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Laura opened her eyes in confusion.
Slowly sitting up, she blearily turned on her phone and squinted at the time. 4:32 am, the bright numbers read. Groaning, she put her phone down and put her pillow over her head, hoping to try and tune out the jolly Christmas music blasting from outside her door. When the music did not cease to exist in 10 seconds, she squeezed her eyes closed tight and muffled her screaming into her pillow. Shoving said pillow away from her face, she sat up and walked towards the door.
Resisting the urge to grab a knife and stab him, Laura calmly walked towards her boyfriend. Max was singing along to “All I want for Christmas” and dancing around the kitchen. Glaring sleepily, Laura cleared her throat loudly. Max, not hearing, continued to dance around, unaware of the danger he was in. Her eye twitching, Laura took a deep breath and once again cleared her throat. This time, Max heard her. Pausing his music, he turned around sheepishly. Laura stared back with a deadpan look, her arms crossed in annoyance.
“Sorry?” Max said, grinning apologetically. Laura felt her eye twitch again and sighed.
“It’s fine, Max,” She sighed fondly. “Why, exactly, are you listening to Mariah Carey and dancing in our kitchen at 4 am?”
He shrugged and bounced around again, grabbing her hand and dragging her to the oven. “Look!” He said, pointing to it, “I’m making cookies!”
Laura looked at her boyfriend and pondered what she was thinking when she decided to date him. “At.. 4 am, Max?”
He nodded happily.
She felt like smothering him at that moment.
Looking over at the oven again, she sighed and tried to think of a way to phrase her thoughts without them coming out as death threats. “Honey… Why, exactly, didn’t you wait until the morning? ”
He shrugged.
She bit her lip to resist her internal screaming. Sighing heavily, she pulled him against her chest and mumbled into his hair. “Why am I in love with an idiot?..” Wrapping his arms around her as well, he snuggled into her and started swaying. She softly stroked his back and swayed with him reluctantly. “Why couldn’t you just wait until the morning?” She sighed.
He looked up at her from where he was held against her chest. “I wanted to surprise you… but, well… I guess I was too loud…” He mumbled hesitantly. Laura immediately felt guilty for her murderous thoughts and pulled him close to her again. “I’m sorry I was rude.” She sighed against him. “I was annoyed at being woken up so early.”
Max smiled at her and kissed her cheek softly. “It’s alright, hon, I woke you up.” A soft beeping came from behind him and he turned towards it. “Oh!” Max said happily, bouncing over. “The cookies are done!” He opened up the oven and quickly hopped up again to grab the oven mitt that he had forgotten. He blinked in confusion when he saw it missing and then slowly turned to see Laura standing there. Oven mitts in hand, she smiled at him and handed them over. Max smiled back and pressed a kiss to her cheek as a thank-you, turning around again to pull out the cookies and set them on the counter.
He hummed along to the Christmas music that was still faintly playing and looked at his cookies. He frowned, and sadly turned around to face Laura. “They’re all deformed…” He muttered somberly, pouting at the messed up creations.
Laura walked over and wrapped her arms around him. “They look perfectly fine to me.” She lied, squinting at the cookies apprehensively. “That one is, um, a great reindeer!” She said enthusiastically, pointing at one of the cookies. Max looked up at her sadly, “That was a snowman…” Laura winced and wrapped her arms around him tighter. “Ah, well… Even if they didn’t turn out exactly as you planned, I still say they’re perfect.”
Max smiled and turned around to face her. “You think so?” He asked softly.
“I do.” She replied, leaning forwards to softly peck his lips. He closed his eyes and smiled, leaning his forehead against hers after pulling apart.
He stepped backwards and hopped back over to the counter, pulling open the cabinets above and pulling things out. Laura watched in bemusement, crossing her arms and leaning against the wall. Max pulled out ingredients rhythmically, measuring and dumping them in a bowl he pulled out of seemingly nowhere. She watched with a keen eye as he bounced around the kitchen, humming softly and seemingly forgetting that she was there.
Laura watched as he grabbed items and prepared the icing. He mouthed the recipe to himself as he went, paying no mind to his girlfriend’s curious eyes watching him move. He had no recipe out, seemingly doing it by memory. When he finished he cheered happily, pushing the icing bowls to the side and grabbing the food colouring, dying each batch a different colour. He turned back to the cookies and pulled them towards himself. He tapped one of the cookies lightly and smiled.
Max turned to look at Laura and skipped over. He smiled at her and grabbed her hand, lightly tugging her over. She turned an inquiring look over at him and he laughed. “Since you’re already awake… Will you please help me frost the cookies?” He turned his puppy-dog-eyes towards her and she sighed fondly and smiled.
“Alright.” She fondly rolled her eyes and he cheered in joy.
He pulled her closer and eagerly handed her a cookie. She stared down at it and furrowed her brow in concentration as she grabbed an icing bag. Carefully following the shape, she outlined the cookie. She focused as deeply as she could, not wanting to ruin the cookies her boyfriend worked so hard to make. She vaguely recognised the music playing as Frank Sinatra’s “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas” and heard Max hum it softly.
She laughed in excitement as she finished the first cookie, and then looked down at it and frowned. Her snowman looked like it had melted. Very slowly. And painfully. She winced in sympathy for the poor thing and set it down gently. Sighing in annoyance, she grabbed another cookie, this time it was a reindeer.
Laura felt her eye twitch for the third time in an hour. She mentally noted that to file away for future medical reference. Staring down at her creation, she sighed heavily. Her reindeer looked like it had been run over, her snowman melted, and now her Christmas Tree looked more like a Christmas Pickle.
She glanced over curiously at Max and felt her whole body freeze. He was smiling widely, cookies surrounding him as the kitchen light above softly illuminated him. His eyes were joyful and he had a bit of icing on the corner of his mouth. She had the urge to kiss it off of him. Her eyes looked to the counter at his cookies. To her, they looked perfect. Just the right amount of icing dusted on, the details looked excellent. Her eyes drifted back up to his face and she found herself staring, as if in a trance. He looked angelic in her opinion, his christmas pyjamas with the malewife apron he received as a gag gift from Dylan tossed over them, the way his hair softly framed his face, the way he was so focused on not messing up, all of it was perfection to her.
She smiled fondly as she sappily stared. She wouldn’t trade this for anything.
Max turned around, finally noticing her stare, and blushed at the intensity in her eyes. He looked away shyly, still holding a cookie. Laura felt her heart warm at the sight, walking over and wrapping her arms around him. He set down the cookie softly and smiled, leaning into her embrace. She softly tilted his head up, kissing him gently. He kissed back tenderly, wrapping his arms around her back. She pulled back slightly, watching Max flutter his eyes open and smiled at the taste of icing left in her mouth. She gently stroked his hair away from his face. Her hand lingered on his cheek and he sighed happily, leaning into it. Her eyes softened and she tugged him closer, pressing their foreheads together. She softly swayed them to the music playing, humming along as she tugged him around.
She began to softly sing along as the music switched to “Let It Snow” and she twirled Max around. He pressed his head against her neck and swayed with her, giggling lightly. He pulled his head back and sang along with her as they danced around, snickering as she dipped him down at the chorus. She looked into his eyes and kissed him again, pulling him back up and pulling away to swirl around again.
As the music changed once again, she led him away from the kitchen and into the living room, continuing their dance. Laura spun him around together, the twinkling lights making Max all the more beautiful. She pulled him towards the tree and softly kissed his forehead, pulling him closer. She stared deeply at him, she could count his constellations of freckles, she would willingly sit there and count them all if it meant she could stay in this moment forever. Max in her arms, the music playing faintly in the background, the way the Christmas lights overhead softly lit up his face, it was all perfect.
She gently pulled him down next to her on the couch. Softly stroking his hair, she breathed in the soft scent of him. Laura pulled Max onto her lap and he looked up in surprise. He wrapped his arms around her neck, burying his head into her. His breaths were soft next to her ear and she tugged him down as she laid back, so that his head lay on her chest. Stroking his back, she hummed along to the music playing, closing her eyes peacefully.
The soft tunes of the nostalgic music slowly lulled them both into sleep, curled up next to each other on the couch, the lights overhead softly illuminating them with festive colours. Their breaths were in sync, chests rising and falling to the same silent symphony of their love, a harmony never to be forgotten.