December, 21st

“Sorry, one second.” Cheeks flushing, I pulled my phone out of the pocket of my coat. It was Maya. “Would you mind if I take that?”

Adrian’s face was a little flushed as well, and his chest was heaving up and down a little faster than normal, as if he – like me – was trying to make sense of what had almost just happened between us. His eyes wandered down to my lips once more before returning to my eyes. “No, go ahead. I’ll get us some hot chocolate in the meantime.”

I smiled at him thankfully while he got up and walked over to the booth close to the ice-skating rink, getting in line. He turned back to me and gave a little wave, telling me it was fine. I waved back and shook my head at his adorable behavior. Then I called Maya back, who had hung up in the meantime.

She answered on the second ring. “Finally.”

“Well, hello to you, too.” I scoffed at her impatient greeting. “What’s up?”

“Have you not checked your messages in the last hour or so? I’ve been trying to reach you.” My eyebrows scrunched together. She sounded like it was urgent.

“Well, no, I’m at the ice-skating rink… with Adrian. I didn’t look at my phone.”

“I could have guessed that.” Maya’s voice had taken on an edge which I’d never heard before, especially not when talking about Adrian. She sounded almost… angry? “Is he with you right now?”

I shook my head, confused, even though she couldn’t see me. “No, he’s getting hot chocolate so the two of us can talk. What’s up with you? You’re acting really weird.”

“Look, Em, I’m sorry. I was just…curious. So I looked up Adrian again on the internet, and, well… this time, I actually found something.”

I had to laugh at her melodramatic voice. She’d found his social media profile. Why did she sound like this was the end of the world? “And what did you find? His tinder? Or that he has a secret wife locked up in his basement?”

Maya sighed. “No, Em, I found his official Instagram account. Which doesn’t say any name or even where he’s from, hence why I didn’t find him during my first search. It’s… an account about Christmas.”

I scoffed, looking at Adrian in the distance, who was paying for our hot chocolate. Why did Maya still sound as if the Grinch – who was not me, for once – had really called off Christmas this year? “He’s a Christmas fanatic randomly trying to convince a girl to fall in love with his favorite holiday. Why do you act like this is some sort of catastrophe?”

“Because this whole thing, the wager; it’s not random. It’s planned, all of it. All the activities you’ve done, he’s done them with other people before. That’s his profile, Em. He’s a Christmas influencer, and he does a challenge once a year to convince skeptics to love Christmas as much as him. It seems this year, that person is you.” I felt my heart sink. She was right, this was a catastrophe. And once again, it was mine.