So it was cold and I was listening to ‘Tis the Damn Season as one does (evermore I am so sorry I was not your mother)and I decided to do a little Winter Season rom-com. It’s silly and fun!
You can run but only so far.
Coming home was everything Celeste detested. The town seemed to get smaller. The people got more suffocating. Her parents were there. That was why she left, wasn’t it? She went to Los Angeles and started her architecture company. She was the one who had made it out. She had no reason to subject herself to this small town again. Corinth Square had nothing for her but bad memories.
But she had to come back for this Christmas. She had to come back for Brandon.
She pulled her car up to the old Methodist church. It was two steps away from her old school, Corinth High. A truly clever name for a school. The memories came forth unbidden. She was younger than the other students. She had skipped a grade and was smaller than everyone else too. She had been treated like an outcast by everyone except Brandon Carter.
Brandon was her oldest friend. His home life was about as good as hers, but their houses were next to one another. They were partners in crime if the crime included stealing Sylvia’s chocolate chip cookies. Celeste couldn’t remember a time when the cookies weren’t ready for her. They were always warm even when they had been sitting out for hours. Celeste could’ve sworn Sylvia was magic.
And that magic had kept her safe. When she would leave school with tear tracks on her face Sylvia was there to wipe them away. Brandon came home with bruised knuckles that day. He was scrawny then. Smaller than even Celeste but she knew he could throw a punch. He never did tell her what he had done. He just smiled and said that no one was allowed to pick on her but him. Then he would race her to the pond in their backyard.
Brandon had taken her to every school dance. Every homecoming was spent with him dancing terribly just to see her laugh. Even when he eventually joined the football team, he made sure she was invited to every party and every kickback. He told her once that all his touchdowns were dedicated to his two favorite women, Sylvia, and her.
They slow danced at prom and Celeste had kissed him. They were seniors. Their time together was running out. She was sure she loved him. She thought maybe he might’ve loved her back. They didn’t talk about the kiss.
She remembered back when she left. Brandon and his mom were the only ones to see her off. The only people from her life here that mattered. She had been escaping. Taking the first train out of the city and she didn’t look back. She wished she had asked him to come with her, they could’ve run the world together. But that was eight years ago. It was the past and this was the present.
Time flies messy as the mud in your truck tires
A truck parked a couple of spots down from her. Celeste didn’t have to guess that hard to know whose muddy truck tires they were. The bright green eyes that looked at her car confirmed her suspicions. He was taller than when she had last seen him. She thought he had stopped growing in high school, she certainly had.
“Brandon!” She called out for him before she could process what she was doing. She wasn’t ready for this conversation. Not really. She also wasn’t ready to see how the years had treated him.
“Celeste Robinson, as I live and breathe.” Brandon walked towards her with a familiarity that made her ache. She didn’t want to acknowledge why she did. When he got close, he gave her a slow once over, like he was registering and cataloging Celeste the grown woman, allowing her new image to write over the high school Celeste he had in his mind. She had done much of the same.
“I didn’t think you would ever come back here. You said you never would.” Celeste had always said that. She promised him that when she left, she would never ever return.
“Well, you know I had to come back for you-- for Sylvia I mean.” Brandon didn’t comment on her slip-up. He just nodded at her.
“Mom has missed you. You should know that she keeps clip outs of your work. Has a whole scrapbook.” Celeste’s face flushed. She should have come back and visited her. She was more of a mother to her than her own had been.
“I got the wedding invitation. A holiday wedding? Doesn’t seem like Sylvia would be the type to make that much of a fuss.”
“Yeah well, things are different. And she wants to share something special with Malcolm.” Malcolm. That’s what the invitation said. ‘You are cordially invited to Sylvia and Malcolm’s Christmas Spectacular. It’ll be the wedding of the season. Her name had been handwritten on the card. She needed to change the topic.
“So where are you staying?” Brandon was quicker than her. He always had been in awkward situations. His mind could put anyone at ease.
“I’m staying at my parent’s house.” She couldn’t keep the distaste out of her voice. Brandon caught it of course. He always knew what topics made he hurt. But she also had nothing else to say.
The silence stretched on between them. She saw an ache in his eyes, one that she may have put there. He looked like he wanted to say something to her. Something that would bridges the years that separated them, like they weren’t different people now.
Finally, Brandon cleared his throat. “Well while you’ve been doing it big in LA you must’ve forgotten about the sharp rocks of these roads. You have a flat.”
“Shit.” Her language must have shocked him because he started to laugh. She joined him. He leaned down then to check out her wheels. She wished that time had been worse to him. Instead, he was more toned than ever. She unlocked her trunk to hand him the spare tire. She went to assist him with the carjack, but he brushed her hands aside.
And there it was. That familiar zing that always used to accompany touching him. Apparently, that had not faded with time. If Brandon was similarly affected, he didn’t let on. Instead, he changed her tire with a singular focus she hadn’t remembered he was capable of.
“Well, that should hold you up. My friend Robert took over the old mechanic shop down the street. He can get you sorted out.” Brandon had started to walk back to his truck before she could begin to say her thanks.
“And Celeste,” He made eye contact with her then. The force of his gaze held her in place. “I’m glad you’re back home.” With that, he started up his truck and drove off.
She was so screwed.
Holidays linger like bad perfume
Her parent’s house was just like she had left it. Everything was in perfect order. Not a speck of dust was out of place. It was a mausoleum. Celeste knew if she stayed in the house too long, she would calcify with everything else there. She would turn into one of her mother’s perfect statues.
She needed to get out of the house. She allowed her feet to carry her out the door and down the street. It was a pathway she still knew by heart.
Sylvia’s house smelled like cookies even from the outside. Celeste barely knocked on the door when she was pulled into a hug. Sylvia’s arms felt like her true homecoming. This was the mother she knew.
“Celeste, it is so good to see you. Oh, how you have grown.” She kissed the crown on Celeste’s head. Her scent reminded her of being young. When everything was so simple, when a blue cookie soothed her fears, and a scrawny boy with bloody knuckles took care of the rest.
“I had to come home for your wedding, Sylvia.” Celeste had to fight to keep her voice from wavering. She didn’t want to cry here.
“And I am so happy you are here. I know you have your parents’ place, but you are welcome to stay the night here before the wedding.” If that hadn’t been the exact words she needed to hear. She was still welcome to stay.
“I’m so sorry for not coming to visit more Sylvia.” She just waved off Celeste’s attempt to apologize.
“I don’t want to hear that. Come I want you to meet Malcolm.” Sylvia pulled Celeste into the house and called out ahead of them. “Malcolm! Come meet my long lost friend.”
The introductions went quickly. Malcolm seemed nice, which Sylvia deserved. Celeste remembered David, Sylvia’s first husband, and Brandon’s first stepfather. He couldn’t be further from nice if he tried. And Celeste knew how hard he tried.
Celeste wishes she had paid more attention to the introductions. Malcolm’s family was also there for the wedding, along with some of Brandon’s cousins on his father’s side, but she couldn’t. Brandon had walked into the room, and he was distracting, to say the least.
He must’ve just come from showering because his hair was still wet. He seemed to zero in on Celeste’s position in the living room because he made a B-line toward her. He didn’t say anything to her immediately, but Sylvia must’ve known they needed time because she called the family’s attention to her.
Brandon gestured with his chin and eyes to the back door. A silent request for them to take a walk. She ignored the part of her that was thrilled that she could still read him because that also meant she was probably just as open to him.
Brandon took her down the path to the Lake. He led the way, though she didn’t need him to. She could practically make out her own worn footprints in the ground. This was a path they had constantly taken.
When they got to a stopping point Brandon turned around and looked at her. He started to speak but she interrupted him before he could.
“Look. I know it’s been years, but I don’t care. I also don’t care if you’ve been with anyone since I’ve been gone. I don’t want to ask either. Just. I’m home now okay? I think that is enough.” She needed it to be enough. She needed Brandon to read between the lines.
As usual, he was one step ahead of her. He surged forward and took her in his arms. When his lips met hers, her body lit up like a Christmas tree. His sole attention was on her. When he lifted to pick her up, she wrapped her legs around him.
Eight years of missed time was poured into the kiss. Celeste didn’t think she wanted to breathe. She didn’t think she needed to breathe. Everything she needed was right here. She could find life and sustenance in his lips.
Their lips only parted when she felt something cold fall on her head.
It had started to snow.
We could call it even; You can call me babe for the weekend
They stayed up late that night. Brandon drove her around the town that she had memorized in her bones. She saw it in a new light through his eyes. He spoke of the new people who had moved to town. He talked about the life he had built since she was gone.
He was a high school counselor now. Something she had not seen coming. He had gotten his degree in Social Work. That was why he was at the school that day.
“I just want to help kids in the way that I needed back then. The way that we needed.” Celeste could understand that. It made a lot of sense now that she thought about it. He was some other little girl or boy’s hero now like he had once been to her.
The lay in his truck bed underneath the stars. They also made out in said truck bed. It was nice. She didn’t want it to end. They didn’t talk about it ending.
She stayed with Brandon that night. She doesn’t know if Sylvia meant she could stay in her son’s bed when she invited him over.
“Why are you still living with your mother again Brandon? I know your salary isn’t a lot, but you couldn’t afford anything on your own.” Brandon turned pensive.
“I stayed ‘cause my mom needed me. But now she’s getting married now so I’ve been looking for my own places.” Celeste knew he had stayed for Sylvia, but it did something to her to hear him say it. The possibilities of what could have been filtered through her mind. They sat next to the unspoken words between them, creating a space they couldn’t bridge with their bodies. She didn’t want to think about it, so she just kissed him again instead.
And kissed him.
And kissed him.
She wanted to have something to commit to memory when she left again.
They slept half the day. It felt nice. She hadn’t had the chance to do that in a while. She came too on Brandon’s bare chest. That also felt nice.
Hours later when they finally peeled themselves out of the bed, Celeste went back home. She needed to get dressed. Sylvia’s wedding was that night. Celeste wore a silver dress. It looked a lot like the one she wore for prom. Brandon had told her that the color brought out her eyes. She wondered if he would say the same now.
Sylvia’s wedding ceremony was a blur. It was held at the old Methodist. Malcolm cried when he saw Sylvia come down the aisle. Celeste wished she had paid attention to the vows they gave one another. Instead, she spent the entire ceremony staring at Brandon. He looked stunning in his suit. She had stared at him since he entered walking his mom down the aisle. Her eyes had trailed up his body and landed on her face.
When the Pastor pronounced Sylvia and Malcolm man and wife, Brandon mouthed something over his mom’s shoulder. It looked a lot like “I love the color of your dress.” She didn’t think about his use of the word love. She already wasn’t thinking about a lot on this trip.
She didn’t speak to Brandon again until the end of the reception. She had seen him running around, making sure everything was perfect for Sylvia. Celeste tried not to appear forlorn. She plastered on her best work smile.
“You know I can always tell when you are faking smiles.” His whisper startled her out of her thoughts. She had been mid-conversation with a lady whom she was sure was very interesting. She just couldn’t remember why.
“If you’ll excuse us, Celeste owes me a dance tonight.” Brandon pulled her gently to the dance floor. The DJ changed the song to a familiar slow tune.
“Is this the song from our prom?” Brandon just grinned down at her. This close to him, their height difference was even more apparent. She laid her head against his chest. His cheek was against her hair. She wasn’t worried about him messing up her style. It was the end of the night. They swayed there for a while before Brandon mumbled something.
“Hmm?” She was blissed out, here in his arms she was safe.
“You never asked if I would come with you.” She stopped short. Brandon pulled away from her and just looked at her.
“That day you left. When you got out of this town, you never asked if I would come with you.” The room was suddenly too small. Celeste could feel her heart pound in her ears. She did not want to talk about this. So, she did what she did best, she ran. She took off out of the dance hall and out into the snow.
Before she could catch her breath, Brandon was on her. He grabbed her by her arm. His hold was firm but not tight. She knew she could break free if she needed to. She could keep running. She stayed in his grasp.
“We have to have to talk about this CiCi.” ‘CiCi. He was the only one who ever called her that. He was her best friend. And now he was looking for an answer from her. It made her angry. She didn’t want him to see her so well.
“You didn’t ask me to stay.” Even as the words came out of her mouth, she knew that wasn’t the answer to his question.
“You hated it here. Why would I make you stay in a place you couldn’t stand with people you hated?” Brandon knew her well. She would’ve stayed for him, but she would have been unhappy. Getting out of this town had saved her life. Coming back may just end it.
“Celeste, why didn’t you ask me to come with you? Why didn’t you ask me to wait.” Brandon’s voice cracked. She saw barely constrained tears in those beautiful eyes. She felt them in her own too.
“I was afraid you would say no.” It was out in the open now. The tears were released too. Celeste had thrown herself off a ledge and was giving Brandon a chance to catch her.
“You never gave me a chance to say yes. You took that choice from me. You got it up in your head that I would say no. That I would hurt you as your parents had.” His words cut into her like glass. He was right of course. She was scared he would say no. That he would abandon her like everyone else.
“When we were small you used to say no one ever chose you. But you never gave me the opportunity to prove you wrong.” She hadn’t given him that chance. She had run. Even now, in his arms, she wanted to bolt.
Brandon kept talking. Now that the unspoken words between them were out in the air he steamrolled on.
“You can ask me now. You can ask me to wait on you. Or to even come with you.” He looked at her with expectant eyes. With hopeful eyes. He held her face in his hands and wiped away her tears.
“Ask me to come with you, Celeste.” His voice was gentle like he was talking to a wild animal or one of the students he counseled at school.
Celeste couldn’t get her tongue to move. It was like she was frozen like the snow on the pathway. She could see that her silence was hurting him. That the ache she felt in her heart and in her soul was shared with him.
Still, she didn’t speak up. An eternity passed and she said nothing. She could only stare at him.
He shook his head. “You never were a coward before Celeste. I guess things really have changed.” He walked away from her. Back towards the party she no longer felt welcome at. He wasn’t wrong. She was a coward.
So I’ll go back to L.A.
She packed that night for the airport. She ignored the part of her that want to go two houses down and seek Brandon out. This time Sylvia and her son would not be seeing her out of Corinth Square.
It was a long drive back to the airport. It was a blurry one too. A small part of her wanted to blame that on the snow and sleet that fell in sheets around her. A bigger part of her knew that was a lie. She was leaving behind the warmest bed she had ever known for so-called friends in Los Angeles. At least she was only breaking her own heart.
All of her knew that was a lie too.
She thought the worst part about coming back home would be seeing her parents. Not the losing the smile she would miss for the rest of her life. ‘Tis the damn season was right.
The airport was nearly empty. Most of the holiday travel was scheduled for the next day. No one was leaving out Christmas morning. At least there would be no snow in California. No snow and no Brandon Carter and no lines in the airport. A win/win/win. Her logic didn’t even sound convincing to her own ears.
She spent her time waiting on her plane moping. That was until someone tapped on her shoulder. She turned around, ready to curse out whoever dared to bother her in the airport when she came face to face with a pair of familiar green eyes. She jumped up to be on his level.
She held her breath. She couldn’t move. She was frozen again, and she couldn’t speak. Luckily, she didn’t need to.
“I couldn’t let you leave again. Not this time. I lost you once.” Brandon’s voice was frantic. “You couldn’t ask me then, and you can’t make yourself ask me now so I’m going to ask you.” He turned around and picked up his suitcase. “Let me come with you. I won’t make you stay here, but I am following you on this plane now. If you let me.”
“But what about your mom? What about your job.” Celeste was searching for reasons this wouldn’t work. Reasons this was a bad idea.
“My mom has Malcolm now. I don’t need to be here for her anymore. There will be other jobs. I can work anywhere. I can work where you are.” She was at a loss for words. Brandon dropped his bags and placed his hands on her shoulders. He squeezed her like he was trying to convey his feelings to her.
“Say yes, Celeste. Say anything.” She wanted to throw caution to the wind. All the roads let her here, to him.
“Yes,” She felt like her she could exhale again. “I love you, yes come back to L.A. with me.”
Brandon kissed her then. His kiss was for the childhood they had. He kissed her for the eight years they had lost. His kiss was for their future together.
“I’m happy you said yes because that last-minute ticket I bought was expensive and it’s one way. I only know one person in Los Angeles and that’s you.” They both laughed. Suddenly a voice called out over the airport intercom.
“All flights outbound have been canceled due to an incoming snowstorm. Please check your flight numbers to see the updated time.” Brandon did not seem too upset with this change of plans.
“Come on ‘CiCi. Mom has a fresh batch of cookies waiting for us at home. Plus, she would love to say goodbye before we go.” Home. She was home now. She always had been when she was with Brandon.
Maybe coming back to this small town wasn’t so bad.
It always leads to you in my hometown.
Happy New Years! Thanks for reading!
Celeste was about to be on my list fr 😭 loved this so cute 😊
U know I’m alrdy here