It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

So curl up with a nice Christmassy book... here's a couple of mine that are set around the festive period...

Dylan let the one person he'd ever really loved slip through his fingers six years ago. Now, while he's having a quiet drink with his friends, Skye is stood a few feet away from him and he has two choices - he can do something stupid and tell him how he felt all those years ago and that he still feels the same way, or to let bygones be bygones... but it's Christmas and his miracle might happen...

“Oh, lucky old you – looks like you’re in class with our old friend Travis Winters.” Davie-Lee chuckled. 
I looked at him, “I’m sorry don’t have the faintest idea who Travis Winters is – who are you talking about and why is that funny?” 
Davie-Lee nodded across the gardens to where I could just make out a guy leaning up against the wall of the student union bar, his glasses swinging from his hand carelessly and his face turned up to the late September sun. His hair was all over the place, but it looked clean. He was wearing a pair of faded denim skinny jeans, a black tee shirt with some sort of logo on it that I couldn’t read from where I was standing. He had his eyes closed but all in all, he looked kind of cool. I really didn’t get what Davie-Lee was getting at. 
“Don’t you remember Travis from juniors?” he asked incredulously. 
I frowned and shook my head but then it dawned on me that I hadn’t been to the same junior school as Davie-Lee – and this Travis kid. “I went to a different juniors to you – I’ve only known you since we started at Gregory Street Academy – so, go on then – what’s his story?” I asked – not that I was in the slightest bit interested – as unquestionably cute as he was, I couldn’t possibly love anyone again after Sam – life was a lonely path for me now… I’d come to terms with that, finally. 
Davie-Lee shrugged, “Um, not sure – I remember him leaving in our final term. His Mum dropped him off one morning and then he went to live with his great uncle or someone. She died on the way back home somehow. He was about ten or eleven I think.” 
My heart went out to him. “Oh, God,” I looked back across at him, “– that’s terrible.” 
Davie-Lee nodded, “Yeah, it was awful for him – not least because he was already really weird – he only had one friend and she was a total fruitcake too; he was freakily good at maths – and that’s about as much as I remember about him – oh, and be warned. Never mention Friday the 13th to him – he was absolutely nuts about that…” 
I frowned. Jeez, the guy sounded even crazier than I was… I couldn’t help looking over at him again. He had longer than average, brown hair that was currently hanging loosely and brushing against his collar. He’d put his glasses back on and somehow that gave him a slightly superior look as he ferreted through his bag looking for something with a look of mild panic on his face. He was, without question, really kind of cute... 

I didn’t blame my parents’ death for my bad behaviour. Oh, I’m sure some do-gooding psychiatrist would be able to lay the blame at someone else’s door – but the truth was – I just enjoyed being bad. It made me feel better for a while. It was just when Will looked at me with disappointment in his eyes and almost a look of disgust that I felt bad about myself. That hurt…

I could hear someone singing softly on the next aisle from where I was stood. He seemed to only be singing the verses to the song – as if he wanted someone to chime in with the chorus... well, I was happy to oblige. I waited until he came to the end of the next line and then I started to softly sing the chorus. I stopped and waited to see if he’d continue the song.
He did. This was kind of fun. I pulled out a book and peered through the bookshelf. My eyes almost popped out of my head when I found myself eye-to-eye with Jules....
Mum always reckoned that if she could stop singing and someone carried on the song – they were totally in tune with you – like you had a connection... and I was pretty damned sure I had a connection with Jules...
Making him see that while he was still nursing a broken heart was gonna be a challenge... I could see that but I was also willing to give it a go...
I still wasn’t sure if I was in love with Jules – or in love with the idea of being in love with Jules – and I guess I was never gonna find out unless I took the bull by the horns and asked him out.
“Hi,” I said, “What are you doing in here?”
He raised an eyebrow, “Why shouldn’t I be in here?’ he asked, “I like poetry.”
It was my turn to raise an eyebrow, “Poetry?”
He nodded, “Why, what’s on your side?”
I looked at the shelves. I hadn’t really been taking much notice – I’d followed the sound of his beautiful voice if I was gonna be completely honest. “Motorcross and uh, BMXing.”
He nodded, “Wow.” He said, “You’re into that?”I swallowed hard and shook my head, “Not really.” I admitted with my heart slamming against my ribs painfully, “But I’m into you.”