Just one week from Christmas, Sam Thornton and her twin brother are inconvenienced with the news of new neighbors who, unfortunately, have been befriended by their overly social parents.
So when they are forced to hang out with the Baker's son for...
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"He is literally so stupid." I mumble as I take a bite of crushed pineapple.
Winter and I lay on our stomach atop of a thick bed of blankets while my laptop lies open in front of us. Home Alone playing quietly on the screen as to not wake my brother.
"Yeah if they actually thought this through, they could have easily made it into the house. They don't even pay attention and they just assume that since he's a kid he'll just let them waltz into his house." He scoffs, gesturing to the screen as one of the burglars slip on the icy stairs.
"Well it is also kind of unrealistic that he held them off." I say skeptically, looking at his side profile while his eyes remain glued to the screen.
"Yeah I guess you're right. But that's what makes the movie so iconic. This kid is a legend." Winter chuckles.
My eyebrows pull together. "Didn't the actor become a drug addict or something?" I ask.
He looks over at me with a questioning smile. "What? Really? That would be really sad."
"I know. That's just what I heard though so it could easily be false." My lips pull into a frown as I imagine the cute little boy on the screen growing into a man with a substance abuse problem. "You know what, now that I think about it, I'm just sad. Want to watch something else?" I laugh.
Winter releases a quiet laugh, his eyes sliding away from the laptop to give me a curious look. "Are you serious? We're halfway in." He says as if I'm crazy.
I press my lips together, my fingers twirling around each other. "If you don't want to, that's okay."
There's a pause, his eyes studying me with a hint of amusement and wonderment at my odd behavior but he shrugs nonetheless. "No, it's okay. I can respect your strange empathy for this kid." He gives me a teasing smile before exiting out of the movie. "What other movies do you have downloaded?"
I bite my lower lip, thinking on this. "I only have my favorites downloaded because, usually, I have WiFi."
"Okay well...let's hear our options." Winter groans as he pushes himself into a sitting position, looking at me intently.
"I just have a lot of movies you probably don't want to watch. So I'll list the Christmas movies I have." I tell him nervously, not really wanting to tell him that I have like fifteen romance movies on there not to mention the Hallmark films.
"No I want to hear about your favorite movies." Winter gives me a cheeky grin, his eyes twinkling with understanding as he leans back and rests on his hands. Clearly catching onto my hesitancy.
"No it's fine you don't want to hear about those. What about The Nightmare Before Christmas?" I try revert the conversation to the Christmas options rather than expose myself as a Hallmark lover.
"I think you're hiding something." He laughs, leaning foward and intertwining his fingers.
"What?" I reply, blowing a raspberry with my lips. "No. I just want you to choose a movie."
"Then tell me all the options." Winter demands, the light from the candles on the coffee table illuminating half of his face.
"Fine. It's nothing - I just like Hallmark movies is all." I tell him casually hoping that if I act like it's not a weird thing then it won't be a weird thing.
He blinks at me, nodding slowly. "Okay. I can roll with that." He presses his lips together as if holding back a laugh.
I sigh, rolling my eyes. "Go ahead and laugh all you want. But Hallmark provides clean and fun entertainment and I happen to love it."
"Okay okay. What's the best one you have?" He asks me, looking at me with that amused grin of his. I pause for a moment.
"What?" I ask, bewildered.
"Well, if you like them then maybe I'm missing out. Might as well give them a chance. They might not be as gay as everyone says they are." He shrugs, running his long fingers through his dark hair absentmindedly.
"Are you sure? You're going to cringe." I warn him with a laugh.
"Whatever. I cringe at myself all the time, this can't be much worse." He says with a small smile. "Plus, I'm trying to earn my spot as a real friend and not just a neighbor." He jokes with a pointed look.
I sigh. "I was just being awkward. Of course we're friends."
"I know I'm just joking." He chuckles, reaching forward and ruffling my loose ponytail causing it to fall apart even more.
I wordlessly glare at him while I pull my hair from it's confinement, shaking the roots a little and hoping silently that I don't have an awful ponytail bump.
"So what's the verdict, boss?" He asks with a relaxed sigh, shifting so he can lay on his back comfortably.
"I suppose I could deal with torturing you for an hour and a half with cringey characters and dialogue." I give him a half smile, pulling my laptop onto my lap and scrolling through my movies.
The screen lights up my face, my eyes squinting slightly from the light. Even though we have the generator, we decided to stick with candles for tonight considering we don't know exactly how long we'll be stuck in here and we all agreed that the heater and phone chargers are more important than a fully lit room.
I scroll more slowly when I get the odd feeling of eyes on me, my eyebrows furrowing before gliding up over the top of my computer. Winter's eyes are set on me calmly, a ghost of a smile inhabiting his features.
"What's wrong?" I release a nervous laugh.
I watch wordlessly as his deep green eyes wonder over my face and hair while I sit there uncomfortably. Not in the way that I don't like the attention but in the way that all of my insecurities, like the zit on the forehead and the fact that I'm wearing zero makeup, are on display and someone is looking at them. Someone who is strangely attractive. Which doesn't help.
"Nothing." He shrugs as he lays on his side, his arm holding him up as he looks up at me. "Your hair looks pretty down."
The words flow from his mouth effortlessly as if they've been rehearsed over and over in his head in order to not make one mistake in executing them. His eyes look into mine boldly and I'm slightly more stunned by the confidence in his words rather than the compliment itself.
"Thank you." Is all I say, my tone light and cautious due to my intentions of not misreading the situation. Friends compliment each other all the time. We just met and I don't want to ruin the beginning of a potential friendship by making assumptions.
"Sure thing, Sam." Winter says with an assured smile.
My heart warms as my mind puts together the several times he's spoken those words tonight and I can't help but wonder if it's on purpose. That maybe he's creating a singular phrase and memory that will always bring my mind back to him.
"Now...about that Hallmark movie." I snicker, clicking on the cheesiest and cringiest one I can find.
"Oh no. What have I gotten myself into." He laughs as I lay on my back next to him, placing the laptop on my stomach. My finger clicks the play button.
