Santa Loves Curvy Girls

9. Belle

9

BELLE

I couldn’t believe it.

I was really going to have coffee with…

With Santa Claus?

No, definitely not Santa Claus.

Santa was not a hot young guy with piercing but friendly blue eyes. And I could see enough of his fit figure underneath that big suit to know whoever was behind the disguise was absolutely FINE.

I changed out of my elf suit, feeling self-conscious. No guy had ever paid me any attention before—especially not one as hot as him.

Could I have joined him in costume? Yes. Was I about to go out as an elf in public with a hot Santa to impress? Absolutely not.

Not when I had my pretty brown sweater and best pair of blue jeans waiting for me in the back room. Those jeans always made my butt look good, and today, I needed all the help I could get.

I checked myself in the mirror. Good thing I was having a good hair day too.

I dug into my bag. All I was missing was… found it. Some strawberry lip gloss.

When I stepped back out, Santa was there. “No elf costume?”

I shook my head. “Definitely no elf costume.”

He kind of glanced down at his suit. “Lucky you.”

Santa Claus and I headed to Cocoa Corner together.

That was not on my bingo board for the year, that’s for sure.

“This thing does keep me pretty warm, though,” he said as we walked.

I touched his sleeve. “I bet.”

We got tons of curious looks, and plenty of kids stopped Santa along the way for a selfie.

Luckily, Cocoa Corner was pretty much empty when we got there.

Jack stood behind the counter and did a doubletake when we approached the register. He looked like he’d seen pigs flying out his window. Clearly, Santa had never walked in here.

“Special friend there, Belle?” he asked.

We reached him. “Something like that,” I said, looking at ol’ St. Nick next to me.

He waved and said, “Ho, ho, ho,” in his Santa voice. He was very good at it, like he’d been practicing for years.

Nick chuckled. “Well, what can we get you guys?”

“I’ll take my usual, please,” I told him, adjusting my bag on my shoulder.

“One large hot chocolate and one apple cinnamon bagel. Got it.” He looked at Santa.

“Uh, same.”

A minute later, we sat in the booth at the corner with our drinks and toasted bagels slathered in cream cheese.

Santa had his back to the window like he didn’t want to get distracted by all the people gawking as they walked by—although he kind of stood out anyway.

Meanwhile, I tried not to let my nerves get the best of me. I had no idea how I’d ended up becoming friends with Santa Claus.

Much less how I’d ended up with a huge crush on him.

Trying to push that aside, I took a sip of my hot chocolate. “So…” I started, unsure of what I should ask or not.

“So…” he replied, probably wondering the same thing.

“What topics should I avoid?” I tried.

He shrugged. “My name, I guess.” He pondered for a second. “And anything that would give away who I am.”

“Shouldn’t be too hard,” I retorted.

He smiled. “Try being in my shoes.”

“What is it like being in those shoes?” I asked, slowly stirring the dissolving marshmallows around my drink.

He stared down at his hot chocolate for a second. “Pretty good, actually,” he replied. “It’s nice not being… who I usually am.”

I took another sip. “Really?”

“I guess people are used to seeing me a certain way, and sometimes, it just feels like a mismatch with who I want to be, you know?”

I nodded again. “That makes sense. High school isn’t always easy.” Although, if he was as good looking as I suspected, he was probably one of the popular kids.

“Yea—” he began. “I mean, I can neither confirm nor deny that.”

“What’s your favorite color?” I asked. That had to be a safe question.

“Blue,” he answered. “Typical, huh?”

“Kind of,” I said, clearly not getting a clue about who he was.

“What about you?” he asked. He took a bite of his bagel.

“Lilac,” I replied. My room was lilac, and I always gravitated toward the color for phone cases and notebooks and the like.

Silence fell between us while I tried to come up with a question to narrow down who he was without being too obvious. “So, what do you like to do for fun? Do you play sports or anything?” I asked.

He thought about it for a second. “I do things for fun,” he said finally.

That made me think he definitely did extracurriculars at school. And with his build, I bet he had to be some sort of jock. A wrestler maybe?

We had a relatively small school, but still plenty of jocks. Most of whom pretended I didn’t exist, especially around school dance times and Valentine’s Day. But I tried not to think about that or let my doubts get in my way. Santa was being so nice I didn’t want my insecurities to ruin anything.

After that, we ended up talking more about our past and future than the present. Much safer topics of conversation.

“Best Christmas present you ever got?” I asked.

He paused, clearly thinking about it. “Probably… the beach vacation we went on last year. It was only a few days, but I’d never been to the beach. If I ever moved anywhere else, that’s where I would go.”

Garland citizens prided themselves on staying here for life, and rightly so.

“That would be my second choice too,” I said.

“What about you?” he asked. “Favorite Christmas present?”

I smiled. “Easy.” I held up the gift he’d given me earlier. “This.”

“You’re just being nice,” he said.

I scoffed. “I’m not! No one’s ever given me something like this before. It was very thoughtful.”

There was a beat of silence after that. The kind where it was hard to look at each other.

His hand covered mine for a second, and my breath hitched.

Then his hand was back on his mug.

I couldn’t believe he had really reached over to touch my hand.

I also couldn’t believe what a cool person he was.

And it was driving me crazy not knowing who he really was.

All this time, and we’d never become friends until now?

We finished our hot chocolates and kept talking. This time about what we wanted to do after high school or college.

“I can totally see you opening up a bakery,” he said.

“Thanks. You’ll get free cookies for life for being my first investor,” I teased.

He gave a “Yes!” and made a motion like he’d gotten the high score.

I smiled. “What about you?”

“I don’t know yet. I like talking to and helping people.” He shrugged. “If wearing this suit has taught me anything, it’s that.”

Aw, who was this guy? He was not like any jock I’d ever met.

“Maybe you’ll be the next mayor of Garland,” I quipped.

He grinned. “Maybe,” but he sounded sarcastic. “I don’t know if I’d want to be in the spotlight, though.”

He looked like he wanted to go on, but he didn’t.

That made me think he was familiar with being in the spotlight, but I didn’t ask.

Instead, we got up. He had somewhere he had to be, and I had to get home.

He walked me a couple of blocks before turning toward Tinsel Terrace.

With my gift in hand, I walked the rest of the way home, grinning like a complete doofus.