Wanda cut stars, snowflakes and Christmas trees out of the white dough. Her mind was full, as many tend to be during the Christmas season; but instead of presents yet to be bought or decorations yet to be put up, her mind was occupied with thoughts of the tall dark-haired man across the room. The lights on the Christmas tree illuminated sparks in the blue of his eyes. It seemed to Wanda he'd been talking to Jenna Morris the entire duration of the early December Christmas party...or maybe that was just the jealous twinge in her gut talking.

"Do you have a crush on my brother?" The thirteen-year-old Charlotte asked from beside her. Wanda snapped to attention at the accusation. All the dough-rolling and cookie-cutting had seemingly dragged her to another dimension of thought. She'd been in the Moore's kitchen for the majority of the evening, baking up a truckload of Christmas goodies to bring to the retirement home and homeless shelter, as hers and the Moore family did every year. She supposed spending so much time in the company of the talkative young teen and the smell of gingerbread was affecting her mind at this point.

"Why do you ask?" She asked, trying to sound discrete.

"You've been staring at him for the past ten minutes." Charlotte answered in a "don't act like I'm a stupid child" kind of tone.

"I was lost in thought." Wanda reasoned, busying herself with her cookies once again. She'd always known Charlotte was a bit nosy, especially when it came to romances, but now seemed like the worst possible time for her gossip-thirsty little ears to get involved.

"It didn't look much like subconscious staring. See, your pupils were dilated. That stands for 'I'm attracted to you and I'm being super creepy about it as I watch you.'" Charlotte explained with an annoyingly sassy edge to her words. Wanda pointedly rolled her eyes, although she shouldn't have been surprised at Charlotte's snarkiness. She'd always been one to make blunt remarks, especially when they weren't needed. Wanda wiped the flour off of her hands after placing a final cookie on the sheet, then moved over to the oven and placed the filled sheet inside.

"You need to stop being so nosy," Wanda stated as she rejoined Charlotte rolling dough at the kitchen island. Charlotte shrugged it off but didn't say anything.

"So, how are the cookies coming along?" The voice of Will suddenly broke the silence. Wanda looked up with wide eyes, feeling her heart skip a beat. Her excitement was short lived when she noticed Jenna standing right beside him.

"Almost done. We might have finished a long time ago if Wanda's mind wasn't on other things." Charlotte said with exaggeration. Wanda fought the urge to roll her eyes again.

"Well, there's still so much to do before Christmas," She reasoned, hoping to change the subject. Will smiled in that magical way only he knew how.

"That's the truth," Jenna said. "Can I help with anything?" She asked suddenly, meeting Wanda's eyes. Wanda clenched her jaw. This woman's ability to drive her mad even with the politest offer was absolutely staggering.

"I think we got it," Wanda assured.

"I should have been helping in the kitchen this whole time but Will an I started talking and somehow the time just flew past," Jenna said, leaning against the marble countertop of the island and looking up at Will with shameless adoration in her eyes. Wanda held back a gag.

"You're the one that got me talking about my ski trip," Will held up an accusing finger, the grin still on his lips. Wanda forced a smile and nodded with no desire to intervene in the two's flirting.

"If we're done now, I think I'll go somewhere with fewer adults," Charlotte stated, sliding off the barstool she'd occupied and scurrying upstairs to her bedroom. Wanda wished she'd stayed; the awkward air of the two should-be lovers was starting to make her skin crawl.

Please check out the Advent Kalonder! It's a fun Christmas writing challenge and I'm looking for more people to join!

Also, I really hope you're enjoying this little Christmas tale so far!