Sophie and the Flash Mob Santa Read online

Sophie and the Flash Mob Santa

  by Aubrey Fredrickson

  Copyright 2015 by Aubrey Fredrickson

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  Sophie and the Flash Mob Santa

  Sophie stared in horror at her phone. Two million views. Two million people had seen it. Two million?

  “I’m so sorry, Soph!” her best friend, Abigail, said. “I swear I had no idea Charlie would upload it!”

  Swallowing her anger, Sophie gave her friend a tiny smile. “I know.”

  Turning back to her phone, she stared at the still picture of the crowded New York shopping mall. How bad could it be? There had been so many people, so much noise in the food court. The tiny microphone on Abigail’s phone probably hadn’t caught most of what she and Brad had said. She took a deep breath and tapped the picture. The video began to play.

  There she was, reindeer antlered headband and all, standing next to a guy in a Santa suit, minus the beard and little round belly. The picture was jumpy and slightly grainy, but even still Brad looked amazing. Way too slender and fit to be Jolly Old Saint Nick. She remembered how she had stumbled when Abigail pushed her towards him, how he had reached out to break her fall. For a moment, she could feel his arms around her again. She watched as the girl in the video—could that really be her?—looked up into the face of the tall, blue eyed Santa and gaped.

  There was no other word for it. Her jaw hung open soundlessly, her eyes bulging out of their sockets like a startled cartoon character. Watching it was almost worse than living it had been. Until this moment, she had hoped that she hadn’t looked quite as foolish as she had felt. Now that hope crashed like a wave on a rocky shore.

  “Are you okay?” Brad was saying on the video, loud and clear. Oh, yes…He had been mic’ed for his part in the flash mob. He had started it all, climbing up on a table in the middle of the food court, dressed in his Santa suit. Then he had started singing “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” and his voice had boomed out over the sound system. Apparently, the whole thing had been set up ahead of time with the mall.

  Sophie had forgotten about the microphone. Perhaps she had blocked it out in an act of desperate self-preservation.

  Still…Maybe her half of the conversation wouldn’t be audible.

  “Um…Yeah…I’m …I’m okay…”

  One more hope dashed upon the rocky shore of reality. His microphone had picked up her voice as well, amplifying it loud and clear over the roar of the crowded food court. Although, the background noise was starting to subside as she watched. Everyone had quieted down to watch the show. One more thing she hadn’t noticed at the time. She had been so consumed by her embarrassment that she hadn’t had a clue what was going on around them.

  On the phone screen, her other self suddenly seemed to realize that she was still encircled in the arms of Buff Santa, as she had thought of him before she knew his name. Flushing, she straightened up and pulled herself free.

  “Thanks…” she mumbled.

  Brad winked at her and said, “No problem. Vixen, right? Doner and Blitzen were wondering where you’ve been.”

  The crowd had roared with laughter. Sophie felt again the heat of the blood rising in her cheeks. “Oh…right…” she had stuttered, reaching up to adjust her headband. The antlers had been Abigail’s idea.

  After a long pause, in which she had “um’ed and ah’ed” a few times, Brad had winked again and said, “Well, I’d better get back to my sleigh.”

  The video jumped erratically for a few moments because Abigail had stepped forward and prodded Sophie in the back.

  “Wait!” her voice, not only too loud but also strangely high pitched, said through the speaker on her phone. “I…I need to ask you something.”

  Brad turned back, waiting with an inviting smile.

  The small antlered figure on the screen glanced back over her shoulder at the camera, a pleading look in her eyes. She remembered Abigail shaking her head, refusing to let her out of the dare, and gesturing for her to get on with it.

  Sophie made herself watch as she faced Brad again and got down on one knee. Reaching into her pocket, she produced a bright red ring pop and held it out to him. The crowd laughed. Brad had been so…unruffled by the whole thing. His eyebrows had risen briefly—the only time he had shown any hint of surprise—and then his whole face had broken into the widest grin she had ever seen.

  “Will you…um…marry me?” she squeaked.

  There was a dramatic pause. Brad glanced around at the crowd. Watching it now, Sophie realized that he had enjoyed this moment, drinking in the crowd’s anticipation, keeping them in suspense.

  “Jerk,” Sophie muttered under her breath as on the video, a few people began to shout out advice.

  “Say yes!”

  “Say no!”

  “Hold out for a real diamond!”

  She remembered how it had felt, kneeling there on the cold tiled floor, center stage in the middle of a play for which she had no script.

  But Brad had seemed to know exactly how things should go.

  “I thought you’d never ask, Vixy,” he had boomed out to the crowd’s delight. Then he had bent down, gathered her tenderly into his arms and lifted her to her feet.

  For a moment, as he gazed deeply into her eyes, she had forgotten her embarrassment, had forgotten that this man was a complete stranger, had forgotten even that they stood in the middle of a crowded shopping mall. Her heart, which had been racing since the moment Abigail had told her what she had to do, slowed and then skipped a beat. Everything fell away except the warmth of his arms around her, the slightly minty scent of his breath, and the soul penetrating look in his clear blue eyes.

  He leaned closer and brushed his lips ever so lightly against hers.

  She had had first kisses before, but never one like this. Never one that sent sparks down her spine and stole her breath away.

  Sophie watched as the kiss ended and Brad smiled down at the girl in the reindeer antlers. Then he leaned in and whispered something in her ear. To the cheering crowd, and doubtless to the two million people who had watched the video on YouTube, it looked like he was whispering something sweet and tender to his new fiancée.

  But she remembered how his breath had tickled her ear as he said, too softly for the microphone to pick up, “I’m going to pick you up and carry you out of here. They’ll love it. Just keep smiling.”

  That’s when reality had slammed into her, shattering the beautiful dream that had been born when their lips touched. She was such an idiot! He didn’t like her. He didn’t even know her! He was just playing along for the benefit of the crowd. He hadn’t fallen madly in love with her. Had she really thought that, even for a moment? Like a real actor, he was in love with the spotlight.

  Her chest felt strangely tight as she watched Brad scoop her up and carry her away through the cheering crowd. The video ended.

  She stared down at the phone screen, her eyes caught by the title that Charlie, Sophie’s boyfriend, had given the video.

  Reindeer Girl Proposes to Flash Mob Santa.

  By the next day, the count had jumped up to almost 5 million. As Sophie walked into the local TV station where she worked, she prayed that none of her co-workers were among those 5 million.

  “Sophie! You’re famous!” squealed Jane, the front desk receptionist, before the door had even swung closed behind her. “I saw the video on Facebook! It’s a hoot!
”

  Sophie tried to smile. “Thanks,” she said because she couldn’t think of any other response.

  “Bob wants to see you,” Jane confided with a beaming smile. “Everyone’s so excited for you! I can’t wait to meet your fiancé!”

  Sophie stared at her. It hadn’t occurred to her until that moment that anyone might think the proposal had been anything but a joke. Did Jane really think she had gotten down on one knee in the middle of a shopping mall and proposed to her boyfriend with a ring pop? But Brad had been such a great actor, playing along the whole time. He had even kissed her. The memory of that kiss tickled her spine, but she quickly shoved it out of her mind as she thanked Jane and headed to Bob’s office.

  As she walked through the station, people kept congratulating her and telling her what a cute couple they made. She couldn’t bring herself to tell them it was all a misunderstanding—that the whole thing had been a joke. All she could do was plaster on a tightlipped smile and keep walking.

  The walk to Bob’s office had never felt so long, but finally she was there. She paused, her hand on the door, and stared at the name plaque. Robert Graham, Station Manager. He was going to congratulate her, probably even invite her and her new “fiancé” to dinner at his house. And she was going to have to explain, tell him the whole ridiculous story.

  “Oh, Sophie, I’m so excited for you! And what a great story to tell the kids