Christmas is coming, are you prepared?

Christmas is coming. I could feel a shift in the air.

The coffee shop in front of our building was getting decorated with Christmas Tree. A snowman stood on the front porch and now we have new furniture that my sis forced me to buy from her online store.

Did I mention my sister is a marketing manager for one of the top furniture companies in the US?

I could see Nancy preparing her salon for the day. Wreaths were being decorated all around the street. I could even see Mrs. Smith preparing her small gift store. She recently got cheap gifts from the Vintage collection. I am sure this year, she is gonna be paying for that pottery class that she always wanted to go to. I smiled seeing her cleaning the front waiting area of her shop.

Nashville is a very small town. It won't require me much time to reach the very ends of this marvelous city. I have been here since my birth. My childhood has been spent living in this town, playing with Jonathan who lived next door.

Where the hell is Jonathan? I forgot completely that I came here to visit him. Where the hell is he?

"Janey?" A harsh voice called my name. I turned and saw Jonathan standing in front of me in a black blazer. His hair was combed properly, and I could even see his face washed and teeth brushed. Nope, men don't do that every day, as much as I have experience with them in Brooklyn.

Now Brooklyn has become my home. I left Nashville a few months back and now I am working as a waitress in a famous coffee shop in the city.

"What?" he asked as he saw me laughing at him.

"I am not laughing to mock you but seeing the fact that you are well prepared for the day. Are you the same Jonathan I know who doesn't wake up before 9?" I said. I looked at him from head to toe. The boys look good in blazers too.

"You know I was finally going to ask someone special.." he stopped in mid.

He left in midair. I can fill this for him... that special person is Lily, whom Jonathan met at the Literary Festival the previous month.

That felt a little out of place. I have been with Jonathan most of my life and people around us always thought we are both gonna be with one another someday. We used to play together, we went to the same school and college. whatever class he took, I went along with no complaints. If he goes to football then I joined the class as well. If he joins guitar classes, I'll be with him.

If he goes left, I go left too.

If he goes right, I go right too.

Wherever he goes, I have been always with him. You know not to like his sibling or friend. But more than that.

Everyone in this town knows how much Janey likes Jonathan but this idiot doesn't know about it. Acts like he never thought about it.

"What do you think? Am I okay?" he asked. I could see he was nervous.

I may like him secretly and now I am gonna be keeping this that way only. I nodded silently, thinking about all the dreams I had before knowing that he likes someone else.

"What do you think about these flowers?" he asked again.

I looked at the Carnations. Those were the ones which I like a lot.

"Don't you think it should be roses? I asked.

"Why would I buy roses when my girl like Carnations?"

I looked up at him and could see his secretive smile.

Hazel Paradise