Modern Day Santa Claus

MDSC [6]

Chapter 6

He was wearing a red hooded jacket and his right hand was inside one of the pockets. His left hand was still wrapped around the arm of Jae, who looked at him in surprise. His eyes still remained the same, which was why Jae recognized him in the first place. It was the color of the sky. And his facial features were the same as well. The only thing different about him was his hair.

It wasn't the silver-white hair she was used to seeing him with. It was instead somewhat ash gray. It lost its vibrancy. This made Jae wonder if he bleaches his hair only on Christmas day.

A smirk appeared on Santa Claus' face. "It's me?" he asked.

Jae gulped as she tried to take in the person in front of her. He was here. Santa Claus was standing right in front of her. Jae blinked a few more times to see if she was hallucinating. She wasn't. Her eyes clumsily glanced at the hand still wrapped around her arm.

Santa let her go and tried to ease off the awkwardness. "So, I'm gonna go," he said.

Jae shook her head as an attempt to avoid getting fazed and stopped him. "You're here. I thought you didn't live here?"

He raised one of his eyebrows. "Who said I did?"

Oh. That's right. He didn't say anything about living here at all. Jae's hands were fumbling about behind her back. "What are you doing here?"

Santa shrugged in dismissal. "None of your business."

Hurt flashed across Jae's face but instantly faded. "Right... So I should be going," she trailed off to look in another direction. Fortunately, she found Sam walking right to them. She waved enthusiastically. A bit too much. "Hey Sam!" she said and then walked towards him.

But Sam walked towards Santa and Jae wanted to pull him away from the guy who hurt her feelings a couple of seconds ago but still looked completely beautiful even with the ash gray hair.

Santa and Sam locked eyes for a moment, a heated battle happening underneath their expressionless mask. Santa spoke first, "You must be Jae's friend. I'm Skye." He held out a hand for a handshake.

Sam's eyes flicked to his outstretched hand. And almost didn't say anything for a whole 30 seconds before Jae elbowed him on the ribs. He took the hand, almost gripping it as hard as he can. "I'm Sam."

"Well, ok, that's settled! We have to get to class! Bye Skye!" Jae said too quickly and pushed Sam away from Santa. Or, Skye. That must be his real name, Jae thought.

Jae's heart was pounding in her chest after they finally reached a distance away from the Santa Claus. She almost sagged to the ground, her knees suddenly losing its ability to make her stand straight. She clutched a hand to her chest and then caught sight of the bracelet on her hand. Flustered, she clumsily took off the bracelet and the watch and stashed them inside her bag. He must not see that. Ever.

"Are you ok?" Sam asked in a not-concerned-at-all tone. He bent a little to watch Jae lose all her composure.

Jae inhaled too much and practically choked. After coughing for a couple of times, she barely said, "I'm fine."

Sam hesitated, but then offered his hand to help her stand. Jae took it without hesitation and pushed herself up. And then she felt lightheaded and almost fainted at the spot. "Jesus Christ!" Sam said in surprise as he managed to catch her before she fell and cracked her head on the concrete. Sighing, he adjusted her arms and then readied himself to carry her. He counted first, before he quickly raised her up and tried to shift in a comfortable position for both her and himself.

"Ugh," Jae slurred. "I'm fine, Sam. Put me down."

"I'm taking you to the clinic," he said in a clipped voice, his breathing ragged and short. He was having a hard time, but he didn't show any of it on his face.

The trip to the clinic was annoying. Students who haven't gone to their first class and were hanging around in the hallway stared at them as they passed by. They began to murmur and whisper to each other and it was all that Sam could take to not blow off any minute. He even considered going somewhere else but that would mean nastier rumors would spread.

And so he went to the clinic.

The nurse, who was a woman, stood up in alert when he entered. "What happened?"

"She's just feeling dizzy," Sam said to the nurse. He gently and slowly put her down on one of the beds. Then he fixed her hair and took off her bad so she could be more comfortable as she tried to relax.

The nurse sighed in relief. "That's good. Well, you can stay with her until she recovers if you want to. Does she need anything?"

"I don't think so," Sam answered without even looking at her.

The nurse nodded and then went back to her seat to resume reading a popular novel.

"I told you, I'm fine," Jae groaned.

"I know. I just brought you here so you could rest more comfortably," Sam said in reply. He didn't mention anything about the Skye guy but he would be lying if he said he wasn't a wee bit interested in him. But he didn't ask. He's curious, but not too curious to give a damn.

Jae placed an arm over her eyes. This was embarrassing. She felt woozy just because a guy who she only sees at Christmas showed up at her school unannounced? And not just any regular guy, he's Santa Claus! Or an apprentice, it seems. And even without the silver-white hair, he was still beautiful.

She should try and talk to him. Even with the outright dismissal, he gave her minutes ago. He was someone who she spent a whole night with. They're friends, right?

Well, if Jae wanted to know that, she'd ask her himself. She let herself rest and gather as much courage as she can.

She was awakened by the sound of the bell, signaling that it was already lunchtime. Groggily, she opened her eyes and sat up, instantly looking around for Sam. He wasn't anywhere in here. Great. Did that asshole just leave her here alone?

She slipped in her shoes, grabbed her bag and was planning to thank the nurse, who was nowhere inside the room. So she only went on her way. She packed lunch that she prepared the night before, so she won't be stopping by the cafeteria. And she was still a bit irritated at Sam for leaving her so she won't be going to the tree.

There was only one place she liked in the school besides the tree. It was the rooftop. Their school has a vast rooftop so even though a lot of kids hang out at that place, she could still find one quiet place that wasn't occupied. Sam knew about this, so he would probably look for her. If he wanted to.

She was panting a little when she got there and narrowed her eyes when she found there were a lot more students hanging out here than usual. Probably because it was lunchtime. But surely, there would be an unoccupied, quiet place in here, right?

Wrong.

But there was something better.

Skye caught sight of her before she caught sight of him. When their eyes met, Skye waved his hand once. Trying to shake off her uneasiness, Jae walked over to him. He was seated on a bench and was alone. He was probably just passing his time.

"Hey Jae," Skye said when she sat down beside him.

"Hey Claus," Jae said impulsively. And then she pursed her lips and looked at Skye with an apologetic grin.

He shrugged. "Well, my name is Skye Claus, so you're not incorrect there," he replied.

Jae rolled her eyes. "You didn't tell me your name last time, so why are you telling me your real name now?"

Skye looked at her. "Oh. Well, I was on the job back then. So it was strictly f*******n to reveal my identity."

"Whatever you say, Santa."

He narrowed his eyes, but a playful grin appeared on his lips. "That is a very ugly name, miss."

Jae couldn't help but smile. "Says the guy with a Santa Claus watch," she said while pointedly looking at the watch on his wrist. Her watch. The watch she gave him for Christmas. He wore it. And Jae was trying to ignore the butterflies in her stomach.

Skye stretched his arms and coolly splayed the watch in front of her. "I believe Santa Claus is very, very cool. And this was a gift from a friend of mine, so do not insult the watch."

Jae's grin widened. He did consider them as friends. That was really nice to hear. "Don't worry, I think the watch looked really cute."

"Wouldn't you think so? You have one just like it."

Jae's smile was wiped from her face. Oh no. Oh no. He saw it. He saw her wearing the watch earlier! She tried but failed to be not flustered. "O-oh, uhm, that w-was—uh—"

Skye watched her get flustered. "I've seen the couple watch several times at the mall, sweetheart. Don't worry 'bout it."

Sweetheart?! "W-wha—that's not what I—uhm—" She still couldn't form words right.

He leaned one fist against his cheek as he continued to watch her. "Breathe, Jae." He breathed in and breathed out, so Jae could remember how to do it.

Jae followed and then sighed loudly when she was calm enough. "I didn't, uh, buy it because of that. I honestly thought it was pretty cute and I wanted one for myself and they said I can get a discount if I buy two so I did—"

Skye laughed. "Would you calm down? I didn't mean to fluster you."

Jae sat in silence for a few minutes, a red, bright blush settled on her cheeks. Goddamn, always messing right in front of him. Always, always. A cool wind brushed her face and that seemed to cool her down a little.

When Skye realized she had calmed down completely, he said, "So where is it? Why'd you take it off?"

The blush threatened to come back but Jae got ahold of herself. "I just—" She stopped talking, couldn't even find an explanation for taking the accessories off.

Skye lifted an eyebrow and grabbed her bag. Jae just watched as he rummaged from her things and searched for the watch. He didn't say anything when he finally found it along with the bracelet he left for her. "Here you go. Don't take it off, it looks good on you."

Jae could only reach out and receive the watch and bracelet. With slightly shaking hands, she clasped on both the watch and the bracelet on her wrist. "Happy now?" she said to Skye with a shaky breath.

"You bet."

With nothing else to say, Jae grabbed her lunch box from her bag and proceeded to eat. She offered Skye some but he refused, saying he already ate his lunch. While eating, Jae finally asked, "What are you doing here?" She didn't dare look him in the eye.

Skye glanced at her for a moment. "My older cousin would be working here. Said he wanted some company."

Oh. That was it? Jae was hoping for something else. "Does that mean I get to see you often?" She managed to look at him.

Skye met her gaze and a smirk played on his lips. "Do you want me to?"

She quickly averted her gaze and resumed eating, but she could clearly hear her heart pulsing in her chest. "Having Santa Claus as a friend would be really interesting," she said instead.

He chuckled. "You could always say my name like that to call me in an instant. My hair usually stands up on my arms when that name gets called. I don't really know why."

"You mean... it's like a signal. If you suddenly get goosebumps, you'll know it was me calling you." Jae said it as a statement.

"Kinda like that, yeah."

"But what if another person called you?"

"That rarely happens. Who the hell calls for Santa Claus?"

Well, if Santa Claus was someone like you, who wouldn't? Jae shrugged. "Ok, yeah." And then she remembered to ask, "Wait, can you still teleport?"

Skye shrugged. "Wait, who is that?" he said, a bit surprised as he pointed a finger to someone who was behind Jae.

Jae quickly turned around and tried not to gasp when Skye was suddenly standing there, a smug smile on his face. She couldn't help but laugh. "You sneaky bastard."

Skye winked and went back to his seat. "Yeah, I get that a lot."

"Do you really not know how you get to do that?" Jae asked, curious. Still in awe about the fact that this person right here can teleport.

"I don't know, honestly. But it's probably magic. Not science. We're not that advanced," Skye answered. He plucked a grape from Jae's lunchbox and popped it in his mouth. "Oh, your friend is here."

Jae smiled while she raised an eyebrow. "Really? I'm not falling for that trick again. Lame."

Skye sat up straighter. "Honestly, your friend Sam is right behind you."

Jae hesitated but finally turned around and found Sam, looking blankly at the two of them. But Sam's lips twitched, and that's when Jae knew he was absolutely annoyed.