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I peered into the top and laughed when I saw the edges of some DVD cases.Pulling them out, I said, “A movie afternoon, huh?That sounds good.”Unsure what she’d picked, I took a look through.In front of me wereHome Alone, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Miracle on 34thStreet,andHook.“Oh, wow.I don’t think I’ve watched a Christmas movie since I was a teenager.”
Nova smiled.“We won’t have time to watch them all today, but we can manage one or two before one of you throws me out.Also, I knowHookisn’t technically a Christmas movie, but we did watch it at Christmas, so it counts.”
“I remember.”We’d also pretended to be pirates afterwards and had pretend swordfights in my grandad’s kitchen.After a pause, I added, “Although...Nan has taken over the TV in the living room, so...”Disappointment crossed her face.“There’s a DVD player and a TV in my room, though.”My face twisted into a questioning kind of grimace.Asking a girl who usually disliked me to my room was weird, but she was the one who’d come at me with old-fashioned technology.With Netflix and Disney Plus, people watched DVDs less.It occurred to me we could watch at least some of the movies on the subscription streaming apps on my iPad, but we’d still need somewhere comfortable to sit.
Her eyes widened for a second, and again, that blush crept up her cheeks.I wasn’t sure she knew the setup of my nan’s spare room, but there was a double bed in there, and very little space for much else aside from the chest of drawers the TV and DVD player stood on.On the plus side, the screen was at least reasonably sized.However, the lack of space meant the only place to sit was the bed.
“We could just go over to my house,” she suggested, her questioning grimace matching mine.
I wondered what was causing the red tint to her cheeks.There was not a single hint that she was into me, so I was pretty sure it wasn’t that.She’d had at least one boyfriend before because she’d mentioned him when we were talking about travelling, so she definitely wasn’t new to being alone with a man.Maybe it was simply about the potential awkwardness of being on a bed with a virtual stranger.
“But we’re already here,” I pointed out.“And it’s easier for me to get upstairs than put my shoe on and go around to yours.”
Nova shrugged.“I suppose that’s true.”With a nod, she said, “Okay, upstairs it is.”
As I used my crutches to help me get to my feet, Nova put the small pile of DVDs back into the bag and picked it up, and I poked my head around the door to tell my nan what we were doing.It felt fucking ridiculous, like I was a teenager asking for permission to take my girlfriend to my room.I half expected her to tell me to leave the door open, but instead, she just raised an eyebrow and nodded.
It took me a bit longer than usual to get up the stairs, but once we were there, I pointed to the door that led to my room, and Nova opened it and stepped inside.For an older person’s house, the room was pretty modern.The walls were a deep blue, and the wall behind the bed had matching dark blue wallpaper with large black and white feathers all over it.Thick blue curtains hung over the windows, and the quilt cover was white with dark blue feathers on.
“This is cute,” Nova said, looking around.“I’ve never been in here before.”
“Just as well I don’t have much stuff, though,” I said.“Not much storage space.”
She laughed.“Yeah.My spare room is an office, though there is a sofa bed that will just about fit in around my desk.”
Having just watched her take off those boots, an inappropriate thought about her on a desk crossed my mind, and I pushed it away as fast as it had arrived.
I shouldn’t be thinking about her that way.
“You okay?”she asked.
“Yeah.”I shook my head.“Sorry.I was just thinking about...snacks.”
A wide smile crossed her face as she held up the bag.“I have snacks in here.”
“You thought of everything.”
“I tried to.Why don’t you get settled and I’ll get the movie set up.What do you want to watch first?”
“You choose,” I said, sitting down on the bed and leaning my crutches against the bedside table.
She nodded, and I shuffled across the bed while she pulled outThe Nightmare Before Christmas.She’d picked the shortest movie by far, and I wondered if that was so she didn’t have to stay in my room for too long.Maybe weshouldhave gone to her place.I wasn’t totally lying when I said going there would have been more challenging, but a bigger part of me wanted to see how she was around me when it was just the two of us and a movie.Neither of us talking or focusing on going somewhere.
In less than a minute, the movie menu screen was on the TV, and she sat down on the bed, placing the remote between us and then grabbing the bag of DVDs and snacks towards her.She put that between us too, creating a decent barrier, although I wasn’t sure if it was deliberate.She’d shown no signs that she was fighting to keep her hands off me, and she wasn’t uncomfortable around me either.
Maybe you’re reading too much into this.
I probably was.Spending so much time alone allowed me to watch people.Analyse them.But Nova didn’t need analysing.She didn’t have any weird ulterior motive for being around me.She’d made what she wanted perfectly clear in the note she’d written.And while I still didn’t believe she had a hope in hell of getting me to believe in Christmas magic again, being around her was definitely making this trip in the UK more bearable.
Nova pulled out a gigantic bag of popcorn followed by a bar of Galaxy and a bar of Dairy Milk.A flash of another memory flickered in my mind.Of a young Nova and me sitting on my grandad’s sofa next to each other, giggling with glee because her mum had popped in with a bar of chocolate each for us.Galaxy was Nova’s favourite and Dairy Milk was mine.We’d sat there watching Christmas films, breaking off pieces of chocolate and working up to a massive sugar high.We’d had several afternoons like that.Sometimes with popcorn and sometimes with chocolate.
“In my defence,” Nova began, “I bought all these snacks not knowing we would have eaten a massive lunch before you picked the movie thing.So, if you’re full, you can eat the chocolate later.I’m diving into the popcorn, though.”
Shaking my head, I said, “How did you remember all this?”
“Honestly, I’d forgotten most of it until I had this idea to help you appreciate life back here and remember what Christmases used to be like.”She shrugged.“I know I probably seem like some Christmas-obsessed weirdo, but I’m not.And I’m also fully aware we’re grown adults and this is all kinds of silly.But you’re so serious a lot of the time.I don’t pretend to know why, or if there are reasons for that, but I do know it’s not good for you to always be so focused on getting to the next place.To not stop and see what is right in front of you.I’m not trying to recreate our childhood.I just wanted to show you that letting loose and doing something mindless is okay.”
She looked a little uncomfortable, like she believed I’d been judging her and thinking she was a nutcase who only wanted to do seasonal activities and nothing else mattered.
