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Noelle blinks, unsure of what to do.
She’d hung up a sprig of mistletoe beneath the kitchen door, a fluttering hope of maybe catching Susie there on accident, smiling awkward and sweet at her and sighing something falsely defeated about how she couldn’t break the tradition so they just had to-
But that wasn’t what was happening.
Kris and Susie, ever searching for trouble and ever joined at the hip, had drifted out of the Holiday’s annual christmas party and into the hallways of Noelle’s house. Noelle followed, mostly out of instinct.
They’d bumped through the guest bedroom first. Kris sprawled out over the bed and made some ‘take me’ joke, and Susie rolled her eyes and went a little red and poked them in the stomach until they were breathless and laughing and rolled up to tackle her. Kris’s dress, one their mom probably made them wear, fluttered around them as they did.
It was a beautiful deep ruby. The same color as their eyes, almost. The velvet fabric looked soft. Susie seemed to think so, the way she absently ran her fingers along the embroidered seam at Kris’s back.
They ventured into the laundry room next, peering out the window and muttering something about a world and a castle, and standing all pressed up against each other, shoulder to hip.
It was nearly a full moon. It cupped their outlines in pale light, turning them into one big soft shape.
Now here they’re standing, some fifteen odd minutes later, Noelle hidden behind a doorway, Kris silhouetted in the gentle orange of the kitchen nightlight.
They’re looking uncharacteristically shy up at where the mistletoe is pinned, rocking up and down on their feet.
“What?” Susie follows their eyes “Oh. Huh.”
Her face flushes and she looks awkwardly down at the gilded tile floor. Her freckles are faintly visible against the darkening red of her cheeks. She’s so pretty in this light. But she’s pretty to Noelle all the time anyways.
Something mean curls in Noelle’s stomach when she sees how Kris stands almost against Susie, with a glance that is so deeply warm and familiar. She stamps it down fiercely. The tangled mess in Noelle’s heart has got nothing to do with Kris, they shouldn’t fall victim to it.
“Course they’ve got another stupid ass christmas tradition.”
Susie glares at the mistletoe halfheartedly, something Noelle hadn’t really thought possible of Susie before then.
The two of them don’t move away. Kris sways slightly forward, such a subtle movement Noelle barely catches it. Susie’s hands are twitching as if by muscle memory towards them.
“T’s not like you believe in this stuff or anything…we should..uhm.. find something to steal from Noelle’s fridge.”
Kris’s face is gentle, their bottom lip turned under their teeth, a soft edged dancing shadow splayed across their face “ What’s there to believe in…It’s like…a dare, not a religious thing.. ”
“A…dare?”
“ Yeah..I guess that means we should..” They bite their lip “ Mean, like. We shouldn’t chicken out of a dare…right? Gotta… follow through?”
“Yeah. Chickening out would be lame. ”
They look determinedly at her and slip their hands up to her face, and then lean forward and press their mouths together. It lasts a beat longer than necessary. A searing flash of jealousy floods Noelle’s chest.
“See, not chickens .”
A smile flickers in the corner of their mouth and they bump her shoulder, and then look pointedly forward into the kitchen, turning their head away.
Susie looks at them. Her face is overcome with an easy tenderness for a moment, and then she shakes her head and pushes forward, already cackling something about pickle juice and coffee makers.
Oh.