Mini Stories and One Shots

12 Ways to Spend One's Christmas Eve

                         [T H E R E   A R E   F A R   M O R E   T H A N   12   W A Y S]

Anna seriously doesn’t understand why anyone would sign up for a job in which you fall down an abundance of chimneys and sometimes have to accelerate the turbo-sled so much that you get nauseous. Nobody even really has chimneys anymore. Everything’s all electric. Anna had jumped out of her skin two Christmases ago when a mechanic voice came out of a fake-roaring fire – “Feeling toasty?” It’s like, all that technology stuff she’s never really understood. Who would want to do her job every year?

But she has to admit, it feels pretty worth it when she gets to stare at the photos on the walls, seeing the kids she’s delivering presents to. Flynn McQueen’s kids had gotten so big! And from the many, many photos of them and their grandparents Jonathan and Cassie, they loved their grandparents a lot. 

Anna remembers seeing the photos of Jonathan on his eightieth birthday for the first time. She jumped out of her skin, her heart beating erratically. God, he’d gotten old. But she could still the hint of his chipper little Junior-year self in his smiling eyes. And Cassie! She’d aged so gracefully.  In the photos, they were no longer the young, attractive couple with the new born baby. They were old, shrivelled up, and full of that Grandparent kind of love.

Not like Anna, who only looks about twenty in human years. At least she’s filled out a little, a little curvier, a little bustier.

Anyway, Anna thinks to herself, telling herself there’s no room for brain-rambling when there’s important matters to attend to. Like the newbie, for example.

And the fact that he’s waiting for her in the sleigh. 

And that he’s actually her age – even her own species! 

And that he’s... really, really cute.

No. Nope. Not happening, Anna tells herself, saying the words like a mantra. Yes, the boy may be obscenely cute – but he’s also her new partner in crime... or present-delivery. Anna thinks back to when her twin-annoying-brother Nick told her of the new addition to the team, and looked at her pointedly: “And before you get any ideas, no, you’re not allowed to date him.”

She’d pouted sarcastically and muttered something equally as sardonic back, but he’d just laughed it off. Her comebacks had gotten really bad lately. 

Drawing some much-needed air into her lungs and mustering all the courage she had (which was just enough to go down a million chimneys or so without going insane), Anna straightens out her tee-shirt and goes down to greet Newbie. Or Zack, which he might prefer to be called.

And there he is, sitting quietly in her sleigh. Or... their sleigh now. Anna smiles brightly at Newbie—uh, Zack. It’s been a long time since she’s had any interaction with the male kind, and she’s kind of rusty. What are words again?

Anna settles for a chirpy, “Hi!” and hopes that isn’t, like, way too excited-sounding. Because boys notice these things.

Zack perks up and a smile tugs at his lips, eyes shining. “Hi,” he says, and his voice is deep and musty and everything that makes Anna’s insides go weak. “I’m Zack.”

“I’m Anna,” she says with a little less enthusiasm. Does he notice? Anna really hopes he’s one of those totally oblivious boys, not one of those boys who know far too much for a girl like Anna.

“You’re my, um, mentor, right? That’s what Nick told me. I was kind of expecting for him to be a solo-act and to not actually have someone to help him, ‘cause, you know, it’s St. Nick and all, not St. Nick and co.” No, Anna thinks, with a genuine smile spreading across her face. He’s one of those cute, rambly kind of boys. His eyes widen when he registers his words. “Not that it’s a bad thing! I’m actually really excited to get a cute girl like you to show me the ropes, and I really need to stop talking now, don’t I?”