Page 23 of Holiday Unscripted
Elizabeth
SANTA TELL ME
December 17th
The purring in my ear gets louder and louder as I slowly open my eyes. Gray fur fills my eyes as Baby Cat tickles my nose. I move my head away from him and mumble, “Good morning to you.” His head is lying on his paws as he purrs, not even bothering to open his eyes. I close my eyes and then turn on the side to see if I can fall back asleep. I give up after a couple of minutes and then stretch my arms over my head once I’m on my back. Baby Cat finally pops his head up but only to side-eye me for waking him. He then turns to his side and stretches out on the top of my pillow. “Dude, I’m sharing this pillow with you and not the other way around.” I arch my back, stretching again and the soreness now makes me wince.
My calves ache, my arms feel tight, and my head is slightly throbbing. My eyes also feel like they’re filled with sand, burning from either exhaustion or the fact it’s been two nights in a row that I’ve gone out and had alcohol. I toss the covers off me and slide one leg off the bed and then the other. I sit up and then look back over at Baby Cat. “Am I the only one getting up today?” I ask him as I stand up and it fully hits me that I feel like someone ran over my body.
I walk out of the bedroom and stop when I see Nate casually walking out of his. The shorts he’s wearing are hanging on his hips. His chest is perfectly sculpted and on display, with Whiskey gingerly walking by his side. “Oh no.” I hold up my hand, blocking my eyes but still catching one more peek of his abs that are on point, and I have to wonder how many times a week he works out. “My eyes.” I turn my head to the side. “I’m seeing nipples.”
I hear the rumble of his laugh, and I turn to look back at him as Whiskey comes over to me, his tail wagging in excitement. “Seriously, put them away.” I point with one finger to his chest while the other hand pets Whiskey. “Or is this one of your sexist ideas where I’m not allowed to show my nipples because I’m a girl, but you can because you’re a guy.”
“Someone wise once said they’re just nipples.” He shakes his head as he walks over to the stairs.
“I don’t know who told you that,” I say to his bare back, my eyes lingering on his ass, “but that person sounds really smart.”
“She’s okay,” he tosses over his shoulder. “A shit bowler, but you can’t win them all.”
I gasp, “I will have you know that I’m a fantastic bowler.”
“Maybe down under…” His voice trails as he gets to the bottom of the stairs and turns to walk down the hallway, as I walk over to the railing and look down at him.
“I’m jet-lagged,” I defend myself. He looks up at me, his eyes twinkling and the sleep now gone from his eyes.
“If you say so.”
“I am,” I tell him, “and that is all that matters.” I don’t wait for him to answer me before turning and storming into the bathroom. “Jerk.” I head to the bathroom, washing my hands and face right after before walking out and seeing Baby Cat stroll out of my bedroom.
“Good morning, Your Highness,” I greet, picking him up in my arms and he immediately twists in my arms to jump out. “Yeah, I’m kind of not liking you either these past couple of days.” He runs into Nate’s bedroom and I’m almost tempted to follow him in there, but then I smell coffee.
I think about going to put on a sweater to cover my nipples, but then I turn and walk down the steps. “If he can be bare chested, I can be wearing a tank top.” I look down at my light-yellow tank top with little light-blue flowers. The matching shorts aren’t tight but instead are loose and float around my legs. The cold air hits me right as I turn the corner and start to walk into the kitchen. Nate’s standing at the back door, closing it now that Whiskey has come back in.
“It’s cold out there,” I say and he looks back at me.
“Yeah.” He smirks and his eyes trail over my face to my now pebbled nipples.
“Look at your own nipples,” I tell him as I walk into the kitchen and head over to the cupboard that the mugs are in. “Did you make your coffee yet?” I ask him and he just shakes his head.
“I was too busy tending to the animals,” he replies as Whiskey goes over to his bowl filling the room with the sound of him crunching on his breakfast.
I pull down two mugs and groan. “My whole body is sore,” I mumble as I pick up the pot of coffee and pour one for him and then one for me. “It feels like I just did a huge workout.”
“Um.” He leans a hip against the counter next to me. “Did you forget what you were doing?”
“What are you talking about?” I ask him as he pushes off the counter and heads to the fridge to grab the milk.
“You spent the beginning of the night bowling like a normal person.” I watch him. “Then the rest of the night you were trying to get your ball to spin.”
I open my mouth. “Um, Nate, I was there, and it did spin.”
Last night’s event was bowling with the bridal party, and I would say I’m an okay bowler, but I’m highly competitive. Like, I’m not losing; I don’t care who you are, even if you’re a kid. If we’re playing a game, I’m aiming to win. You can cry in your Wheaties if you have to. “It did not spin.” He shakes his head as he adds milk to his coffee and then looks over at mine and waits for me to give him the go-ahead.
Being the stubborn person I am, I grab the milk from him and wince. The throbbing from my wrist now comes through. “Oh, it spun,” I affirm, so sure of myself, but there were bottomless margaritas, so anything could be possible. I have vague memories, snippets, more or less. “I think someone has a video.”
“Yeah, they do.” He nods, grabbing the milk from me to pour it in my coffee as I argue with him. “I do. I also have one of you running in the other lane trying to blow on the ball to get it to spin.”
“You know what? Your nipples are distracting me.” I hold up my hand. “You should put them away.”
