by TaniHanes

Anna looked out at the view of New York City, her view for the next two weeks, which was dazzling and terrifying in equal measure. Anna was sure anyone would be a bit intimidated and in awe of the vertiginous heights from which she viewed the most famous skyline in the world.

From the room she occupied, both the Empire State Building and the Chrysler Building could be seen, along with many others which she was sure were just as famous and well-known, just not to her. She could see a river and New York Harbor and the Statue of Liberty, along with whatever state was beyond that famous lady. Maybe she was even looking at two rivers, she wasn't sure.

This view, and the incredible bedroom that afforded it, was hers for the entirety of her visit with her brother Charlie and his girlfriend Jane. They lived together in this amazing apartment, on the thirtieth floor of this beautiful building, in the most famous city in the world.

Her brother, Charlie McAllister, had been a member of The Jacks, one of the most popular boybands in recent memory. He'd made an absolute fuckton of money, and moved from London, where he'd grown up, to New York, to pursue acting, and Jane Carroway, the very shy and wonderful girl who'd been a fixture in his life for the past two years.

And she, Anna, was allowed to reap all the benefits that being the sister of Charlie McAllister provided, including sleeping in a huge, fluffy bed next to the view that she'd been contemplating for the past ten minutes.

"Anna?"

She turned and followed the voice, nearly getting lost along the way.

"Jane?"

"This way, Anna."
She finally found the girl she thought of as her sister-in-law in the lounge (living room, she corrected herself, in America it was called the living room), looking at her.

"I'm ready, I think," she told Jane. She smiled at the thin girl with the pale eyes and thin blonde hair who had captured her heartthrob brother's tender heart.

In response Jane let out a volley of coughing. "Unfortunately, I don't think I'm ready," she said to Anna, her voice full of regret. "I was hoping I'd feel better, so I didn't say anything, but I've been feeling a little weird since last night, and I think I have a fever." That was when Anna noticed that Jane was still in Charlie's old shirt, the one she'd slept in, and was wrapped in a quilt.

Charlie was finishing up promo for a movie in Los Angeles, and would be home in a couple of days, and Jane and Anna were going to spend the day shopping and sightseeing in Christmastime New York.

Joining them would be Jane's brother, Barrett, otherwise known as Bear because of his size. Anna had met him last year at one of Charlie's movie premieres, and had harbored a secret crush on him ever since.

"I'm so sorry, Anna, but I really don't feel good," Jane added. "I think I'm going to have to cancel. Would you mind spending the day just with Bear?"

Anna tried to keep her face neutral, though she was already starting to hyperventilate a little. She shook her head. "I mean, of course I'd rather be with you, too, but I'm fine to just be with Bear, as long as he doesn't mind?"

Jane blew her nose and shook her head. "He loves the city, especially at Christmastime, so you can expect to get dragged all over the place, though, I'm forewarning you, okay?"
"Sounds ace," Anna responded with a smile. "I'm just a simple, eighteen-year-old girl from the suburbs of London."
Jane smiled as she sat down and sipped what smelled like chamomile tea. "I can't believe that, with Charlie's life from before, you've never seen New York City at Christmastime."
"Well, I was really young during all that madness, and my parents wanted to make sure my life was as normal as possible, you know?" she explained.

The buzzer indicated that someone was on his way up.

"That'll be Bear," Jane said, her voice sounding nasal.

"Are you sure you don't want me to stay and tend you?" Anna asked, hoping Jane wouldn't take her up on the offer.

"Oh no, I'll be fine," Jane assured her. "I'll just hang out here and binge watch something with Mr. Darcy." Mr. Darcy was Jane and Charlie's dog.

They heard the sound of a key in the front door.

"Hello?" Bear's baritone voice, which Anna hadn't heard in a year, but would recognize anywhere, drifted in. "It's just me, Barrett."
"In the living room, Bear," Jane answered.

The owner of the deep voice came in, looking like a lumberjack, and more than a little bit like his nickname-sake.

Barrett Carroway was at least six foot four, which Ann liked because she wasn't short herself. He had blond hair also, though his was a few shades darker than Jane's. His eyes were gray like his sister's, though, again, darker. Jane's eyes were so pale they appeared almost colorless sometimes. Charlie had written songs about Jane's eyes, which, according to him, "looked like sea-glass." Bear was like Jane, seen through the wrong end of the same telescope, Anna thought.

He was a freshman at Columbia University, though he'd gotten athletic scholarship offers from Harvard and Stanford also. He was a journalism major, and there was a professor at Columbia that he admired extravagantly, and wanted to study with. Jane and Bear's parents lived in New Jersey, also, and he didn't want to be too far away from them, or Jane, which Anna found equal parts admirable and adorable.

Bear had taken off his coat, showing a funny Christmas jumper underneath, with "Jolly AF" written on it. It had tiny Christmas lights on it that lit up, too.

"You okay, Janey?" he asked, leaning forward to put a giant hand on his sister's forehead.

Jane nodded. "I'll be fine, I just need to take it easy today. You guys go and have fun, okay?"
Bear looked at Anna and smiled, making her tummy flutter a little bit. "We'll have a jolly good time, right?" he asked.

Anna wasn't sure if he was making a Christmas joke, or an English one, but she laughed anyway, because he was too cute for her not to.

She reminded herself that, as good-looking, smart and popular as Bear Carroway had to be, there was no way he could be interested in a gangly, too-tall bean pole like her.

"Okay, then, let's go," Bear said, standing and shouldering his coat on once more. "You have a coat, right, Anna?"

❄️☃️🎄☃️🎄☃️❄️

It was a beautiful day in New York City, with a sky that was such a deep blue it looked like it had been put through some kind of filter. Anna couldn't stop looking up as they walked down Madison Avenue.

"It doesn't look real, does it?" Bear asked.

Anna shook her head. She didn't tell him that it was just one more surreal element to this amazing day, this gift she'd been given, the chance to spend time with Bear himself.

"So, what would you like to do first?" he asked.

"Well, I want to go to the top of the Empire State Building, if that's not too touristy?" Anna answered. I'd also like to walk around in Central Park, ride the subway, maybe see the Brooklyn Bridge, too."

"And you want to go shopping, right?" Bear interjected. "Janey said you wanted to go to Tiffany's, Bergdorfs, Macy's?"
Anna nodded. "And I'd like to see the tree at Rockefeller Center, and maybe ice skate."
Anna was afraid Bear would find her too provincial for words, but his face had lit up with everything she said.

"What is it you like to say?" Bear asked. "Sounds ace."

So they set out for the Empire State Building, since it was the closest, and Anna, who was used to the marginally more courteous people in England, nearly slipped and fell a few times trying to avoid people who almost ran her down. Each time, Bear reached out and grasped her hand to help her, and after the third time, he just didn't let go, which was fine with Anna, though it seemed to affect her brain in some weird way, even though they were both wearing gloves.

"Oh wow," she said when they stepped out on the observation deck. She felt dizzy, the way she had in her bedroom, and was glad of Bear's steadying hand. She turned to look at him.

"Have you ever seen anything like this?" she asked.

He smiled as he shook his head. "It's the clearest day I've ever seen," he answered. "I bet I could see my parents' house in Jersey if I looked hard enough," he joked.

Anna wanted to take some pictures, so she took her gloves off and laid them on the railing. "Would you take a selfie with me?" she asked Bear, unable to keep the shyness from her voice.

"Of course," he answered. "I'll take it, my arm's way longer," he offered.

Anna handed her phone over, and he took some good ones, with his arm around her. "I'm always the camera holder," he told her as they were going back down in the elevator, yawning to pop their ears and equalize the pressure. "One of the perks of always being the tallest person around."
"I'm usually the tallest," Anna said as they emerged on 6th Avenue.

"How tall are you?" Bear asked, tucking her hand under his arm as they headed north toward Times Square.

"Five ten or so?" Anna responded. She knew she was actually closer to five eleven, but she didn't want to say that to Bear.

"Ha, well, I've got you beat by a half foot, so there," he joked.

"I'm usually called Olive Oyl, for obvious reasons," Anna confided.

Bear looked over at her as they walked up Broadway in the brisk wind.

"Well, I think that's the last time we need to hear that particular moniker today, okay?" he asked, his voice gentle, his eyes serious.

Anna just nodded.

They took more pictures in Times Square, where the billboards were brighter than the already bright day.

"Anna, you have the most amazing smile," Bear declared once. "I don't understand why you don't smile more."
"Charlie says that, too," Anna said, unable to stop smiling the amazing smile Bear had mentioned.

"Well, if we both say it, then it must be true, right?"

Anna shook her head. "Charlie has to say it, he's my brother," she protested.

"But I'm not your brother," Bear said, stopping and turning to face her on the busy street.

"No, you're not," she agreed, teetering on the depths of his gray eyes.

"Anna!" Bear said, looking down at her hands. "Where are your gloves?"

Oh, shit. "I must've left them up on the observation deck," Anna said.

"I'll just run back and get them," Bear offered, already unzipping his jacket.

"No, no, Bear, please, I'm sure they're gone by now," Anna protested.

"Then we need to get you some new ones," Bear declared as they walked east on 51st Street toward Rockefeller Center. "Are you cold?" he asked.

Anna shook her head.

"What about your hands?" Bear asked. He removed one of his own gloves so he could feel her hands, and Anna nearly swooned at the feel of his warm skin on hers.

"They're freezing," he said, sounding horrified. He insisted on buying her some gloves from one of the street vendors who was on nearly every street corner. Anna tried to pay, joking that she was the one with the millionaire brother, but Bear wouldn't hear of it.

"What about these? They're cool," Bear said, picking up a bright red pair with faux fur trim.

"I'll look like I've just murdered someone, with my gigantic, red hands," Anna joked, but she let him buy them for her, and help her put them on as well.

"I think it's lunch time," Bear declared. "What do you want to eat?"

"I don't really care about food except for dessert, so you can pick," Anna told him. "I know that you and Jane like food."
Bear nodded and led them to a tiny sushi place that was tucked away between two huge buildings. Anna saw that they had green tea ice cream and was really looking forward to it, but Bear had other plans, and they headed to Magnolia Bakery when they were finished.

"Oh my god, this banana pudding ought to be declared a national treasure," Anna said with a moan.

Bear smiled, as proud as if he'd made it himself.

Next, they headed up to Central Park, where they walked around the paths, which had been cleared by plows.

"I can't believe I'm here," Anna declared, twirling around. The twirl nearly knocked her off her feet, and Bear had to steady her.

"I'm sorry, I'm so clumsy," Anna said, embarrassed.

"Why do you do that?" Bear demanded.

"Well, my legs are long, and I lose my balance easily—" Anna began, stung by his tone.

"No, not the twirling and getting dizzy," Bear interrupted, grasping her by her elbows. "You put yourself down about being tall and thin every chance you get." He looked into her eyes. "I think you're pretty great, and I wish you wouldn't, that's all." He released her, as if he'd realized he might be hurting her, and looked into her eyes.

"Man, you have really beautiful eyes, you know that?" he asked rhetorically. He took a step back, his breath visible in the clear, cold air.

"Sorry," he added with an embarrassed laugh. "I get inside people's personal space sometimes."
Anna just shook her head. "I don't mind," she murmured.

They kept up their brisk pace as the day unspooled before them. They stopped into the Plaza for a quick cup of tea and coffee and more cake, then went to Tiffany's for more selfies, and so Anna could drool over the jewelry.

They went back to Rockefeller Center after dark so they could see the tree and walked back to Jane and Charlie's, happy and exhausted.

When they entered the apartment, they took their coats off as they called out that they were home. Bear grabbed Anna by the elbow and pulled her back, close to him, so she could feel the warmth of his body, and she could feel herself getting dizzy over the smell and feel of him in the dark entry.

Today had been an incredible day for her, a day like no other. She'd had a perfect day, a perfect date, with Bear, and she could tell, even though she'd never kissed anyone before, that Bear was going to kiss her, and that he'd enjoyed his day with her just as much as she had. She could feel his breaths on her face, and the slight tremor in his body.

He couldn't know that this would be her first kiss, but it was. She went up on tiptoe and let him pull her close.

She happened to look over Bear's shoulder, where she could see the living room reflected in the floor to ceiling windows that overlooked Manhattan.

Jane was frantically throwing tissues everywhere, messing up her hair, and finally, flinging the quilt around her shoulders and throwing herself down on the sofa so it would look like she'd been sick and lying there all day.

And that was all it took for Anna to realize that Jane, dear, kindhearted Jane, had set up the day so she could be with Bear. The date, the romance, was all in her head.

Stupid, stupid, Anna.

She stepped away from Bear and walked into the living room to where Jane was blowing her nose, looking wan and rested.

She certainly was good.

Bear had followed her, and even as he asked his sister how she was feeling, Anna could feel his eyes on her, hear the confusion and even possibly hurt in his voice.

"Well, I guess I'll be going, then," he finally said.

Anna approached him, but stayed a measured arm's length away. "I want to thank you for a marvelous day," she said to him. "It was really fun."
"Yeah, for me, too," Bear said, his voice getting soft. "I hope we can do it again."

After he let himself out, Jane sat up and asked, "What's wrong? Didn't you have fun?" She followed these words up by blowing her nose.

"I did, I had a great time, and you can stop pretending, Jane."

At Jane's look, Anna went on, "I know you're faking being sick, I saw your reflection when we came in, running about and setting the stage!"

Anna sat down with a thump, sniffling, unable to help herself and the self-pity that welled up. "I thought we were really having fun, that fate or whatever wanted us to be together. I thought he really liked me, but I should've known better, right?"

She took one of Jane's tissues and blew her nose. "I should've known better," she repeated, gesturing at herself. "Why would the boy who just walked out of here want this?"

Jane was sitting up, staring at Anna.

"Anna, you idiot, who do you think told me to pretend to be sick in the first place?"

Anna just stared at Jane for a few seconds while her words sank in.

Oh. My. God.

Anna jumped up and ran out the door, not bothering with a coat or her new gloves.

She saw that the elevator he must be on had stopped at the seventeenth floor.

And amazingly, there was another elevator, open yet, waiting for her.

Anna ran onto it and punched the button with the "L" on it harder than she'd ever punched a button in her life.

The doors opened and Anna ran out into the lobby. She could see Bear standing in front of the building, obviously trying to decide whether or not to hail cab.

"Bear!" she shouted, startling the doorman.

He heard her and turned to watch as she ran outside.

Jesus, it was cold.

"Anna, are you okay?" Bear looked at her with concern.

And disappointment.

Anna nodded, and leaned into him, grasping the lapels of his jacket to balance herself as she went up on tiptoe.

He figured out what she was doing, and put his arms around her, and she saw the beginnings of a smile just before their lips met.

Wow, his lips were warm, so warm, in the bitterly cold night.

Anna could feel his large hands, fingers spread, on her back, and she felt the noise he made, half moan, half groan, as he continued to kiss her.

He pulled back to look at her, a question in his eyes.

"What happened?" he whispered. "Did you realize—"
"How stupid I was?" she finished. She nodded. "Yeah, I did."
"Oh. Good," he said, grinning as he leaned in to kiss her again. "Oh god, Anna, I've been dying to do this all day, you have no idea—"
"I do so," she contradicted.

He kissed her bottom lip, and this time she could feel his tongue licking softly where her lips met. She opened her mouth slightly, accepting his tongue into hers, and feeling like she might float away if he were to release her.

"Mm, Anna, mm, oh man, this is the best first kiss ever," he murmured, releasing her finally.

She could only nod.

"Oh! Nearly forgot," Bear said, reaching into his pocket. He pulled out a Tiffany's box.

"How in the world? I mean, when did you even—"

"Shh, just open it," he suggested.

So she did, and it was a necklace with a Christmas tree charm, with tiny emeralds and rubies embedded in it.

He carefully put it on her, and kissed her again.

He felt her shiver, and unzipped his jacket so he could wrap her in it, and Anna felt she'd never been so happy.

"Merry Christmas, Anna," he said, putting a hand on her neck so he could lean his forehead against hers.

"Merry Christmas, Bear," she replied, smiling as she closed her eyes.

  ❄️☃️🎄☃️🎄☃️❄️  

My name is Tani Hanes, and I'm someone who found writing fairly late in life. I was born in Japan, raised in California (raised my children there, too), and was lucky enough to move to New York City a few years ago. I was a language major at University of California, and a substitute teacher for fifteen eventful years, which has, I hope, given me a knack for communicating with people.

I want to thank everyone who reads my work, because, as I always tell you guys, without you it's just scribbles on a page. Readers bring words to life, and turn it into writing, so thanks for that, with all my heart ❣️

Some of my published books are:

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