Page 144 of Crash & Burn

We spent the entire night wrapped up in each other after getting back to our place late last night, but I will never get sick of her.

“Can you grab the bag of presents?” She asks as she puts on her shoes. “And the wine?”

“Done and done,” I say as I grab my keys and step into my shoes.

I’m sure I look ridiculous with my sneakers and my pajamas, but when Annie says that Christmas Day is for pajamas, you don’t argue.

Mia and I have matching pajama sets, white withChristmas trees dotting the long-sleeve shirt and pants like polka dots, and with the presents and wine in hand, we are ready to go.

“Perfect. We’ll call your mom and sisters on the way over to wish them a Merry Christmas. Did they make it to your aunt’s okay?”

“Yep, all good.”

“Good. Daisy?” Mia calls. Our dog, now full-grown still as calm, cool, and collected, as ever slowly saunters over and sits at her feet, wagging her tail as Mia gets her into her white sweater with a big Christmas tree on the back that matches the little ones on ours.

“You ready to see your sister, Dais?” Mia asks in her puppy voice as she hooks Daisy to her leash.

Daisy barks once, her tail wagging a little more. Her energy comes out more with any mention of Rosie.

“Okay, let’s go.”

“Wait,” I say, as she opens the door to our apartment.

“What?”

I lean in and kiss her hard because I learned it helps her slow down her mind when it’s moving too fast.

“Okay, now I’m ready,” I say, giving her a wink as I grab her hand and lead her out the door.

Mia

“You’re just jealous, Emmett,” Luke bellows. “You wish you were in a reindeer onesie, not just boring plaid pajamas.”

“I didn’t even say anything,” Emmett deadpans.

We are sitting in Drew and Emmett’s newly decorated living room. There is a big sectional that takes up most of the room. The TV has one of those videos of a fireplace on a loop, and Christmas music is filling the space not filled by the conversations. There is a Christmas tree in the corner, decorated with black and silver ornaments, a present for each of us under the tree.

The six of us did a Secret Santa this year, but Annie said presents had to wait until after the brunch Emmett made and after her signature hot chocolate. And what Annie says goes.

Luke is on one side of the couch, picking a fight with Emmett who is sitting on the floor with Drew in his lap, both in black and white plaid pajama sets.

“Luke, don’t make fun of the plaid pajamas, or Emmett won’t let you have the extra waffles when you get hungry later,” Drew says, and I see a twitch of Emmett’s lips.

Eddie and I are sitting on the couch, my back leaning against his front as we just let Luke go off about how the reindeer onesie he has on and Annie’s snowman onesie are the best pajamas out of all six of us.

Rosie and Daisy got all their energy out when they first saw each other, running around in Drew and Emmett’s backyard. Luke put Rosie in reindeer antlers that stayed on her for about three minutes, but my girl Daisy is still rocking her Christmas tree sweater.

Annie comes in from the kitchen, a tray of hot chocolate with RumChata in her hand, handing one to each of us before adding her two cents to the conversation. “The onesie is much better than the Britany Spears costume he wore for Halloween this year.”

“Hey!” Luke exclaims as we all laugh about the memory of the Halloween party Eddie and I hosted a few months ago when Cross My Heart had the weekend off from shows. Luke showed up with pink pom poms in his hair and a schoolgirl outfit, and he kept queuing “…Baby One More Time” to the point I think we listened to it fifteen times. “It was better than Emmett’s usual black attire with the addition of the Jason Halloween mask. Boring!”

“It wasn’t a competition,” I say in between laughter, as Emmett looks at Luke like he is a bug about to be squashed. The memory of how the two of them looked next to each other in our kitchen will forever be burned into my brain.

“You’re just saying that because youwon. Just wait until next year,” Luke says to me. “I’m already thinking about how I’m going to top it. You and Eddie may be reigning champs with your Rocky and Apollo costumes, but I will win next year.”

“Relax, Rudolph,” Annie says as she sits next to him on the couch with her mug of hot chocolate. “Are we ready for presents?” She asks the rest of us.

“Let’s do it,” Eddie says from behind me, excited to give Emmett his gift. We picked names out of a hat when we celebrated Thanksgiving at Annie’s apartment, and Eddie has been planning Emmett’s present since we went home that night. Emmett is a big fan of the headliner for the Heartbreakers Tour, so Eddie got him some merch and had the band sign a record for him to give to Emmett.

---