Pocket Full of Posies

Chapter Twenty-Four

Christmas morning passed by in a blur. I loved being with my family for Christmas; it was my favorite thing. We used to stay up all night trying crazy new ways to make ourselves tired. One year Liss and I had an all-out Avatar: the Last Airbender marathon starting from the very beginning. We didn't last past season two. Of course, as I got older, I could actually fall asleep. But I'd be lying if I said I slept like a baby.

This year, of course, was different. Since I was thirteen, I'd had Isaac with me for Christmas. Since I was a freaking child I'd had Joanna. Now this year my heart noticed their absences. The fact that I missed them royally pissed me off. They didn't deserve to be missed. They probably bought eachother a box of condoms for Christmas or some cheap, tacky lingerie.

I had been determined to not let them ruin even an ounce of my favorite holiday, but they wormed their way into my head anyway. Everyone kept giving me glances throughout the morning; specifically my aunt. They wanted to ask, you could tell, but they never did. I was glad for it, to be honest. It was bad enough they crept uninvited in my mind, but it would have been worse to verbalize it. Sometimes it was better to just keep it inside. There was no need to spoil everyone else's Christmas.

But there was one other thing that wouldn't leave my mind that morning. Spending the evening with the Three Musketeers. I was insanely excited about it, but also nervous. Gift giving was my favorite part about Christmas, but I had always been awkward about receiving. Even though I told Alice a million and twelve times to not get me anything, she shot me down a million and twenty times. I really hoped they just got me like a shirt or something like that. Hell, Evan would probably settle with a pen for me. Alice was sure to be obscene if not only to embarrass me. And then there was Landon. He could either give me a simple gift or a thoughtful one. I wasn't sure which I was more anxious about.

"You're distracted today," Aunt Nelly murmured to me at breakfast. She winked so I'd know she wasn't talking about a certain whore and her new victim.

I smiled a little, blushed a lot more. "Maybe a little."

"Any idea what you're doing tonight?"

I still hadn't the faintest idea. They were kind of annoying in their secret. I tried not to think about whatever it could be. That always ruined the best of surprises.

"Not a clue."

Aunt Nelly opened her mouth to respond, but what followed were not so much as words than a loud and ominous crash followed by the shouts of boy voices.

"I told you not to fly it that high!" Carson cried.

"You idiot, I had everything under control until you took the stupid controller from me!" Joey screamed back shrilly.

Ah, the absolute harmonic beauty of puberty: the pitch change. The boys would spontaneously start in midpitched voices and suddenly take a sharp turn upward. It was hilarious, although it hurt your ears quite a bit. I mean, I think it's pretty fair to mock boys for the puberty voice when girls get the monthly gift around the same age, right? Not exactly a fair tradeoff, but then I wasn't a boy. A shrill voice could be just as embarrassing as the first few sleepovers were for girls.

There was a collective sigh around the table. It was inevitable, really. The twins always managed some sort of mischief Christmas. It was really only a matter of when. They started a little earlier every year, I swore.

Aunt Nelly, rolling her eyes, threw her napkin gently on the table before pushing her chair back.

Uncle Harmon suddenly said, "Hon," in his deep I'm-Dad-and-I'm-here-to-take-care-of-business voice. Without saying a word, he pushed himself from the table and calmly went into the room of the two young gentlemen pushing their chests against one another's. He didn't even say anything. He just stood in the doorway with his arms crossed until they stopped. When they saw him, their heads snapped up and a look of dead fear crossed their faces. Shortly they realized he wasn't going to straight up murder them, and their faces went from fear to shame and a bit of annoyance.