Chapter 7: Austin

Watching Colt break down and cry was heartbreaking. Colt was always so strong, even at fifteen, so seeing him like that was brutal, but God, it was needed. I had barely gotten any sleep that night, the way I left Colt’s house kept playing in my mind. Something tells me that I should have stayed and talked to him. In the end, I had given up on trying to sleep, so I thought I may as well go and smash some ice. But two days have passed since that morning in the field, and I could already feel that something had shifted between us.

“You know that we still need to clean out the barn,” Colt says.

We’re back at his place going over all the festival planning. We only had a week to go and we still had so much to do. We’ve collected some donations that will be safely stored in a spare bedroom in the ranch house.

“Couldn’t we leave it as is, and maybe call it rustic? Like the ranch.”

Colt laughs at my words and it’s so good to see him laugh. He has this deep throaty laugh, that you can’t help but smile at.

“No, Austin, we can’t. It needs to be tidy.”

“Fine.” But I pretend to pout, all the same, which triggers another smile.

“Right, the next thing is the Christmas trees. We have ten to collect and decorate. That is going to take up a lot of time. Plus, we need to wrap the presents for Santa to give to the kids,” Colt adds.

“Oh, that sounds like so much fun…not,” I add.

“The present wrapping is painful. I hate it. But the tree decorating, I love that. The only thing is that we don’t have the facility to light up all the trees.”

“How come?”

“Nowhere to plug the lights in,” Colt adds.

“Can’t we run some extension cords?”

“Um, no. We can’t have cords running across the floor. Someone could trip on them. But the decorations Gran and Pops have are still in great condition, so they still look pretty.”

“They just miss the sparkle of the lights,” I add, and Colt nods his head in agreement.

“Anyway, I have arranged to go and collect the trees tomorrow,” Colt adds. “They’re treated so they won’t lose any of the needles.”

“They’re real trees?” I have no idea why, but I thought that they might be fake, and we were going to a storage facility to collect them.

“Of course they’re real. I would never get those awful, fake trees.”

“What’s wrong with them? They’re so easy to use.”

The look on Colt’s face is almost comical. I think it can only be described as a mixture of surprise and horror.

“You’re kidding right? They have no smell to them. They’re just so lifeless,” Colt adds.

“Lifeless. Really, that is a little extreme.”

“No, it’s not. A good tree can make Christmas magical,” Colt says over to me, and for the first time, I can see just how much he loves this festival, or maybe it’s Christmas too.

“Yeah, well, I left my fake tree at my apartment, and I haven’t gotten around to getting a new one yet. So, I think this year I will just go without.”

“You haven’t decorated the ranch?”

“When have I had time? You make me get up at an ungodly hour and then we have been working on the festival. Plus, I don’t really have any decorations.”

“Even I have managed to put up some decorations, and what are you talking about, no decorations? You have Gran and Pops’, they’re in the loft.”

“I haven’t seen decorations,” I state, ignoring the comment about Gran’s decorations. “And when the hell did you get a tree?” Over the past week, I don’t think I have seen him leave the ranch.

“The tree is the last thing I do. Normally, the farm that donates the trees gives us a couple extra ones. One for me and one for the ranch. And I don’t have any decorations in the kitchen. That’s the only room you’ve been in at my house.”

“Good point. So, can I see the rest of the house?” I ask, as I look at the door that leads to another part of the house.

“I’ll show you when my tree is done,” Colt replies with a smirk.

“I’m going to hold you to that,” I tell him. “Now, let’s get back to work. My bed is starting to call me.”

“Lightweight.”

“Hey, you’ve been working the ranch longer than I have,” I tell him.

“That’s your fault. You shouldn’t have stayed away,” Colt retorts, but I can see that there is no malice behind his words.

“Touché,” I tell him. “Now, tell me about the trees.”

“You didn’t tell me they were an hour away,” I say over to Colt the following day, but he isn’t looking at me, he’s just staring at the road in front of him.

“I’m sure I did,” Colt replies.

“No. You told me that we were collecting twelve trees. Ten for the festival, and then one for each of us. I think you even told me what type of trees they were. You never mentioned the distance.”

“Oops.”

“You know, I think I’m starting to prefer when you didn’t talk to me,” I say, smiling.

“Really? You can go back to that if you want. But that kiss you gave me makes me think you like us being friends.”

“Colt, if I remember correctly, you kissed me,” I add.

“I do believe it was you who slipped me the tongue.”

“After you locked lips with me. But fuck you can kiss,” I add with a smile.

“You aren’t too bad yourself. You got better,” Colt adds and shoots me a quick look.

“I got better?”

“Yeah. Fifteen year old you was a little sloppy.”

“It was not sloppy. And you were the first boy that I had ever kissed. Hell, you were the only person that I had kissed. I had no idea what I was doing.”

Colt starts laughing, and I know then that he’s been teasing me.

“You’re fucking mean,” I say, but I’m smiling over to him.

“Sorry Austin. That first kiss was pretty epic. I think that’s what you called it.”

“Okay, enough kissing talk,” I say, because it’s reminding me of Colt’s lips on mine, and sending all the blood in my body south, and I really don’t want a hard on for the next hour.

“What do you want to talk about?” Colt asks.

“I have no idea,” I say, because, literally, all I’m thinking about now are Colt’s kisses.

“Actually, I meant to say that Mr. Smith confirmed that he’ll play Santa for us,” Colt says.

“Oh, that’s great.”

“Yeah, and not just that, he donated a weekend away in his vacation home.”

“Really? Do you know where the home is?”

“Aspen,” Colt replies,

“Holy shit. That’s very generous.”

“Mr. Smith normally gives something nice. I think last year it was some type of game console with a game. I didn’t really pay much attention.”

“What game?” My interest suddenly piqued.

“Oh, I don’t know. I think a road was involved,” Colt replies.

“Road to Valhalla.”

“Yes, that’s it. How the hell do you know about that? Apparently, it’s quite the popular game.”

“Yeah, that was a fun game. The graphics were a bitch to get right,” I say over to him.

“Austin, no offense, but what the hell are you talking about?”

“Did Gran not tell you what I did, or do, for a living?” I ask.

“Austin, I never spoke about you. If Gran mentioned your name, I tried to change the subject,” Colt replies.

“Oh.” Which seems like a lame response, but it’s all I can give. With our friendship growing by the day, maybe even by the hour, I forget how much pain I caused him.

“Sorry.”

“It’s okay, Colt,” I say. “But anyway, I’m a game developer. Road to Valhalla is one of mine.”

“Holy shit. The teenagers in the town are going to go nuts when they find that out.”

“I’m sure that they’ll have no idea who I am.”

“They will now,” Colt says, giving me a smile. “And they’ll probably be asking you what you’re working on, and if they can get a freebie.”

“I don’t even get freebies, and I haven’t been working on anything since I started at the ranch. Work gave me some time off for Pop's funeral. When I explained to them about the will, they gave me a leave of absence till the new year. My plan had been to do both. Work the ranch during the day and do some developing in the evening.”

“What are you going to do in the new year? That sounds like a lot of hard work.” Colt asks.

“Honestly, I have no idea. I suppose I might have to give up the games.” It’s not something that I’ve really thought about, or maybe it was something that I didn’t want to think about. I loved the ranch, and I loved gaming.

“You love developing the games, don’t you? I can hear it in your voice,” Colt asks.

“Yeah,” I say quietly. It feels like I’m being disrespectful to Gran and Pops by saying it out loud.

“Could you do it part time?” Colt asks.

“I could. But it still means evening work.”

“What if you had some free days?”

Colt is confusing me with all these questions. I don’t, and won’t, have any free days. So there is no point in me even thinking about it.

“That would be nice,” I say.

“I can give you two days. Tuesdays and Thursdays would be best,” Colt states.

“Colt, what the hell are you going on about?”

“I can cover the ranch on those days so you can work on your games.”

“I can’t ask you to do that,” I exclaim.

“You’re not asking. I’m offering. I covered the ranch on my own for Pops towards the end. But two is the maximum.”

Staring over to Colt, I’m not sure if I heard right. “You can’t do that.”

“Austin, yes, I can. Obviously, the ranch must come first,” Colt adds.

“Yes, of course,” I reply, but I’m still in shock, “Thank you.”

“No thanks needed. I can do that for you. We’re friends, right?” And he glances over and gives me a smile.

“Friends,” I repeat, but God I want you to be so much more than my friend .

“Then that’s decided. We can work out the logistics in the new year,” Colt replies, and it looks like it’s settled. “Now, turn on the radio for me.”

Leaning over, I turn on the radio, and Christmas music blasts out of the speaker. I go to turn the dial, so that we can listen to something else.

“You change that channel, and you are going to lose that hand,” Colt warns, but there is a smile on his face.

“I thought it was the festival that you loved, but it isn’t. You love Christmas too, don’t you?”

“Growing up, Christmas was the one time of the year that my grandparents eased up on some of their rules. I was able to stay up later. We would decorate the tree together, etc. It was my favorite time of year. Then, when I moved to the ranch, after my grandparents died, Gran and Pops, well…” Colt’s voice trails off.

“Gran and Pops always loved Christmas,” I finish for him.

“Yeah, they did,” Colt confirms. “I swear that Gran started playing Christmas carols from the first of December.”

“Oh, I remember that,” I say laughing.

“It’s going to be so strange without them both this year,” Colt adds, and I can hear the note of sadness in his voice.

“Oh, they’re still with us, so let’s make them proud, and make this the best festival ever.”

“I plan to,” Colt confirms. “Starting with getting the best trees.”

“You and your damn trees,” I say over to him. Colt doesn’t reply, but I see a smile play at the corner of his lips.

Looking over to Colt, he is back to concentrating on the road ahead, and I have no idea why, but I remember what he said about the trees not shining, and an idea hits me. Pulling out my cell, I find what I’m looking for. I have no idea how the hell I’m going to do it, but I hit order anyway, because if I pull this off, the smile on Colt’s face will be everything.