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It was cold, too cold for her liking and Bloom was shaking in her boots as she tried and failed to click the tiny letters on her phone keyboard and type in the address in the Uber app while regretting not getting the special gloves that worked on the screen.
Her fingers were stiff and slow and she kept hitting the wrong letter and she was this close to just getting a normal cab and paying twice the amount to get to the cottage when a voice startled her out of her frustration.
“Oh, hey!”
Bloom looked up from her phone and frowned at the tall blonde man walking in her direction. She knew him from somewhere, she was sure. She just couldn’t pinpoint where from. Was he a classmate? Was he her university senior? Was she his senior? He looked older than her, though.
“Bloom, right?” He asked with a polite smile, pulling his small suitcase behind him - which looked like it only fit one or two pairs of pants his size, and a shirt, maybe.
“Yeah…?” She said, still frowning. Maybe she knew him from childhood? And he grew up and changed and it’s why she couldn’t really recognize him?
He laughed, pushing his hair back and adjusting the strap of his backpack “You don’t remember me, do you?”
“I… Uhm…” Maybe he was from the gym? He looked like he went to the gym regularly. Maybe she could have seen him there the one time she went to one and gave up the next day but kept paying for two months?
“Sky? Sky Eraklyon?” He cleared up and she squinted, as if it would make her remember him faster.
”Sorry, not really ringing a bell…” Maybe he was a classmate of her woodworking class? Though he didn’t look like he’d be into that.
“Friend of Stella…?” He said, searching her expression for any sign of a memory “We met at her birthday party…?”
Stella threw five parties in her birthday month… Was it the costume party? Maybe he was dressed up and she doesn’t recognize him as a normal person? She got absolutely hammered in that party and even hooked up with a hot tall blonde-
OH
“We made out…?”
Bloom gaped at him, her phone slipping from her hand and she moved to catch it midair, making her backpack slide off her shoulder and fall on the ground, and when she bent down to pick it up, her suitcase tumbled over and the hood of her coat fell forward and covered her face.
“Shit- I- “ She laughed nervously while he leaned forward and helped her up “Sorry- I mean, uh…” Bloom finally got all her items under control and smiled up at him “Hi.”
“Hi” Sky chuckled “Are you arriving or leaving?”
“Huh?”
He gestured around them, to the busy entrance hall of the small airport “Catching a flight or just landed?”
“Oh, right. Just landed, looking for an Uber. You?”
“Same… Got any family here?”
“No, no… No family at all actually- Well, my parents are in California but I don’t see them much. Different continent and all...” Bloom laughed nervously “I’m actually renting one of Stella’s cottages in the Villa. Thought a nice cozy Christmas by myself would be nice.”
“Oh, I actually had the same exact thought.”
“Cool…” Bloom nodded and he nodded too.
A moment of silence hung in between them until Sky cleared his throat and gestured to the airport doors “Wanna share an Uber, then?”
“Sure.” She nodded, grabbing the handle of her suitcase and following him outside.
He took his phone out of his pocket and opened the app and Bloom couldn’t help but notice the lack of gloves on his hands, or scarf around his neck. Or even a beanie on his head. Was he in the same weather as she was?
“Two minutes” He said, showing him the Uber screen on his phone and she nodded, putting her glove back on and shoving her hands in her pockets to keep them warmer. They could have waited for the car inside the airport.
The waiting was awkward and silent, and the ride wasn’t much different. They only exchanged a couple of words. It was so awkward, the driver even decided to break the ice.
“You two got lucky… There’s a big snowstorm coming. All the cabs are heading home.”
“Oh, yeah?” Sky said, “Lucky us…”
“News said tows are gonna be under for a couple days. Everything is closed.”
“Stella said the cabins are all stocked up so we’ll be good.” Sky said to Bloom and she nodded, barely taking note of the conversation as her mind turned trying to remember exactly what happened between them at the party.
She remembered kissing him and he said they made out, was it all that happened? After that she only remembered waking up at home wearing half the costume and half her pajamas as if she had passed out while changing.
“Hopefully it stretched to Christmas eve… Don’t wanna go to my mother in law” The driver said with a laugh as he turned on the Villa street “Here we are. Solaria’s Winter Villa.”
He stopped just outside the gates and Sky frowned. “Do we need to call someone to open it?”
“Only registered and approved cars can go in. Ubers are not allowed.. You’re gonna have to be on foot from here, I’m afraid...”
“Of course.” Bloom murmured, grabbing her phone so she could split the bill in the app but Sky shook his head no, paying it all before she could say anything.
Stella told her the Villa was high tech, gave her a password and key card and a little instruction pamphlet, which both interested but also scared Bloom. So when they approached the gate Sky only typed in the code and it opened by itself, no need to call someone up or check in.
Sky held the gate open for her and they walked together along the stone path. It had just started snowing but they were still able to roll their suitcases along.
When they came to the first split in the path, Bloom stopped, glad to finally be able to ditch him and enjoy her time alone.
“My place is left.” She said, pointing to the arrow marking cabins 1-6 “It was good to see-”
“Oh, mine is that way too.” Sky said with a polite smile, walking ahead and gesturing for her to follow.
Bloom internally groaned, walking after him.
They reached another split and Bloom pointed right, to cabins 4-6, to which Sky chuckled and shrugged.
“Guess we’re neighbors.” He said as they continued walking together.
At the end of the path there were now 3 splits, one going to each cabin and they stopped once again, Bloom smiling genuinely this time. Finally.
“Well, if the snow stops and you decided to go in town-”
“I’ll probably stay in, but if I do I’ll-”
“Knock on my door-”
“Let you know.”
“Yeah, cool.”
“Cool.”
"Merry Christmas, Bloom.”
“You too, Sky.”
They turned to the paths, but both walked towards the middle one.
“Oh-” Sky laughed “I think you’re-”
“This one is cabin 5, see the arrow?”
“Yeah I see it, sure you have the right number?”
“Are you sure you have the right number?”
They both reached into their backpacks and took out the envelope with the room number and key and then turned to each other.
Both had the number 5 on them.
“You’re kidding, right?” Bloom raised her eyebrow while Sky groaned, grabbing his phone and dialing Stella’s number.
“Put it on speaker.” Bloom ordered, hugging herself as the cold wind blew past them and the snow got heavier.
The phone rang and rang but eventually went to voicemail and Sky cursed, dialing it again and waiting.
“I can’t believe this…” Bloom muttered, rubbing her gloved hands together for warmth.
Stella’s phone went to voicemail again and Sky sighed, looking at the ginger girl before him and frowning, her face was red from the cold.
“Okay I don’t think she’s gonna pick up any time soon, let’s go inside and warm but while we wait?”
“Yeah” Bloom nodded, already grabbing her suitcase and dragging it up the small steps, unlocking the door and walking in.
They sat across from each other on the dinner table, hugging themselves and refusing to move anything in the cottage until they figured out if it was their own or the other’s, both staring at their own phones and waiting for their common friend to call or text of give any sign of life so they could murder her for putting them in this situation.
“The Villa gets really busy this time of year, I’m sure it was a booking mistake…” Sky said, more to himself than to her “It’s not her that handles it anyway…”
Bloom scoffed “She’s the owner and we’re her best friends, Sky. Are you really this naive? She double booked us on purpose.”
“Why would she do that?”
“I don’t fucking know, maybe she was bored and thought it would be funny.” Bloom pushed her chair back and got up, pacing.
It was getting dark outside and colder and all she wanted to do was take a warm shower, put on her pajamas, make some hot chocolate and cuddle in bed with a book. Staring at the blond man who she may or may not have had sex with but doesn’t remember wasn’t in her plans.
There was a buzz of her phone and she rushed to pick it up, only to see a text from Aisha. A picture of her in the sunny and warm beach of the southern hemisphere where it was summer and not below a hundred degrees.
“Stella?”
“No.” Just a smack on the face for passing the invitation from her friend.
Bloom set the phone back down and walked over to the fireplace “I can't deal with this cold anymore.”
She kneeled in front of it and frowned, looking around.
“Shit we don’t have firewood… How the fuck are we supposed to light it?! She said everything we needed would be here!”
“It’s gas, you don’t need wood.” Sky said from the table and she glared at him.
“You’ve been dying to mansplain something, haven’t you?”
“Is it mansplain if I’m just responding to a question?”
“I didn’t ask.”
“You did though.”
“Well, it was a rhetorical question.”
“With a real doubt in mind?”
“Shut up.” Bloom scoffed, looking at the fireplace again and then looking around and back and forth until she groaned “How do I light it up?”
Sky didn’t answer and she turned to him as if she was trying to burn a hole in his head.
“That was a real question.”
He got up and walked closer, picking up a remote control off the coffee table and then hitting one of the buttons. The fireplace immediately turned on and startled her, making Bloom jump back and fall on her ass on the rug.
“Jesus…” She said with a scoff, before getting up and sighing before turning to him “Thanks.”
“No problem.” Sky shrugged, sitting on the couch in front of the fireplace and taking in the heat.
Bloom did the same, but before she could fully relax their phones buzzed at the same time and they got up, rushing to them.
A text from Stella.
Two words.
One emoji.
"Enjoy babes 😉"
“Told you.” Bloom said, letting her phone down on the table with enough force she was lucky it didn’t break.
Sky shook his head, dialing her number again and pressing the phone to his ear as he paced around.
“She’s not gonna pick up.” Bloom said, walking back to the couch and sitting down with her arms crossed.
Sky didn’t answer, trying again when the phone went to voicemail. And again.
After the fifth try he sighed in defeat and pinched the bridge of his nose “Okay, fine. Have the cottage. I’m gonna get a room at a B&B in town.”
Bloom’s eyebrows shot up in surprise and she turned and watched as he grabbed his suitcase and went for the door.
But when he opened it he was met with a waist high level of snow and fog so bad they could barely see the porch light.
“Okay, I won’t…” He said, closing the door again and shrugging off the bit of snow that had hit his coat “I’ll wait until the storm dies down and leave?”
“Remember what the Uber driver said?” Bloom sighed, accepting defeat and getting up, picking up her suitcase, putting it on the coffee table and opening it, “he said there's gonna be a huge snowstorm that is gonna last at least a couple of days, the whole town is gonna shut down.”
“Shit…” Sky groaned, running a hand over his hair and looking around, “what do we do, then?”
“I’m gonna take a shower and warm up.” She said, picking up her comfy pajamas and walking to the bathroom “And continue with my holiday plans. I don’t care what you do.”
And with that she closed the door.
She took her time in the shower, letting the stress wash away from her body, scrubbing the airplane smell off her hair and making the hot water melt her frozen limbs. Bloom then took way too long to dry her hair with the built in blow drier- just like in those fancy hotels. Then she put on her comfy pajamas and socks and finally exited the bathroom.
The bathroom was directly in front of the bedroom, so once out she had a straight view into the other room, where Sky was. Standing in front of the bed with his open suitcase on it. Wearing a loose gray pair of sweatpants. And no shirt.
He was lean and toned, not too buff but not slim either. More of a swimmer built, which was 100% her type. No wonder she made out with him, if she remembered correctly he was shirtless that night at the party, wearing some sort of devil costume…?
His back muscles popped as he bent down and picked up a shirt from his suitcase, putting it on and covering himself much to her disappointment.
Then he turned and finally noticed her there.
“Already claimed the bedroom, I see.” Bloom said before he could mock her for staring, and walked back to where she had left her suitcase in the living room and dumped her dirty clothes inside.
“I just didn’t wanna leave my things on the dinner table.” Sky said, following her.
Bloom looked at her own things on the table and scoffed “You know what, we’re stuck together so why don’t we set some boundaries so we won’t annoy each other to death?”
“Fair…” Sky walked over to the kitchen and opened the cabinet over the fridge “But, I think we should perhaps try to get along… How about some shots and a game of 20 questions?”
He held up a bottle of some sort of alcohol that was so fancy and expensive it only had an image on the label and no other information.
A drink did sound good.
“Fine.” Bloom said, grabbing the bottle and walking over to the couch as he grabbed the glasses.
They sat on the small couch side by side but facing each other and Sky held up the glasses as Bloom poured them a generous amount, then they downed it in one gulp.
“Alright, where did you meet Stella?” Sky asked, taking the bottle from her and pouring himself another shot.
“Through Aisha. She’s childhood friends with Stella and my roommate in uni. You?”
“Our parents are friends. We’ve known each other since diapers.”
“You’re rich too, then?”
Sky laughed, downing a shot while Bloom refilled hers “I guess…”
“You guess?” Bloom rolled her eyes “Did you grow up in a mansion?”
“More like a farmhouse but yeah it can be called a mansion.”
“How many horses?”
“Uhm… Four?”
“Only four?” Bloom gasped in surprise, the sarcasm very clear in her voice “Oh you poor you!”
“Shut up.” Sky rolled his eyes with a smile on his face. “Stella had six.”
“And a pony, I know.”
Bloom took the second shot and scrunched up her nose.
“Not much of a drinker?” He asked.
“Only when I wanna get drunk.”
“Like at the party? You must have been very drunk not to remember anything that happened.”
Bloom blushed, what had happened?
“Yeah one of my classmates stole my project idea and handed it in as his before mine so yeah, I was pissed”
“Shit… Couldn’t you tell the professor?”
“Professor Hale hates me already she wouldn’t hear me out- Whatever it was weeks ago, I did a new project and it turned out better than the old one so I’m fine now.” Bloom brushed it off “Do you go to the same uni we do?”
“Yeah but I’m on the other campus, two blocks away. Law.”
“Rich and untrustworthy, I see.”
“Poor and prejudiced, uh?” He teased and Bloom’s mouth hung open in shock and she reached in to slap his chest.
“Hey! Sky!”
He chuckled and grabbed her hand in his, playing with her fingers, planting her hand open over his heart in a mockery, “oh, so you’re the only who can be a sassy prick, B?”
“As a matter of fact, yes.” She chuckled, leaning closer to him just a bit “Why did you come here to spend Christmas alone and not with your fancy rich family?”
“If you met my family you’d get your answer.” He shrugged, pouring both of them another shot “And we don’t really do Christmas…”
“You’re bitter you didn’t get a pony as a kid?”
“Yes, that’s the essence of all my daddy issues. How did you know?” He said in feigned seriousness and she burst out laughing.
“You’re such a dork… Maybe it won’t be as bad spending Christmas stuck in a cottage with you.”
“Same.” Sky answered, raising his glass and clinking it against hers.
They talked and talked and laughed for what felt like hours, until Bloom yawned, her eyes slipping closed every few seconds.
“Alright, time for bed.” Sky said, patting her knee “Go, I’ll sleep on the couch.”
“This couch?” Bloom raised her eyebrow “ I can’t fit in this couch, there’s no way you can.”
“Well, what do you suggest?”
“It’s a king sized bed in the bedroom, Sky. I think there’s plenty of room for both of us.”
“And you’re okay with it…?”
Bloom shrugged, getting up from the couch “I don’t mind.”
“Okay then.”
They got ready for bed and then got under the covers, as far away as they could from each other. Sky turned off the night lamp and they fell into silence, the faint sound of the wind blowing the only thing that could be heard in the room. Until Bloom said:
“Sky?”
“Huh?”
She turned to him, resting her head on her hands and trying to make up his features in the dark.
“What happened that night?” Bloom asked quietly.
“At the party?”
“Yeah.”
He turned to her, scootching closer and leaning in as if he was going to whisper a secret.
“Nothing.”
Bloom stared at him for a long moment before scoffing and sitting up “What do you mean nothing?! I remember the kiss!”
Sky chuckled, turning so his back was against the mattress and then beginning his arms up, hands beneath his head “Yeah, we kissed.”
She waited until he finished the sentence but when he didn’t she groaned in frustration. “Then what happened?!”
“You passed out.” Sky shrugged.
“What?!”
“We kissed and then you immediately passed out. I carried you to Stella’s bedroom. She said you woke up an hour later and got in an Uber and went home. I had already left.”
Bloom laid back down on the bed, covering her face with her hands. “So I was freaking out all night thinking I didn’t remember fucking you for nothing?!”
“You didn’t ask!”
She looked up at the ceiling and scoffed, letting the silence envelop them again for a while before whispering: “Was it good at least?”
“What? The kiss?” Sky asked, turning his face to look at her.
“Yeah.”
He frowned, “you said you remembered it.”
“I remember we kissed, I don't remember how it was.”
Sky hummed, pushing himself up and then turning on his side, leaning his head on his bent elbow and hand “Well… We could refresh your memory…”
Bloom turned her whole body to him, “I think… I think I’d like that…” She said quietly.
Sky slowly slid closer, his knees touching hers under the blankets. He reached down to her face and cupped her cheek, tracing her bottom lip with his thumb before leaning in. He gave her every chance to back out, touching their foreheads first, then the tip of their noses until finally their lips met.
It was quick, was the first thing that came to her mind. Too quick. She barely felt the taste of the minty toothpaste when he was already pulling away. Gentle, was the second word. And sweet. Like those rom-com movie kisses which technically were kisses but Bloom didn’t really think they counted.
“Good?” He asked, eyes still closed, foreheads together.
She pretended to think about it for a moment before saying: “I think I need my memory refreshed again.”
“My pleasure.” He said with a smile, leaning in and kissing her again, but this time she grabbed onto his shirt and pulled him closer, deepening the kiss- making it a real kiss.
“I think it’s coming back to me, but I need a bit more.” She said in between kisses, pulling him even closer.
Safe to say it wasn’t such a bad Christmas after all.