Mistletoe Mishap

by Siri Caldwell

  “I am.” She dropped a kiss on Viv’s cheek. “Let’s go.”

  —

  When they arrived at the old row house a few blocks from campus, the party was already in full swing, Christmas music cranked to full volume, jingle bells hanging from the door knocker, colored lights strung around the windows. Viv was mobbed the minute the two of them stepped inside.

  Kendra surveyed the room as Viv was dragged away by her students to talk shop. The only person she recognized, aside from the enthusiastic Jonah from the previous evening, was a professor in Viv’s department whom she’d talked to a few times at department functions. Min-Jeong was just saying goodbye to two of her own fans, so after Kendra found the bedroom where guests’ coats were thrown on the bed and added their own, she snagged a ginger ale and joined her at the dessert table.

  Across the living room, students hovered around Viv, eager to be part of her circle, basking in her attention, no doubt spouting witty, intelligent comments in the hope of impressing her. Viv looked comfortable with them. Happy. Kendra’s heart melted a little, seeing her like that.

  Eventually, Viv freed herself and joined them.

  “Hi, Min-Jeong,” Viv said, nodding to them both and ignoring the gingerbread cookies Kendra hadn’t been able to resist.

  “Viviana. You look not yourself.”

  “I…” Viv looked confused, like she couldn’t figure out which of the two of them had mistranslated.

  “You look relaxed,” Min-Jeong clarified.

  Viv’s smile reappeared. “Do I?” She shrugged. “I suppose being on winter break could explain that.”

  “I didn’t think you paid much attention to such things,” said Min-Jeong. “The university informs us it is time for break, but who listens? Not you, I think. You work hard.”

  “Doctor Davis,” interrupted one of Kendra’s former students, appearing out of nowhere and waving one of those goofy reindeer antler headbands. “You look like you’re in need of festive headgear.”

  Kendra’s momentary delight at encountering a former student evaporated. What was the obsession with antlers this year?

  “I can see you haven’t heard that Doctor Davis is a grinch,” Viv said, coming to Kendra’s rescue.

  “They’re geologic,” the student explained to them both. “Antler fossils are a thing.”

  “They’re plush,” Kendra countered.

  “They could be fossils,” the student said. “But give me a couple of those cream cheese brownies with the crushed peppermint on top and I’ll find someone else who wants them.”

  “Deal.”

  The student ran off to find another victim and Kendra downed another cookie. Viv slung an arm over Kendra’s shoulder, and Kendra’s eyes widened at the public gesture.

  “Having a good time?” Kendra asked.

  “Mm.” Viv took Kendra’s red Solo cup from her and downed the last swallow of ginger ale without asking. “You know what this party really needs?”

  “Better music?” Kendra reclaimed her cup and swirled the remains of her ice cubes, contemplating whether to have them now or wait until they melted more.

  “What this party needs,” Viv said, “is ten lords a-leaping.”

  Kendra’s cup froze on the way to her mouth.

  Viv didn’t mean at the student party. No way. There was no way. They didn’t even touch in front of the students. No hand on a shoulder, no kisses, no nothing.

  Kendra tilted her head back and finished the dregs of her ginger-flavored meltwater. She lowered her cup, the ice sliding noisily back down, and stole a glance at Min-Jeong. “No leaping,” she said. “This music is too boring to dance to.”

  Viv shrugged. “The students like it.”

  “And even they won’t dance to it.”

  “Is that what a-leaping means? Dancing?” Viv’s voice was absolutely neutral.

  It made Kendra’s competitive streak stir.

  I’m trying to help here. But if you don’t want me to…

  Kendra caught an ice cube in her mouth and sucked on it. “What do you think it means?”

  Answer. I dare you.

  “Well. You know.” Viv stayed completely bland. “Leaping.”

  “Jumping,” Min-Jeong offered, as if Kendra were one of their foreign students who didn’t have a firm grasp of English vocabulary.

  “Jumping,” Kendra repeated, sucking on her ice a little harder and giving Viv a pointed look as she rolled it around in her mouth to speak. “Not sure I approve of students jumping each other in public.”

  Viv coughed. “Not that kind of jumping. The kind where they climb on lab tables and leap off, throwing their arms wide and smacking the ceiling and wondering how the ceiling came to be so low. And that’s before they start drinking.”

  Min-Jeong shook her head as if she too had witnessed the same thing in her own lab. She turned to the dessert table and selected a star-shaped sugar cookie. “Lords a-leaping.” She reached for the stack of festive red and green napkins and took several. “It must mean dancing.” She bit off a triangular point of her cookie and dabbed at her lips with a napkin. “What else?”

  “Yeah.” Kendra angled away from Min-Jeong to wink at Viv. “What else?”

  Chapter 11

  ———

  Day 11

  ———

  KENDRA 4 : VIV 4 (12:01 A.M.)

  KENDRA 4 : VIV 5 (NOW)

  “For someone who claims to want to win, you’re not winning much,” Viv teased Kendra as Christmas Day dwindled to a close.

  They were sitting together on the living room sofa in the dark, breathing in the scent of their Fraser fir, watching its shadowy shape and its twinkling multicolored lights. The silk scarf printed with a partridge in a pear tree‌—‌Kendra’s gift to Viv‌—‌lay abandoned on the floor with their shoes and half their clothing. Kendra had her arm over the back of the sofa and around Viv, and Viv rested her head on Kendra’s shoulder, eyes closed, hair a wreck, her breathing synchronized with the rhythm of the rise and fall of Kendra’s chest as she lazily attempted to button Kendra’s open shirt.

  Kendra should have known better. She’d let Viv get the upper hand, and now she was drifting off and she had no idea what time it was, and that was probably a bad move, considering what happened the last time she’d lost track. She had time, though, didn’t she? To win a point? A few hours, at least.

  Kendra ordered herself to stay awake, but her body wouldn’t listen.

  As she hovered on the edge of dropping off to sleep, she thought she heard Viv say, “I made you come so hard you passed out again, huh?” Viv laughed quietly to herself. “That was too easy.”

  Viv thought she was winning? Kendra was going to get her for this. As soon as she had the energy to open her eyes.

  “I won’t wake you,” the sneaky thing whispered, snuggling closer.

  Shit. She couldn’t…‌open…‌her…‌eyes.

  Viv’s lips brushed across her forehead. “I love you.”

  And then she was smoothing Kendra’s hair until the soothing rhythm relaxed Kendra into unconsciousness.

  Chapter 12

  ———

  Day 12

  ———

  KENDRA 4 : VIV 5

  “Are you still working?” Viv asked, wandering into the dining room where Kendra had her papers spread out all over the big oval table.

  Kendra leaned her elbows on the table and rubbed her forehead, pressing her thumbs into the tight muscles above her eyes. “I should quit for the day. I’ve been planning my lectures for next semester for…‌n, where n is a large number of hours.”

  Viv stood beside her chair and pulled Kendra to her chest. “Where n plus one is the number of hours after which your head explodes?”

  Kendra tucked into her, burrowing her face in Viv’s breasts, and laughed. “Yeah. Let’s hope not.”

  Viv palmed the back of her head and gently stroked the base of her skull. “Why don’t we play it safe and call it a night.”

&n
bsp; Kendra nuzzled her and nodded. “You wearing that see-through thing again? Because you’re not tricking me like that anymore.”

  “Tricking you?” Viv asked innocently.

  “Wear it if you want. Or the pajamas. Or nothing, I don’t care.” She gave Viv a squeeze before reluctantly releasing her. “Tonight’s day twelve. My last chance to win. And I’m going to.”

  “I’m ahead by one point,” Viv reminded her with a smile. “The best you can hope for is a tie.”

  “I’m okay with a tie.”

  “I’m not.”

  “So competitive,” Kendra said fondly, taking Viv’s hand and bringing it to her mouth to kiss the faded scars. “And so going to lose.” Keeping hold of her hand, she rose from her chair to lead her to the bedroom. “Get ready to have your mind blown.”

  Viv followed along and closed the bedroom door behind them. “I thought the blowing of the mind was reserved for day five.”

  “Aw, you remembered our lyrics,” Kendra said, taking hold of the hem of Viv’s sweater. “Now let’s get these clothes off.”

  Viv captured her hands to stop her. “You first.”

  She should have known Viv would make this difficult.

  “I’ll undress as soon as you do.”

  “Or first,” Viv suggested, kissing the base of her neck, bringing the scent of cinnamon and curry powder which clung to her hair from the candied nuts she’d baked earlier in the day.

  “This is silly.”

  “It’s strategic. You can’t win unless you get me naked.”

  Kendra abandoned her attempt on her sweater and slid her hands underneath it and around her waist. “You think I have to get you naked to make you come? Please. Don’t insult me.”

  Viv shivered. “Prove it.”

  “Like you don’t remember all the times I’ve done it?” Kendra scoffed.

  She nudged Viv onto the bed and Viv let her, and before long Viv was lying on her back with a dazed look in her eyes and close to coming apart. Zipper open, clothes on, rocking into Kendra’s hand.

  Doing this to someone she loved was a completely different experience than her vague memories of doing it to someone she barely knew. Back when Kendra was dating, she’d focused a lot on her technique, learning each new person’s body and trying to get it right.

  With Viv, though, it wasn’t about figuring out what Viv liked. It wasn’t even really about concentrating on getting Viv off. She knew that part would happen.

  With Viv, she could relax into feeling, and touching, and breathing into the love that burned from her core and bubbled up in her heart until it spilled over into their kisses and flowed out through her hands to join the love that flowed through Viv’s hands just as much. Filled her, until it became the only thing that mattered.

  Nothing they did with their bodies meant anything without that light. That joy. That connection, not with Viv’s body, but with her essence. Her soul. Her being.

  She loved her whether they did the oh‌-‌my‌-‌God‌-‌now‌-‌now‌-‌now‌-‌you‌-‌talented‌-‌evil‌-‌genius‌-‌oh‌-‌God‌-‌yes stuff or not. But she wouldn’t trade the past eleven days for anything.

  All of it was part of who she was. Who they both were.

  She loved talking together. She loved hearing her laugh.

  She loved the way Viv was now, flushed and desperate and writhing. Fighting it. Wanting it. Wanting her.

  Kendra kissed the spot right over her heart, and Viv’s breathing changed from ragged to frantic.

  “Babe,” Kendra whispered, giving her the hoarse encouragement that would end this. “It’s okay.”

  Viv gasped, quivering, and came.

  Kendra collapsed beside her. Viv made a small, tired sound of happiness and curled into Kendra’s arms. They held each other, trusting and safe.

  After a little while, Viv’s head grew heavy on Kendra’s shoulder. Her arms went slack. She seemed to have fallen asleep.

  Hmm. Kendra ran a feather-light touch across her back, but Viv didn’t stir. All right then. No need to wake her, right? Kendra hugged her closer, adjusted her arm position to be more comfortable, and told her body it was time to sleep.

  Some time later, Kendra felt Viv shift in her arms.

  “You don’t fool me,” Viv whispered, barely audible.

  Because that’s what you did when the person in bed with you was awake. You whispered. So you wouldn’t wake them. Uh-huh. Kendra kept her breath even and her eyes closed. Which wasn’t hard to do, actually. She really did feel more than half-asleep.

  “I know you can hear me,” Viv breathed.

  She sounded like she meant it, yet she did nothing to try to force Kendra to admit to it. Not like the last time, when she’d tricked Kendra into opening her eyes.

  Kendra let out a drowsy sigh. She probably shouldn’t be cheating on their last day. But her arms felt heavy and she couldn’t remember how to move and maybe that meant she really was asleep?

  “I’m going to let you get away with it.” Viv brushed a soft kiss on her shoulder.

  You don’t have to do that, babe.

  And Kendra knew no more.

  Chapter 13

  ———

  Day 12+1

  ———

  KENDRA 5 : VIV 5

  Street after street, block after block, their neighborhood had outdone itself with the outdoor Christmas decorations, and Viv insisted that driving by was not enough: they needed to be on foot to admire the pretty lights. In the dark, of course. Together. Several hours after sundown. By which point the temperature had dropped enough that Kendra was forced to admit she should have taken Viv up on her offer to turn back to get her gloves when she realized she’d forgotten them in the house.

  Viv had remember her own gloves. And her fuzzy scarf. And her hat.

  “No earmuffs?” Kendra teased, switching her sippy travel mug of hot cider to her other hand so her bare hands could take turns in her pockets. Unfortunately, the mug was so well-insulated that holding it didn’t warm her hands at all.

  The smell of coffee and melted candy cane wafted over from Viv’s matching travel mug, and Kendra snagged it to steal a sip.

  “Drink your own,” Viv said.

  “Yours tastes better.”

  “I asked before we left if you wanted coffee and you said no, you wouldn’t be able to sleep if you had coffee this late.”

  “I thought hot cider sounded more Christmas-y,” Kendra said, and waited for Miss Accuracy to remind her that Christmas was over.

  “Since when do you care about things being Christmas-y?”

  “You like Christmas-y,” Kendra said, like that explained everything. Because it kind of did.

  Kendra’s hair was tousled from the wind, and Viv removed one of her gloves and reached out to smooth it into place. “It was a good Christmas. We should do this again next year.”

  “Yeah.” Kendra blinked at a yard dotted with illuminated reindeer. Next Christmas sounded depressingly distant. Were they going to fall back into old habits after this? Forget they were allowed to touch each other?

  Viv wormed her bare hand into Kendra’s coat pocket. She found Kendra’s hand, and when she clasped it, Kendra squeezed back, almost afraid to move, because Viv never did this. They were on the sidewalk. Outdoors. Strangers were driving by. Neighbors could see them. If they were looking. Which they probably weren’t. But they might.

  Viv dangled her glove in Kendra’s face. “Put this on.”

  “I’m okay.” Just because they shared a glove size didn’t mean she should deprive Viv of being comfortable.

  “I can feel your skin. You’re cold.”

  “I don’t want you to get cold.”

  “I won’t. Your pocket is toasty. Come on. Put it on.”

  Kendra disentangled herself from the sweet warmth of Viv’s hand, passed Viv her mug, and pulled on the glove. Now they each had one hand gloved and one bare. “There we go.” She took back her mug and maneuvered Viv’s hand back insi
de her coat pocket, bare hands clasped again and burrowing into the warmth of her coat, and they continued down the street, matching each other’s steps with the effortlessness of long familiarity.

  Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Viv turn her head in her direction, then away.

  “Kendra? I don’t want to wait another year.”

  Kendra drew in a sharp breath.

  Inside Kendra’s pocket, Viv rubbed her thumb over Kendra’s hand.

  “Ever heard of the twelve days of Easter?” Viv asked.

  Their joined hands flushed with warmth that danced up Kendra’s arm to her heart, making her lightheaded. Or possibly the lightheadedness was due to not breathing. She exhaled hard. Didn’t help. She inhaled. Yeah, still lightheaded.

  Kendra grinned. “Ever heard of I’m not waiting until Easter, are you out of your mind?”

  Viv cocked her head like she was considering it. “What about Valentine’s Day? That comes before Easter.”

  “Yeah, I’m not waiting until Valentine’s Day, either.”

  “Well then.” Viv’s smile blazed with promise. “Who says there are only twelve days of Christmas?”

  “We don’t have to add days,” Kendra said quickly, because seeing her like this was exhilarating, and she didn’t want to mess this up. “We’ll be going back to real life soon. We could…‌maybe…‌enjoy being together without—”

  “We don’t have to,” Viv agreed. “But we might want to.”

  “We might?”

  Viv pulled her to a stop, and Kendra realized they’d reached home already and she’d been so focused on Viv that she hadn’t noticed. Viv led them up their driveway and up the steps to their front door.

  “Yesterday was day twelve,” Viv said. “I may have to check my math, but I believe that means today is day thirteen.” She sipped her coffee, then offered her mug to Kendra. “Here. Have some caffeine.”

  Kendra ignored the mug and traced Viv’s cheekbone with her thumb. “You saying I’m going to need it?”

  Viv nuzzled into her touch. “You might.”

  “And how many days…‌or nights…‌will there be?” Kendra cupped the back of her head and kissed her, not needing to hear the answer. Not caring, as long as they were happy together.