December 25th
Nova sat annoyed in the living room in her parents' house and played with her nieces and nephew. Christmas was the same for her every year, she spent it with her sisters children.
Her sister Adriana is with her husband Johnny, her brother Diego with his fiancee Linda. They and their parents sat at the table and talked while they drank wine.
And Nova sat with the kids on a separate table. Not because she had to, but she didn't want to just be around couples. The children were more pleasant to talk to than these people who couldn't stop to kiss each other.
The next time there was a ring at the door, her aunt Alba came in with a man Nova had never seen before.
"Hi dear family, that's Robert" her aunt Alba said proudly.
"Uh Alba, who is that?" Novas Mom asked confused.
"My holidate"
"What the fuck is a holidate?" Nova asked even more confused. And then her aunt explained her everything about it.
It's about being each other's platonic plus-ones on holidays, so you don't have to feel alone.
December 28th, 2018
Annoyed, Nova stood in her mom's flower shop. Her mother asked her to help out. Normally there is not much going on just after Christmas. Most business is on Valentine's Day or Mother's Day anyway. But Nova's parents took the first plane to the Dominican Republic the day after Christmas. And Nova was left with no choice but to say yes.
She actually assumed that nothing exciting would happen today. At least in her shop. Outside of the shop would be another thing. Because the flower shop was in a mall, and being in malls the days after Christmas is the dumbest fucking thing someone can do.
But she was wrong, because just one hour later, a bad-tempered man came into the flower shop and made a scene. A big fucking scene.
He wanted to return a bouquet of flowers and get the money back. Although he had bought the bouquet ten days ago and it was already a bit wilted.
"I'm really sorry Sir, but I can't take the bouquet back" she told him, which just made him even more mad.
"Oh you can't? Or you don't want to? Because you just have to reach into the fucking cash register and give me my money back" he replied.
"Sir, I told you before. I can't take the bouquet back. You bought it ten days ago. It's already a bit wilted"
"I don't care. Thanks to this fucking bouquet, my wife found out about my affair. So at least I want my damn money back!" he yelled at her.
Nova had to suppress a grin. Some people really don't care that they're oversharing everything about their life to some stranger.
"Well, I don't see how this is my fault" she said back, then decided to ignore him and water the flowers.
"Because I bought this bouquet in this shop!" he screamed at her and threw the bouquet at her. But at least he missed her.
"That doesn't give you the right to throw a fuckin' wilted bouquet at me or yell at me!" she said back.
"You dumb Bitch don't tell me what do to!" he replied and came closer to her.
Until suddenly another man stepped between them.
"Hey easy, what's your problem?" he asked the furious man.
As the two men began to argue, Nova watched the man defending her. She didn't know him at all, but she immediately liked him. He was wearing a cap and a denim shirt. He had brown hair, a beard and really dark eyes. He was actually really handsome.
And while she was watching the man, he threw the other man out of the shop.
"Are you okay?" he asked her then.
"Uh yes, thank you" she replied perplexed.
"What a fucking idiot" he said with a grin.
"Yeah for real, he wanted his money back for this ten day old bouquet, because his wife found out he cheated. Like that's my fault?" she replied with a chuckle.
"Well I guess everyone is going crazy at Christmas time" he told her.
"Yep, I agree with you. But I would have to ask you to go too. Because I don't feel like working anymore and now I'll get me a pretzel" she said with a grin.
"You want company? I think I'd also like a pretzel"
"Uh yeah sure" she replied and then they left the shop together. She locked the door behind her and they got two pretzels.
"So you don't really like Christmas?" she asked him while they walked through the mall, eating their pretzels.
"I really liked Christmas as a kid, before I realized it was a big scam"
"Yeah" she replied with a chuckle.
"Christmas peaked for me at about ten. I got this bike that I really wanted to have"
"My best Christmas was when I was 5 and I got ice skates. I wanted to became a professional figure skater. And then I broke my leg two days later" she told him with a grin.
The man was about to say something when they were interrupted, "Hey Nova!"
Nova turned around confused, and then saw the man dressed as Santa waving at her. No fucking way, of course her aunts holidate was the Santa at the Mall.
"Oh god" she mumbled and stood behind the man with the pretzel to hide.
"Is that an ex-boyfriend of yours or something?" he asked with a grin.
"What? No, that's the guy my aunt brought home for Christmas"
"Tell your aunt Alba to call me, yeah?" the guy dressed as Santa said.
As the Pretzel man looked at Nova in confusion, she began to explain, "He was her holidate"
"Wait, what's a holidate?" he asked, even more confused.
"Just some guy she picked up at the mall to spend christmas with" Nova explained.
"Wait - just christmas or all holidays?" he asked back.
"Easter, New Year's, .. She's an equal opportunity holi-dater" she said with a grin.
"That's exactly what I need for New Year's Eve. I need a holidate" the man told her.
"Well you can try, but this late in the game, he's probably already booked" Nova replied with a grin.
"No. Seriously, I am done casually dating on the holidays. There's way too much pressure, it's ridiculous. And I always end up being the asshole at the end of the day, anyway"
"Yeah? Well you kinda sound like a manwhore now. But try being the only single person left in your family. It's like every time I walk into a room, I'm showered in a sea of pity and sad glances. I mean why is everyone so suspicious of a happy, single woman?" she asked while eating her pretzel.
"Because you're obviously not happy"
"Uh, yes I am" she told him with a chuckle.
"No, you're not. Human beings aren't meant to be alone on the holidays. We actually need warmth, companionship and someone to drunk-mock strangers with at parties"
"Yeah I do enjoy drunk-mocking strangers at parties" she replied with a laugh.
"Well, then, this is perfect! We can be each others holidate for New Year's Eve"
Nova chuckled, "Uh I don't even know you, so.. No" she said and walked back to the shop.
"Well that's what makes it perfect. Cause there's no pressure. There's no expectations" he said as he went after her.
"Goodbye" she replied with a grin and unlocked the door of the flower shop.
"Okay, wait a sec, you just said that you're tired of all the sad glances and looking pathetic"
"I said pity - not pathetic" she replied and crossed her arms.
"I'm invited to a rooftop party by a friend. It's public, so there'll be a lot of people. In case you don't trust me, you know. But you can only go when you're invited. And I happen to have two invitations" he told her with a grin.
"Hm I don't know, you could be some psychotic serial killer"
"Really? Do I like like one?" he asked back surprised.
"Ah to be honest yes. You wanna protect your identity with the cap? You know you'd still need a pair of sunglasses then"
He took off his cap and straightened his hair, "Better?"
"Yeah, but I still don't know"
"Well it's on a rooftop in the Hilton Hotel. So I'm pretty sure you'd be safe there"
"Really? That sounds kinda nice"
"Oh come on, then just say yes"
"Ugh"
"I just wanna go, I wanna relax, have a few drinks. Not worry about my date going batshit crazy if I don't drop a knee at midnight"
"What makes you sure I'm not batshit?"
"I just know" he replied and Nova started to grin.
"I'm Javier, by the way" he told her and held out his hand.
"Nova" she said and shook his hand.
"Nice to meet you, Nova. Here's my number" he said and took a pen out of a pocket, with which he then wrote his phone number on the pretzel's paper and handed it to her.
"Still don't know you"
"Just think about it, and text me"
"Nah I won't text you" she replied with a grin and got back into the flower shop.
☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ
Yup, I started another fic. But I'm really excited about this one.
What do you think?
And yeah their conversation was (obviously) similar to the one in Holidate, but the rest of the fic will not have that much in common with the film. (except of course the concept of a holidate)