Writing Lanie - Forbidden Heart Series Book 2

9| The Barbie

"A little more to the left!" I yelled to Nate. We've been putting lights up outside of the house for the past two hours, and Nate was bickering back and forth with me about the icicles.

"L, why can't we use regular lights for this? The icicles seem so...fake. It's like the Krab Ragoon you order from a Chinese restaurant. They're imitation icicles."

Ayden covered his laugh with a cough as he held the ladder for Nate. I made the mistake of looking over at him. He was wearing his usual basketball shorts and Under Armour shirt. The added bonus of the backwards baseball cap he was wearing was almost too much for me to handle.

I rolled my eyes at the both of them. "Nate, we're using the icicles. End of story. Now, move them over to the left!"

I used my hand to shield my eyes from the sun to get a better look. I wanted to start on these before it got too dark outside. It always got darker a little earlier this time of year. Now, here we were. The three of us putting up Christmas lights.

My brother has been a royal pain in the ass. It brought back memories from the many times we did this with our parents. There would always be arguments over which lights went where, who drank the last of the eggnog, and the famous 'Christmas will be cancelled if you don't behave' from our father.

It was a Jenkins' family tradition now that I thought about it. Every Christmas since we were little, there would be sibling rivalry. Over presents, lights, which desert we wanted...until the actual day. Come Christmas day, we always put that crap behind us and had family time. Our grandparent's died when we were kids and we didn't have any extended family. No aunts, no uncles, no cousins. It was the main reason why we didn't celebrate Christmas after our parents died. Spending the holiday with just the two of us seemed extremely depressing. I didn't think either of us could handle it.

Nate groaned as he shifted the lights over. "Nag, nag, nag. I swear, L, you're the worst. How's this?"

"Better. And I don't nag. If you did it right the first time, I wouldn't have to 'nag' you. Besides, this was all your idea. You wanted to have a holiday."

Nate climbed down the ladder and went over to grab another strand of lights that were strewn out on the driveway. "Yes, it was my idea and we're doing it."

I crossed my arms over my chest and let out an irritated sigh. "But why?"

"Why, why, why?" Nate mocked before looking over to Ayden, who was watching us with an amused smile. "Sawyer, let me apologize again for the annoyance of my little sister."

Ayden looked over at me and I shifted back and forth on my feet. I didn't miss the way he raked his eyes over my body. "No need to apologize, Nate. If I'm being honest, I would have to say it's entertaining to see someone pulling your chain."

"Thank you!" I said.

"What the hell?" Nate barked at the same time. "Ayden, you're supposed to be on my side."

Ayden arched a brow and laughed. "Nate, I have a feeling it's better to stay off your sister's bad side."

"Ha!" I looked back at Nate with a satisfied smile. "I see who the smart one is in this friendship."

"Oh, really?" Nate cleared his throat before coming to stand next to me a throw an arm over my shoulders. "Ayden, have I ever told you about the time Lanie was caught in the gym with--"

"Hey, guys!"

Oh, thank God. "Harper. Jackson. It's good to see you." Especially now, before Nate completely embarrassed me with that terrible story.

Harper and Jackson got out of their car and headed up our long drive way. Nate and I started walking towards them and Harper pulled me into a hug. We pulled apart and I looked at Jackson who was greeting me with a wide smile.