A Little Bit Longer (Austin Mahone Love Story)

Chapter 12 - December 23

Song Of The Chapter

Cameras by Matt and Kim

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Savannah's POV

"Wake up!" A voice interrupted my sleep. I slowly opened my eyes to see Alex.

"Let me sleep." I shut my eyes again.

"Someone's lazy." He sighed.

"What do you want..." I groaned, rolling onto my back so I was facing the ceiling.

"Don't you remember? December 23?" I could hear him sitting in my computer chair.

"Is that today?" My eyes shot open in excitement.

"Uh huh." He nodded.

"Yay!" I pulled the blankets off and jumped up.

You may be wondering why I'm so excited about December 23. Yeah, it's nearing Christmas, but that's not what made me so excited. Since Alex and I were 4, we had sort of a routine on this day.

First thing in the morning, we would set up a Christmas tree. I know, usually people set them up a lot earlier but oh well. Then, we would bake cookies. Sometimes we also baked brownies or even a cake if we had enough time. Every year our family would host a party and our friends and relatives would come over and celebrate from 5:30 to midnight. That meant my mom would make Alex and I clean up the whole house and decorate everything to give us the Christmas spirit. Afterwards, my mom would make us walk to the post office that was two miles away and send out cards to our relatives and friends. Yeah, it was a long walk, but at least I wasn't alone.

That would take us about six hours. It was 8:00 right now so we'd be done by 2:00 hopefully.

I didn't bother to change out of my sweatpants and t-shirt because we'd be going out later so I could change then.

"Go get the tree." I laughed, motioning Alex into the garage because he was obviously stronger than I was.

"Weak." He commented, then went into the dark garage, flicking on the light and looking around for the box with the artificial tree in it.

After a few minutes, we finally got the tree into the spacey living room. We set it up pretty quickly and now all we had to do was put the ornaments on. I went over to a cabinet on the other side of the room and found a box labeled 'ornaments'. I brought it over and set it on the glass table, taking a few out and hanging them up as Alex did the same.

Hanging these up always made me think of when we did the exact same thing for so many years. From when we could barely reach halfway up the tree and we'd have to either stand on each other's shoulders or use a chair, to now, when it wasn't a problem.

When all the ornaments had been hung up and the lights had been plugged in, it was now time for baking. My favorite part.

"Morning." My mom beamed as she walked into the kitchen.

"Hi mom." Alex and I said in unison.

"The tree looks great by the way." She smiled as she went to make herself some tea.

"Thanks." I said as I went to the refrigerator to get our ingredients. All we needed were eggs, water, and vegetable oil. We decided we were going to make brownies this time but we weren't going to bake from scratch because trust me, we will burn the house down.

I took out the ingredients as Alex brought out a bowl and the mixer. I put the eggs, water, oil, and brownie powder into the bowl without a problem. Now it was Alex's turn to mix and put it in the pan.

When all of that was done, I set it in the oven and all we had to do now was wait. And wait. And wait.

"Why don't you guys go clean up the house while you're waiting. It'll save some time." My mom suggested.

I looked to Alex for approval and he just shrugged his shoulders, nodding.

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I grabbed a towel and window spray and began cleaning the windows and the patio door while Alex dusted off the shelves and cleaned off the tables. It didn't take long, considering that this house was usually very clean.

Then we both had to clean out the fireplace which was in the sitting room in the front of the house. My dad just liked to light the fireplace for old time sake. We also had a small sitting area on the patio where there was a small fire chamber-like table in the middle so you could roast marshmallows or stuff like that. We would often light that for the younger kids which basically meant all of Shane's friends and our younger cousins.

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We had cleaned out all of the fireplaces, dusted off the tables and shelves, rearranged the pillows on the couch, and shined the windows.

"You guys are such great workers. Can you go send these cards out?" My mother handed me and Alex each a few envelopes like she always does every December 23, saying those exact words every time. We both nodded and headed out the door.

By now, I had already changed from my pajamas into black leggings, a white North Face jacket, a black beanie, and ankle boots. It was freezing outside so I stuffed my hands in my pockets to preserve the warmth.

"Remember that time you fell and scraped your knee and I had to carry all the way back to your house on my back." Alex chuckled.

"Oh yeah, and remember that time a car drove by and splashed us with water." I added.

"How could I not? I gave you my jacket and I was freezing the whole time." He stepped in a few puddles of water.

"Those were the days..." I looked up at the sky which was cloudly but still light.

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Wowowowowow

haha, yeah.

Congratulations to Austin for winning Best Push and Artist on the Rise!

vote!

-Lena