A Collection of Short Stories

3: Merry Gaymas

The night is frosty and cold, as expected from December. Two days away from Christmas Eve, with no presents in sight. Not that I would have to give any presents, or even receive them.

My breath is visible with each exhale, creating a small cloud of mist against the almost black sky. No stars can be seen tonight, nor any night, in fact. I haven't seen the stars in ages.

With a click, I unlock the front door, letting myself in. Ginny brushes against my leg and purrs loudly. I got Ginny when I was twelve, and I was kinda going through my Harry Potter phase (He doesn't want to admit it, but he's still going through it), and that is how the name came to be. She was always the small, but feisty type. She constantly defended her territory, and she refused to back down even against the neighbour's dog. I guess I always thought the name was fitting.

I had to go somewhere, anywhere. I was lonely, true, but I had Ginny, so I wasn't that lonely (he totally is). In an impulsive decision, I grab my scarf and coat and head out the door. Tears form in my eyes as the cold stings my cheeks. I swing myself on my bike and head out of the city.

After around 15 minutes of cycling, I reach the start of the woods. A few street lamps are nearby, illuminating just enough to block out the stars that I am bound to see. I ditch my bike and chain it to a tree. I head into the forest. I contemplate over my life and how lonely I am right now. I think of my parents, who have been dead for around two years. I never got along with any of my siblings, so when the last one moved out, I never saw any of them again. I sniff and notice the warm tears quickly growing colder. Great, I thought. The last thing I wanted to do before Christmas is wallow in self-pity.

I walk for another 10 minutes when I reach a small clearing. I see some moonshine filtering through the leaves. It was mixed perfectly with the warm glow of a campfire. It looked so inviting, and it was accompanied by the laughter of around 3 people. I stepped into the clearing before I could turn around. The people stop laughing and stare at me. I look at the ground. "I'm sorry," I say as I stumble over my own words.

I turn around and walk away again. I guess I'm around a hundred metres away from the camp, when a guy catches up to me. "Wait up!"

"Um, hi," I say awkwardly.

We stand in silence, I watch our misty breaths while we are both trying to find something to say. "I'll, uh, go then," I turn around, but before I can take a step, the other guy says, "No. Why don't you, um, stay with us for a while."

"I didn't really want to intru-"

"No! Don't worry about that. I'm kinda third-wheeling a date right now, and it kinda sucks."

"Really?"

He takes a couple of steps towards me. "This was our secret spot for years, and nobody has come across it before, so anyone who does," he pauses. "Is worthy of being our friend, or at least hanging out with us."

"Uh, okay? How do I know you guys aren't going to murder me?" I ask jokingly.

"You don't, but I hope you can trust us. What are you doing out here anyway?"

"I wanted to go see the stars. Haven't seen them in a while," I say dreamily. I think of those times when I went out to the countryside with my grandfather to look at the stars. He'd point at the sky and say, "You see that one there- That's Venus."

I get ripped out of my thoughts by the chattering of teeth. I take off my scarf and wrap it around his neck. "Wha- Are you sure you aren't going to be cold?" He asks me.

I turn up the sides of my coat and zip it up. "It keeps just as warm as the scarf," I say with a smile.

That was a lie, of course, but I couldn't ask this stranger to be cold for me. "Uh, excuse me, but I still don't know your name."

"Oh, yes! I'm so sorry. The name's Elliot. What's yours?"

"Uh, I'm Lewis."

I walk behind him as he leads me back to the campsite. He rustles the leaves loudly as we enter the clearing again. "Uh, hi. I'm Lewis." I hold up a hand in greeting.

"Liam," says the guy sitting down. He had his arm around a girl, and held her tightly when I looked at her. I decided to ignore it.

The girl got up and walked over to the tent. Apparently, there was a small hole in the ground because when she returned, she was holding four beers. "I'm Anne," she says while holding out a beer for me to take. I took it, "Thanks."

The fire was surprisingly warm, so I decided to shed a layer. I was now fully exposing the sweater that I had put on. It was nothing too embarrassing, really. Just a couple of reindeer and a sleigh. "So, Lewis. Which one of us are you stalking?"

Elliot stands up. "Woah, Li, I didn't think you'd be like that."

"I bet he's stalking Anne," he says. "Look at him! What a perv."

Anne stands up too, now. "Hey! How do we know that he's a stalker? He could just be hella lonely, and wanted to take a stroll!"

"That is actually very accurate," I say quietly.

A silence falls into the night. The fire crackles, the flames deepening the shadows on their faces.

"I just wanted to look at the stars. Haven't seen them in ages," I say.

"That's really cute," Anne says.

Liam glares at her, and storms off into the tent. I pop open the beer and take a sip. "Sorry for intruding, I'll leave now. You probably want to go sort things out with your boyfriend." She nods thoughtfully.

"Wait here, though," she says. It was my turn to nod.

She comes out of the tent a couple of minutes later with Liam in her arms.

After that, we had a polite conversation, which eventually turned to a conversation of humiliating events. We laughed at each other and other people in our stories. I eventually got to hear the funny story of how Anne and Liam first met. It ended with them kissing, which kind of made the atmosphere turn awkward. Elliot tugged my sleeve and told me to get up.

I followed him as he led me deeper into the forest. Eventually, though, the trees started o thin out, and I saw a field. We both ran towards it, but then I stopped abruptly as I noticed that it was a cliff.

It overlooked the river, and the city on the other side. The lights were as bright as ever, but they still didn't manage to reach the clifftop. Elliot pointed upwards. I looked.

There were millions- no, billions of stars. I spotted one familiar one that was giving off a slight red hue. "You see that star-" I pointed at it. "That's the morning star, Venus."

"It's really cute that you know that," he says. "Oh, I'm sorry."

"Don't worry," I say. I watch my breath as it fades against the bright canopy of bright balls of light.

"They're beautiful," Elliot breathes.

"Not as beautiful as you," I say quietly. "Ah, shit. Did I say that out loud? That was super cheesy."

"Don't worry," he says, using my line. "You know what? I think you're beautiful too."

We kiss under the canopy of stars. Apparently some tourists were still out at night, probably planning to admire the stars, because we heard a bunch of cheers coming from the river. I blush a deep crimson, but I hoped it would go unnoticed, mixed with the redness that I got from being cold. "So," I say slowly. "Is this better than third-wheeling?"

"Fuck yeah, it is!"

I kiss him again, knowing that I might not be so alone this Christmas.