28

976 43 44
                                    

  thank you for 13k bitches !!!!!! i still can't believe this book is almost over💔 and sorry for my mistakes on the chapters.

•••

The next day, Lucas and I decided to go shopping for Christmas items. Christmas shopping, as I would put it. This time, our friends would be coming with us. Meaning, I would finally get to go shopping with my bestfriend, Sofia, and her twin and also Zac and Becky. As for Dexter...he wasn't in contact. I wondered if I was the only one worrying about him and Aspen. He would show up at school and hang out with us at lunch, but that's about it.

"Deck the bows of halls and holy, fa‐la‐la‐la‐la, la‐la‐la‐la!" Zac sang across the living room, throwing his mitten to Lucas. His singing was terrible, not to mention off‐key and wrong.

"It's 'deck the halls of boughs and holy', smartass," Lucas said, throwing the mitten back toZac. "And try not to "deck" the halls with your gloves, please."

"He could use some lessons, couldn't he?" Becky said slyly, smirking at Zac as he groaned. Sofia giggled and bounced on her feet. Usually this meant she had some sort of idea she couldn't wait toshare.

"Maya, can you play Deck the Halls on the piano??" she asked eagerly. I widened my eyes, immediately refusing. "Please? For me, and all of us will sing along." I gave her a look. "Everyone except Zac." Everyone burst out laughing as he scowled to himself.

"Come on. I'm pretty sure we can get into a holiday mood before we're off to shop," Cyrus said, trying to convince me. After a long time of pestering me, I sighed loudly and walked to the piano seat.

"I have to do this all because of you." I glared at Zac and he grinned.

"It's my job, sweetheart," he said. Lucas gave him a dirty look and he erupted with laughter. "The look on your face is priceless, hot sacks. I was just complimenting her that she has a sweetheart. Get it?"

"We're waiting for you to play," Lucas told me, clearly ignoring his obnoxious friend.

I sighed again and placed my fingers on the delicate keys of the grand piano. The room was bright with morning light, and faint notes of the song Deck the Halls fluttered in front of my eyes. I remembered learning this song from my dad when I was nine years old. He would sing along with me and I enjoyed it.

But I had no one else to show it to other than my parents. Now, I have a room full of friends who were waiting for me to play the Christmas song. I started with the intro to signal everyone that the song was starting. I started the first line, 'deck the halls with boughs of holly, fa‐la‐la‐la‐la, la‐la‐la‐la' and everyone followed.

Sofia, Cyrus, Becky, and Lucas sang the verses perfectly, as Zac managed to say the 'fa la la lala' part. Through the middle of the song, Zac and Becky were partner dancing crazily around the room singing 'Strike the harp and join the chorus'. I burst out laughing looking at them and Becky chuckled.

Lucas, still singing, came up behind me and wrapped his arms around my neck, looking at my fingers playing the notes past my shoulder. Sofia and Cyrus came up beside either side of the piano as I did the last finishing verse and ended the song with a loud pair of chords.

"That was amazing!" Sofia said clapping her hands excitedly.

"Yeah, wasn't I the best?" Zac said, and cleared his throat. "Deck the bows of‐"

"The end," Becky interrupted, rolling her eyes. She glanced over and a smug smile played on her lips. "Before the new couple resist to come out of the house, we better hurry up."

"And shop 'till we drop," Sofia added smiling.

I shook Lucas' arms off of me, embarrassed and heat filling up my face. We just figured this out yesterday and I really wanted to take those small baby‐steps. Every single time he even touched me‐ like this morning when we reached for the cereal box at the same time ‐ I felt like I needed to run away. It gave me that familiar compacted and compressed feeling as my chest tightened out ofair.

Babysitter ✔Where stories live. Discover now