Page 26 of A DIY Christmas Miracle
Of course not. I wasn’t good at this whole banter thing, especially not if people were staring at me.
“There you have it,” Cassy intervened. I barely stifled my sigh of relief. If Cassy took over the bickering, I could lean back. The two of them were talking so fast, exchanging verbal jabs so quickly, I was lucky if I could keep up with the conversation at all. “I’ve been telling you for years you’re a mean blanket thief!”
“Hey!” Josh laughed, raising his finger mock-threateningly. “You have no business sleeping in Eli’s bed.”
“Pah.” Jack slapped Josh’s shoulder. “I’m sorry I have to break this to you, but Eli has slept in my little sister’s bed so many times he probably has a bigger claim on that spot than you do.”
My eyes followed the verbal sparring, shifting from one person to the next, like watching a tennis game with more than two players.
“Okay, so apparently, I shouldn’t be rooming with Will but with Cassy.”
He shouldn’t. He definitely should share a room with me and not Cassy, even though she was his best friend and I… was not. Not his best friend, just a friend at best. The guy Jack had dragged along two years ago and who hadn’t left.
Maybe it really was weird for him to share a bed with me — even though he had no idea I’d been waking up snuggled up to him for the last two mornings. Oh god, how would he feel if he ever found out? He’d probably insist we take Marc’s room after…
“Don’t you agree, Will?” Hearing my name pulled me back to reality.
Looking at Juliet who’d spoken to me, I bit my lip. “Uhm… could you repeat that, please?” I asked, feeling a lump in my throat. I’d only been caught up in my thoughts for a couple of seconds and I’d still managed to miss something important.
“I said we should stop arguing because it’s Christmas. We should enjoy our time instead of wasting it arguing over stupid things.”
“You’re right,” Jack chimed in. “We can sing Christmas carols or… yes! Everyone can tell their most embarrassing Christmas story, like, the most embarrassing thing that ever happened to them on Christmas. No lying allowed!”
Inwardly, I sighed, but I didn’t let the sound escape. If anyone else caught me sighing now, they’d think I was remembering a certain event. And then they wouldn’t leave me be until I told them the story, even though there wasn’t one particular one on my mind.
No, it was best to just sit back, stare into the dancing flames in the fireplace, and pretend I wasn’t noticing what was happening around me. Don’t look at Jack. Avoid eye contact. Don’t look in his direction.
Whenever a student wanted to avoid being named by the teacher to answer a question, they avoided eye contact at all costs — this was no different. Or, it was, but just a little bit. I’d much prefer answering a science or knowledge-based question instead of telling a potentially unpleasant, private story.
“What do you think?”
Nobody said a thing. If I wasn’t busy watching the flickering flames, the way they were licking up a log as it slowly tilted to the side and finally fell over, sending a ton of sparks flying, I’d surely see the others trying not to look at Jack, as well.
“No one?”
No one answered.
“Effing spoilsports! What else do you want to do?”
“We could watch a ballet performance ofThe Nutcracker,” I suggested, but immediately wanted to take the words back. This suggestion was as ridiculous as it could be in this group.
“A ballet performance?” Eli furrowed his brows and started slowly shaking his head. “Nope. There’s only one true Nutcracker adaption worth seeing out there — the Barbie version.”
Barbie version?
“No!” Jack shouted, vigorously shaking his head and waving his finger at Eli and Cassy. “Not again.”
“Yes! Let’s watchBarbie in The Nutcracker. I’ve got the movie downloaded to my laptop.” There was a devious grin on Cassy’s lips as she winked at her brother and then bolted from the living room, racing up the stairs faster than I’d thought she’d be capable of after all the eggnog she’d already consumed.
“This is entirely your fault,” Jack hissed at me. “I hate those fucking Barbie movies. Do you have any idea what you’ve just done?”
“Uhm… I’m sorry?”
I clearly didn’t have the slightest clue.
Barbie movies?
Sophie just sighed and shook her head while Juliet rested her head on Linda’s shoulder.
