Christmas Music Polar Express Novels & Stories

My heart thudded. “Five!” I looked around. At my friends. At my father. At this house that no longer felt intimidating. Just full. “Four!” Alaric’s hand tightened slightly. “Three!” His breath brushed against my temple. “Two!” I smiled without even meaning to. “One!” “MERRY CHRISTMAS!” The room exploded into noise. Laughter. Cheers. Someone popped something that sounded suspiciously like a champagne cork. Malik tackled Alex onto the rug. Zendaya screamed happily.

Not with the paycheck. Christmas just got a whole lot fucking worse.

At least it’s warm in here. Soft Christmas music plays through overhead speakers, and there aren’t many people here. I head straight for the service counter. There’s only one other person on the last stool here, but my eyes are too blurry to notice past that. “Your strongest cocktail, please,” I say, ignoring the bartender’s greetings. He does as I ask, and the second my lips connect with the salty glass, I down the entire thing in three big gulps. It burns. “Arrggghh!” I wince, squeezing my lips with how shitty it tastes, but I immediately feel warm inside.

Finally, the car stopped at a park. With Christmas trees and lights all over the place. So many fun activities are going on. It was snowing. I came down and started jumping, and the loud Christmas music made it more fun. “Merry Christmas!” I screamed. Did he just smile? Zayne was watching me play around. I dragged him into the circle and made him jump with me. This felt so good. “Here, have this jacket. It is very cold.” He removed his jacket and gave it to me, but I was finding it difficult to put it on because of the gloves on my hands.

A pianist in the corner played carols, accompanied now and then by a small string quartet that filled the house with soft music. Lucas tore through the hall in his reindeer sweater, the bell on his sleeve jingling wildly. He stopped in the middle of the floor to proudly show off his candy cane socks, then bolted off again, his laughter echoing through the high ceilings. I moved between conversations, smiling, greeting people, answering compliments about the decorations I hadn’t arranged, and letting Lucas’s joy soften the tightness in my chest. For the first time in weeks, the pressure of the vote began to ease, little by little.

“You’ve got one job: make him happy.” “Got it,” Jasmine muttered under her breath, her stomach tightening at the thought of serving a man with a reputation for being impossible to please. --- The restaurant opened its doors to the city’s elite, and the festive atmosphere buzzed with energy. Garlands of holly and twinkling lights adorned every corner, twinkling fairy lights lined the windows, and a towering Christmas tree adorned the corner. Holiday music played softly in the background. The smell of roasted chestnuts and cinnamon wafted from the kitchen, mingling with the faint chill of December air each time the door opened and customers trickled in, bringing with them the crisp scent of wi

I watched the snowflakes drift down from the ever-darkening sky. The pack house was filled with people laughing and talking happily along with cheery holiday-themed music. It was a nice ambiance. So nice, I didn’t want to ruin it with my melancholy. The truth was, Christmas was one of the harder holidays for me. It didn’t matter how many years passed, all I thought about was Dad and how much I missed him. Hugging my knees to my chest, I rested my chin on them as I continued to watch the snow. The room was almost completely dark when the door behind me opened.

"Even knowing what it'll cost?" "Even then." She kissed him softly. "Now, when do we tell him?" Nelson pulled out his calendar. "Thomas Garrett's corruption expose happens Tuesday. That'll already be chaos. We can't add our relationship to that fire. After Christmas, maybe? After the holiday tension passes?" "That's three weeks of hiding. Three weeks of lying to my father's face at family dinners." "I know. But if we tell him now, during the holidays, it ruins Christmas for everyone. And with the Garrett situation exploding—" Nelson stopped. "The timing is terrible no matter when we do it."

It's like this girl can see through me sometimes. "Bianca can you get the music thing to work?" Mum smoothes out the nonexistent creases on her dress as she walks out to examine our table laying, choosing to swap over the placement of the plate of potatoes and the stuffing for some bizarre reason. Who knows how that woman's mind works. "Mum no please not Christmas music it's only just gone December" I groan as the hauntingly familiar sounds of Bryan Bublé suddenly fills the room. My mum's face literally lights up like the awful tacky Christmas tree in the sitting room.

“May iba kasi akong napapansin kay-” Naputol ang gusto kong sabihin nang lumabas mula sa bahay si Noel at Greg. Hindi namin sila naramdamang umalis sa table. Dahil sa pagsigaw nila ay saka lang namin napansin na wala na nga sila dito. May mga dala silang gitara. Napatunghay ako at napaayos ng upo. “Merry Christmas everyone.” Saad ni Greg bago inayos ang gitara at nagsimulang kumanta.