Christmas Eve, With A Chance Of Proposals

It was Christmas eve. Ava was at her usual 'ritual' for Christmas Eve, baking cookies. They were everywhere, in jars on the kitchen counter, in baskets on the table, in boxes on the front porch; in conclusion: they were everywhere. She baked tons of cookies for her neighbours every Christmas since her grandmother had died. Her Grandmother loved baking cookies for everyone. It was five years back that she'd passed away on Christmas Eve. Her Grandma had been miserable, suffering from a million odd health problems, but that didn't make moving on any easier. So, Ava, who normally hated cooking made it her mission to bake cookies for everyone this one day of the year- if only as a way to remember her Grandma. 

Her apron was sticky, her hair was a mess and she felt more irritable than she had ever felt. Just then the doorbell rung. Oh, how she hated whoever was at her door. She’d never been one to care (or remember) how she appeared, so in that state, she went to the door. 

It was John. He was being weird all week long. She wanted to slam the door in his face, but she waited, because he seemed particularly nervous. 

“Hi” she said- not rudely, but not very brightly either. If John noticed (not that it was concealed in any way) the state of her dress, he made no comment- he was probably too busy gathering the words, and courage, to say what he had come to say.

“Hi. I- Ava, I, um, really like you” He spoke in a half-whisper. It sounded more like a question.

Whatever Ava had expected, it wasn’t that. Like her? Well. 

“I’m sorry.. I- didn’t expect- I’m sorry”

“Sorry?”

“No, erm. I don’t like you- no- I mean, you’re nice, really nice- but I don’t like you that way”

He shook his head, as if telling himself off for having told her at all. 

“I’m sorry- Uh, I’m also sorry, I’ve been acting weird”

Ava who’d been looking at her feet, looked up, an eyebrow raised as if to say “Thank you for realising that”

He laughed. “That weird? Well- it won’t happen again. I’ll see you around?”

“Yeah. Yeah, sure!”

“I’ll be off, you’ve got a lot more baking to do. Also, you should probably get that dough off your apron”

She rolled her eyes, “I will, thanks”

John laughed again, as he walked off. 

Finally, when she could no longer see him, ava closed the door. Her head was still spinning- He’d taken that really well, yet, she couldn’t help but feel guilty. He was a good friend- a very good one- he was funny, intelligent, but- she didn’t know why she’d said no, except that it felt wrong. She’d never given any thought to it, but now that she did- it didn’t make sense, somehow. She didn’t like him that way. Wasn’t that enough reason? 

Deciding that it was, she went back to baking. 

Two hours and around four breakdowns later, the cookies were all baked and arranged in little boxes. Grandma didn’t like fancy boxes and stuff like that, but that was Ava’s favourite part. She had to make sure, they looked good. The cookies, the boxes, everything.

When she was finally sure they looked good enough- no, she would never call her work brilliant- she put them in baskets and set out. They didn’t have many neighbours, but it would take time nevertheless and she wanted to meet her friends later.

*

It was worth it, she felt, at the end of her ‘Hour Of Distribution’, as she liked to call it. The faces of Mr and Mrs Kravinski; the way Julia jumped at the sight of her cookies; Tom saying her cookies were ‘the best in the world’ through a mouthful of cookies- it all made the three hours of baking worth it. 

She smiled as she drove down to the park, where they’d decided they would meet. 

As she got down, she noticed Dean standing. Dean? Why was Dean here?! She couldn’t believe any of her friends would’ve called Dean to a close friends gathering. He was plain repulsive. 

He walked up to her. He was huge, especially this close up. But she stayed where she was. 

“You look pretty” he smirked

“Could you please move, you’re blocking the whole pathway”

She jerked her hand back a split second before he’d have caught it

“What in hell, Dean? Move.”

“What do you want me to say? I like you? Well, I do. You’re very pretty.”

She felt dizzy, again. But this time she knew exactly why. 

She slapped him as hard as she could. Evidently, he was expecting anything but that. He staggered back.

“Stay. The. Hell. Away. You get it?”

“Hey- what? I said I liked you. You really think you can say no to that?”

“Oh? In case you hadn’t noticed, I just did.” 

She could’ve cried with relief when she saw the others coming towards her, because she really didn’t know what he would do. He was, in a word, ew. He blatantly said that women were the ‘inferior’ gender, fit only for being ‘pretty’. 

“Dean?” Jay said, with only mild surprise.

“You either go, or we call someone, understand? Go as in- go now, and don’t bother her ever” Cecilia said. Cee had always been uncannily good at reading people.

Ava was pretty sure the look that Dean gave her as he left would haunt her for at least some time. But she also knew that he wouldn’t try to make advances on her. Annika's mom was a police, and Dean was scared by only the police. Why he’d tried to get Ava alone was beyond her. All she cared about was that it was fine now. She was shaken, but otherwise fine. 

“What the hell was that?!” Lily said. “he told you he liked you, didn’t he? You’re the third person he’s done this to today. He’s either on a mission to find one person who likes him, or, on a mission to ruin everyone’s Christmas Eve.”

Ava laughed. Lily did that. She could make everyone laugh, with just the way she said things.

*

They went and sat around ‘their’ rock. It looked so different in daylight. The six of them would come here whenever they were free. This was an abandoned side of the huge park. Literally no one came here. The entire park was lit with pretty fairy lights when it became dark. But they rarely came here during the daytime, so, they weren’t really used to seeing a fairy-light-less spot.

Ava, Teddy, Jay, Annika, Lily, Cecilia- They were an inseparable group that always stuck by each other’s side. They’d first met two years back, in the first year of college; and had stayed friends ever since.  

They lounged about, talking about the play that they were going to participate in, in the evening. Ava felt herself drifting off, she hadn’t slept well the previous night.

Seeing her not being able to keep her eyes open for more than a minute at a time, Teddy offered to drive her back home; an offer she happily agreed to. 

Back home, she mumbled a thank you before slamming the door in his face and going to sleep on the sofa itself. She did sleep well now.

She woke up, an hour later, with an ache in her neck, though.

*

She’d woken up because of a sound. Oh, the door, she thought.

She went- more like dragged herself up to- the door. Standing there with her favourite flowers was Cole.

“I’m sorry” she said, before he’d even begun.

“what- I didn’t even say anything”

“It’s pretty obvious, Cole.”

He looked down at the flowers as though seeing them for the first time.

“It probably is, isn’t it?” he said, wistfully. “Also, you should probably sleep, you look really sleepy”

“WELL THANK YOU COLE. IT NEVER OCCURRED TO ME” 

She slammed the door in the face of a very amused, but also sad Cole.

*

The play was for children in one of the schools associated with their college. 

It was, the very common ‘Cinderella’ (Mainly because they’d had exams and couldn’t think of anything else)

Ava was to play Cinderella.

*

The play was a success except for the part where the Prince proposes to Cinderella. With her day full of people saying they ‘liked’ her- even though one was a nightmare- she almost ruined her performance with her fit of laughter. 

But she composed herself soon enough for the play to be deemed a success. 

*

It had been a long day. Almost everyone had gone home. Ava had stayed at the school for sometime before going to her favourite spot: an enclosed garden near the fountain. She’d always loved it. The mild fragrance of flowers, while water sprayed around. 

Naturally, she was startled to hear a noise. Given the ‘events’ of the day, she spun around way too fast, almost spraining ankle in the process.

 Of course, she thought. Today was officially the worst day of her life.

She was half wet, fully paranoid and there he was- Will. Smiling-No, Smirking?- at her.

He stepped forward, into the light. 

Turned out he wasn’t smirking, after all.

“Hi!” Ava said. “Didn’t expect to see you here”

“Um. Yeah. No, I was actually looking for you. Jay said you’d probably be here”

“Oh. You were looking for me?”

“I wanted to say something. 

I- I really, really like you-”

Any other day, she might have scoffed at the very thought of Will liking her. Today, to summarise, had been weird. Day Of Proposals. Similarly, any other day she’d have gushed out an “I really like you too”

Today, she groaned.

Will stopped abruptly, looking extremely confused. 

Will looked stricken.

“I- Um- Don’t get you?”

“No- I- I really like you too. It’s just that. It’s been a mortifying day in the ‘liking’ aspect”

“What aspect?” he asked, smiling now.

She was so glad to see that smile back. 

“Everyone’s been telling me how much they really like me. It’s horrible”

“Well. I did put in an extra ‘really’”

“It’s not funny”

“It kind of is”

“No”

“Just a little bit funny”

“NO”

“Sure”

“You’re laughing at me”

“What? No, I wouldn’t dream of it”

“Okay. Fine. I’ll admit. It was a teeny-tiny bit funny”

They burst out laughing together.

*

The next day, thinking back, none of it seemed real. 

But since no one let her forget her ‘Day Of Five Proposals’ she had to accept that it indeed was real. Since that Christmas Eve, no one really said “Yay! Today’s Christmas Eve.” Instead, they said “Today’s the nth anniversary of ‘The Day It Rained Proposals’.

*