The town square smelled of hot chocolate, grilled chorizo sandwiches and roasted chestnuts. It was the smell of winter, of snow and Christmas. El Cerro was a small and humble town, mainly populated by people of the land, but they were not going to stop celebrating the holidays because of that. Every year the square was adorned with colored lights that were like garlands of throbbing fireflies. There were also several stalls, all of them with green and red awnings and wrapped with bright tinsel. They sold everything, from figures for the Nativity Scene, to decorations, joke items and handmade crafts. Not to be missed was the traditional fir tree with its balls, an old tree that continued to endure being dressed up year after year.

As was obvious, the townspeople had taken to the streets to enjoy the decorations, the carols and the good atmosphere. The town's churreria was completely packed, with people even waiting in hopes anyone would leave so they could snatch a table. Because of that, Sofia and Sara had ordered their ration of churros and their hot chocolate to take away, and had sat down on a bench to eat. Despite how early it was, night had already fallen, but the moon had not yet risen. Better, because in a couple of days it would come out completely full, and whenever that happened, in the days before and after, her energy stirred restlessly.

Sofia pulled her cell phone out of her pocket. To be honest, she was starting to feel really stupid, because she had already checked it four times, but she was still holding to that little sliver of hope. Again she skimmed through her SMS, focusing on the ones she had shared with her friend. 'I gt smthin 2do dunn if I can' he had replied when she asked him if he wanted to go to the Christmas market. That had been the last message she had received from him. Letting out a quiet sigh, she put the device back in her pocket and continued eating her churros with chocolate. She could have asked him again if he was coming, and in fact she was tempted, but she didn't want to seem annoying.

“Nothing new?” asked Sara in a voice that didn’t make it so clear if it was a question.

“He hasn't said anything else. I guess he's not coming,” Sofia replied, unable to hide a note of disappointment in her voice.

“You would have liked that.”

Sofia blushed, twisting her lips into a telltale smile that she was unable to control. She was aware, too aware in fact, of the blush that had risen to her cheeks and the warmth that had begun to well up in her belly.

“I wanted to see him. I may sound like an idiot, but I had an incredible time with him the other day. I ended up soaked to the skin and it was freezing, but I didn't care, I didn't want the day to end. I'm glad I made up with him, and I wanted to see him again, that's all,” she answered, noticing how her blush became more intense.

“Yeah, I think you're a kind of an idiot, mate, but not because you feel like seeing him, but because you still don't accept that you're into him and it shows from miles away,” said Sara, taking a bite of her churro.

“Sara...” Sofia let out a quiet sigh before continuing. “We have agreed that we are just friends, and it's better this way. I still have a lot of problems and I don't want to get into a relationship right now, and he has his own stories to deal with and he doesn't want to commit to anyone right now either. But...” she stared at the churro in her hand, which was dripping hot chocolate into the plastic cup.

“But you like him.”

Sara didn't tease her, like other times. She knew that this was an important step for Sofia, and showed a respectful seriousness to encourage her to get her feelings off her chest, which is exactly what she did. With a shy smile on her lips, Sofia nodded and the blush on her cheeks deepened. A pleasant warmth spread across her belly. She was starting to get used to the sensation, but she didn't mind because she found it pleasant. It was like a gentle tingling that appeared whenever he smiled in her direction, or when he brushed her hand.

“I'm not in love with him, but I can no longer deny that I like him. How can I not like him? Have you seen him? He's nice, kind, attentive, patient, and he has a beautiful smile, pretty blue eyes and...”

“And he's like totally hot, he has a motorcycle and he's simply really cute. He's a real catch, and you had to take him,” said Lola, who had just arrived and was carrying a piece of handmade pastry she had bought at the street market.

“Does it bother you, Lola?” Sofia asked, her enthusiastic smile twisting into a sneer.

“Yes, of course it bothers me, but I'm not as dumb as you think I am. I mean, I know when to back down gracefully from a losing battle. Besides, I find this love story you two have going on so much more interesting,” said the girl, who was wearing a very Christmassy red coat over an off-white wool dress and matching high boots.

Sofia had to suppress the urge to curl her lip, something she found quite difficult considering that the night and the approaching full moon were awakening her cinanthrope instincts. The pleasant tingling typical of the infatuation she felt for her friend faded away, and was replaced by a more dangerous, wilder ardor. Despite their games through the forest, the pain she had felt at believing herself rejected by her best friend was still present in her memory, and that was the only fuel her anger needed.

“Your foolishness about wanting to see our relationship as if we are the protagonists of a romance novel almost fucked up our friendship,” she blurted out, standing up abruptly and barely managing to suppress the growl that had risen to her throat.

“Calm down, buddy. Don't make a scene here,” said Sara, getting up to grab her friend's forearm in an attempt to calm her down.

“Don't make a scene? Damn it, Sara, after the mess those assholes almost made, and you're telling me not to make a scene?”

“Hey, honey, don't get me involved in your troubles. We were just gossiping among ourselves and wondering when you were going to realize that you were totally into each other. Whatever happened between you was your own business. The rest of us are not to blame if you don't make up your minds,” said Lola, and Sofia looked away sharply. “Besides, you've already sorted it out, haven't you? Then stop complaining, it wasn't such a big deal.”

Yes, Sofia thought, Lola was right. Only the two of them were to blame for that misunderstanding, because they didn’t talk about the problems when they arose, and they reacted disproportionately afterwards. In that Sofia was far more to blame than he was. Where the girl was wrong was in her assertion that they were onto each other. Dave had clearly told her he wasn't sure that what he felt was anything more than friendship. Sofia was absolutely certain of two things, one was that she wasn't in love with him because what she felt was different from what she had felt with Angel, and the other was that she did like him. If he liked her, he would have no doubts about it.

As if the thought of him had summoned him, his friend arrived wearing his usual motorcycle riding jacket, a pair of jeans, and a beige sweater. As always, his straight hair fell over his forehead, a bit disheveled because of the helmet. His body gave off that smell that was a mixture of his own buried under that of forest and gasoline, although lately he seemed to be losing the smell of pine that had attracted Sofia's attention. The boy went first to greet Lola, giving her the usual two kisses. Then he shook Sara's forearm as the girl preferred, because that two kisses thing seemed nonsense to her, and finally he turned to Sofia. The girl could have been angry for being the last one, but in fact it was precisely because she was special, like that bite that you save for the end just to stay longer with the taste in your mouth. He gave her a smile and a single kiss on the cheek, but that kiss had not been the automatic cheek-bumping gesture. No, that kiss he had placed on her skin, resting his lips against it, had been a token of affection.

“Um? You feel a little warm. Are you all right?” said the young man, touching her forehead.

“I'm fine, don't worry. I thought you weren't coming,” said Sofia, noticing that all her anger and bad mood had suddenly vanished.

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The boy scratched the back of his neck and smiled, but again he had that restrained smile, avoiding opening his lips too wide.

“I managed to finish some things my godfather asked me to do. I wasn't sure if I was going to have time, that's why I told you before that I didn't know if I could hang out,” he explained. “Would you like to go for a walk?”

“Sure,” Sofia finished off her churros with chocolate and threw the containers in the wastebasket. “Where do you want to go? There are stalls over there, and there are a few places to have a drink but they're full. They serve churros here but there's a long queue now, although if you feel like it we can get some.”

“No, it's okay. Let's go round the stalls and see what we can find, shall we?” he said, looking at the other two girls.

“Hey, wait a minute, I didn't invite her. Where are your friends?” Sofia asked, turning to Lola.

“Visiting the family, but don't worry, I wasn't trying to intrude in your date. I was just taking a walk and came over to say hello,” said Lola haughtily.

“Don't be sour, Sofi, let the girl come and take a walk with us. I'll distract her so you don't have to make conversation,” said Sara, putting an arm around Lola's shoulders, something that made the other girl feel a little uncomfortable.

Sofia looked at her friend hoping he’d join her side, but the boy just shrugged. Aware that she would look like an absolute jerk if she refused, something she didn't care too much about, she let out a quiet sigh and agreed. To be honest, she didn't feel like investing energy arguing with Lola, and her friend’s arrival had put her in a good enough mood that she didn't want to dampen it. Besides, she was feeling a bit tired and weak and didn't fancy a fight. The four of them went for a stroll through the stalls, Sofia and Dave in front and Lola and Sara a few steps behind to give them some privacy.

For a while they wandered among the stalls. There wasn't that much to see, it was just trinkets, decorations and gag items, but it was a multicolored curiosity highlighted by the music of the Christmas carols. There was quite a crowd, not as much as on Witches’ Night, but enough to make walking not so easy. They both stopped next to a stall full of figurines for the Nativity Scene. Sofia didn't care about the human figures, but she loved to see the water mills, houses and farms made in the style of a primitive Middle East. Among those little sculptures, of course, was the traditional 'caganer'.

“I'd like to put up a Nativity scene sometime,” said Sofia, noticing that her companion was looking at a figure of a shepherd with his sheep and dog.

“You’ve never put up a Nativity Scene?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.

“My mother is not much of a Christmas person. No Nativity scene, no tree, no nothing.”

“Oh.”

That was all the answer she got from her friend, though his body screamed with his posture and gestures. He gently put down the sheep he had been looking at next to its shepherd and turned to walk away from the stall. His shoulders were slightly slumped and he rubbed his chest with one hand, evidencing his nervousness. His breathing also seemed a bit labored, as if he wanted to pant but was controlling himself. Biting her lip, Sofia fell into step with him, and he gave her a smile that she could tell from miles away that it was forced. He was still trying to actively participate in the stroll, but he looked very uncomfortable.

“Dave, let's go somewhere quieter,” Sofia said, taking him by the hand to lead him away.

“There's no need. I'm fine,” he said, running his tongue over his lips.

“Come on,” she insisted with an encouraging smile.

With their fingers intertwined, barely aware of whether the other two girls were following, Sofia walked away from the Christmas market area and the square itself. Just on the other side was the park where Sara's sisters had made the queimada. The trees had already been stripped of all their leaves, leaving the branches completely bare, although the town hall had decided to cover them with garlands of cold blue lights. The pale luminosity reflected off the snow, resembling silvery moonlight. Normally the park was darker, but between the Christmas lighting and the snow itself there was a brightness so dazzling that it felt uncomfortable to Sofia's eyes. She wasn’t the only one. Out of the corner of her eye she saw her friend squint a bit and frown.

With a sudden thought running through her head, Sofia decided to look for an area away from the lights’ brightness. As they walked away from the main path, the snow crunching under their footsteps, Dave lifted his head to the sky and took a deep breath, sucking in the cold winter air in one long inhale. The crescent moon hadn't risen yet, and Sofia knew it would still be a little over an hour before it did, so the sky looked like a blanket of dark blue dotted with bright stars. That was the beauty of El Cerro, that it was so far from the big cities and so small that it allowed one to see the sky in a way that was not possible if one lived closer to Madrid, or in a large town. The bad thing was that, far from the stalls and the people, the cold was more noticeable and Sofia began to shiver a little.

Discreetly, she looked up at her friend, very aware of their hands, which remained entwined. The boy noticed and looked down at her, and a smile that made her shiver drew on his lips. With her cheeks burning and a smile to match his, the girl looked down shyly, but she kept stealing furtive glances at him. As she knew would happen, admitting that she liked him had only served to make the tingling butterflies in her stomach feel so much more real. However, that hadn't been the only reason why her heart had skipped a beat.

Biting her lip, she looked down at the floor and the smile disappeared from her lips. A brutal certainty popped into her head, and that was that she loved him, she loved him too much, and now she was afraid. She had suspected it for weeks, but she hadn't wanted to look for it because she didn't want to find it. It was hard not to notice, though, especially for her, who had been trained to notice such things. When he looked down at her, she saw the reflection of light in his pupils, and for an instant his eyes glowed in the darkness.

“Better?” Sofia asked, as she sat down on one of the wooden benches in the park and rubbed her hands together to try to warm them up.

For the moment, she pushed those thoughts aside. There was too much she did not yet know, and she could not jump to hasty conclusions. Besides, she wanted to enjoy him, his company, without having to worry about anything else. She was seventeen and she just wanted to enjoy the boy she liked, those little ants she felt crawling across her skin when he looked at her, when he smiled and when he touched her.

“Yes, but we didn't have to leave. We could have stayed if you'd rather take a walk through the square,” he replied, settling in next to her so that their legs were touching.

“I'd already seen the stalls, and it didn't look like you were having a lot of fun. I know you don't like crowds, so I thought it was a good idea to come to the park,” Sofia said with a small smile.

“It's not just that...” replied her friend with a quiet sigh, looking at the ground. “This will be the first time I won't celebrate Christmas with my family and... it's hard. The Christmas market just brought back all those memories at once. I didn't think it would affect me so much, I'm sorry.”

“I'm sorry, I should have realized,” she said, suddenly feeling like a big idiot for not noticing.

“It's not your fault. Don't worry,” he replied with a warm smile.

“Man, you may not like the idea, but Sofia came over last Christmas Eve to have dinner with us. You should come too. Where six eat, seven eat,” commented Sara, who had stayed a few meters away from them with Lola so they could have a bit of time alone to talk.

“I don't know, Sara. Maybe it's not such a good idea,” he said, looking at his hands.

“I'll tell my sister to make you one of her special drinks. You know you don't have to toast with alcohol,” said the girl, winking at the boy.

“Oh, so he doesn't like alcohol. Handsome, hot, abstemious and doesn't like crowds. Girl, I can't make up my mind whether you're getting a jewel or a bore,” Lola commented.

“Ending up lying in a park totally drunk is an amusement only for the most elitist, Lola. Ordinary people like us like to go hiking and throw snowballs at each other,” Sofia muttered, barely able to vocalize because she was shaking so much.

Lola started to say something, but Sofia huffed and turned her head sharply to let her know that she didn't care about what she said. The girl's voice became a background noise that was barely able to penetrate her ears. The truth was that Sofia was too cold and too sleepy all of a sudden to want to bother arguing with Lola. She just wanted to lie down, pull her blanket over her and get warm. The closest thing she had within reach at that moment was her friend, so without thinking she leaned into him seeking his warmth. Under other circumstances Dave would have been surprised by the girl’s attitude, but he had been suspecting for a while that something wasn't right. That was why he chose to put an arm around her to hold her close to his body and give her some warmth, and he also touched her face with his hand.

“I thought so. She has a fever, and a high one at that. She must have caught a cold when we were in the forest. Sara, we have to take her home and bring her fever down,” he said, very seriously, while he hugged the trembling girl.

Sofia wanted to protest, she wanted to say that nothing was wrong, that she was fine, but all she could do was snuggle further against the boy who gave her warmth and reassurance. Tucked in his arms and with her head resting against his chest, she was able to hear his heartbeat, and she found that sound soothing. If she had been in her right mind, and not immersed in feverish delirium, she would have been horrified by what she was doing. At that moment she just wanted to fall asleep listening to that accelerated heartbeat and breathing in his scent, his lovely musk that seemed to be loosing that intense forest aroma.