the clairisa collection

No sooner had she stepped through the door was she enveloped in a pleasant warmth, and it was quick to chase away a cold she hadn't even noticed until then. Lisa shivered slightly at the feeling, nudging the door shut with the toe of her boot. “Did you really leave the heating on again?” she said, a teasing edge to her voice as she paused at the base of the stairs to briefly offload the weight of the shopping bags she’d carried in.  

“Maybe,” Claire answered, easing her coat off. She left it on almost permanently during winter, averse to the cold as she was, and had no intention of breaking the habit any time soon. Lisa rolled her eyes, unraveling her scarf – or, rather, Claire's scarf, forced upon her when she’d arrived in only her usual leather jacket.  

“Your bill’s going to be through the roof, y’know,” she warned, recollecting the bags at her feet as she pushed her shoes out of the way beneath the stairs. It was stupid, but she almost felt naked without them on.  

Claire shrugged, turning to her with a bright smile. “Totally worth it for a warm house,” she countered, grateful that she could afford it. Coming home to the cold didn’t sound the least bit appealing. Lisa shook her head fondly, unsurprised by the answer. Claire liked being warm almost as much as she liked sleeping.  

“Right, where do you want these?” she asked, pointedly lifting the bags slightly.  

“Front room,” Claire said, gesturing to the doorway on the right as she stepped around her to reach the stairs. “Just let me grab the wrapping stuff, and I'll be right with you.” Lisa watched her disappear from view, taking the steps two at a time, before turning away. She wasn’t sure where exactly Claire wanted her but decided the center of the room was as good a place as any, and she kneeled down to carefully set the bags on the rug in front of the sofa.  

Once she was without purpose, however, she immediately felt out of place instead. She curled her fingers against her legs, awkwardly surveying the room in silence and admiring the Christmas tree in the corner while she waited. She was relieved when Claire reappeared less than a minute later, now laden down by a bag half her own size, and quirked an eyebrow as she approached.  

“You sure you’ve got enough there?” she joked, resisting the urge to reach out and help her as she slowly lowered herself to the ground.  

“Hey, it’s better to be over-prepared than under-prepared,” Claire argued, setting the bag down nearby with a faint sigh. Especially given that she never knew just how many presents she was going to buy everyone when the holidays inevitably rolled around. "Right.” She clapped her hands together before reaching over to retrieve a long tube of snowflake-patterned wrapping paper. “I'll wrap, you tape?” 

Lisa nodded in agreement, wordlessly taking the tape machine when it was passed to her a moment later, and they quickly lapsed into a comfortable silence, opting to focus more on the task at hand as they began to tackle the myriad of presents. Much like always, they worked together seamlessly, following an ever-familiar rhythm that came naturally to only the two of them. As suggested, Claire wrapped, humming quietly to herself as her fingers made gentle folds with the paper, and Lisa taped, securing them in place without ever missing a beat or needing to be asked.  

In one unbroken stretch, they wrapped Abby's new softball bat and Tyler's box of mint condition comic books, Chris's fancy (albeit needlessly expensive) bottle of red wine and Morgan's video game. Claire was just cutting the exact amount of paper needed for Pixie’s unicorn figurine when Lisa finally broke the silence. 

“So, where are my presents?” she said, already knowing there was nothing for her waiting to be wrapped. Not that she’d expected there to be. Claire never would’ve invited her to go Christmas shopping if she’d intended to buy her anything. Whether or not that meant she already had was a different story. Claire smiled slightly. 

“Nowhere you’ll find,” she told her, carefully setting the figurine’s box dead center on the square of paper at her knees. 

“Who says I'm going to look?” Lisa countered, hand resting patiently on the tape machine. 

“I'm sure you won’t,” Claire said as she pulled the wrapping paper neatly across the top of the box, hiding it from view. She barely had to hold it in place for a second, however, before Lisa secured it with a length of tape. “That’s more Tyler's thing. It’s why I don’t let him over during the month before Christmas anymore.” 

The corners of Lisa's mouth twitched slightly in amusement. “You learn the hard way?” she asked, watching as Claire's lithe fingers effortlessly folded in the leftover wrapping paper. Tyler could be a nightmare during Christmas, and if he knew someone had bought him a present, he wouldn’t hesitate to try and find out what it was. Fortunately, he at least had the restraint not to open anything early.  

“Yeah, but he never found anything,” Claire revealed, moving her finger out of the way just in time for it to be replaced by another strip of tape. “My present-hiding skills are unrivaled.” Not that she’d left him alone long enough to do any significant snooping anyway. 

“The same could be said of your wrapping skills,” Lisa pointed out, resting her hands idly in her lap as Claire methodically stuck both a label, and then a bow, on the middle of the gift. She sighed, unable to help feeling somewhat in the way, and wondered if Claire would finish faster on her own. “Do you really need my help with this?”  

“No,” Claire admitted, reaching for the pen at her side, “but I want it. Anyway, what about you?” She paused, glancing up from writing Pixie’s name on the label in perfect cursive to offer Lisa a playful smile. “Have you bought me a present yet?”  

Lisa shrugged, impassive as ever and giving nothing away. “Maybe. Maybe not.”  

Claire pouted slightly. “Spoilsport,” she said, ending her message with a simple x before capping her pen and sitting upright again. “Still, if you haven’t-” She lifted the newly wrapped present and placed it carefully in the bag with all the others. “-I know what you can get.” She turned back to Lisa with a fresh bow in hand, peeling off the back of it to reveal the sticky surface beneath.  

Lisa raised an eyebrow, watching her curiously. “Oh yeah?” She didn’t know what sort of response she was expecting, really, but it certainly wasn’t the one she got, and she recoiled instinctively when Claire leaned forward to plant the bow she was holding on Lisa's forehead. It took a moment for her to realize what had happened, and she briefly looked up, barely able to see the purple bow where it sat just beyond her line of sight, before her gaze flickered back to Claire, struggling to suppress her amusement. Lisa narrowed her eyes slightly, but the faint curve of her lips gave her away. “Now what? Gonna wrap me up too?” 

“Don’t tempt me,” Claire warned, leaning forward to remove the bow from Lisa's forehead – they still had several gifts to wrap, and she wouldn’t be able to focus if it stayed there. She was surprised when Lisa grabbed her by the wrist before she could take it, stopping her hand in mid-air. “What’re you-?”  

“I thought you were against unwrapping presents before Christmas,” Lisa said, a mischievous glint in her eyes.  

“You’re not wrapped!” Claire exclaimed, rising up on her knees and reaching forward with her other hand. Lisa immediately grabbed that one too, smirking in triumph when Claire scowled at her.  

“Specifics,” she said with a light shrug, leaning back right as Claire leaned forward, pushing against her grip in a vain attempt to reach the bow. Lisa held her at bay with ease, both the unstoppable force and immovable object.  

“Semantics,” Claire corrected, stubbornly leaning even further forward when her current efforts produced no results. It was a bad move, however, and she quickly lost her balance. If she hadn’t been leaning in the opposite direction, Lisa would’ve been able to hold her steady. Instead, she was knocked back when Claire inevitably collided with her a second later, and they both unceremoniously hit the ground together.  

Lisa recovered no sooner than she tensed, all too aware of Claire's waist between her legs and body pressed against hers. The room was suddenly filled with such a deathly silence that she could’ve heard a pin drop, and she barely dared to breathe when Claire lifted her head, face framed by her dark red hair. Lisa swallowed thickly. They were close – too close – lips within dangerous inches of each other, and she could feel Claire's breath hot against her mouth in a second that seemed to stretch on for an eternity. For a fleeting moment, Lisa wondered if there would ever be a better time to kiss her, but the opportunity passed her by in a heartbeat when Claire abruptly pulled back, finally convincing herself to move.  

“We should take a break,” she breathed, throat dry. She looked for an excuse to leave and ran with the first idea that came to her. “I'll get you a drink!” She summoned a faint smile, shakily getting to her feet, and almost tripped over Lisa's leg in her haste to leave the room. Lisa watched her go in silence, propped up on her elbows and left to wonder whether or not kissing her really would’ve been the worst outcome in the world.