The Road to Christmas ✓

18 | Lost in the Lights

If I thought I couldn't smile wider, I was wrong. "That's...awesome."

"Yeah, he's a good guy. Keeps us in business down at the shop, too, because he's got no skills fixing cars." He turned to face me as we stood in the middle of the road. This wouldn't have been possible in the city. Cars would have ran us down without thinking twice. Here, there wasn't a car to be found, except for the ones that were parked to look at the lights.

"Thank you for this, Eli," I muttered as my eyes flickered down to his lips.

"You're welcome." He took a step closer and wrapped his arms around my back. "I'm glad I got to show you."

I stood on my tiptoes, so we were so close I could feel his breath against my cheek. His hand trailed up my arm and sat at the nape of my neck. The gesture sent shivers down my spine as the urge to kiss him doubled by the second. As our lips touched, I made my decision. This was it. I was meant to be right here, with Eli, for the rest of my life. I knew right then, I loved him.

As we parted, both out of breath, I muttered, "It's perfect." All of the thoughts in my mind that were swirling around came out as those two little words.

"Yeah," Eli sighed. "A perfect last night. With Christmas lights and stars and maybe later some hot chocolate." He smoothed my hair down with his hand and kissed the top of my head.

My stomach churned as my thoughts began to spiral. Deep down I knew that he didn't say anything wrong, but for some reason it just made my heart ache. The reminder that this was my last night here, my last night with Eli was not welcomed. It brought tears to my eyes as I let my mind run wild. The fear that I'd never see him again was too much to bear. As his words echoed in my head, I couldn't help but wonder if it was his way of saying that he didn't want me around anymore.

Maybe I was nothing but a burden to him and his family. Maybe he was just too kind to tell me. My hands fell from his waist and I turned back toward the lights, the colors all melting together.

I forced myself to smile. "Yeah... perfect."

"You okay?" he asked. When I didn't respond he added, "What's wrong?"

I shrugged it off, trying to ignore the awful feeling in the pit of my stomach. "It's nothing. Everything's fine, Eli." Though, I couldn't meet his gaze as I crossed my arms over my chest. The cool air was beginning to seep in through my jacket.

"Well, I can tell it's not nothing," he started. Curse his perception. He turned me around to look in my eyes. "Is it about finding your family? Are you afraid you won't find them or something? Lottie, I'm—"

"I said, everything's fine!" I repeated, more harshly than I wanted. I bit my lip, trying to hide my guilt.

"Okay. It's fine then," he said, turning toward another nearby house. "And this is the Baylors'. As you can see they have a ... unique opinion about Christmas decorations." He swept his hand across the yard and my eyes didn't know what to take in first, but I welcomed the distraction.

On the front lawn were an insane amount of blow up characters. Kids TV characters all with creepy smiles and santa hats. I could hear the hum of the fans from here. A chill ran down my spine and I wrapped my arms around myself, trying to keep warm.

"Can we go, please?" I muttered. The magic that I felt earlier was gone and now all I wanted to do was crawl into bed.

"How about we get some hot chocolate first to warm you up on the way home?" His eyes were searching my face, probably trying to figure out what I wouldn't let him see. But he didn't press me further. He simply waited for me to answer his question.