, bucking towards the land of vintage Christmas displays, but ran for a candy cane wonderland.
"There's never going to be a perfect time, Addie! Perfect doesn't exist. There's just this—" Nisha gestures wildly to the whole bright twinkling world around them. People were slowing down passing them to watch them run. Confusion laid in their wake. Rockin' Around the Christmas played softly in the background. "—and this has to be enough."
"I don't understand why you're mad."
"I'm not mad. I'm..." Nisha took a deep shuddering breath. "Addison, I haven't asked you to be my girlfriend—" Addison stumbled, eyes bulging out of her head "—because everyone told me you should've been the one to ask, so I've been waiting, but that's helped me learn to be impatient."
"Nisha—"
"You don't get it. I like you. I like you so much and that's what makes it special. If you had asked me that one time after practice when we stayed behind in the parking lot for hours... I would've always remembered the night Addison Backster asked me to be her girlfriend by my beat up red Hyundai Odyssey."
"But—"
Nisha helped up her finger, asking for a moment, asking to be heard. "If you asked me out at Cindy's party last month, I would've always correlated the taste of fruit punch to you for the rest of my life. Addie, just ask me and I'll always remember tonight as the night Addie asked me out by thousands of lights."
#
THE GREGOR
Essentially, this is a story about love. Love between friends. Love that you fight to have for yourself. Love for people you don't even know. This story is also about Addison and Nisha and the night they'll both remember for the rest of their lives of how they got together.
I'm so proud of them.
I was really rooting for those kids.
#
NISHA
"Nisha, I—"
"Ah, ha!" Chad announced. He grabbed the strap off Nisha's shoulder and pulled, when Addison's reaction was to grab on. The two pulling tore the bag in tow and had gasped. "Oh, shit! I'm so sorry."
The elf inside plopped down at everybody's feet. It rolled until it stared straight up at them with a permanently cheesy expression. No long curly beard. Definitely no sunglasses.
With the jig up, Nisha left the broken backpack and dashed for the parking lot. She outrun everyone, faster than Chad could even process what was going on.
"What?" Nisha breathed, the cold air entering her lungs on beds of hot embers. Painful heat spider webbed throughout her chest as she came upon the golf cart completely empty. "Where?"
She looked around and saw that dumb gangly Ned Flowers tripping over himself to get to a blue sedan at the end of the parking lot. He was halfway through the car door, when Ned turned and spotted her. He smiled and held Gregor up, like they were waving goodbye together.
Nisha stood there in confusion as she became a rock in a stream as footballers ran around her to their cars. Just to end up in the line to get out. Christmas music in the background.
"Nisha," Addison said in the softest voice possible, but that was when it hit her. Nisha reached into Addison's pocket and took out Ned's wallet. She opened it.
No idea. No cards. No cash. Just coupon and punch cards for free food or ice cream his next visit, so even that couldn't be sacred anymore.
"DAMN YOU NED FLOWERS!" Nisha roared and chucked the wallet after them. Coupons fluttered out and feathered to the ground like sad confetti. She watched him skid off to who knows where with only god knows who. Still with The Gregor in tow. Nisha felt like an over-inflated balloon about to pop any second from the running, the adrenaline, the anger, the embarrassment, and her first confession ever.
When Addison arrived at her side.
Took her hand and smiled. "Nisha?"
"Yes, Addie?"
Addison's confidence returned. She was all squared shoulders and a fiery expression. This was Nisha's Captain. "I like you." Addison squeezed her hand. "A lot. And when I call you while you're visiting your family in Florida, I don't wanna call you as a friend. I wanna call you as your girlfriend. Will you date me? Will you give me your time? Will you kiss me, if I ask?"
"Yes," Nisha said, despite shaking her head. The disbelief sparkled in her wet brown eyes. "Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes, to everything."
Leaning over, Addison pressed a kiss to her lips and Nisha found herself being dipped. They didn't not move as more jocks ran past them. They did not react to security waving them all away. She did not care about the noise or anything else.
The only thing in this world that existed, that felt alive was passing between their lips. Nisha cradled Addison's cold face, curling her fingers around her neck to keep her here. Nisha turned her face and kissed Addison not like the girl who had a crush on Addison, but as Addison's girlfriend. Nisha kissed her like a new world had opened up.
Nisha planned on never going back.
AUTHOR'S NOTE
Hell yeah, ANOTHER confession! Let's get all these queers together! I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter. Writing action scenes usually take me two million years to write (not to be dramatic), but this came out pretty easy. Maybe it was the lesbian-of-it-all. Lol.
Don't forget to tell me what you think! Would you consider this night a date for Ned and Sam? If not, what should be their first date? And Nisha finally confessed!! Thoughts on the confession???
If you like this book, I have two others and a short story talking about my coming out process! They're all super good. Would recommend!