#cassinova

“I’m Cassiopeia Roston. I moved in last month.” Cass stuck her hand out, a little surprised when the woman actually took it, her skin slightly rough and her grip firm.

“Nova.”

“Lovely to meet you, Nova.”

Cass looked down at their joined hands, grinning widely before realising she’d been holding on for a beat too long and Nova had loosened grip to try and pull away. She let go quickly and Nova dropped her gaze to the floor but didn’t retreat into her house.

“Can I help with something?” Nova asked.

“Oh yeah, no. I mean no. Well, maybe? It’s christmas.” Cass wanted to kick herself, she settled for pinching her arm. “My dads are away this year so I’m sort of on my own?” She smiled sheepishly.

Nova nodded for her to continue.

“And, wow now I’m saying this it’s so rude, sorry. But I haven’t really seen anyone visit? So I thought maybe you were lonely too? I don’t even know if you celebrate christmas. Anyway! Did you want to maybe come over to celebrate with me? On Christmas Day?”

“Oh.”

Cass shook her head frantically, backing away a step and trying to wave it away. “Sorry, I’m sorry. Nevermind. This was a stupid idea. I’ll leave you be, sorry again.”

“Yes.” Nova blurted out; Cass stopped mid-wave. “Yes. I’ll be there.”

“Oh. I look forward to it. I’ll see you then.”

Nova nodded and then the door was closed. Cass looked at the door for another few seconds before turning back to her own house, huffing a laugh at herself. Christmas Day was going to be good.

_________

The lounge was lit up in soft, warm golds from the strung up fairy-lights. The star on the top of the small tree was gold as well and so was some of the tinsel. But that was where the organised decoration theme ended, it had barely begun if she was honest with herself and was definitely not recognisable to anyone outside of her and her dads. She loved the random array of handmade decorations, collected from her childhood by her dads, and the mismatch coloured tinsel round around stairway bannisters, the scented candles dotted about on safe surfaces, the thinly linked to christmas ocean themed decorations her Pa brought home from work every year. There was a running joke between her and Dad over whether they were made by Pa or he stole them from his co-workers. The mystery had yet to be solved. The house was a mess of christmas fueled cheer. She loved it. But she’d never had reason to think about it from an outside point of view. Until now, that was. Nova was due over any time and Cass couldn’t help worrying about how she’d explain the rubber octopus and duck taped together under a sprig of mistletoe, or the paper clip stars hanging in a row on the window sill in the kitchen. The food was cooking, hopefully cooked for early afternoon. There was wine and a couple of beers in case that was more to Nova’s tastes. Vegetarian alternatives to the meat based foods as well.

She startled as the doorbell rang throughout the house. She grabbed the less garish christmas jumper, pulling it on over her head as she ran down the stairs, and opened the door, smiling as best she could with the ball of anxiety in her stomach. Nova raised an eyebrow at her briefly before seeming to catch herself and switched to a hesitant smile. Her blonde hair was brushed back into an over the shoulder braid but a couple of stray strands framed her face. She was wearing a pair of light blue jeans and a jumper with a huddle of penguins under a candy cane. She looked adorable. Cass wanted to take a photo and sent it in to replace the current definition of adorable.

“Hi.” Nova let go of a covered plate with one hand to awkwardly wave.

“Hi.” Cass breathed out, mentally shaking herself to actually host properly. “Happy holidays! Come in, it’s chilly out here.”

She stepped back to let Nova through, the faint scent of vanilla followed the woman who stopped just in the hallway to slip out of her shoes. Cass looked down at her own feet as she closed the door to check she hadn’t put socks with holes on. It wasn’t obvious whether the fluffy purple socks were better or worse than socks with holes. She waved Nova into the kitchen where the plate was carefully placed on a free counter.

“I made biscuits.” Nova stuck her hands in her pockets and swayed onto her toes then back. “I used to ice them with my sister when we were young so I thought maybe…”

“That sounds fun, I’ve got plenty of baking and decorating things so we could do them before dinner?” Cass started filling the kettle. “Did you want a drink? I have like three kinds of tea and a jar of coffee or I have hot chocolate powder, I think anyway. Maybe. I can look?”

“Coffee is fine.”

“Right. Cool. Sugar? Milk? I have red and green milk too. I don’t really know why, something my dads did so I do, I guess? Sorry, I’ve not let you answer.”

“One sugar, a bit of milk. Thanks.”

Cass looked up, happily surprised to see Nova smiling shyly at her. “No worries.”

Nova turned away to look at the photos and post it notes stuck to the fridge. “Are these your dads? You mentioned they’re on holiday, right?”

“Yeah, they’ve gone to Greece to see an old friend.” She leaned over Nova’s shoulder to point at one of the photos in particular. “That’s Dad and that’s Pa, and that’s little me when I was like six, I think?”

“You’re cute.” Nova tensed and Cass stepped away, not wanting to make her anymore uncomfortable.

Nova didn’t say anything else so she took it as a cue to finish up the drinks and hand the mug over to her guest who raised a knowing eyebrow at the colourful doodle on the side of the mug but didn’t ask about it. Cass felt her cheeks flush a little and turned away, leading them to the lounge to sit down. She had some christmas music playing softly in the background.

“I like the decorations.” Nova said, taking a slow walk round the room to admire them all up close.

“Thanks. They’re a bit...eclectic.”

“Did you make some of these?”

Cass nodded then realised Nova wasn’t facing her and answered out loud.

“What do you do for work? Marine biology or something?”

“No, though I see why you’d think that. I just work at a cafe in town. My Pa’s family is pretty old and well off so...I work because I like to. My Pa does too.”

“Ah. Right.”

“What about you?”

“Odd jobs here and there.”

Nova sat down on the sofa next to her, it wasn’t the biggest of sofas so they ended up closer than Cass had expected. Legs gently pressed together.

“Happy Christmas, Nova.” Cass said quietly, cradling the mug in her lap, fingers protesting tapping the sides silently to avoid burning.

“Happy Christmas, Cassiopeia.”

“Call me Cass.”

“Okay, Cass. Thank you.”