Page 29 of My Fake Date With My Childhood Friend
“The photo’s perfect,” he said. Then he winked at me. “As is the story that goes along with it.”
I flushed red and took my phone back. He was right, of course. But I wasn’t sure if he realized quite what that moment had meant to me — the beginning of a crush that lingered to this day. I’d probably never tell him, honestly. But regardless, I was happy that my mom happened to have sent me that photo so recently. In fact, I was willing to believe that it was a little piece of Christmas magic.
Kyle’s house was more decorated for Christmas than any house I’d ever seen. There were Christmas lights draped around every window and door, an inflatable Santa on the lawn, a set of reindeer and Santa on the ceiling, and a wreath on the door.
“His family’s pretty intense about Christmas,” Alexander told me.
“You don’t say,” I replied.
As we walked up the steps to the front door, it was clear the party was already in full swing. I could hear music and laughter through the wall. It was even louder when we walked inside. It seemed even bigger on the inside than the outside, with high ceilings, giant windows, and an open floor plan. Christmas lights were strung along the walls, and soft festive music wasplaying through the house, intermingled with people's voices and laughter.
I stuck to Alexander's side as we made our way into the kitchen. Looking around at the frenetic energy of the people, I couldn't help but feel out of my depth. I wasn't sure how I was supposed to fit in. Suddenly, I wasn’t so sure about whether I should have come with him.
The kitchen was large and cavernous and smelled of cooked food and spices. The smells mingled together in a warm, inviting aroma.
“Penn!” Liv called. I immediately felt more comfortable seeing her there. She was sitting on the counter with a metal mixing bowl in her lap and a spatula in her hand. She was licking what looked like brownie batter.
“Hey, Liv!” I said. I moved to stand with her while Alexander hung back and talked to one of his friends. I sat on the counter with her. “How's it going?”
“So good,” she said. She grabbed an extra spatula from the counter and handed it to me. “Here, have some cake batter. It's chocolate gingerbread.”
“That sounds so good!” I dipped the spatula into the batter and licked it. It was sweet and rich with a gingerbread kick. “It's even better than I thought!”
“I know, right?” Liv said. “Wendy made it, and she used up most of the batter in the cake, but she had too much, so she said I could eat the rest.”
“Remind me to thank her later.”
“I will,” she laughed. She looked around. “Where's Alexander? Did you come with him?”
“Yeah, he was just saying hi to Kyle,” I said.
As if he heard us talking, Alexander walked over right then, looking amused. He glanced at the batter in my hand and raised an eyebrow. I shrugged and grinned at him.
“Having a good time?” He asked. I nodded happily and took another lick of the spatula.
“Oh, Penn, come be on my team!” Liv said. She dropped the bowl and spatula on the counter, grabbed my hand, and pulled me forward. “You too, Alexander!”
“Your team?” I asked. I swerved to avoid walking straight into the counter. “For what?”
“Gingerbread house decorating, silly!”
“Naturally,” I said in confusion. Liv pulled me through a doorway to a fancy dining room. A long oak table was covered in a plastic sheet that did not match the decor of the rest of the house at all, with five boxes of unassembled gingerbread houses sitting in the middle of it.
“We agreed to start the competition at eight,” Liv said. I checked my watch. It was about five to eight.
“You know, Liv, I’m not huge on Christmas?—”
“We’ve talked about this!” Alexander interrupted, pointing a finger at me. “You are not giving up on Christmas just because of Joseph!”
“He’s right,” Liv said. “Have some fun.”
“Everyone, split into teams and grab a box!” Wendy instructed. Liv grabbed a box for us and pulled me to the head of the table. I sat down with her, even though I wasn’t totally sold on doing something so Christmas-y.
“Now, this is how it works,” Wendy said. “Each team will build a house and decorate it. In the end, the team with the best-decorated house will be the winner. The prize is a gift card for Tim Hortons. Everyone ready?”
“Ready!” We all responded.
“All right.” Wendy started a thirty-minute timer. “Go!”
