Christmas Trees

She kept her promise.

When we got out of the car she locked it and took us across the street to a small café.

La Piér.

She holds the door open for me which causes me to smile as I thank her and lead us inside.

"Where do you want to sit?" She asks as she stops beside me which causes our hands to lightly caress each other

My breath hitches as I feel a jolt of electricity go through my arm.

Charlotte freezes but she continues to look around for an empty table.

Did she not feel that too?!

"There's a booth over there" she says as she points to a red booth in the back of the store near the giant glass window

She leads me towards the booth before I sit across from her. She looks around before her eyes widen and she gets up immediately as if she's been burned which causes me to look at her in confusion.

What is her problem?!

"Are you okay?" I ask as I go to turn around and see who she's looking at but stop when she quickly grabs my elbow and pulls me up. She wraps her arm around my shoulder which causes me to give her another look of confusion.

"Don't look behind you, just pretend that we're a loving couple that came in for a quick drink" she says quickly and authoritatively

Her voice dropped an octave and her arm tightened around me protectively.

"Why can't I look behind me?" I ask as I go to turn around again but Charlotte quickly walks us towards the check-in counter

"Just trust me" she whispers with an emotionless voice

I nod as I notice how tense she is and that she seems more cautious than before. I lay my head on her shoulder as I wrap my arm around her hips.

"Hello, how may I take your order?" A middle aged woman asks from behind the counter

"Can we get two hot chocolates, please" I ask the woman with a smile

"Of course," she says before she quickly types in something and hands us a receipt

"But we didn't get to pay" I ask with confusion evident in my voice as I look at the smiling woman

"It's on the house, you're the nicest customers to walk in here today" she says with an appreciative smile

"I want to at least tip you" I say as I pull out eight dollars and place it in the tip jar

"That's not needed, but thank you" She says before I grab the receipt and nod

As Charlotte and I walk towards the counter I quickly sneak a glance behind me and notice that one guy is glaring daggers at Charlotte and I.

He look like he's in his thirties and has some grey hair here and there. He's dressed in all black with a scar from his hairline through his eyebrow.

When he notices me staring his glare quickly turns into a smirk which causes me to quickly turn around again.

Why did I look?!

"I told you not to look" Charlotte whispers raspily beside my ear

She doesn't sound mad but she does sound stressed.

"Sorry" I say as I bite my lip nervously

"Are you mad?" I ask as I look up at her and meet her bright green eyes. I continue to bite my lip nervously as she looks at me with an unreadable emotion. Her eyes flicker down towards my lip before she quickly blinks and looks into my eyes.

"No, but I need you to stay by my side the entire time we're here. Okay?" She asks which causes me to quickly nod

What did I just get myself into?!

-

"Mom, it's seven thirty. Can we go home yet?" I ask my mother only to get a head shake in return

We've been walking around for two hours.

My feet are killing me.

"Just a little while longer" Charlotte whispers near my ear as she places her hands and my shoulders and massages them

I immediately relax from her touch as she lightly and expertly moves her fingers on my tense shoulder bones.

I close my eyes and lean into her touch which causes her to lightly laugh.

"Does it feel okay?" She asks softly which causes me to quickly nod my head. She carefully guides us over to a metal bench not that far away from us.

"I'm not sitting on that" I say since I'm already shaking from continuous cold breeze

"No problem" she says before she removes her hands from my shoulders and sits on the bench

How is she not freezing?!

She pats her thighs as if silently telling me to 'sit' which causes me to blush as I look down at my boots.

"Are you sure? I don't want you to feel uncomfortable" I say which causes her to roll her eyes before she grabs my hand and pulls me down onto her lap

I squeak as I land on her cold thighs which causes my hands to immediately wrap around her neck as her arms tightly hold my waist

"You're freezing. Why didn't you say anything?" I ask her with a frown as I look into her magnificent green eyes. She gives me an amused look as she tightens her arms around me.

"It's nothing, I'm okay" she says as she shakes her head which causes me to roll my eyes before I jump off of her lap and hold my hand out so that she can grab it

She looks at me with a confused look before she grabs my hand. I silently lead us towards the car so that she can warm up a little.

As soon as we reach the car she unlocks it before she climbs into the drivers side and I climb into the passenger side.

I grab the keys and shove them into the ignition which causes the engine to roar to life as heat starts to flow from the vents.

I reach into the backseat so that I can grab the blanket from earlier before I place it around her shoulders.

"You didn't have to do this" she says with a serious tone as she looks me in the eye which causes me to roll my eyes

"Yes, I did" I say as I turn my body so that I can place my hands in front of the vent

"If I didn't, not only would you catch hypothermia but-" I stop mid sentence when I feel her fingers lightly graze over my cheek before she tucks a strand of hair behind my ear

I turn to look at her and see her staring at me with the same unreadable expression from earlier. She leans in and presses her lips to my cheek in a quick peck which causes me to blush as she pulls away.

"Thank you for worrying, but you don't need to" She says with an appreciative tone as she smiles at me

"It's my job to worry" I say which causes her to laugh before we're interrupted by a loud knock on my window

I jump out of my seat and into Charlotte's arms as we quickly snap our heads in the direction of the window.

We quickly relax and release a breath of air when we see my moms eyes trying to look into the car through the foggy window.

I unlock the car door before she opens it and smiles at us.

"I found a tree, they're carrying it to the car right now" my mom says with an overexcited tone which causes me to smile

My mom may be an adult but she'll always be a child at heart.

I look behind her and see a group of five guys cutting the tree.

"Should we drive closer?" I ask my mom which causes her to nod. Charlotte and I get out of the front seats only to quickly get into the back seat.

My mom gets into the drivers seat and put the car into drive before she slowly drives in the direction of the guys.

When she parks beside them they immediately lift the, now tied tree, on top of the car.

I can't wait to see this tree fully decorated.

-

"Stop it, Charlotte" I say for the hundredth time since we've all started decorating the tree

Every time I go to grab an ornament from the couch she hold it above her head which causes me to groan.

She's 5'7" while I'm 5'3".

She laughs as I reach up to get it but barely reach it since I'm not tall enough.

I obliviously press my body against hers and stand on my tip toes as I wrap one arm around her neck for stabilization and reach the other up towards hers that has the ornament captured.

"Charlotte," I sat in an annoyed tone before I tilt my head down to look at her only to have my breath get caught in my throat

Our noses brush together as her bright green eyes slowly dilate and gaze into my hazel ones.

I feel her heartbeat start to accelerate as my hold around her neck tightens.

Great, nice to know I'm not the only one.

My lower belly starts to tingle as the rest of my body vibrates with an unknown high.

Her arm wraps itself tightly around my waist which causes me to gasp as I somehow get pressed tighter against her.

I close my eyes as she starts to slowly lean in.

Is she going to kiss me?

Omg. Omg. Omg.

She's going to kiss me!

Our lips lightly rub against each other which causes my cheeks to blush as my body feels tingly.

As soon as she's about to press her lips to mine we're interrupted by my mother's voice coming down the hall.

"I finally found the star" my mother yells with excitement which causes Charlotte and I to jump away from each other as she enters the living room with a wide smile

I look at her hand and notice that there's a shiny gold star tree topper in her hand.

She looks at the both of us in confusion as she approaches me with caution.

"Sweetie, are you okay? You're more flushed than normal" my mom says as she places her cold hands on my cheeks which makes me flinch away from the sudden chill

"I, um" I stutter out as I look behind me at Charlotte only to notice that she's looking down at the carpet with a blush on her face

She's blushing?!

She never blushes!

"I'm going to go start baking the cookies" I say as I turn to face my mom before walking out of the living room and towards the kitchen

Oh god.

Oh god.

Oh god.

I can't believe that I almost kissed my best friend.

My best freaking friend!

Of all people I almost kissed the one person that I've known for four years.

Oh my god.

I hope this doesn't change anything.

Wait a second...

What if my mom didn't walk in?

Would I have really kiss my best friend?

What am I saying?!

Of course I wouldn't have.

I'm straight.

Right?!