Annie walked into the dining room where I sat with the rest of the cheer squad, convincing Lindsey to break up with her ugly boyfriend.
"Hey, Ally," she said. "Why do you have a snow globe in your living room?"
Did I mention I hated Annie?
I gave her a fake smile and stood to take the globe from her. "It must be my baby cousin's. She stayed over a few nights ago."
"Oh. The day you canceled with us?" Annie asked.
"Yeah," I said in a sugary tone, hoping she'd get the memo and realize she wasn't wanted here.
She didn't and skipped to an empty seat on the dining table. I went up the stairs to my room, and after slamming the door with way more force than necessary, shook the snow globe.
The pesky elf fell from it and hit his head against the wall. "Ow," he cried, rubbing the back of his head.
"I asked you to stay inside, Snow," I snapped.
He groaned. "Your room is so boring. All it's got are walls and pink. Mrs. Claus, as senile as she's getting, has more fun in her baby toe than you have in your entire body."
My eyes narrowed to slits. "Why don't you go back to Mrs. Claus?"
"I would if you said you no longer needed the gifts of the North Pole."
"No."
He threw his arms up in exasperation. "This is why I don't deal with humans. My first trip and I get a stuck-up dictator without a personality."
Insults like that were familiar but for some reason, when Snow said it, it stung. I blinked tears away from my eyes. "W-Who are you calling stuck-up?"
He looked at me with mild disgust in his eyes. "Don't tell me that hurt you. That was nothing compared to what you say about some of the girls in your dining room."
"Don't talk about things that don't concern you."
He stood and held my chin. I could feel a blush working its way up my cheeks. "Then, send me back to the North Pole."
"No!" I yelled before I could stop myself. "You will stay here and do as I say."
"I didn't listen to Santa Claus and won't be listening to you." He turned away from me, tugging at his pointy ears. "Get out. I want to sleep."
In less than a minute, he was snoring without a care in the world.
I sat at the edge of my bed, screaming internally. Why did the first guy I happened to truly like have to be an insufferable elf with a rebellious streak that was more attractive than annoying?
I held my cheeks between my palms, trying to restore them to their original color. For the sixth time that day, the way we met flashed in my mind.
The maid had handed me a package addressed to me. Without checking for a return address, I opened the box, thinking it was one of the many Christmas gifts from my admirers at school.
My hand caught at the note before I could toss it in the trash. "Oh, this one was brave enough to leave a note. Shake and the magic of Christmas will appear." I rolled my eyes but did as it said.
It's needless to say a guy my age, wearing red and green spandex, dropping out of the globe was the last thing on my mind.
I squealed again, just thinking about it. A hot guy had dropped in my lap, just like that and he wanted me to let him go? "Never."
"I'm beginning to think that you're plotting to murder me, Allison," Snow said. My head whipped around.
He was perched on the window, gazing outside. The Sun reflected off his pale skin, his black hair fluttering in the evening breeze. As he moved to balance himself better, his muscles bulged. I could swear I saw a flash of his abs through the loose white shirt I had given him after a day of constantly wanting to jump him because of his spandex. Not that this outfit was any better. I had discovered that Snow loved wearing his trousers low on his hips no matter how much I screamed for him to do otherwise.
"Now, I think you want to rape me," he casually remarked.
My cheeks flamed. "W-What?"
Suddenly, he laughed. "How do you think elves are made, Allison?"
"Does Santa have something to do with it?"
"I thought you might say so." He cast his beautiful grey eyes on me. "Allison, elves are hardly different from humans. We work in Santa's workshop and have pointy ears and generally better personalities. Besides that, there isn't much else."
"Where are you going with this?"
He stood and began to advance towards me. Before I knew it, he hovered over my body, propping himself up by his elbows. My heart thundered frantically in my chest. "I'm trying to say that I'm not a fool. I see the way you look at me. It's not the first time a human has fallen in love with an elf."
"I-I...T-That's not - "
He smirked, pulling my hands away from my face. "It's in your best interest to be honest."
"I w-want you to b-be my b-boyfriend," I stuttered, avoiding eye contact.
"Sure," he said, amusement dripping in his voice. "But you have one month."
"You won't go for a month?" I asked, hating how hopeful I sounded.
He grinned. "You're cute when you're being reasonable. And yes. I'm one of Santa's elves and I sleep all day. They won't miss me if I never go back." Before I could say anything else, he placed a finger on my lips. "But...I won't stay here forever if I hate it. You have one month to convince me or I'm walking back to the North Pole if I have to."