Page 40 of Under the Mistle-Foe

The movement of the lollipop stopped. “Honestly, I don’t even know myself. I’ve been on dates before, but mostly with people I wasn’t really into. But it’s different with you, you know?”

“Yeah, I do.” I stepped into his space and placed a hand on his chest. I was pleasantly surprised to find his heart beating probably just as fast as mine was.

We stayed like that for a few seconds, his hand over mine as we locked eyes. Quite honestly, he looked a bit silly with the white lollipop stick poking out of his mouth, but it still had to be one of the most perfect moments.

“We should get going soon. Since it’s the first day of the tour, everyone will be lining up for the reindeer sleighs,” he suddenly spoke up, then wrapped my scarf tighter around me before leading us out. “But first, how about a photo in front of the first light design we made together for this tour?”

I liked the way he phrased that, like there was a chance of many more light tours we’d enter together in the future.

The lights were connected to a timer that automatically turned the lights on and off on schedule, so I didn’t have to baby them.

We stood close to the sidewalk near my house for the photo. Remy and I bent down for the selfie so that we could capture ourselves and the house. We looked a bit funny, faces squished together and tinted blue from the lights, but our smiles were stretched wide across our faces.

I insisted on Remy sending me the picture right then and there so that I could have it for myself. I quickly sent the photo to my family chat, mostly to show Mom the house on the first night of the tour.

Mom replied almost instantly with questions on why I’d taken a picture with the boy from the diner. I could only imagine their shocked expressions when I told them he was my boyfriend, but that would have to wait till later. Without replying, I silenced my phone then pocketed it.

It was windy tonight and getting a lot colder than I was comfortable with, but I didn’t have a chance to feel the cold with the warmth Remy was filling inside my heart. We held hands the entire way to the lineup for the sleigh rides.

A few curious glances were shot our way. Probably nosy locals who were waiting to hear the next scoop. I couldn’t blame them. Not when I would’ve been just as curious, but I worried their stares would get to Remy. He hadn’t lived the small-town life in a while and had never been seen around with a boyfriend before, so who knew how he’d react to all this attention.

“Does it bother you?” I asked when we reached one of the stops for the reindeer sleigh rides. We walked to the back of the line. Remy had been right about people lining up for the rides. Excited faces, mostly unfamiliar ones, took abillion photos of the reindeer. Tourist season was in full swing.

“What? The old folks who have nothing better to do? They can stare all they want.” We moved up the line. Now there was only a teenage couple in front of us, both chatting excitedly about seeing a reindeer in person for the first time.

“It really doesn’t bother you?” I asked again. “To be seen in town on a date with a guy? With a guy you didn’t even like a few years ago.”

“Oh? So youknewI didn’t like you back then?” he asked instead of answering my question. “If you knew, then why did you keep coming around me?”

The words choked in my throat. Heat crept up my neck, and I couldn’t find the words even when it was our turn for the sleigh rides.

Our driver was a familiar face, Gus, who’d been working the rides for years. I’d seen him in countless costumes, so many that I wondered if those were the only outfits in his closet.

Tonight, he was dressed as a smart-looking elf, fit with pointy ears, red-and-green striped leggings, and a green stocking cap to match his long green shirt.

He helped us into the sleigh and provided us with a blanket before returning to the driver’s seat to start the tour.

“So, are you going to answer me?” Remy’s smooth voice rumbled beside my ear. There went my hope, thinking he’d drop the topic if I kept my mouth shut.

He poked me in the rib. His hand wiggled behind me indecently until he was able to wrap it around me, pulling me closer to him, and then started rubbing my hip bone. I pressed his hand to keep it still. The last thing I needed was to get hard while riding a reindeer sleigh ride. I turned to glare at him, and he smiled back like he knew what I was thinking.

“Your answer?” he prompted, as if the naughty hand on my body wasn’t his.

“Are you really going to make me say it? It’s not like it wasn’t obvious,” I grumbled, not really wanting to revisit my dark history. I’d been a stupid kid with a crush and hadn’t known how to properly interact with said crush.

Remy wrinkled his nose in thought. “So you really were in your bad boy era and decided to choose me as your bully target?”

“Bully—” I started, but then thinking back to how I’d acted, it might have been seen that way. I recalled a time I boasted about getting a hundred on a test, thinking that he might like me if he thought I was smart. I hadn’t known he’d take it as I was looking down on his lower grade. I covered my face in embarrassment.

“I wasn’t trying to bully you,” I muttered. “I just wanted you to pay a little more attention to me.”

I really hoped Gus wasn’t able to hear this conversation up in front. This was already embarrassing enough without an audience.

From the corner of my eye that wasn’t being covered by my hands, I could see Remy studying me. A minute passed before he gently pried my hands from my face and held them in his tight grip. “Unless you make things clear, I’m going to think you liked me back then, and that’s why you kept circling around me like a kid picking on the person they liked.”

I couldn’t even say anything to refute that. I went about things in a very immature way back in high school. I really was no better than a little child bullying their crush.

Remy must have taken my silence as confirmation too. “But why? We didn’t even know each other that well back then. There was no reason for you to like me. Unless…my amazing looks made you fall in love at first sight.”

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