The holiday decorations that the city and the neighborhood have put out are beautiful. The trees lining the streets are draped in crisp white lights, the doors and windows have swags of old fashioned ribbons and bows in red and gold. The large wreaths adorning doors and windows evoke a sense of Victorian nostalgia, all complimenting the historic charm of the area.
Turning the corner, Elsie stops in her tracks. The crowd assembled for the 5K run is amazing. Happiness fills Elsie as she thinks of all of the presents the children will be getting. She thinks this is probably the most people that this street has ever seen at this time on a Saturday morning,
Hurrying, she makes her way through the crowd until she finds the booth for the present drop off. “Excuse me, do I leave these here?” Elsie asks the hippie looking woman, with a thick loose ponytail of dreadlocks, standing inside the booth.
“Yes, thank you so much!” she answers with genuine appreciation, reaching across the counter to relieve Elsie of the two bags.
“Unless those toys are for me, ‘cause I love toys,” comes a man’s voice she knows all too well, the one that keeps her up nights, wondering what it would be like to have him in her bed.
Elsie swivels her head towards the voice, yanking the bags back with the movement. Her eyes collide with John’s in his beaming face.
Damn, the man looks delicious, even early in the morning! Elsie thinks to herself wide-eyed, surprised to see him here.
“What are you doing here?!” she blurts out, her obvious surprise is evident in her squeaky voice.
“Well, it’s good to see you too, Elsie! I’m glad to see you’re a morning person, don’t people who sleep half the day away get on your nerves? They miss the best part of the day,” John says beaming at her. His gaze takes in all of her, moving from her small heart shaped face, down her body hugged by a tight hooded jacket, moving to her legs clad in dark denim skinny jeans, stopping at her red converse, Elsie’s nod towards Christmas.
“Did you want me to take those?” Hippie Lady asks, a little smile still on her face.
“Oh, yeah, sorry, I got,” she turns to glare at John, “distracted,” she says handing the bags to the woman. “Thank you.”
Turning to face John, she shoves her hands in the pockets on the front of her jacket, Elsie repeats her earlier question, “So, what are you doing here?”
John steps up beside her, places a hand on her back and to leads her away from the gift drop-off booth.
“Same as you. I came, it seems like we all came from the gym, to support one of our members and a very good cause,” he answers her and lifts his chin pointing.
Elsie follows his nod and her eyes fall on the group of big muscular men, all of them wearing Evolutions Gym sweatshirts. There had to be at least twenty of them. Elsie’s mouth falls open at the incredible show of support from this gym that they’d only somewhat recently joined. On one side of the group, Elsie sees Marco and Elizabeth talking with a couple of the guys, and to the other side her eyes land upon Janie…dressed in red runner’s leggings, and a green t-shirt with a big gold belt, her medium length blonde hair pulled up in a bun. She really does look like a sexy elf. Janie’s a taller girl, with what most would consider larger hips, but she was totally rocking her outfit, filling it out with curves in all the right places. As they approach, Elsie realizes who Janie’s with; it’s Scott, from the gym. He’s standing very close, his big frame shielding Janie as she looks up into his face with a smile curving her lips.
What the hell is going on there? Elsie thinks to herself, but decides to not broach the subject until he’s gone. Besides, she’s got her own situation, right here, to deal with.
“Come on, Elsie, let me get you a hot chocolate,” John breaks into her thoughts after giving her time to survey the situation around her.
He leads her to another booth, never removing his hand from her back.
“Can we have two please?” he asks the college kid who’s stuck on hot chocolate duty this chilly December morning. It’s clear he’d much rather be home in bed, but the guy is really trying to make the best of it.
“Sure, would you like whipped cream?” he asks.
John looks over at Elsie, raising his eyebrows questioningly.
Elsie blushes slightly as she answers, “Yes, please,” feeling like a little kid.
John smiles and turns back to Mr. Happy, “Yes, please, on both of them.” He’d be damned if he was going to let her feel stupid. His gaze moves back to Elsie while the kid prepares their drinks. She’s looking out at the crowd gathered together to bring some happiness and cheer to the children, for Christmas. Joy is glowing on her face, making her eyes shine and her smile widen.
She has an ethereal, natural, beauty, it’s fucking amazing. I can’t take my eyes off her, the thought fills John’s mind as warmth spreads through his body.
The happiness that’s emanating from Elsie is contagious and he is happy just seeing her joy.
“You seem very happy, Elsie,” his voice is a soft rumbling whisper.
Elsie looks up into this massive man’s gentle face, and her smile gets bigger.
“Yes, I am. This is so wonderful. The kids are going to have a great Christmas,” Elsie is saying as she looks out at the crowd, “And you guys from the gym are a definitive factor in that.” She turns her full attention back to him, her eyes glimmering, “Thank you.”
John turns shy at Elsie’s endearing compliment, and he lowers his gaze, “Nah, it’s no big deal. We do what we do because we care about the community, and everyone in it. The little people, to me, are the most
