Chapter 21 #2
While I love the idea of people finding their true loves around the holidays, I don’t think doing it as part of a reality tv show is really the way to do it.
“Victoria?”
“Yes?” she responds dreamily.
“Santas.”
She snaps to attention. “Right, but don’t think this gets you out of filling me in on what you find out.”
“Elf’s promise.”
I breathe a sigh of relief once she’s gone.
Not that I don’t love talking to her, but I don’t know what to say.
It breaks my heart to think that anyone in Gingerbread Grove—or Candy Cane Creek—would be so hurtful as to create a whole account just to speak poorly of the town and the people in it.
I can understand that some may not like that people who aren’t actively living in Gingerbread Grove are not only taking part in the games, but at the top of the leaderboard, but Matthew was born there.
His family is there. The whole town shops at his father’s store.
As much as he may not want to accept it, he is one of them, and it’s clear from how everyone speaks to or of him.
Well, most people, at least.
Swiping out of GingerSnap, I pull up my texting app, quickly finding Matthew at the top of my list.
Did you see the post on GingerSnap today?
Matthew
What makes you think I even have it downloaded?
Because I made you, remember?
That doesn’t mean I kept it.
Well, did you?
You’ll never know.
*gif of Dr. Evil laughing*
*gif of Judge Judy tapping on her watch*
Fine. Yes, I have it and yes, I saw it.
Do you know who it is?
No.
Aren’t you curious?
Not really.
*gif of Michael Scott shocked face*
It shouldn’t surprise you I don’t care about small town gossip.
But they think I bribed the judges! With cookies! Illicit cookies!
Well, did you?
You can’t be serious right now.
*gif of angry girl waving a hairbrush*
My screen lights up with Matthew’s number.
“You can’t seriously think I bribed judges with illicit cookies...”
“I mean, did you? What makes the cookies illicit, anyways? I wasn’t aware that Gingerbread Grove had a contraband on any type of sweet.
Unless it’s a candy cane or sugar cookie.
Now that you mention it, I haven’t seen any of those here since I got back,” Matthew muses, a slightly amused tone in his voice.
“I’m being serious, Matthew.”
“So am I, Avery. Now that we’re talking about it, I want a sugar cookie. Maybe a sugar cookie with a candy cane crushed up on top. Do they have those in Kamloops? You might have to smuggle me one tonight. I’ll meet you in the garden. I’ll be sure to get rid of any crumbs before the snowball fight.”
As much as I had worked myself up about this, I love the humour that’s coming through the phone right now. It’s the most lighthearted I’ve heard him since we met.
“If I get you a cookie, will you take this seriously?” I muse, already feeling the stress of the last half an hour starting to leave me.
“That depends. You’ll have to tell me how you bribed the judges exactly, and more importantly, why you didn’t let me in on it.”
“Matthew, I promise you, I didn’t bribe anyone,” I laugh.
“I didn’t even know who the judges were before the competition started.
I also didn’t even bring any cookies with me.
But now that I think of it, there were some fake cookies that I had in my bag that I was going to use for our Snowbread Man.
Those went missing with everything else. ”
“It’s called a Snowbread Man now?”
“For now. I’m still working on it.” I fill him in on what I found while scrolling. The unidentifiable username, all the posts with only negative things to say. “You know computers; is it possible to trace?”
“I mean, sure, if you had access to the backend. They would be able to see who invited them and the IP address.”
“So, we need to find someone with that access.”
“Or we could just leave it alone. It’s a post on a social media app that’s just for Gingerbread Grove. It’s not that big of a deal.”
“Matthew,” I sigh.
“Avery,” he sighs back, dramatically.
Knowing I’m not going to get any more help; I give it up—for now. “Fine. Do we have a game plan for The Snowball Smackdown tonight?”
“Do we have to call it that?”
And there’s the gruffness in his voice again. While lighthearted and joking Matthew was fun, there’s something comforting about grumpy Matthew that makes me happy.
“That’s its name, isn’t it?”
“It’s a ridiculous name.”
“Either way…I was thinking that our best way to win will be to keep moving and stick together. I did some research last night, and it looks like obstacles will be set up at the base of Gum Drop Hill. We can use those and the trees for cover.”
“Research? How did you do research on this?”
“I scrolled through GingerSnap and looked it up online.” I roll my eyes.
“Of course.”
“So, what do you think?”
“I think…” he says before going silent for a moment. “I think we’ll do whatever you think is best. I was just going to throw snowballs and hope for the best.”
“Well then, it’s a good thing you have me.”
“It is a good thing,” he replies.
I don’t know if he’s talking about just for the snowball fight or something else, but my whole body warms as if I’d just had a gingerbread oat latte with eggnog sprinkles.