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The two of us worked silently at first, aware of what was expected of us and what we had to accomplish in the next few hours.
It was easy enough not to say a word to her since I was still angry with her for trying to dig up whatever she could about me over something so trivial. And to go to my best friend, asking him questions under the guise of an ambitious reporter looking to boost a local entrepreneur’s business. It was low of her, and I didn’t know how to feel about the entire ordeal.
Regardless, she was just as furious.
The sorting took longer than I thought due to the sheer volume of toys, and as time dragged on much slower than I had hoped, I couldn’t ignore how painful the silence was. It drove me insane.
Testing the waters, I murmured, “This is a lot of gifts. The event hasn’t even started yet.”
To no surprise at all, Cora only hummed her acknowledgment. She didn’t even try to sound interested in the slightest. She was still bitter and obviously couldn’t put it aside for our volunteer hours.
Reminding myself it wasn’t worth it, I tried to ignore her half-assed response.
No matter how quiet I stayed or how I tried to de-escalate the situation, things were undeniably tense, and that mutual irritation was palpable.
It wasn’t how I wanted it to go at all. Not even remotely close. But Cora didn’t seem to care.
As I grabbed an item and placed it on a chunk of wrapping paper, she was busy preparing another gift on her side of the table. She'd huff or sigh each time she moved the paper and secured it with tape.
It got to the point where I couldn’t handle it any longer. She was driving me insane, whether she knew it or not.
“If you’re not going to talk to me, can you at least keep your frustration to yourself?”
Immediately, Cora turned to me, scowling. “Am I inconveniencing you again?” She muttered under her breath, at least attempting to keep her voice down.
Scoffing, I didn’t want to back down, regardless of how petty it felt. “Yes, you are. We’re here to volunteer, not bicker with each other.”
“Yeah? Then why did you start with me?”
My annoyance flared again, and I forced it down as best as I could. “You were the one huffing and puffing about nothing at all.”
“Oh, right, because I’m the one who overreacts to everything!”
I wanted to slap a hand over her mouth so badly to get her to shut up since we weren’t exactly in the ideal place to argue. But instead, I shook my head.
“You’re unbelievable.”
“I can say the same thing about you,” she spat, backing up to put some space between us. “This isn’t going to work.”
But Cora stepped back too far and bumped into the tower of toys we had stacked to the one side, immediately making it sway. Realizing her mistake, she tried to spring up and grab the boxes, but the force was too much, and the stack toppled over.
Unable to help it, the presents fell, crashing to the floor.
We both froze, afraid we had just ruined Christmas for some families in need.
Nearby volunteers looked at us, likely wondering what was going on. They murmured, and Cora’s cheeks turned red.
I tried not to cringe despite the embarrassment, and we both went to evaluate the damages.
“Nice going,” I mumbled, stepping to the side as I picked up a box, only to realize the contents were intact and secure.
“Shut up,” she said under her breath, already reaching for the toys.
“Is everything all right over here?”
Before everything could be fixed, Sienna was there, watching us with slight concern.
I glanced at Cora as my mind raced at a mile a minute. It was my chance to tell Sienna that our working together was the worst plan imaginable and that we needed to switch.
