Her Name Was December

Day 19

Greyson groaned and rolled around in his bed as his phone vibrated harshly against his dresser. Moonlight glinted in through the shutters and called him back to sleep. He curled up and sighed, holding the covers tight to his chest. His mouth hung open and his breaths were deep and even as he started to drift off again.

Just as the clutches of sleep were pulling him in, his phone rang again. He angrily threw the covers off of him and sighed as he sat up to look at the screen.

The calls were coming from an unknown number, so he scoffed and pressed the decline button as he lowered himself back into his bed. The caller was persistent, though, and the phone rang again.

He answered in frustration, scratching the back of his head and muttering an angry "Hello?"

"Hello."

"December?"

"Yep."

Greyson sat up a bit too briskly and sat there dizzily as the dark faded from his eyes. "How... Where are you calling from?"

"The telephone booth. Duh." she said, sounding irritated.

"We have a phone booth?" he sighed, rubbing his face.

December giggled, and the sound of her pulling on the telephone cord echoed into Greyson's ear. "God, Greyson. I've learned more about this town in under a month than you have in nineteen years."

Greyson would have blushed, but he was too tired.

"Hey, you have the morning shift again, don't you? Why don't you call in to work sick today?" December said. Greyson tried to question her, but she cut him off before he was able to utter a word. "Just do it. I'll see you at the bakery in fifteen minutes."

And with that, the call ended, and Greyson was left in the dark to listen to the buzz of his idle cell phone.

* * *

Precisely fifteen minutes later, Greyson was scurrying down the sidewalk toward the bakery. The weather in the morning of January 6th was very different from that of the day before. The sun hadn't risen yet, but the winter air was still and the absence of wind made the light of the moon feel warm against his skin.

As he approached the window, the smell of fresh-baked sweets overtook him. His face flushed when he saw December admiring the pastries inside. She was hunched over, peering excitedly into the display counter with the bright eyes of a child.

It was always those eyes.

She perked up when the cashier rung up her order. With a faint smile, she walked away, balancing a baker's dozen of cupcakes in one hand and a coffee in the other, holding a second cup between her chin and the box.

Greyson smiled at the sight and turned away from the window before December could spot him. When she came out, he immediately took the coffees from her as they exchanged hellos. December didn't waste any time. She walked right by Greyson and signaled for him to follow her. As he hurried to catch up with her, he sipped from the cup that wasn't graced by the smudge of her lip gloss.

"Where are we going?" he asked.

December shushed him and walked even faster, saying "Come on!"

She led him to a side street where she pulled out a set of car keys. The lights of an old, light blue pickup truck flashed to life at the press of a button. Greyson slid into the passenger seat nervously as December dug through piles of books and dusty blankets in the back seat to make room for the cupcakes.

"Um, December?" Greyson asked, "It's five in the morning. Why did you buy a box of cupcakes and where are we going with them?"

December scoffed as if she was disappointed in his stupidity. "If you've never had a cupcake for breakfast, you have not lived. Be patient." she said, giving the truck some gas.

Greyson got increasingly anxious as December effortlessly drove into twisting back roads he never knew existed, sipping her coffee. It wasn't that he didn't trust her, it was the fact that he trusted her so much that scared him the most. The way his stomach fluttered as he took a ride with a pretty girl in her pickup truck seemed very unmasculine and pathetic, and he knew this is something he would never admit to Michael.

After a few minutes, December backed up and parked in a place that was most definitely what she described as, "The Hill." The Hill was more like a mountain in the back of town, and from where they were parked, you could see all of downtown Fenton Woods and beyond, with lights of far away cities glittering in the horizon. The sky was a gradient from black to blue, as the sun fought for it's place above Fenton and the peaceful moon held it's ground.

Greyson was entranced by the sight, but December moved as though the view didn't impress her. While Greyson stared in awe outside the passenger door, she grabbed the cupcakes from the back and carried her coffee to the bed of the truck, where blankets were already strewn messily around the floor. She climbed in and called to Greyson, and his heart pounded as he sat down next to her. She pulled a blanket over her bottom half without offering one to Greyson, whose hands shook nervously as he looked down at the white box of sweets between them.

As he reached for it, December finally spoke. "Hey!" she said, "Slow down, speedy."

Greyson gulped as his heart pounded out of his chest. He sat awkwardly in the cold, looking back out into the horizon. With the lights of the shops shining below and puffs of smoke pillowing out of chimneys, he had never seen his small hometown so beautiful. The same was true about December. No matter how many times he's thought he'd seen December at her best, the light of both the stars and the sun over her delicate features had a way of making her glow.

As the first glimpse of the sun peaked in the distance, the sky twisted into a pool of pink and orange, and over December's face spread the first genuine smile Greyson had ever seen. Sunlight glistened off of her teeth and found a way into her eyes, and in that moment, Greyson knew this was the first time he had ever seen her truly happy.

They sat there in silence as the sun rose, and when over half of the sun had broken the horizon, December opened the box between them and took out a cupcake with light yellow frosting, handing one to Greyson with lips pressed into a smile.

"Cheers." she said, tapping her cupcake against his and staring back at the sunrise as she bit into the cake.

Greyson held it in his lap, without taking his eyes off of December. He studied her wonderful eyes, and the bit of frosting as she licked it from her lip, and the golden strands of hair that fell from her braid and framed her face in soft waves. She was even more beautiful than the sunrise that she was so entranced with, and he could only hope that the sight of the sun brought her nearly as much happiness as the sight of her did for him.

"You see?" December asked, pointing at the sun. "Right there, that's my favorite color. Isn't it just magical?"

Greyson's face was as red as the sky, and his voice broke softly as he spoke. "Yeah... Magical." he said, still fixed on the lines of her face.

He cleared his throat and averted his gaze back at the sunrise, sipping his black coffee that seemed so boring compared to the colors of the sky and the mind of the girl he loved. "Um. This isn't a date, is it?" he asked in almost a whisper.

December laughed and looked over at him. "Are you kidding? No, no." she said, shaking her head. The thought seemed to amuse her, and she stared back over the Hill again, still giggling.

"What would you call it, then?" he asked, a bit hurt.

December shrugged. "I don't know. What would you call it?"

Greyson stared back over the city to hide the disappointment on his face. "Two friends, watching an especially romantic sunrise with cupcakes and coffee in an entirely platonic manner."

She laughed again and turned her head to face him. "Oh, Grey. We're not friends. Acquaintances, at most."