**This is my submission for the
Literotica 2021 Winter Holidays Story Contest
. It's a little sappy, fast-paced, romantic, lighthearted, and a throwback to when malls were more popular. If you enjoy it, please take a second to vote and maybe leave a comment.**
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It was that time of the year again. I would don a ridiculous outfit to serve at the side of the jolly fat man while he greeted his adoring minions. Frank, the mall manager, always picked me to be Twinkles the Elf in Santa's North Pole Village because I'm short. He claimed he picked me because I'm friendly, but I knew that wasn't true. I always agreed to do it because it paid well.
"Gale, are you seriously playing an elf again? You said it was humiliating last year," Dana chuckled.
Dana, my coworker, was applying fresh lipstick when I stepped out of the bathroom stall, looking ready to hop on Santa's sleigh.
"Humiliation pays the rent and allows me to buy a gift for my mom. So, yeah. Shiny red and green dress, candy cane stockings, and noisy red bells are part of my uniform for the next month."
"At least you look hot in that outfit," Dana grinned.
I pulled my pointy hat on and tossed my dark hair behind my shoulders as I gazed at my reflection in the restroom mirror. The dress did look sexy on me. It displayed a little cleavage and showed off my tiny midsection, but it was honestly a waste.
"Yeah, I get to look my best for all of Santa's adoring little fans."
"Don't fret. The new hire is playing an elf too. He's cute."
Dana pulled the December work schedule out of her pocket and handed it to me. Karl from hardware was playing Santa again, while me and Jack Frost would be his workshop elves.
"Jack Frost? That's seriously the new guy's name? Does he have white hair and snowflakes on his cheeks?" I laughed in disbelief.
"No. He has pretty gray eyes and messy black hair. He's a bit lanky but a good catch for your single self," Dana shrugged.
"I am not looking for a work romance of any kind. One more semester, and I'll be done with this mall for good."
Dana walked with me to Santa's house since her department was across from it. We stopped to admire the beautiful North Pole Village while the mall was quiet. A sparkling twenty-foot Christmas tree towered over the open-roofed house where Santa would sit in his big red chair by the fireplace. Large gift boxes wrapped in red, blue, green, purple, and gold foil were stacked around the village on a thick layer of cottony snow. Karl was already dressed in his Santa costume and napping in the big red chair. He really looked like Saint Nick at that point.
"Holy cow, the decorating crew went all out. I want to live here," Dana chuckled.
"No kidding. This is magical," I agreed.
"Thanks! Karl and I worked on it all morning," announced a male voice from behind us.
We spun around and met the proud smile of a young man in a dapper blue frosted suit. Shiny silver embroidery created icy snowflakes up his sleeves, around his collar, down the front of his jacket, and all over his blue satin waistcoat. He had big gray eyes, wavy black hair, and polished black shoes. His appearance was fitting in the middle of the wintry village. I stared at him with my brow creased for a moment. Work suddenly felt a little too whimsical for my normal negative attitude.
"Jack, hey. I was just telling Gale about you," Dana grinned as she nudged me with her elbow, prompting me to lose the shocked expression.
"Ah, Twinkles the Elf, it's wonderful to meet you. Great outfit," Jack smiled and offered me his hand.
"Thanks, it's nice to meet you too. Your suit is kinda awesome."
"Thanks. I picked it out myself. It looked better than the shiny green pajamas they wanted me to wear. Well, I have more decorating to do before the doors open. I'll see you in a bit."
I watched as he retrieved a large box of shiny gold ornaments and marched over to the nearest tree.
"I bet he's gay," I whispered against Dana's ear, making her chuckle.
"Maybe, he seems fun to work with, at least. I have to get to the stockroom. Go help him," Dana ordered and nudged me in Jack's direction.
I sighed and gave Dana the stink-eye before she disappeared into the adjacent store. Jack smiled when I stepped over and pulled two gold balls out of the ornament box, and placed them on the tree.
"I'm not gay if you were wondering," he noted.
My mouth dropped open as I looked at him in surprise.
"You heard me?" I squeaked.
"I did. You're not used to the mall being this quiet, are you?"
"I'm sorry, Jack. I was just being silly. Dana and I joke about everything."
"Gale, it's okay. I'm not offended. Trevor, my very gay brother, wouldn't be either. He kinda helped me pick out the suit, but I really did make the final decision."
"Oh, you both have good taste, but why not wear the outfit provided by the mall?"
"Like I said, I don't look as cute as you in shiny green satin. I mean... uh, that came out wrong. I wouldn't look as elegant as you," Jack corrected with a blush spreading across his cheeks.
Our conversation continued in a pleasantly awkward manner until ten o'clock rolled around. We had finished decorating all the Christmas trees and woke Karl up from his nap in time to greet the first customers. I watched in amazement as Jack dived into his character. He smiled big for every child that came through Santa's door. He introduced himself as Jack Frost and gave every kid a handful of paper confetti to use as snow. We would help the children into Karl's lap, I mean, Santa's lap, so they could tell him their Christmas wishes and pose for a photograph. Then Jack would wave the kids forward to help him make it snow. The children would laugh and dance as they tossed confetti into the air. Jack kept extra in his pockets to add to the storm. The photographers took more pictures during the chaos. The crowd was getting thicker as people came closer to see what all the laughter was about. Jack Frost was stealing the show from Santa Claus. Karl didn't mind. We exchanged smiles as the children begged to stay and play with Jack Frost in Santa's house. I had never enjoyed work that much before. The day flew by, and I was actually disappointed when it ended.
Jack was splayed out on the carpet in front of the fireplace as the last customer left the village. He was resting after non-stop fun with the kids. I sat down on the rug close to his head and smiled at him.
"I'm not used to jumping around that much. I don't know how she did it," Jack yawned and rubbed his face.
"Who did what?" I asked.
"My sister Becky. I'm doing this for her. She would do something like this every year at the Rose Town Mall. She did it for fun, not money. She begged me to do it with her last year, and I agreed, but some bad shit happened, and we didn't get to be Jack and Becky Frost. The snow confetti was her idea," he sighed and closed his eyes.
My heart sank when I saw a tear at the corner of his eye. He quickly wiped it away.
"What happened? Why didn't you get to work together?"
"A drunk driver happened."
"Oh... I'm sorry."
"Yeah, me too. I gotta get this mess off the carpet," he sighed and pushed himself up.
"I'll help. There are some vacuums in the storage closet that work miracles on stuff like this."
We said goodnight to Karl before we went in search of cleaning supplies. The back closet was a packed maze of holiday decorations. The crew that put away the Halloween stuff had buried the little carpet vacuums deep in a corner behind the Easter Bunny's gigantic pink couch.
"Why on earth did they stick them way back here?" I grumbled.
I was gracelessly crawling over the back of the pink couch to retrieve them as Jack chuckled at me. I'm sure he got a lovely view of my candy cane stockings and red panties as I almost fell into the back corner.
