Starry Night

The elves all knew that Nicole couldn't cope with the situation, it was obvious, she loved her dad so much, she was very much a Daddy's girl. So, they did a lot of the dirty work looking after him. She looked up along the corridor, she needed a tissue for her tears, a cigarette for lungs and a drink of her stomach...now. Many forgave her smoking, knowing thinking of her dad was a trigger for sadness. One day he will just go, disappear, leave no trace of ever being here, that was the magic behind Santa, they cannot leave a trace of their existence, no grave, nothing permanent, no pilgrimage destination. When he dies, he will just fizzle away in a cloud of smoke as if he was never there.

No one is entirely sure what will happen to Nicole once Nick finally died, it's another worrying thing nagging at her torment of daily agony, as well as everything else in her life.

Nicole reached her office; the piles of paper had been dealt with by magic, she expected by Ginger. She chuckled at the clear desk. She dropped the empty green pack amongst the others in the wastepaper bin and walked around her desk, and eventually found another open pack of cigarettes, and swiftly got the filter between her lips, pulled the lighter from her tights and with two short tugs, she pulled hard on the cigarette as the flame took hold.

She exhaled a cloud of smoke across the room and fished around on the desk for the Santa Cam controller flicked on the 90" television hanging on the wall opposite the desk and watched as the dark screen flipped to the red and green swirling SC logo in the middle of the screen as the software booted up, she kicked off her boots and settled down on the chair.

***

Jess wedged her cigarette between her lips and groaned the smoke out her nose as pushed hard to open the side door against the bitterly cold wind with her shoulder and it slowly moved an arc of fallen snow across the wooden veranda. As the smoke and steam of the night air drifted out her mouth, as per the site procedures she glanced above to check that the snow wasn't going to fall on her head and then removed the cigarette from her lips and instantly shivered and freezing ice wind outside air hit her. She tugged at the red knitted woolly hat on over her head pulling it further down over her ears. Jess was dressed for the occasion. All wrapped up in her green Christmas tree fluffy dressing gown. She then carefully walked in her large black boots, along the sand covered but clearly still icy wooden path that led around the outside of the hut to the steaming large alfresco hot tub. As she walked Jess held her Christmas tree patterned thermos flask full of mulled wine close to her chest.

With the snow still falling around her, she placed the flask next to the hot tub, picked up and removed the snow from the ashtray, bashing it on the side of the tub. Her eyes followed a couple of frozen butts as fell to the ground by her feet. Jess then flicked on the underwater lights and the bubble timer, then bent down, and untied her boot laces and wobbling she got them off her toes. She then daintily as she could get her fat thighs, legs, and feet to do, she climbed up the two snow covered steps. As she reached the top she pulled on the dangled cigarette between her lips, exhaled the cloud of smoke against the snow laden sky. With her chins doubled up she looked down and untied the dressing gown, dropping it to the side, and then with shiver followed by a shriek of delight and a satisfactory sigh, quickly descended the blue plastic steps and in and with a loud splash as her large naked body disappeared under the hot bubbling water. She stopped falling with the water just up to her neck, she shuffled to the side, closer to the ashtray, took a short drag on the cigarette between her lips, exhaled, using her wet hands she stubbed it out in the ashtray and her focus set about opening the thermos of mulled wine.

***

Nicole sighed as she rocked forward on the black leather chair squishing her stomach against her thighs as she sat the sweaty blackened soles of her white stocking covered toes up on her desk. She tugged twice and opened the drawer under the desk and pulled out the half empty bottle of port and smiled as she wiggled the cork lid out with a satisfying pop and brought the bottle to her lips and took a couple of gulps. She sighed loudly and banged the bottle on the table, pulled yet another cigarette from her pack, retrieved her lighter and fired the flame against the tip of the cigarette, she soon was exhaling a cone across to the side of the room, she dropped the lighter on the desk, picked up the controls again and continued as she flicked through several her several billion Santa Cam channels, every country in the world, any house, any person going about their daily routine. Nicole had several channel numbers she often returned to, as she paused flicking to take regular drags on her many cigarettes.

She pulled smoke into her lungs, held it there as she ran her finger across her lips, enjoying the single of both senses as she waited for the nicotine to do its work, she smiled as whisps of smoke drifted out of her pursed lips at what she was finally watching and then exhaled her cone, she groaned as she crossed her chubby legs over the other way on the desk trying to get comfortable as she watched. As there on her screen was the delightful slim blonde of Sandy McGloin in her hotel room clearly back in Finland. She had recently showered, in her warm snuggly button up, winceyette tartan red pyjamas keeping her warm. She was lying on the top of the bed reading an Emma Nichols latest lesbian romantic novel. A mug of hot chocolate steaming on the bedside unit. She flipped the channel and found Gerald hunched over his lap top flicking through hundreds of photos of her as Santa. She smiled, pressed the yellow button and the screen zoomed in to see the grainy pictures of her on the screen with a bottle of coke, she nodded and the flicked back to Sandy and brought her cigarette back to her lips and watched her casually scratch her left breast whilst quietly reading.

Nicole smiled as she stroked hers in solidarity as smoke drifted out of her nose, she pressed the left-hand blue button on the control and the picture rewound, she smiled around her dangled cigarette as she watched Sandy hurriedly get undressed, quickly wetted herself in the white hotel towel and then walk backwards towards the bathroom, and then put the towel back on the rail before jumping backwards into the shower, and turning on the water, she scrolled back until the shampoo was being lathered in her hair, and then pressed play. Nicole pulled on her cigarette and slid her other hand down inside her skirt and tights as she exhaled and continued to watch as she started to massage herself, she was entirely focused as the soap as it was lathered over Sandy's pert and firm naked body and then as Sandy slowly washed off the bubbles, as the water from the shower head poured over her neck and down her body as continued warming herself up in the process of washing.

***

Jess flicked her eyelids a couple of times and slowly opened her eyes slightly, trying to work out where she was, choked and coughed hard, sputtering as she spat out the water from her mouth. Then pushed her body a bit out the water, before sloshing back in, as she tutted, she then wiggled herself a little up. Then shivered as her bare shoulders were out of the water, she then instantly coughed again, as she pushed herself up even further out of the now still water as it sloshed around the tub like a mini tsunami with the waves crashing against the other side and then sloshed back around her knees and over her breasts. As her back bounced hard against the side of the tub, she shook her swollen extremely prune like fingers of water and her hands migrated around the blue plastic of the pool to find her cigarette pack, she smiled as her hand reached the pack, she recoiled it as she brought her hand to her mouth as she coughed hard again, before flicking her fingers of water and then put her hand back as pulled a cigarette and lighter from the red pack, and got the cigarette between her lips, and soon inhaled on the smoke.

She exhaled the cloud of smoke above the steam from the pool and sighed and closed her eyes as the yellow tinged fluid bloomed and swirled twisting its way along her chubby thighs deep under the water, and slowly dissipated as it descended into the deeper blue water between her knees, her second and third volley of exhaled cloud of smoke soon thinned in the snow filled air above her head as she enjoyed the heat of the pool, the cool air on her neck, the nicotine in her lungs and her now empty bladder, the calm was bliss. She opened one eye and practically jumped out of the water as she saw the glow of a cigarette cherry as Ginger elf standing opposite her on the walkway in front of her smoking her own cigarette.

"Fuck sake, Ginger, don't creep up on us like that, I might have been doing something very private!" she exclaimed instantly putting her hand across her chest under the water for modesty.

Ginger chucked "Oh, what on the public veranda like? Anyway sorry, I only went to feed the reindeer..." Ginger replied shrugging her shoulders and then inhaling on her cigarette.

"Ginge, do you actually do that, or is that your code for wanting a cigarette?" Jess laughed as she brought her own filter to her lips and pulled hard.

"No...I do genuinely feed them, you know, before having a cigarette!" Ginger snapped back before inhaling from her filter, the cherry burning bright orange in the darkness of the sky.

Jess raised her eyebrow though her exhaled smoke "Fair enough, oh, what time is it?"

"I left Rudy and co at eight thirty?"

"Oops, I've been in here over an hour and a half, no wonder I am a prune!" she chuckled whilst studying her chubby fingers "I'd better get back to Nic." She smiled as she clamped the cigarette between her lips and started to shuffle herself backwards out of the pool before slipping with splosh back in. "Fuck!"

"I wouldn't rush Miss Jess; Miss Claus has by all reports been on the Port again, Butters was too late to even stop her!" Ginger replied.

She giggled "Well, I do worry, she has been to see her dad, it understandable..." she tried to get out before falling back in again "...and Tinkers made my mulled wine far too strong." She snickered again and pulled on her cigarette and splashed her other hand around in the water.

"Or like Miss Claus, you just drank it all Miss Jess." Ginger snidely replied before her cheeks collapsed as she hauled the smoke into her lungs, she exhaled and then flicked her cigarette across the walkway, the sparks flashing across the dark sky as it flew across before it landed in the snow beside the tub and instantly blackened the pristine snow around where it landed. "Jess miss, shall I help you out?"

Jess looked across at Ginger, and then giggled nodded helplessly.

***

With the stubbed out cigarette still gently burning in the ashtray, and the smoke it produced gently drifting across her face, Nicole panted and took a gulp direct from the port bottle as she sat on the edge of her desk, her white tights around her ankles, her red skirt on the floor, and her shirt mostly unbuttoned, she looked up whilst hugging the bottle of port close to her chest, as Sandy stood up off the bed, wiggled her hips as she brought her pyjama bottoms back up over her pert bottom and then sitting back down rolled into bed pulled her duvet up over her shoulders and turned off the lights.

Nicole's feet slipped off the desk, as she giggled, she pulled yet another cigarette from the pack, and grabbed her bauble printed lighter, placed the filter between her lips and with a flick of the flame enabled her to satisfy her wanting lungs yet again. She got up leaned her shoulder against the wall as she wiggled her own hips as she the smoke from dangled her cigarette danced across the room. Eventually her white tights had been pulled her back up almost over her considerably chunky bottom. It was not quite reaching her hips, she burped as picked up the bottle of port again, her pack and lighter and then wavered unsteadily as headed through the door frame, leaving her skirt on the floor as she made her way down the corridor, stopping, taking a gulp from the bottle and turning and then nodding before falling sideways through the toilet door. A few moments later she reappeared still tugging at her tights which were now stuck below her buttocks and not rising any higher, as she collided with a snort and a giggle at the opposite wall. She took that opportunity whilst leaning there to inhale on her cigarette using the wooden wall for support, before pushing herself off and continuing to meander down the hallway, correcting her direction every juddered third step as she made her way unsteadily towards her quarters.

End of Part 1