Alicia

The guy in line ahead was taking forever to order his damn coffee. Alicia stifled a sigh as she watched the guy quiz the poor girl at the register, ensuring she had accurately recorded the exact temperature he wanted his steamed milk. The girl, wearing a cheap Santa hat, looked like this guy was sucking up the very last shred of her holiday cheer, but to her credit, she kept her customer-service smile in place.

The nerve of this guy, Alicia thought. Who the hell did he think he was? She didn't recognize him from around town, so she figured he had to be some tourist. She wished she could say something, but that might turn the psycho's attention on her, and you never knew when guys like that would fly off the handle...

If you're so damn particular about your coffee, Alicia thought to herself, make it at your own damn self!

She was tapping her foot now, hoping the jerk would hear it and notice the growing line behind him. She fantasized about shoving the weirdo out of the store.

"Is that all?" the weary barista asked when the guy finally got to the end of his rant.

"Of course it's not all," the jerk sneered. "You still need to give me the ingredients for all your pastries. Anything with eggs is—"

"Seriously, dude?" a deep voice echoed through the space. "You're not their only customer!"

Finally, the guy went silent and slowly turned to look behind him. By the bright red flooding into his wrinkled face, he was indeed the type of guy who would fly off the handle.

"Back off!" the guy snapped. "This isn't any of your business!"

"Mistreatment of service people is everyone's business," the deep voice continued.

Other people were turning to look now, including Alicia. Judging by the voice, she already had half an idea of who it was. She looked over her shoulder...

And there he was.

Zeke.

"They don't pay that poor girl enough to deal with your neuroses," Zeke shot back, his emerald eyes sharpened to daggers. With his height and the arrogant tilt of his head, he looked somehow both disinterested and intimidating. "Why don't you take your coffee and check the website for the ingredients for yourself?"

The man's only response was some muttering under his breath. He was quickly shrinking under the stares of the other patrons, who all looked rather pleased by Zeke's intervention. Even the girl behind the counter pressed her lips together to suppress her grin.

Fortunately, the girl's coworker had the man's coffee ready. He snatched it up and marched out of the café, grumbling as he went. Once he was gone, the whole café let out a sigh of relief, and the tension eased from the air.

Alicia hurried to turn away before Zeke spotted her—

"Hey, Alicia!"

She winced before she slowly turned back.

Zeke was waving at her. He was a few spots back in line, behind a group of women looking at him like Santa had brought them an early gift.

Alicia gave him a short wave and turned away again. With the guy gone, she was next in line, and she didn't want to make the people behind her wait even longer.

"What can I get you?" the girl asked as Alicia approached the counter. Her mood seemed much improved. Even her Santa hat seemed fluffier.

"A large vanilla latte," Alicia said. "No substitutions, nothing fancy."

"Thank god," the girl said with a laugh. She punched in the order. "Okay, your latte comes to—"

"It's on me."

Alicia froze and looked up.

Zeke was now looking directly over her. She shot a look back, and the women who had just been between them were still fawning over him.

"They let me go ahead," Zeke said with a mischievous grin. "So I could talk to my friend." He looked at the girl at the register. "You can put that coffee on my card."

Alicia grimaced. She already had her phone out, ready to tap. "You don't have to pay for me."

"I want to," Zeke said.

"Well, I don't." Alicia moved her phone towards the machine—

But Zeke was faster. He tapped his black card on the machine, and it gave a ding as it accepted his payment.

"What?" he asked, smug, as he slotted his card back into his wallet. "Are you going to ban me from here, too?"

Alicia glared at him. If she could ban Zeke from her favorite coffee shop, she would. But as she didn't, she put her phone away and accepted the coffee that was now waiting for her on the counter.

"Thanks," she said, her tone icy, and headed for the door.

"Wait!" Zeke called after her.

Alicia didn't look back as she stepped out in the cold.

But it wasn't long until she heard footsteps crunching in the snow behind her.

"What do you want, Zeke?" Alicia asked without even looking back.

"Come on, don't be like that," Zeke said as he sidled up to her. "I just wanted to buy you a coffee."

"I doubt this," she jostled her cup, feeling its insides slosh about, "came from the goodness of your heart. So, what is it?"

"Think... Think of it as my way of saying sorry for last night."

"Why not actually say sorry?"

"Alright, fine, fine," Zeke muttered. "I'm sorry. I guess."

"Wow, that was so heartfelt," Alicia said, taking a sip of her coffee. At least it was good.

Zeke sighed and pinched at the bridge of his nose. "Why are you so bent out of shape? You won the bet, and sentenced me to being on Team Sterling for the whole damn season. You got what you wanted, didn't you?"

"That's not what I wanted," Alicia said. "Not really."

"Then what do you want, Alicia?"

Alicia stopped and spun to face Zeke. "What I want is for you to get over yourself!" she shouted.

A few people on the street stopped to stare at them before hurrying to their real destinations.

"And you can start," Alicia continued, "by being nice to Sterling. No more snide comments, no more bickering, and certainly no more fighting! Even if you refuse to see it, Sterling is a good guy and you're upsetting your sister every second you drag out this stupid farce and refuse to let go of your pigheaded pride!"

Zeke just stared, his face blank. All he could do was blink before he finally managed: "Damn. Tell me how you really feel."

Alicia took another long sip of her coffee, glaring at Zeke over the edge of the lid all the while. When she finished, she delicately swiped at the corner of her mouth to make sure her lipstick was in place. For some reason, Zeke watched every move.

"So, I repeat," Alicia said once she was done, "what do you want?"

Zeke mashed his mouth together as though he was debating whether or not to spit it out. "I have a proposal."

Alicia's eyebrows launched up. "A proposal? What kind of proposal?"

"What if," Zeke started. He spoke slowly, still hesitant. "What if instead of trying to force me into liking Sterling, you accepted me tolerating him?"

"Tolerating?" Alicia said. "What would that look like? Was last night you tolerating him?"

Zeke flinched as though his recent memory made him uncomfortable.

"No," he said. "I'll be better. I'll... behave."

"You'll behave, will you?" Alicia echoed. "In exchange for... what?"

"You help get me out of all these..." Zeke said and let out a laugh. He tossed his arms into the air, gesturing at the garlands, lights, and gently falling snow. "Festivities."

Alicia eyed him. "Is that all? It's not like our bet was binding or anything. You can just tell your parents you don't want to go."

"Have you met my parents?" Zeke scoffed. "It's not easy to talk them out of anything... But I think you could do it. I figured since you got me in, you can get me out."

Alicia nodded along. He was right, of course. His parents were determined folk, just like their children, but their soft spot for her meant she could bend their ear more than most. That was, if she wanted to...

"How can I trust you?" she challenged. "You were already supposed to be on your best behavior, and yet look how that turned out. I think I require more than your word. I need proof."

"Proof? What kind of proof?"

"You have to come to one more event."

Zeke scowled. "The whole point is to stop going to the events!"

"It's just one more," Alicia said, rolling her eyes. "And it's the only way I can be sure that you'll do what you say. If you pass, then I'll talk to your parents and get you out of the rest."

Zeke dropped his gaze. His mouth pressed into a line as he thought it over. Then his eyes snapped back to hers.

"Even the ball?"

"Yes, even the ball."

"Deal."

He reached out a gloved hand for her. She guessed he had found his gloves—leather and expensive-looking. She took it with her knit mitten, and they shook on it.

For the first time in weeks, Alicia felt herself relax. Things were starting to look up. Maybe now she could finally tell Celeste about the exchange...

"You know, with someone like Celeste as your sister," Alicia said as they stepped back from each other. "I didn't think you'd be such a Grinch."

"I'm not. Or, I wasn't. This year, though—"

A phone chime rang through the air, cutting him off.

Zeke dug into his pocket and pulled out his phone.

The screen read PRIVATE.

"Private?" Alicia said. "Probably a spam call."

"You'd think so, but I've been getting a lot of these calls lately," he said, looking as though he was debating answering it. "My mom has accidentally set her number to Private before. Had no idea she did it, denied she even had."

He laughed.

"Guess I better answer it, just in case," he said. He tried tapping at the screen, but his gloved fingers didn't register. He struggled to pull them off, but the mitts were a snug fit. "Dammit!"

"Allow me," Alicia said, leaning in. She flipped the top of her mitts back to reveal her fingers and swiped at the screen for him.

"Thanks," he whispered before putting the phone to his ear. "Hello?"

Alicia couldn't hear anyone on the other side. But judging by Zeke's expression, neither did he.

"Hello? Anyone there?" he said, turning up the volume. "Mom, did you mess up your settings again—?"

"It's me," came a muffled voice on the other side.

The color drained from Zeke's face.

"N-Nancy?" he breathed.

"Zeke, please don't hang up—"

But that's exactly what Zeke tried to do. Alicia watched as he ripped the phone from his ear and tried to jab at the end call button, but his gloves were still in the way. He began pulling at them with his teeth, frantic to free his fingers to hang up.

"Let me help—" Alicia offered, but Zeke twisted out of her reach.

He managed to get his thumb out and jabbed once more at the screen...

...but his hand slipped, and the phone fell to the snow below.

"We need to talk," came the woman's—Nancy's—voice, filling the air. It seemed that in Zeke's frenzy, he had somehow managed to turn on the speakerphone.

"I-I have nothing to say to you," Zeke replied, diving down to retrieve it. It was covered in snow and ice.

"That's not true," Nancy continued. "I'm sure you have lots to say to me—"

"It doesn't matter." Zeke spat out, still fighting with his gloves while trying to wipe the snow and ice off his phone. "It's over."

"It can't be over! This can't be all there is! You fled the city without saying anything—"

Zeke let out a snarl. He ripped off his glove and threw it angrily on the ground.

"It's over Nancy," Zeke said, fingers free. "There, I said it."

He jabbed at the screen one last time.

The call mercifully ended.

Alicia just stood there. She didn't know what to say.

Neither did Zeke. He let out a long, low breath that swirled out in front of him in a puff of white, then stooped down to pick up his glove.

"What was that?" Alicia managed at last.

"Nothing that matters. At least not anymore," Zeke said, his tone cold as the air. "Forget it. I'll—I'll see you later."

He turned to leave, but Alicia grabbed his arm.

"Are... Are you okay?"

Zeke shrugged off her hand. "I'm fine."

And he strode off down the street.

But as Alicia watched him go, she couldn't help but think that he was anything but.

✨