The Holly Dates

by Brittainy C. Cherry

As he walked back toward me, he somehow effortlessly opened the beer bottle caps with a flick of his thumb, and that was oddly attractive to the point where my lower region trembled with excitement.

My phone dinged one last time for the night. Kai Yeah. Except for you.

“You’re more than allowed to get off on the twenty-fourth floor, but I’m going to Holly’s and asking her to come to the game. I’ll also tell her how my brother is crushing on her and has been reading her novels each night before bed.”

“It’s clear that you feel like you have to hide your smut books from me. You don’t have to be ashamed. If you want to read about throbbing cocks, quivering thighs, and aliens banging each other, do it, Kai. This is a judgment-free zone.”

we all have chapters that are hard to read. It doesn’t mean the book isn’t worth picking up.”

“A touchdown,” I corrected. She scrunched up her nose. “That’s what I meant.” “Sure, Holly Jolly, sure.”

“First a meet-ugly, and now a friendship.” “I think that’s called growth.”

I never understood the idea of traveling home for the holidays if it was a broken home. It was like being a deer in a lion’s den, in which you placed yourself on purpose.

“Well, I can’t decorate my tree without Mano. Otherwise, he’d kill me. But we can watch a holiday romance movie.”

Sometimes I wished our emotions were like faucets. Something we could turn on and off at our demand.

I grumbled and cussed under my breath, realizing that shoving books at her wouldn’t help me. “I’m apologizing, Holly. For being an ass. I was in the wrong, and you didn’t deserve it.”

They said hurt people hurt people; if that were true, I was the most damaged person out there.

That was the messed-up part about being human. Your screwups sometimes hurt the ones you cared about the most.

Well, I already know your quirks, and I love them. I know you need a holiday date, so you don’t have to ask me to attend. I already accept. I don’t do anything for the holidays, and Mano will be in Hawaii. You’ve seen my grumpy side, so you know how bad I can get, and you’ve seen my happy side, too, so you know how good I can get, which means no random surprises. Plus, we’re friends. Wouldn’t you rather spend the holidays with a friend instead of some stranger who could turn out to be a weirdo?

“You two continue doing what you were doing,” Lisa said. “I’m gone. But, next time, Holly, you should take your clothes off before getting in the shower.”

Kai began adding the product to my hair, double-checking he had the right amounts before adding it. He used the metal-tipped bristle brush to comb through my hair, ensuring my natural curls were intact each time he combed through it. He then learned how to twist my hair into a few sections as I instructed him and wrapped it up in a hair scarf once he finished to protect it during the night.

I don’t know how long I could pretend that you aren’t the person I think about first thing in the morning and that you aren’t the person I think about last each night.”

“I want to do that with you forever.”

“Do you want to build a snowman with me?”

“Yeah, well…what can I say? You make me believe in fairy tales.”