#FlashFictionMagic: Christmas Song

*song inspiration: "I'll Be Home for Christmas" 

“Well, what do you think?” Ted spun around, arms wide, showing off the new apartment. Grace gazed around the room in bewilderment.

“It’s surprisingly furnished,” she said, as she took in the couch, television, and coffee table in the living room and the table, chairs, and appliances in the kitchen beyond. “You said your lease starts the first of the year.”

Ted shook his head. “I said I’m moving out the first of the year. But I had to start setting up. I didn’t own any furniture, Grace.”

“But you’re still staying with us.” If Grace had been told back in August that Ted would still be with her family in December, she would have lost her mind. Now, though, his continued stay wasn’t an annoyance, just a curiosity. Why, when he had this spacious half of a house to live in, was he still sleeping in a bedroom that had been mostly converted into a nursery for Grace’s soon-to-arrive new sibling?

“Well, I wanted to be home for Christmas. I mean, you know, with you guys. It felt wrong to leave before that.”

Again, hearing Ted call her house his home was something that would have set her off only a couple of months ago. Now she found herself growing warm at the thought. She had to laugh, though. “We’re not even all together on Christmas.”

“You and I are together,” Ted said. “That counts.” His eyes settled on Grace’s, and she knew by the creeping heat in her neck and cheeks that she was flushed.

“What?” she asked, infusing her tone with irritation. “Do I have something on my face?”

“Only the usual parts in their usual places,” Ted said, smiling pleasantly. “Oh, and a scowl. Which I thought was mostly gone these days, but guess I was wrong.” He broke eye contact.

“I’m not scowling!” Grace crossed her arms. “I just don’t like to be stared at. It’s unsettling.”

“That’s fair,” Ted agreed. “I’ve been trying to do less of it lately. But we are running out of time.”

“Running out of time for what?” And what did he mean he was trying to stare less? Had he been staring at her a lot? Why hadn’t she noticed? Why did she wish she had noticed?

Ted shrugged. “I don’t know,” he said. “It’s just… I know you’ll be glad to see me go, but it has been kind of fun, hasn’t it?”

Grace allowed herself to smile slightly. “A little bit,” she conceded.

“All right!” Ted pumped a fist. “I’ll take it.”

“Don’t get carried away.”

“I would never.” Ted held his straight face for only a few seconds before his grin reappeared. “Listen. I got you something.” Beelining for the coffee table, he opened its drawer and pulled out a small wrapped package. “It’s just a little something to say thank you, or Merry Christmas, or whatever. Nothing too extravagant.” He laid his palm out flat like a tray, presenting the little box to Grace. He sat on the couch, and she plucked the gift from his hand and sat beside him.

Grace held the present to her ear. “Well, it’s not ticking,” she said. She gave the box a little shake but there was still no discernible sound from inside it. Truly, there could be anything in there. What kind of gift would Ted possibly give the daughter of the people who had taken him in when he had nowhere else to go?

Grace turned the box on its end and slowly pried the tape from the wrapping paper. “Of course you don’t tear the paper,” Ted said. “I could have predicted that.”

Grace rolled her eyes. “There’s no reason to rip it when you can be neat about it.” After painstakingly removing each piece of tape as neatly as possible, she handed the mostly-intact wrapping paper to Ted, who immediately crumpled it into a ball.

“Ugh, you could have used that again!”

Ted just shook his head. “Get on with it already.”

Oddly enough, as she slid the lid from the box, she was now aware that he was staring - or watching her, at any rate, awaiting some kind of reaction. She was so sure the end game here was going to be a prank that when she saw the bracelet, she gasped before she could catch herself. This was no joke.

“Ted…” she said, trying to gain control of her feelings but finding that her usual protective wall of snark was out of her reach. It was a simple silver chain with a flower charm. He was right, it wasn’t extravagant, and yet Grace’s heart was pounding as she slowly turned to face him. “I don’t know what to say.”

“There’s a first,” Ted said softly, and then he continued in the same tone. “I know you’re going to have a lot going on this semester, with classes, and Fern having the baby, and everything. But I still want to hang out when you’re home sometimes. I don’t want to lose you.”

There was a lump in Grace’s throat as she listened to Ted. She had not realized how much she wanted him to feel that way about her, how much she wanted him to care about whether they saw each other anymore. Wiping tears with the back of her hand, she nodded, trying to show her agreement with his sentiments.

“These are good tears, right?” Ted asked. “I know I’m not great at this, but usually your bad tears involve more yelling.”

Suddenly, it was all too much for Grace. It was Christmas, they had a week left under the same roof, Ted had just given her a bracelet, he didn’t want to lose her, and she still couldn’t find a single shred of snark to throw back at him. There was only one option left. Placing a hand on Ted’s shoulder, she leaned in slowly, tilted her head, and kissed him softly on the lips.

TO BE CONTINUED...