Random thoughts and One-shots

Mistletoe Menace 🌶️

It was a day. Who were you kidding? It had been a week from hell. The craziness of the holiday season had commenced and instead of people being overtaken with joy and holiday cheer, people were being complete and utter assholes. As if working in retail wasn't hard enough, it only got worse the closer the countdown to Christmas got.

Your day started with you spilling your coffee all over your shirt, you being 5 minutes late because you had to change your shirt and then circling the parking lot at the mall eight million times trying to find a parking spot without someone taking it first.

You had taken the part time gig at the Mall as a seasonal employee to make some extra cash for the holiday season, you wanted to get your boyfriend something really nice for Christmas, he was 100% the best boyfriend in the world and you wanted to show him how much you loved and appreciated him by getting him a new amplifier for his guitar. He had had his eye on it forever, always commenting on how someday it would be his, every time you walked past the Music Store. Well his wish was finally coming true, in a week he would be unwrapping it on Christmas morning. Just seeing his face light up would make all this bullshit worth it.

You eyed your watch, 20 minutes until quitting time, please god, please don't let one more person come up to you and ask if you have any more video games out back, if they do you know you are going to lose your shit.

Working retail after the Thanksgiving rush had really put a damper on your holiday spirit. You were always exhausted and decorating for Christmas was the last thing you wanted to do when you got home from your second job. You felt awful about it too, especially because it was your first Christmas with Eddie. You wanted to start new traditions with him, and he seemed so excited about it. You would make it up to him, tomorrow was your day off and you would finally be able to spend some quality time with him.

You missed him, his cheeky smile, his loving touches. Recently the two of you were like two ships passing in the night, he too had been looking to make extra money for the holidays so he had volunteered to go into the shop early, help out with the rush of people needing to have their winter tires changed over. With his early hours and your late hours you barely ever saw each other awake. Most of the time Eddie was asleep by the time you got home. Most nights you would cram a couple of snacks into your mouth, change out of your work clothes and crawl into bed with an already sleeping Eddie. He would roll over and spoon you, tell you he loved and missed you and then you would both fall fast asleep. In the morning when he got up for work he would lightly kiss your lips , tell you he loved you then he was off. The nighttime cuddles were wonderful, but you needed and wanted more and you were determined that tomorrow you were going to get the "Quality time" with your insanely gorgeous boyfriend that you had craved .

Luckily the drive home was short and uneventful, the one blessing of the day, and before you knew it you were turning the doorknob to your modest but cozy apartment and walking inside.

You gasped. Your apartment had been completely transformed into a winter wonderland. There were Christmas lights strung all around the apartment, paper snowflakes hanging from the ceiling and Mistletoe everywhere. And there in living area was Eddie, wrapping lights around a small Christmas tree in the corner of the room. You couldn't help the tears that stung the corners of your eyes.

" Hey Sweetheart, " He smiled , the corners of his beautiful eyes crinkling and his dimples popping." I , uh, hope you don't mind, I wanted to surprise you . You've been working so goddamn hard, and I know you've been wanting to decorate but we just haven't had the time. " He shrugged." I took a couple of hours off of work to get it started. I hope you like it, I'm just kind of winging it-"