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“No, this is somethingforChristmas,” she says, ruffling in her bag for the gifts, “If we’re still together for the actual holiday, I’ll get you something else.”
“We’ll still be together at Christmas,” I confirm unequivocally.
Clearly, she doesn’t understand that there’s no getting out of this anytime soon for her. It may have taken me a while to admit it to myself, but I’m sure now.
It’s about time I made it crystal clear to her as well.
“Come,” I say, grabbing her hand and taking her to a drink stand, “I owe you some mulled wine.”
“Wait, don’t you want to open your gift?” She asks with a cute little frown.
I ignore her and turn towards the guy manning the checkout.
“Bonsoir. Vous parlez anglais?” I ask him. When he nods, I add, “Great. I’ll have a hot cider with whiskey,” I look at Thayer who’s standing right next to me. She meets my gaze and smiles, trying to conceal the hurt on her face. “And a mulled wine for my girlfriend, please.”
I hand him my card as her eyes widen and her lips part slightly in surprise.
“Now, I’d like to open my gift.” I tell her with a smirk.
“I don’t understand. I thought–”
“I know what you thought and you’re not wrong,” I cut in, “Part of me still rejects the idea of falling in love. I truly don’t want to open myself back up to that kind of pain again so I can’t say that I know what the future holds.” I tell her, hooking my index in her jacket pocket and using it to pull her closer to me, “But I do know that my present is centered around you. Around spending time with you. Around finding ways to surprise you and make you laugh. And I want to see where we go from here because if anyone can make me open up again, it’s you. It’s been you since the beginning. I want us to be official,” I add, “So, no, I don’t want to see other people and yes, we will be together at Christmas.”
“What about New Year’s?” She asks, jokingly, her eyes shining with barely concealed joy.
I brush a strand of hair off of her face and behind her ear, as I lean in to kiss her.
“Tell everyone you’re taken for the midnight kiss.”
I can feel her lips stretch into a smile as she melts into me and returns the kiss. The shopkeeper’s pointed cough breaks us apart. He motions at us to take our drinks and go so he can move on to other customers.
“So you’re asking me to be your girlfriend?” She asks, taking a sip of her wine.
“No, Silver. I’d ask if I was willing to accept any other answer except ‘yes’, but I’m not. I’m telling you I’m your boyfriend now.”
“You don’t want to know what my answer is though?” She teases, taking a step backwards as she brings the wine to her lips again.
“Give me thirty seconds and I can have you chanting that one word into next week. I know what your answer is.”
“I guess you’ll never know forsurethough.” She muses with a shrug and another step backwards. “I thought you’d want to hear me say the words to you, but clearly I was wrong.”
She’s backed up into the space between the abutted backs of two rows of the little wooden chalets. There’s no direct lighting, the bulbs facing towards the stands themselves, so the area is relatively dark amongst the thousands of lights.
I follow her step for step, growling at her joking words. Of course I know her answer is yes, I know that. But now that she’s made it a challenge, made it something she holds back from me, well, I want it.
No, worse.
“I need to hear you say it now.” I growl.
She comes to a stop as her back hits the backside of one of the chalets and I step up to her until we’re standing chest to chest. She looks up at me and gives me another teasing smile as my palms come down on either side of her head.
“Oh no, it’s too late–” She starts, but the words die on her tongue when I clasp her neck with my right hand.
“Don’t play with me.” I warn.
She darts her tongue out and licks my lips and, fuck, if she’s not careful she’s going to get fucked in public again.
“Tell me.” I demand, my voice coming out gravelly.
