A Candy Cane Christmas

Chapter 1

"Dad! Have you seen my sweatshirt?!" Melody fumbled around her closet, moving her clothes apart to inspect every article hanging on each hanger. She wasn't one for late packing, in fact any other vacation she would've been seated in the car by now, switching through the stations in order to find one playing a decent Christmas song. But this vacation was different, and upon realizing she hadn't packed her missing sweatshirt, all hell had broken lose since seven A.M.
Now realizing it was 10:15 with a flight being ready for take off at 11:00, Melody groaned and made her way around disarrayed suitcases with unfolded clothes seeping out to the doorway.
"Dad, hello!?" She called, her voice echoing back. A pause, then footsteps creaked up the stairs and her Dad appeared. He had on a black Metallica T-shirt with dark blue jeans and worn out black Converse. Mel eyed him up and down. "That's what you're wearing?"
Her father shrugged. "We're going to Ohio, not New York Fashion Week. Now, can you grab the keys and find a good station?"
Melody frowned. "I'm not done packing," shs admitted. He raised an eyebrow. "I really need that sweatshirt. It's Grandma Jane's favorite."
"The OSU one? Why would you wear that, I thought it was in the back of your closet for being an-"
"Overpriced sweatshirt I could've made for 20 less dollars, yeah, I know," she finished. "But that was before Mom moved there." Her Dad's joking smile faltered while his eyes shifted and he crossed his arms with a sigh. "I just wanna show my support early."
"Early?"
"Yeah, in case we move there." He opened his mouth slightly, before the recognition settled in. He started to say something but a chime nearby interrupted. His eyes glanced down his watch and mumbled something.
"Flights gonna arrive a little earlier then expected, so finish packing and I'll meet you in the car."
Mel slumped against the doorframe. Not only did she not have her sweatshirt, she had no doubt in her mind that her father was looking at this vacation as a 'goodbye' rather than a 'hello.' But she wouldn't give up. Even though she hasn't managed to find her sweatshirt-she vowed to herself as she stuffed the clothes deep enough to zip up the suitcases, she would find someway to make her parents fall back in love.

                                    🎄🎄🎄

"Is it that one?"
Melody was saddened to say that their vacation was already off to a rocky start, and she hadn't even began to plan how she was going to get her parents back together.
Everything was going fine until they got to baggage check and she only found 3 of her 4 Kate Spade suitcases.
"No, it's black and gold, that's black and silver, Dad."
He grimaced, running a hand through his hair as he scanned the carousel again.
"What about that one?" Mel glanced over to where his finger was pointed. She frowned. Her dad was either colorblind or delusional.
"That's brown."
"Really? Cause it doesn't look very brown to me. What!?" He exclaimed as Mel shot him a look. "It could pass as a murky black. I hear that's very in style."
"Ha, ha," she muttered. She turned around and examined the airport. Surrounded by busy people going in and out of the double doors in the middle of the floor was a man dressed in a red suit with black pants and a  gold pin on the left side she could barely make out.
Upon reaching him, she could make out the faint small black font plastered on.
"Hey.... William."
His lips spread into a smile as he extended his hand. His eyes crinkled with wisdom and age in the corner, although he didn't look a day over 50. "Hello, Miss. How may I help you?"
Mel shook it hastily, glancing over her shoulder at the baggage claim. No sign of her suitcase.
"I can't find my suitcase. It's black and gold."
His brows furrowed and he looked behind her at the baggage claim. "What flight were you on?"
"The one P.M Florida flight."
"Hm," he grumbled. "You should've found your luggage by now." His hands wrapped around the walkie talkie and as he started reporting over a faint crackle, she glanced over her shoulder again. Still not sight of her luggage, and now people she didn't recognize from their flight were going up and collecting their suitcases.
"You got a tag on it?" Mel snapped around and nodded.
"Yeah, it's pink." So it would be hard to miss. Her Mom really did think of everything.
"Metts, you see any black and gold suitcases with a pink tag?" He asked into the walkie talkie. She couldn't make out anything on the other side through the periodic static, but she guessed whoever Metts was had seen it cause William's eyebrows raised.
He pulled away from the walkie talkie.
"A guy in the McDonald's line has it."
"A guy- " she stuffed down her surprise and instead thanked William before jogging over to her Dad.
"A guy has it." His eyebrows raised. "He's in the McDonald's line, come on." She whipped around and sped towards the McDonalds. There's no way some guy mistook her Kate Spade suitcase as his own, so she could only prepare herself for the worse. A thief, a burglar, a robber with a gun?
When they reached the Mcdonalds she fished out her suitcase quickly. But it was the owner that stopped her in her tracks. Unfortunately, her Dad wasn't as flabbergasted and walked right up to a guy around her age, with a mop of brown hair that brought out the ivy green in his eyes. She noticed his clothing next. He was wearing a Christmas sweater that wouldn't have looked good on anyone else besides him. It looked so good she could make out a hint of his biceps underneath. The black skinny jeans paired with his black Converse that looked fresh out the box made her Dad's own similar fit look like an after-thought.
"You have my daughter's suitcase," her Dad barked from behind the rope. The people in line glanced around, side-eyeing this thirty something man comforting this unsuspecting teenager.
The guy blinked slowly at her Dad before his eyes shifted over to her lingering behind him. She took a step back and plastered on a smile. Her mind had expected an older guy, taller too, who maybe had stolen her suitcase in hopes of maxing out her credit cards.
Instead, she had found a confused guy with eyes the color of a forest lit by a sunny warmth that made you want to invision a Taylor Swift music video. But suddenly, it kicked in that this suitcase was one of her cherished gifts from the last Christmas her parents had spent together-happy and satisfied with their marriage.
"Yeah," she said, stepping up. "What are you doing with it?"
The guy looked from her to the suitcase, to her Dad, and back to the suitcase hanging limply against his leg.
"Sorry," he finally said, looking back up. "It looked like the suitcase..." The guy trailed off before raising an eyebrow. "You sure it's yours?"
Mel couldn't help as a scoff escaped her. Was this guy really questioning if she knew her own suitcase? As if she wanted to be here confronting this guy just for the fun of it?
"That's mine," she snapped. "Check the name."
"Well, what's your name?" She couldn't believe the amount of stupid questions this guy was asking. Why would she confront him about getting her suitcase back, if it wasn't hers to begin with? But she played along, finding herself amused at the thought of his face when he realized it was hers along.
"Melody J. Rogers," she replied cooly. This guy was in for the greatest shock of his life when the realization settled that he had stolen her suitcase.
He twirled the suitcase to the front and leaned down to examine the name tag. When he stood up he sighed and gave a small smirk.
She raised an eyebrow.
"Sorry, nice try, but it's not yours."
Nice try!? What did he mean? And more-so, how was it not hers? How many Kate Spade suitcases with pink tags could there be in this airport of about 500 people?
"It's obviously mine," she retorted. The guy grabbed the handle and replaced the next person in line. She moved to the side and crossed her arms before noticing she hadn't bumped into her Dad. Mel turned over her shoulder and found her father conversing with William. She met the guy with her own smirk.
"I hope you're proud of yourself for taking someone's suitcase."
The guy looked forward and shook his head with an amused smile. "It's my suitcase." His head swiveled. "But I hope you're proud of yourself for having your Dad tattle on me."
A startled laugh escaped her lips. "I hope they have airport prisons, and if they don't, I hope you're the reason they make some."
"Fine by me." The guy said with a shrug. His eyes met hers as he added, "I look good in orange."
She stared back at him with a loss of words. The only thing she could do was think about how perfectly aligned his gleaming white teeth were.
"Mel, we found your suitcase!" She snapped out of her thoughts and turned around, her stomach dropping at the sight of an identical suitcase. Only it was being held by the handle by her Dad. "Now say 'bye' and let's go, we have an hour drive ahead of us!"
She watched her Dad start towards the exit.
There's no way there were two of the same suitcases with the same pink tag in the same airport.
Mel knew how this looked. Stupid, arrogant, and absolutely embarrassing. She had to get out of there as fast as her legs would allow.
As if they had a mind of their own she began to follow after her dad out the door before her name echoed from behind. When she turned around, she was met by a familiar smirk and the forestry eyes that hint at a unsettling brown underneath.
"Aren't you gonna say 'bye'?"
Melody fumbled with the way the word taste on her tongue. She wouldn't bring herself to say it to a guy she wanted to forget as soon as possible.
"My name's Ethan Walker, by the way. Pretty sure you'll be hearing it again."
Melody didn't know what he meant, or when she would ever hear it again. She didn't even want to see him ever again. So, instead of spending another minute getting his figure ingrained in her memory, she turned around and followed after her Dad like a scolded puppy.