Decorations
It’s December 1st, but that’s not what’s on Erin’s mind right now. Right now, all she cares about is finding out what on earth was so important that her girlfriend had to stay at the lab all night.
She storms down the block towards the firehouse, muttering to herself and preparing what she’s going to say to Holtz when she gets there.
Then she happens to look up, and stops dead.
The building is covered—and she means covered—in Christmas lights. Hundreds of them. Her first thought is that they’re going to look stunning when they’re lit up. Her second thought is how?
She blinks a few times and rubs her eyes, wondering if maybe the sleepless night worrying about Holtz is causing her to hallucinate. There’s no way that those could’ve all been hung overnight, right?
She walks the rest of the way to the firehouse and, with a bit of apprehension, pulls the door open.
Okay. Now she’s absolutely certain that she’s hallucinating.
There’s more lights. Everywhere. Wrapped around the beams, strung from the walls, on the containment unit, which…seems unsafe…
Hanging from the ceiling are hundreds of paper snowflakes, and…are those paper ghosts, too?
“ERIN!”
Erin screams, jumps, and clutches her chest. “Holtzmann! You scared the crap out of me!”
Her girlfriend has appeared out of who knows where wearing a Santa hat and a massive grin. She darts to press a sloppy kiss on Erin’s cheek and steps back. “Iputafewdecorationsupdoyoulikethem?”
Erin strains to process Holtzmann’s run-on string of words. “A…a few? You consider this a few?”
“TheoutdoorlightstooklongerthanIthoughttheywouldandIalmostfellofftheroofwhichheldmeupsoIwould’vegotmoreputupsothat’sabitofabummer.”
Erin picked out maybe two words from that one. She scrutinizes Holtz, who appears to be vibrating with excitement. Erin’s never seen her this keyed up.
“Uhhh.” Erin walks over to her desk to put her stuff down while she tries to come up with a response. As she’s walking, she hears a crunching noise.
She stops and looks down. She’s just stepped on what looks like a…
“Is that a candy cane wrapper?”
Something a few feet away catches her eye. Then she sweeps her gaze around the room. There are dozens of similar wrappers on the floor. Slowly, she turns and looks at Holtz in horror.
“Ihadtostayawake,” her girlfriend says, bouncing on her heels.
So, not vibrating with excitement, then. More like an entire box of candy canes.
She strides back over and presses her palms down on Holtzmann’s shoulders to still her. “Have you been up all night?”
Holtz does a fantastic bobble-head impression. “Youstillhaven’ttoldmeifyoulikethem.”
“Can you try repeating that a bit slower? I didn’t catch what—”
“You still haven’t told me if you like the decorations.”
Erin is about to reply that it’s a lot when Holtz continues.
“I hope you’re not mad that I started decorating without you guys. I got too excited. This is a big year, you know? It’s our first Christmas together, and our first Christmas as a couple, and I want it to be special. More than special. I want it to be perfect. I’m just too excited. Did I say that already? Sorry. I’m just really excited.”
Erin’s face softens. Her girlfriend’s enthusiasm is infectious. She slides her hands down to catch Holtzmann’s hands. “I love the decorations, Holtz. And I’m really, really excited about our first Christmas together too.” She leans in to kiss Holtz. Then she breaks away with a smile. “You taste like candy canes.”
“Mmm, minty fresh.” Holtz swings their clasped hands. “Want to come see the lab?”
“Wait, there’s more?”
Holtz winks.
“Well, you’d better show me now, because you’re going to sugar crash within the hour, and that’s not going to be a pretty sight,” Erin teases.
“Let’s GO!” Holtz shouts, and tugs Erin by the hand in the direction of the stairs, humming ‘It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas’ as she goes.
“How much power is this all going to use?” Erin wonders aloud.
“I’m glad you asked, babe! I’ve been cooking up this neat little alternative power source that could probably power half the city, and this seems like the perfect time to test it out, don’t you think?”
“You’re going to get arrested.”
“They wouldn’t arrest me at Christmas.”
Erin just shakes her head. Something tells her she’s in for quite the month.