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Vinny idly scuffed the toe of his sneaker across the gravel of the alley he was standing in, simultaneously feeling bored and agitated.
All the guys were busy – which was fair enough; they had shit to do, and they’d all asked Vinny if he’d wanted to tag along, but…he’d been feeling a little off. It was because he was expecting some mail from his mom, some important mail, and he was trying to not let it get to him…but he was failing. Hard.
He couldn’t help it; his mom was sending him probably the most important letter Vinny received all year: a Christmas card from his oldest friend, Etta.
They hadn’t seen each other in a few years; she spent half her time with her parents, living in various communes across the states. Her family were all what Vinny’s mom called ‘free-spirits’ and his dad called ‘weirdos’. The best term was probably hippies, hence why Etta’s parents had named their December-born daughter Poinsettia. She wasn’t quite as out-there as her parents – hence why she’d chosen to go by her nickname – but she did move around a lot, and not always to places she could be reached by phone, so they communicated mostly by letters.
And, to Vinny, the most important letter each year was the Christmas card Etta sent.
It was always a work of art. Etta made her money though crafting and selling the things she made, and though Vinny had seen countless examples of her work, the Christmas cards always seemed special. Special enough that he had kept every single one of them, right from when she’d left town when they were seven, two years after she’d arrived.
That was that had been twenty-one years ago – and Vinny had twenty prized Christmas cards, soon to be twenty-one.
As soon as that letter arrived.
Trying to take his mind off of how anxious he was about receiving that letter, Vinny pulled out his phone to play a game or something – only to receive a text right as he unlocked it.
Look up.
He did as the message said…and caught sight of his old friend standing at the end of the alley, grinning at him.
“Pointy!” he yelled, rushing over to grab her up in a tight hug.
Just as she’d always done, she groaned at the nickname. She might have changed her hair from pastel pink to deep purple – honestly, Vinny would’ve been more surprised if she hadn’t switched to a new colour – and gotten a bunch of new tattoos, but some things never changed.
Like her hatred of his nickname for her.
And the equally hated nickname she had for him, the one she used as she wrapped her arms around his neck to hug him back: “Frodo!”
Vinny grunted: “I forgot how much I hated that nickname.”
“Unwise of you, young hobbit.”
“Fuck off.” Vinny laughed, finally letting go of Etta – just enough that he could get a good look at her face: “What are you doing here?”
“Your mom told me that you’d be passing through here – and my parents’ new place is just a few miles outside the city. So I thought I’d deliver my Christmas card in person this year.”
Vinny was so glad that she did.
Considering he could only phone her for about six months of the year, he almost never got to see her in person – in fact, this was the first time they’d gotten together in three years.
He couldn’t think of a better Christmas present.
“I’m so glad you did.” Vinny said, pulling Etta in for another hug and giving her a tight squeeze: “I’ve missed you.”
Etta squeezed right back: “I’ve missed you too.”
“C’mon, let’s get something to eat. I’ve been too hyped up to eat today, I was so nervous about getting your Christmas card.”
“You are too cute!” Etta grinned, leaning up to peck Vinny on the cheek, before tangling her fingers through his and pulling him out on the street: “You’ll be pleased to know I’m not vegan anymore. And I’m eating red meat again, occasionally.”
Vinny was instantly on guard: “Was someone giving you shit about diet?”
“What if they were?” Etta raised an eyebrow at him.
She didn’t like it when he ‘acted like the big brother I never wanted’, but Vinny couldn’t help it sometimes. Etta was five-foot-nothing, weighed ninety pounds soaking wet, and was pathologically nice to people. Vinny didn’t feel the need to look out for many people, but Etta was at the top of that short list.
He knew when to not push his luck, though.
“I’ll send Chris and Justin after them. Put those lanky fuckers to good use.”
Etta laughed: “Nice save. No, no-one was giving me shit, I just kind of…gave it up. It was always more of my parents’ thing than mine.”
“Yeah, I remember how pissed you were when they made you give up cheeseburgers.”
“Oh, God, yeah…I still can’t believe they didn’t just leave me Pennsylvania after that tantrum. I would’ve left me.”
“Nah, you were a cute kid. You could’ve gotten away with murder.” Vinny nudged Etta with his elbow, grinning teasingly.
“Hey, less of the past tense.” Etta smirked back, pausing on the sidewalk to strike an overly ‘cutesy’ pose: “I’m adorable.”
Vinny laughed, but it was mainly to cover up the fact that he never knew how to respond to Etta when she said stuff like that.
Because god-fucking-damnit, but she was adorable. More than adorable, she was…
…pretty much the embodiment of everything Vinny could ever want in a woman.
As much as he tried to ignore it, because Etta was his friend first and foremost, she also happened to have become the measuring stick he compared nearly every women he’d ever dated to. Did they laugh as much as Etta did? Were they as easy-going as Etta was? Could he trust them not to judge him like he could Etta?
Very often, the answer was no. And Vinny was reminded of the fact that he was hopelessly in love with a woman who would forever see him as a kid with skinned knees and mismatched socks visible under his sandals.
Etta didn’t see him as a romantic prospect; their platonic relationship was too strong. He was the brother she’d never wanted but loved anyway. And Vinny was fucking honoured by the fact she had worked to stay this close to him over twenty years of crisscrossing the States, living in fucking tents and caravans half the time, and trying to find her place in a world that she was far too fucking good for.
She could’ve let him fall by the wayside, let time and distance slowly erode their relationship until there was nothing left, but she hadn’t. Vinny wouldn’t chuck that away for the off-chance she might think he was a potential boyfriend.
It was why he’d never told her he kept all her Christmas cards. It felt like an admission of something…else. He was certain if she found out he had them stashed in a waterproof, air-tight box in his mom’s attic, she’d realise that he was just as love in her romantically as he loved her as a friend.
So he kept his mouth shut, listening to Etta fill him in on what had been going on with her family since they’d last spoken – at least until it came for time to pay for their order at McDonalds.
“Nope! I’m getting the paid the big-bucks now, Pointy. I’m buying lunch!”
“If I wasn’t so broke, I’d argue more…but I’m getting the next one!”
Vinny smirked: “Sure you are.”
“Shut up, Frodo.”
“Never. Not if my life depended on it!”
Etta rolled her eyes – but she was smiling when she replied: “It just might.”
“Go get a table, Pointy, I’ll wait for our food.”
Etta left, flipping Vinny off over her shoulder as she walked away, and Vinny just grinned as he watched her wonder over to the tables.
Even though she was teasing and poking fun at him, and letting him to the same to her, like they always did…Vinny got the sense that Etta was holding something back. He’d known her for years: he knew when she had something on her mind, and he definitely gotten that impression while they’d been walking her.
There was something she wanted to talk to him about: but she wasn’t sure how to do it.
Vinny empathised, and resolved to ask about it when he finally brought their food to the table – but Etta was speaking as soon as he sat down:
“So, I said I’d been speaking to your mom.”
“Yeah? I spoke to her the other day, she sounded alright – did she seem okay to you?”
Etta smiled reassuringly: “She’s fine. She just…told me something I found quite interesting.”
Vinny froze with a fry lifted half-way to his mouth – but if Etta noticed, she was kind enough not to say anything. Or too nervous.
She sounded like she was trying to talk as quickly as possible when she continued speaking: “She said you’d been saving all the Christmas cards I sent you. Like, even the crappy ones from when I before I learned how to craft decently.”
“Nothing you make is crappy.” Vinny retorted without thinking, before wondering if maybe that hadn’t been the right response. Had he been supposed to laugh it off? Deny it?
“That is just plain untrue. I was no good at making cards back then – so I asked your mom why on earth you’d kept them.”
Oh fuck.
“And she…um…she said you were…that you…”
“Etta,” Vinny cut her off when she trailed off awkwardly, reaching out for her hand and trying not to wince when she flinched minutely, even though she did allow him to cover her hand with his: “I can guess what my mom told you about how I felt, but how I feel is on me. You’re my best friend, and I wouldn’t change that for anything. So nothing between us has to change, okay? Not if it makes you uncomfortable.”
Etta smiled weakly, seeming to need a few seconds to gather the courage to say what she said next: “Uncomfortable is not the word I’d use.”
Vinny winced openly then, withdrawing his hand: “I understand if you’re angry, or upset - ”
“No, Vinny, I don’t feel like that at all!” Etta cut Vinny off this time, reaching out to grab the hand he’d just withdrawn: “I’m sorry, I’m so bad at this – I blame my parents for not sending me to normal school where I got get all this awkwardness out as a teenager, but I…what I’m trying to say is…I like you. As in…like…I like you like you.”
Vinny froze.
“Are you…are you sure?” he whispered: “’Cos, um…I like you too. A lot. And I have forever. So…I don’t know, Jesus I’m awkward too…but I guess…please tell me you’re sure?”
“Oh, Vinny,” Etta smiled sweetly: “I don’t think I’ve ever been more certain of anything.”
Vinny didn’t think, didn’t even try to consider his actions – he didn’t even consider the food on the table between them – he just leant over and kissed Etta.
And she kissed him back.
She reached up to cup his cheeks with her hands, holding him close as their lips moved together, pouring what felt like years of pent-up emotions into the kiss. It was soft and sweet and full of everything Vinny wished he could’ve expressed to her before now. Everything he never thought he’d get the chance to let her know.
But now he could. Etta liked him. Liked him liked him. And as long she continued to like him like him, he could kiss her again and again.
“I’m…um…this…” Vinny pulled away, pausing for a few seconds to try and gather his scattered thoughts: “I thought seeing you was the best Christmas present I could ever get, but this…this is better.”