.

“Bye Rose!” Jade waves. “Bye John!”

Carrying bags full of Christmas gifts, the two step onto a transportalizer and disappear from the tower that Jade calls home. Jade smiles softly and turns to the last person left at the Christmas party she had hosted.

The one and only Dave Strider.

“Well… see you Dave,” Jade sends him off. She scratches her cheek and mumbles to herself. “How am I going to begin cleaning this mess?”

“I’ll help you,” Dave says. His eyes, hidden by his sunglasses, dart around the room—which was littered with a multitude of Christmas decorations.

“Really?” Jade pipes up, a bit too quickly. Dave holds back a chuckle. He knew how much she loved company. The girl lived on an isolated island after all. It wasn’t easy for everyone to gather there for a party, but thank god for transportalizers! Plus, she lived alone and only had her loyal dog Bec as a companion.

“Yeah,” Dave nods coolly. “I’m sure Bro wouldn’t mind.”

“You’re seriously the best,” Jade grins, showing her trademark buck teeth.

“Yeah, I know,” Dave replies with a half-smirk. Jade runs a single hand through her long, ebony black hair, thinking to herself. She glances at the colorful reminder rings on her fingers.

“Hold on!” she exclaims and runs off. Dave sticks his hands into the pockets of his black jeans and allows himself to crack a small smile. Jade was always running around doing all kinds of strange things and Dave found that… well, cute. Jade was one of the few people who were able to actually put a smile on Dave’s face. He hears Jade’s footsteps and conceals his smile with a poker face again. Jade lifts up too large plastic bags and grins.

“This bag is for trash and this bag is for reusable decorations!” Jade explains, pointing to each respective bag. “I call picking up decorations.” She giggles and tosses the trash bag to Dave. He raises his eyebrows and catches the bag. “What are you waiting for?” Jade asks as she picks up a large red bow and tosses it into her bag.

“Nothing,” Dave says and kicks a can up into the air; it lands in his bag. Sweet catch!

The two are silent. It was odd—they both usually have a lot to say. A gauche silence hangs in the air, making both kids nervous. The only sounds heard were the rustles of their bags. They would ever so often exchange glances, waiting for someone to speak up. Dave suddenly feels diffident and begins to slowly regret staying behind to help Jade.

“Oh jeez!” Jade groans, relieving some tension. Dave looks her way.

“What?” Dave questions. Jade points to the ceiling and Dave looks up to see mistletoe hanging.

“It was probably John trying to prank us,” she remarks and jumps up, trying to grab it. Dave chortles while watching her struggle to get the Christmas holly.

“Need a lift?” he asks Jade. She gulps and blinks dumbly at him.

“S-Sure,” she stammers and feels blood rush up to her cheeks. Dave drops his bag and approaches her. Jade feels her chest tighten.

“Ready?” Dave asks. Jade nods and he bends down and wraps his arms around her legs. Dave lifts her up and Jade pulls the mistletoe off the ceiling. Her face lights up and Dave sets her down.

“Got it!” she smiles, waving the holly around above them. Dave blinks and stares at her. Jade realizes that they’re both underneath mistletoe and her face flushes. Slowly, her arm descends. The two lock eyes.

Ba-dum. Ba-dum.

They are both able to hear their own heartbeats in their ears. Jade breaks the staring contest by looking away. Dave clears his throat and rubs his nape.

“So…” Jade says, “Are you finished cleaning?” She plays with the mistletoe in her hands for a bit before placing it on a table.

“Yeah, basically,” Dave replies,” You?”

“Same. So, do you… want to hang out in my room for a bit?”

“Sure.”

Jade smiles at him and clasps her hands together. “Great!”

Dave begins up the stairs.

“Oh no, don’t take the stairs,” Jade warns, laughing a bit. “Just use the transportalizer.”

“I’m fine with the stairs,” Dave brushes her off.

“If you say so,” she says and steps on the transportalizer. She transfers to her bedroom. Dave continues up the steps and his mind begins to trail off. He thinks about Jade and the way she made his stomach do flips. He thinks about her pretty green eyes and her cute smile. He thinks about how Jade held the mistletoe above their heads and how he just wanted to—

“Fuck!” Dave cries as he trips over a step and almost lands on his face. Jade peeks out of her bedroom door and giggles.

“I warned you about the stairs bro,” she jests and sticks her tongue out. Blood rushes up to Dave’s face and he adjusts his sunglasses. Jade ducks back into her room. Dave looks down and sees the mistletoe on the table. A dangerous plan forms in his head.

-

Dave silently steps into Jade’s room and finds her fiddling with her lunchtop. He approaches her, yet she still doesn’t notice him.

“Hey Harley,” Dave says, trying to grab Jade’s attention. She turns around and sees him holding a piece of mistletoe above their heads.