I Hate Xmas Pt 01 Christmas Eve

Authors Notes: None of the events portrayed in this story are true. Nothing should be read into the plot or themes. Just a fun idea that was played with to come up with an erotic story.

This story was originally written a year ago with a view to it being a submission for the annual Winter Holidays contest. But the characters spoke to me so I kept on exploring their lives. It has turned into a series story rather than a competition entry. I hope you enjoy.

MrJ

Introduction

Nick carefully places the two strawberry milkshakes on the long narrow bench that runs the length of the inside of the shopfront of the small town dinner. They must have had a thousand strawberry milkshakes seated in this dinner talking over the last fifty years. As he takes a stool his son is gazing out the window over the town center that could be a movie set for any number of classic movies. A central town park filled with oak trees and bordered on all sides with streets lined with two and three-story brick and timber buildings.

'You know how it all started?' Nick asks his son.

Nick's son does know. They all do, in graphic detail. Their mother had the free-flying soul of an artist. She did not believe in censoring the truth, even if it meant telling awkward or embarrassing details. They had heard their parents tell them stories almost as many times as they had had strawberry milkshakes. Nick told the story as she interrupted, or outright took over, with the details he tried to censor.

________

Part One: Christmas Eve

'Fuck I hate Christmas.'

Is all she said as she slumped onto the stool beside me at the packed bar of the Holiday Inn.

'Here, here.' I replied as I lifted my glass and looked at her reflection through the bottles of spirits lining the shelves in front of the mirror that is standard decor in airport hotel bars.

I did not see any of her features, except the bright green eyes that looked straight back at me in the reflection. Tired at first, then they beamed with satisfaction as she smiled to acknowledge the response from the equally as weary traveler beside her.

Those green eyes, I cannot take my vision off them as we talk. I hear most of what she says, but from time to time I find myself taken to another place as I look into them, studying every detail. The rest of her face is a blur around her eyes, a blur of red hair and pale skin.

She would later admit that she thought she said it to herself, so was surprised when I responded. I'm glad I responded.

I have a couple of reasons to hate this time of the year. Not least I chose to live a long way from my loving family to maintain our healthy love for each other. That means at this time of the year I'm either getting increasingly frequent phone calls from my mother in the weeks leading up to Christmas to ask why I'm not coming home, not that they ever offer to come to me. Or I'm stuck in the madness of pre-Christmas travel. That is the travel that usually is undertaken forty-eight hours before the big day. The travel that inevitably is disrupted by "interruptions". At which point I need to talk to my mother again to explain why I'm going to miss lunch, followed by the need to listen to her complain about me working so hard that I need to travel at the last minute.

"If only you took off a week before Christmas you would be here on time."

What my mother neglects to realize, and I'm too afraid to tell her, is that if I was home for a week before Christmas we would no longer have that much talked about loving family relationship. There is only so much of, "

That Kelly, she was such a nice girl. Why could you just not make it work? If you had I would have had more grandchildren by now

." Not that she needs more grandkids thanks to my root rat siblings who have given her seven already.

Instead, I'm neither at my parent's place listening to how well all the grandkids are doing, nor sitting in a bar in MY hometown waiting to pick up some girl who is lonely over the holiday period. The latter is one of my favorite Christmas activities.

Do not get me wrong, I'm no sleaze bag preying on women. I am good at being a sympathetic listener. Alcohol and loneliness meaning my sympathetic listening often results in a lonely woman spending Christmas naked in my bed. Or at least part of Christmas.

But no, now I'm in the worst position. I'm halfway. Forced to spend two nights in a Holiday Inn close to the regional hub airport waiting for the weather to clear that will allow me to get a seat on the next available flight. You know the regional hubs the airlines use. No one flies from point A to point C, you need to transit through a regional hub that is either in a heavy winter storm corridor or a tornado corridor. In both cases, they have a high chance of being shut down on the busiest travel days of the year. And the Holiday Inn, you know it, on the outer edge of the airport car park. Full of disgruntled travelers on forced layovers. Three to five levels high, three wings. A pool with a built-in spa, that becomes a health hazard because of the families, who due to the flight cancellations, are forced to cram into a single room. This means spending most of their time with the kids in the pool and spa. A gym is now used as the kid's playground because of the blizzard conditions outside. A buffet restaurant getting close to the health hazard level of the pool for the same reason. And the bar, the sanctuary of the single travelers looking for some respite on their forced layover.

I've been caught out before, so always book two nights in advance using my hotel rewards membership that allows me to cancel without penalty if my flight is successful in departing. And more importantly, allows me to request a slightly larger room at the end of one of the wings that I know the hotel staff reserve for non-family travelers. That is to say, it is quieter than the lower-level rooms on the other two wings of the hotel which are crammed full of families.

'Sorry, I'm Nick. IT geek specializing in cyber security for some organizations that I'm not allowed to talk about. I live on the other side of the country to my family. Mother, father and two successful sisters. Success according to my mother is that they are fertile and have a few rug rats each. My love life on the other hand is a disappointment to my mother. A few relationships since the big college romance, Kelly, but nothing that lasted. No offspring. I'm very happy with passionate short-term relationships that explore new experiences. Plus, my work and travel mean getting time to put into a meaningful relationship is hard. I want to get myself established. A lot of the women my mother wants me to "settle down with" are looking for someone to focus everything on. To have a man who earns enough to keep them in the means they expect but is not willing to understand the hours away that takes... Sorry, just practicing my speech to my mother.'

'And how long have you been practicing the speech?'

'Five years.'

'I take it you broke up with Kelly just over five years ago?'

'Yep.'

Wow, I cannot believe within one minute of her sitting down, with those vivid green eyes, I have totally opened up. Who are you?

'Well Nick, I'm Shelley, pleased to meet you.'

Shelley says as she keeps her eyes fixed on me in the mirror and holds out her hand. I shake it.

I turn to look at Shelley as I hold her hand. She diverts her eyes from the mirror to look directly at me. Wow, her green eyes are even more captivating looking directly into them. My heart skips a beat. Shelley must have sensed this as she blinked and asked if I was ok. She said I looked a bit faint and almost fell off my seat. I quickly collect my thoughts and try to act normal.

'Um, sorry, um again.' Doing well bucko. 'Do you want a drink?'

Shelley just laughs at my awkwardness and turns to the server.

'I'll have a beer, please. Just a larger, nothing too heavy.'

Wow, and a beer drinker. As my college roommate always said, if they drink beer they are ten percent better looking. Mind you, from her eyes I do not think there is much improvement. Compose yourself, Nick.

'So, you know I'm a babbling geek who wants to avoid spending Christmas with his family.'

Shelley breaks in here. 'Do not forget. Who let Kelly, the love of your life, go without a fight.'

'Thanks for the reminder.'

'Now it is my time to apologize.' Shelley says shyly as she pushes a think curly lock of auburn hair from in front of her eyes, tucking it behind her ear as she leans in.

'Accepted but only if you tell me a little about yourself.' I lead with, hoping she has a story for the ages that will keep me fixed on those eyes for hours. Those brilliant green eyes.

'Well, much like you, according to my mother, I have spent the last five years since leaving college running away from any hope of a long-term relationship.' Shelley says. Her eyes light up and I know she is smiling at her response.

I reply with a knowing nod and a soft smile. Or at least I hope it looks soft and not just geeky.

'I come from a typical catholic family of five. Three older and one younger, all of whom have stable long-term relationships, a couple with kids. And they all live close to my parents so Grandma can look after and spoil the grand kiddies. "

and all I ask is you give me more joy

".' Shelley says mocking her mother's voice.

'I'm a nurse. A pediatric nurse who chose to work in a specialist hospital on the other side of the country. "

Surely you could do your job closer to home

".' More mocking. I just chuckle knowingly.

'Working as a nurse is not overly conducive to relationships either. Those who know the hours and workload of a major hospital are either doctors, who are arrogant and think you should fall at their feet. Or other nurses. If one nurse is crazy enough, two together could be too much for the space-time continuum to handle, sending us all into chaos.'

I just laugh at this. We both know the challenge of our work and family pressures.

Ten minutes and we already know each other's backstories. Intuitively we seem to be able to fill in the gaps. Like we have always known each other.

I ask. 'Have we met before?'

Shelley just laughs. 'Feels like it doesn't it.'

We order another round of beers and keep talking. Turns out she just came off another of the relationships her mother keeps talking about and at the last minute made the decision to fly to see her parents for the holiday break. She is heading southeast as I head west. But like me, she is stuck in the Holiday Inn for the next two days, or for as long as it takes this weather to pass. We talk about college, friends, exes, family, sports teams, the best Sci-fi series' and generally us.

After three drinks Shelley excuses herself telling me she loves beer but it fills her up quickly. She slides off her stool to "go powder her nose". I did not even realize Shelley had a nose, just those brilliant green eyes. As she steps down from her stool she tells me to not go anywhere before slowly walking away.

As the camera lens widens out to watch Shelley walk away, I see more of her for the first time. The long curly auburn hair flows over her toned shoulders to mid back. Shapely waist and round athlete's butt in those tight jeans. She is about my height, if not a touch taller in her red heels that match her auburn hair. With every step I watch her leaving, already wishing she would never leave.

I sit at the bar, beer in hand, not taking my eyes off the corner I last saw Shelley turn to disappear out of my vision. I wait to watch her walk back into the room, not wanting to miss seeing a millisecond of her.

As Shelley steps back into the bar I freeze. It is the first time I have taken in all of her face.

We all know the scene. A curly-haired geek who looks up to see the transformation of the shy goth. Her hair was tied back to reveal a beautiful face. The black eyeliner was replaced with a bright pastel color, the pale skin of her cheeks was highlighted with a light pink blush, and standard goth black lipstick was replaced with red to highlight her smile.

The geek's breath is taken away as all he can do is mouth. "Wow".

She drops her eyes in shy recognition and mouths back. "Thank you".

As Shelley takes a slow deliberate walk back to me, she knows I have not looked at anything but her eyes since our first connection. She wants to give me time to take in "Shelley". All of her. I look at her with a look of yearning. Not lust. Not a look of wanting to press my naked body against her naked body. Not that look of wanting to take her to my bed to show my passion. But a look of wanting to just be one with Shelley.

She walks up to me. I close my eyes to take in her touch as her cheek slides alongside mine. She whispers into my ear. 'Breath.'

With her instruction, I take in a big lung full of air. My first since Shelley walked back into the bar. She follows with a quiet. 'Thank you.' Before lightly kissing his cheek.

My heart is racing as Shelley returns to the stool beside me. I watch her face as she takes her beer, lifting the glass to her lips. Sipping. As she removes the glass from her mouth her tongue licks the moisture of the beer from her lips. Her freshly re-applied lipstick leaves a print of her perfectly formed lower lip on the rim of the glass. My heart races as she places the glass back on the bar and looks back at me. I'm once more drawn in by her eyes. They have changed from an emerald green to brilliant electric neon green. Something I will come to learn is an indicator of Shelley's level of excitement. This time I'm not drawn into her eyes, but instead, I see her face framed by the locks of auburn hair. Her smile lights up as she realizes I'm looking into her soul. She has a deep feeling I will do this again and again during our lifetime.

'Thank you for taking so long to notice. Wearing scrubs all day every day is not overly flattering, but to see a man, a good man, look at me like that makes my nipples hard.'

I whisper a quick response. 'Will I find out if that is true?'

She just pulls back with a naughty look in her eyes and taps her pointer finger on the end of my nose.

'Let's see big boy. Mind you, the fact you only looked into my eyes for the first hour has a more exciting effect on me.'

I go to ask again if I will find out if that is true but know from her naughty look that the answer will be the same.

A few more rounds of beers, more chat. Hypotheticals, which I do not like by Shelley seems to revel in so I play along. Travel, lots of travel. Seems like our world adventures have crisscrossed just missing each other in multiple exotic locations around the world. Backpacking through Europe, working in bars, or staying in hostels within weeks or days of each other. I told her I felt like the universe was trying to get us both in the same bar at the same time. She laughed and said it only took Delta to do this.

Throughout the travel stories, I was so comfortable with her in my space that I did not realize she was leaning in with her hand mid-way up my thigh. I did not notice until she squeezed me though and leaned in again to whisper.

'If the universe wants us to be together, then maybe we should go to your room.' She slides her hand up further getting close to the quickly growing bulge in my pants. I look down at her hand and then back up into her green eyes.

'I'll order a few beers to go.' Shelley says as she smiles and jumps up to wave for the bartender, bringing her large breasts in the tight T-shirt to eye level. I can see her nipples are hard. Once again I realize, I've been looking at her eyes and face, not her body. I excuse myself for a moment while the beers are coming to drain my full bladder. I've been too infatuated to leave Shelley that I have held on way past safe levels.

When I come out of the bathrooms, Shelley is standing with a wide grin on her face holding on one hip a stainless-steel bucket of beers and ice.

'I used my charms to convince the barman to not take the tops off and fill the bucket with ice for us.'

She hands the bucket to me and then slides her arm through mine. She lets me escort her to the lift bank to the third wing of the hotel. The lift takes us to the top floor. The whole time I just wanted to drop the beers and push her against the wall of the lift to kiss her. But I held off, trembling as I did. Shelley notices but does not say anything. She just pulls me tighter to her as she leans on my shoulder. At the top level, we walk to the end of the corridor to my door. She stops and looks at me.

'It is so quiet at this end of the hotel. My room is surrounded by kids.'

I just smirk. 'You got here before seeing if there were any rooms right?'

'Yep.' With a look of,

I should have been smarter

.

As I open the door I swing my arm to offer her to enter as I let her in on my secrete.

'I book a room each year I travel as a contingency. As I travel a lot I have a hotel membership that allows me to cancel without cost.'

Shelley just looks at me as the door closes. I'm not sure if she thinks I'm some type of crazing lunatic or brilliant. It does not take me more than a few seconds to find out. She leaps at me, wraps her arms around my neck, and locks lips with mine. As I stagger to take her forceful leap, her tongue dives into my mouth and we step towards the large couch in the king-sized suite. Without breaking the passionate kiss I place the bucket of beer on the coffee table and lean her back onto the couch, pressing my body against her curves as I do.

As we lay on the couch kissing she works my shirt up out of my jeans and pulls it up to my shoulders to feel my back and torso. Despite my geek persona I do spend a few hours a week in the gym or running. Although I'm no professional athlete or model, my body is doing a good job of fighting off the beers and energy drinks of an IT professional.

Shelley suddenly breaks the kiss as she pulls my shirt over my head. Rather awkwardly, as the top buttons are not fully undone, but the job gets done. She kisses my pecks and nibbles my nipples. I squirm at the attention on my sensitive body. She then puts a hand on my chest and slowly pushes me off her.

'Wow, and a great kisser.' She looks down my body to the full bulge wanting to break out of my jeans. 'Just give me a second big boy. I just need to powder my nose.' She finishes with as she slides out from under me. 'Maybe open a few beers for us while I'm in there.' She says over her shoulder as she closes the door to the bathroom.

I use the chance while finding the bottle opener to adjust my cock that is pushing hard against the inside of my jeans. Still not as comfortable as being fully released, but better. I open the beers and try three or four positions on the couch to look cool. None seem to work. Do I cover up my naked upper body or not? Shit do not blow this boy.

As I debate inside about what to do, the door to the bathroom opens. My head goes fuzzy, standing in the doorway with the bathroom light behind her, Shelley is naked. Another wide naughty smile on her face. I run my eyes over the curves of her naked figure. Her nipples are very hard. I can see some moisture in her close-cut red landing strip. She lifts her hand to waive two condoms in the air between us.

'Hope you do not mind but I found these when I was riffling through your toilet bag.'

There is a moment of, "Hey, that is my bag", in my head before she starts to walk towards me. At which point the little voice in my head says. "What toilet bag?".

Shelley straddles my waist and slides her body down over mine as she starts to kiss me again. I take hold of her arse and pull her hard against me. She slowly grinds against my crotch as we kiss, our tongues dancing around each other's mouths. I cannot take it, I need to free myself. I lift Shelley off the couch and with her legs wrapped around my hips walk her to the king-sized bed. Placing her down on the bed without breaking our kiss.