Her brow furrowed, she nodded. She leaned down, and he flicked away the icing. Her skin was soft and smooth, and his fingers were only about a centimeter from her lip. She was so close now, he could smell her. Holly. Warm sugar and vanilla. He wanted every room, every car, every piece of clothing in his life to smell like that.
Danny pulled his hand away and leaned back. She took the hint and stood, retreating to her station. Danny was probably just hard up, desperate for any physical contact now that he was single. He smiled, trying his best to act like her being so close to him had meant nothing. He ran his hands over a piece of gingerbread, trying to kill the sensations left behind by Holly’s skin, trying to smell anything other than the trail her scent had left behind. He put a gingerbread wall to his nose and inhaled. “I’m thinking about studying architecture,” he said. “Or engineering.”
She nodded, but her attention was back on her gingerbread house.
“It’s kind of a recent decision, actually. Ever since my leg thing, I’ve had to start figuring out what I really want to do with my life. This seems like a good pick. I mean, I used to think about engineering, when I was a kid. I loved to build stuff.” He swiped a glob of icing onto his cardboard like it was punctuation, like that was the end of their banter. She didn’t want to talk, and that was fine. He’d let her off the hook.
But after a moment, Holly asked, “You don’t build stuff anymore?”
He shook his head. “Not for a long time. Not since…” He trailed off. The truth was, he hadn’t done that stuff since he started focusing on basketball, since he got popular, since Star. Now he no longer had any of those things, really. Maybe he was still popular, but not in the same way. “Basketball took priority,” he said. “And my social life.”
She snickered. “Never a problem for me.” She focused hard as she steadied her third wall. “What was your plan, though? You were going to go to college and play basketball and then…”
Danny’s hands shook as he held his walls up. The icing wasn’t hardening fast enough for him. “I hadn’t thought past college. I never had time to think. I only had time for basketball.” And hanging out. And Star.
Holly was doing the same thing he was, trying to physically hold together her house as it dried, but her hands looked a lot steadier than his did. She wasn’t off-balance around him, like he was around her.
“But, like, were you going to try to play professionally, or coach, or what?”
She was still watching him, but he couldn’t look her in the eye. It sounded so stupid when she said it out loud. He’d had no plans. He was going to play basketball for as long as he could, whatever that meant. He’d never in a million years suspected the end could come when he was only eighteen.
“I’m not trying to make you feel bad.” Holly’s voice was soft. There was no hint of sarcasm, no question as to whether or not she meant what she was saying. “I’m honestly curious. My dad has always been big on the ‘back-up plan,’ and honestly I agree with him. Like, I can keep sculpting and whatnot on the side, but it wouldn’t hurt to learn something more practical. And after all of Elda’s stuff—” She clamped her mouth shut.
“What Elda stuff?”
Holly shook her head. “Nothing. Just, she got me thinking about the whole college thing and why am I going and what do I want from it. You know? I feel like we’re baby birds being pushed out of the nest, and I’m trying to figure out what to do when I hit the ground.” She stepped back to admire her work so far. It looked good. Very good. So good Danny needed to shut up and focus or he’d lose this round for sure.
Holly assessed the edges of her next wall. “Is it because of Elda you’re thinking about engineering again?”
Why’d she have to keep bringing up Elda? “Yeah,” he said.
A faint smile appeared on Holly’s lips. “You guys are perfect for each other.”
For some reason, his shoulders drooped like a leaky balloon. “We are,” he said. “Of course we are.”
…
Holly’s nerves still tingled where Danny’s fingers had grazed her cheek. Danny Garland had touched Holly’s face. He’d talked to her like she was someone worth knowing. Obviously, she had to ruin the moment it by bringing up Elda, hitting the destruct button on their conversation. It had to be done—the nuclear option.
She concentrated hard on her gingerbread house after that, and when the two hours were up, she folded her arms and stood next to her creation. This was why she was here. This was the whole point of everything.
Danny had taken the hint. He’d stopped trying to talk to her, as well. Holly kept her focus on the mayor and the judges as they worked the room, assessing every gingerbread construction.
The mayor cleared his throat, clapped for attention, and waited until all eyes were on him. The townies in the room knew to quiet down right away. The tourists took a moment to settle. “Wonderful work, everyone. You’ve made our job very difficult. My fellow judges and I can’t wait to see what you have to offer us in the way of showstoppers on Christmas Eve. Without further ado, in third place tonight…Tinka Foster.”
Tinka folded her arms, scowling, while her boyfriend tried to console her. He whispered something in her ear that made her smile. Holly had to look away. Her mind had pictured Danny doing the same to her, leaning close, the tip of his nose tickling her ear. A foolish pipedream. He liked Elda. Plus, she and Danny were polar opposites—the fun, sweet, popular guy and the introverted loner. Even if Elda weren’t in the picture, Danny and Holly could never happen.
“In second place…” The mayor’s eyes twinkled. “Santabucks’s own, Danny Garland.”
Holly checked on Danny out of the corner of her eye. He was frowning, disappointed. Danny Garland didn’t do second place. Holly fought the urge to lean over and whisper a joke to him—something about how it looked like Dinesh has slathered on his royal icing with a shovel, something she would’ve texted him if she’d had Elda’s phone—but she didn’t. Danny and Holly didn’t have that kind of relationship. To him she was just some random relative of the girl he liked.
Turning away from Danny, she lifted her chin. The mayor hadn’t yet announced first place, and Holly was definitely in the running. Though she’d been slightly distracted by Danny during the competition, Holly had done her best. The walls of her gingerbread house were straight, the decorations looked good, and her lines were clean. She crossed her fingers and sent a telepathic message to her grandmother, wherever she might be.
“In first place tonight, we have…” The mayor paused dramatically.
Holly crossed her fingers harder.
“Holly Page!” the mayor said.