She was sitting at her desk, starting out the window, her expression blank. She suddenly blinked when she saw fingers snapping in her line of vision.

"What?"

Her friend laughed and said, "You have such a vacant expression on your face. Why are you staring outside the window? There's literally nothing but a dry branch there."

She didn't look up. She continued to look outside the window. With a sigh, she said, "I sometimes wish it snowed here too."

The chair near her swiveled and the laptop made a sound as it welcomed back the user.

"Why would you want it to snow here?"

She clucked her tongue and said, "Because it's Christmas! Haven't you seen Christmas movies? It always fills me up with so much nostalgia. I know I haven't seen a snowy Christmas but I feel like I would love it. You know the hot chocolate, the cold, the gifts, the tree, the decorations, the snowwww!" She sighed again and kept looking out the window.

The sound of keyboard clacking followed.

"What are you talking about? We have...um...the day off tomorrow! So that's fun! And...we could crank up the AC but you already complain about it..."

She frowned and shook her head and brought her attention back to her computer. She then said, "You wouldn't understand! I want to live in one of those movies when I watch them. It's so...magical!"

She heard a chuckle but kept her eyes on the laptop. She didn't need to look. She knew what he looked like when he chuckled. Without her wanting to, she had seen him from the corner of her eye for the last 6 months since he had joined. She felt like she knew all of his expressions and laughs. She felt like she had him memorized. This whole "friends" thing was getting tougher by the day. She sighed again and pulled out her earphones. Before she could plug them in, he reached out and pulled one. She finally looked at him and raised an eyebrow.

He shrugged and said, "I like your playlists. Share?" He went on to smile that ridiculous smile that lets him get away with everything. She shook her head but let one pod fall away. He grinned wider and plucked it. He moved closer to her cubicle and settled into his chair, typing away. 

A little while later, she tugged at the earphones and he looked at her with a look of mock betrayal. She chuckled and shook her head, stuffing her earphones into her bag. She then reached out for her laptop as he said, "You're leaving! Before me? How dare you?"

She rolled her eyes and kept packing.

"Don't ignore me. Answer my question. It wasn't rhetorical!"

She laughed and said, "It's Christmas eve. I want to go home and wear a nice warm sweater, drink hot cocoa and watch Christmassy movies on Netflix. Stop bothering me."

She walked away, swinging her bag on her shoulder. With her back to him, she called, "Seeya later."

He called out, "Look out!"

She frowned and looked back at him. He looked at something behind her and then back at her with an inscrutable expression on his face. 

She frowned and turned around to see what he was looking at. And that's when she saw a little Christmas tree and a Santa's hat, all entirely made of colourful printing paper. She gasped and turned around to look at him again.

He was lounging back in his chair, waiting for her to react. She couldn't help but break into a huge grin. He kept looking at her, studying her expression, now a smile forming. She shook her head, still smiling and turned around to walk towards the elevator. She pulled out her phone and texted, "Merry Christmas!"

She got back a text that made her heart skip a beat.

"Meet me downstairs. I'll get you that hot chocolate."

Author's Note: :)

This story is part of an ongoing series of short stories I'm writing. As per usual, I take FOREVER to finish these collections. Work life balance isn't my strong suit. Anyway, I really felt like posting something here today and I was too tired to write something new so I posted this old one.

This story is unlike the other stories I usually post here. This whole collection is like that actually. More...everyday in nature, I think. 

Anyway, I hope you enjoy it. I hope on a happy day, it makes you smile even wider and on a rough day, it brings you some respite.

Until we meet again,

S