The Big Fish by Madison Henley (best free e reader .TXT) 📕

her pillow was still printed on the side of her cheek. She was wearing grey sweatpants that hung loosely off of her hips and most of her hair had fallen out of her bun. She looked so discombobulated and puerile Georgia almost wanted to laugh. Georgia stood up and her eyes met with Keliah’s as she stepped closer to her, closing off any personal space between the two.

“No. Canada is only an hour behind us. This is what battling off facts about the establishment of this place all night feels like.”

Georgia removed the strand of hair that stuck to Keliah’s forehead as Keliah’s lips curved and her lashes flickered down.

“How’d you sleep?”

“Good. Great actually. Is it still snowing?”

“Barely.”

“So does that mean we can have a snow fight?”

Georgia’s eyes flickered to the back window then back at Keliah with an amused expression.

“If you think I am rolling around in that frozen ice, then you are sadly mistaken.”

“Oh come on Georgia! Live a little.”

Keliah rushed to the back of the cabin and went out the back door and came back a few seconds later throwing a ball of snow that hit Georgia in cheek.

“Keliah one, Georgia, zilcho. Or should I say Georgia Kerouac!?

Georgia slid the ice off of her face and smirked.

“I’ll grab my boots.”

***

Keliah shamefully beat Georgia in the snowball fight. Georgia’s hair was soaked and her cheeks flushed from laughing so much. She wobbled back inside and replaced her wet clothes with warm ones. Settling for a mint green cashmere sweater and some dark jeans, Georgia dried her hair as she waited by the door for Keliah. Keliah came out wearing what appeared to be another Christmas sweater that her mother had knitted for her. Georgia put her finger over her lip and turned away so Keliah couldn’t see her laugh.

“What?”

Keliah asked as she picked a piece of lint off of her sweater.

“Nothing.”

“Anyways, I’m starving. Loser pays for breakfast.”

Georgia paused, grabbing her jacket off of the rack.

“That’s not a rule.”

“Everyone in America knows that the loser of any game has to some way or another compensate the winner.”

“It’s a good thing we aren’t in America then.”

By noon, Georgia and Keliah had headed into the city to have breakfast at Bear Paw’s coffee house. Keliah sat across from Georgia, licking her cocoa mustache while Georgia pursed her lips trying to refrain herself from laughing by staring out the window, pretending to be fixated on the falling snow rather than the image of Keliah in her bear sweater with a mustache made of hot cocoa. Georgia took another sip of her tea and hid her grin behind her mug. She hadn’t had this much fun in she doesn’t know how long. Keliah was infectiously sweet, (the freckles just being a bonus) beautiful, intelligent and all Georgia’s…Except she wasn’t. Georgia hadn’t even put a title to their relationship. Love nothing and nothing you love will get taken away from you being the aphorism she was adapting to with each day that passed. It wasn’t fair to Keliah. To lead her on and toy with the fine strings of her heart but Georgia needed Keliah. She just didn’t know how to verbalize it. Georgia, an English Professor couldn’t tell Keliah three very simple words.

“Ready to go?”

Georgia smiled, inwardly cringing. So those weren’t the three words she meant to say but it would suffice for now.

“Yeah. It’s Christmas Eve. What are we going to do?”

Keliah asked as she licked her mustache clean away. Georgia stood up, paying the tab before ushering Keliah back out into the cold.

“Well first we need a tree. My place isn’t exactly Christmas friendly.”

Georgia drove up the rocky road to a forest with different variations of Christmas trees. Pulling her handbrake up, she stepped out of the car and Keliah followed her into the forest.

“Pick one out.”

Georgia shoved her hands in the pockets of her leather jacket and rocked back and forth on her heels. Keliah turned to face Georgia and grinned.

“What makes me a dendrologist?”

“Nothing. I just want you to feel like you’re at home.”

“I don’t want to be at home. I don’t even want to think about home right now. This is fun, Georgia. Just you and me. Help me pick it out.”

Georgia bit her lip and followed Keliah into the lit forest. Georgia pointed ones out that almost measured up to Keliah’s height and Keliah picked out ones that would scrape the ceiling of Georgia’s cabin. Georgia marked her footprints in the snow as her and Keliah trudged deeper into the forest where there were less people. The good trees were always hidden in the back. Georgia mindlessly dragged her gloved hand across trees covered in snow as her and Keliah attempted to find the perfect tree. They had settled into a comfortable silence. At least Keliah thought so. She was determined to find the perfect tree. But Georgia was wondering if she could make it throughout the night with it just being her and Keliah. The thought of just the two of them spending Christmas together sounding heavenly but now that it was actually being put into action, everything seemed to demoralize Georgia by the second. Keliah stopped in front of a tree and felt its branches.

“I think this is it.”

“The Douglas Fir. Pretty popular.”

“Who’s the dendrologist now?”

“Still no one. I just read the