Infection- Skits

Precious Memories- Christmas Special

I love my job, but it’s exhausting around the holidays. December 5, 20 days before Christmas, and I was called into a 12 hour shift. I’m used to it, but around Christmas time, it’s a one-way ticket to hell. Cancelled lunch periods, burglaries every few hours, car accidents every day, and worst of all, it’s fucking freezing. And to top everything off, it was Doggy’s day off.

My feet dragged on the way back to my apartment building. Normally, people wouldn’t catch me dead using the elevator, but I could hardly stand up straight. I jammed the button and leaned my head against the wall, staring at the red lights displaying the floor we were on. The number went up every few seconds before the elevator came to a stop on the third floor. I fumbled for my keys as the doors shot open.

After stumbling down the hallway, I stood in front of the door that was marked with the number “346” in white paint. I stuck the key in the lock and wiggled it around in an unsuccessful attempt to unlock it before the door swung open. Normally, I would’ve jumped ten feet back and dropped my keys, but I stayed put and raised my head. Doggy stood off to the side to let me in, chuckling to himself.

Without another thought, I walked towards him and rested my forehead against his chest. He laughed again and closed the door before wrapping both arms around me. “How was work?” I mumbled a bunch of gibberish and tossed my keys on the dining table, just briefly opening my eyes long enough to see a giant shadow being cast over it. I turned my head and paused when I saw a faux Christmas tree, half assembled, against the wall. Doggy chuckled. “Yeah, I was gonna see if you wanted to decorate the tree when you got home. It’s okay if you want to wait, though.”

A smile tugged at the corners of my mouth almost immediately. He was such a sweetheart. Against the opposite wall on the TV screen was a video of a fire burning in a fireplace, only a few minutes in. How could I say no? He was waiting for me to get home.

I stood on my toes and slid my arms around his neck, feeling hands around my waist. He pressed his forehead against mine and slowly started to sway from side to side before gently kissing me between my eyebrows. I cleared my throat and glanced at the ground. “Give me a few minutes, okay?” I squeezed his hand before hurrying off to the bedroom and closing the door.

Doggy had finished putting the tree together by the time I came back to the living room. In that same amount of time, he’d also retrieved a few boxes of Christmas lights and ornaments that we had stored. He began unwinding a bundle, pulling the unraveled string to the side when he noticed me turn the corner. I stretched and adjusted the strings of my gray hoodie before grabbing the bundle from him.

“Here, there’s an empty space in the back.” He pointed to a few branches that didn’t have any lights across before I draped a string across. To my surprise, it was just enough to cover the tree. “Come here, I wanna show you something.” He pulled the top off a blue tote with a piece of tape along the side that read ORNAMENTS in red marker. I sat across from him so the tote was in between us before covering my mouth with both hands. The first ornament he pulled out of that tote was one that we made together in 6th grade. It was a clear and hollow ornament with a picture of us inside, along with a bunch of confetti pieces around it. He held it out for me to take before digging through the tote again.

“I didn’t know you kept this,” I whispered, feeling strain in my eyes. He scooted next to me and put an arm around my waist before holding up another ornament. Freshman year. It was made almost exactly like the previous one, with a picture and everything. A tear escaped my eye and soaked into the carpet before I even had the chance to wipe it away.

“Why would I get rid of them when I made them with the person I care about the most?” He pulled the tote closer to us and peered inside. When I did the same, a smile broke out on my face. This wasn’t just a tote of regular tree ornaments, it was every single ornament that we made together. I spotted one from kindergarten and carefully held it, running my thumb along the picture of us. Down in the corner was Doggy’s sloppy handwriting: Me and my bestest friend Jade! I wiped my eyes across my forearm and leaned into Doggy’s chest.

I cried for a solid ten minutes while looking through the ornaments. Not because I was sad, but looking back on all the time we spent together through these ornaments was making me super emotional. “How did you get these?! I thought the teachers collected them for the classroom every year!” He shrugged and wiped my cheek with his thumb.

“Oh they did.” He laughed to himself and rubbed my shoulder. “I would just ask for them back whenever the decorations started getting taken down. My mom bought that tote one year and just started keeping them all in one place.” He reached his other arm across my stomach and pulled me into a hug from behind. “I thought it’d be nice to bring them out since it’s our first Christmas together.” I felt a couple gentle pecks against my cheek before giggling uncontrollably.

It took us nearly an hour and a half to decorate the tree. Not because there were a lot of ornaments that we needed to hang, but because we would stop to look at every single one. Finally, we stood in front of the finished tree. Doggy had his hand around my waist while I had my arms around his torso. He suddenly frowned and looked around the outside of the tree.

“What?” I laughed as he started digging through the ornament box again.

“Something’s missing… Oh, there it is.” He held up one final ornament that we missed, but it wasn’t one of our old school ornaments. It was a mistletoe. Weird, I could’ve sworn the tote was empty. I smiled and rolled my eyes when he held it above his head.

Without a moment of hesitation, I stepped forward and slid my arms around his waist before pressing my lips against his. He lifted his hand and placed two fingers underneath my chin before dropping the other to place against my upper arm. It felt perfect.

I pulled away and smiled, running my hand through the fur on the side of his face. “You just bought that ornament, didn’t you?” He shrugged and hung it on a nearby branch. “Oh, you dork…” I placed my hands behind his neck and pulled him closer so our foreheads were touching. He unexpectedly lifted his chin to kiss me again before we both started laughing.

Hey there, good to see ya and thanks for you patience.
I don't know what my upload schedule will look like as my brain is fried from the holidays and I've had a crazy amount of writer's block.
Eh, I'll figure it out.

Merry Christmas nerds, love y'all
-GreenBean