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Wednesday, December 21st
"Esme! Come out!" Brooklyn yelled from outside my bedroom door. She hasn't seen Ethan and I's sweaters yet, and I wanted the reveal to be big.
"Hang on!" I yelled back while putting on the reindeer ears. I looked down at the sweater and searched for the battery box. I found it and switched the lights on and like that, the multi-colored lights on the sweater lit up. I quickly turned it off. "Okay, I'm ready!" I unlocked the door and slowly opened it while smiling.
Brooklyn gasped, "oh my God!" I held up my finger and turned the lights on, her eyes just about popped out of their sockets. "Esme!!! That's so cute!!"
I looked at her own outfit and she wore a sweater with a christmas tree with little bells as ornaments on it. "Yours is cute too! You and Mark have matching ones right?"
She nodded, "yeah! Rutger really only made the couple rule because Ethan suggested it." My eyes narrowed as my eyebrows drew together. Ethan suggested for couples to wear matching sweaters? Why would he do that? "Oh, Mark's here," Brooklyn said after checking her phone. "He said you're sitting in the back with Ethan."
Of course. Brooklyn and I made our way out to Mark's car and I hopped in the back like he told me to. Mark looked back at Ethan and I while smiling, "You guys look adorable."
I looked over at Ethan and smiled a bit, "We do." I saw that he wasn't wearing his reindeer ears, they were still in his hand. "Why aren't you wearing your ears?"
He looked down at the ears in his hand. "They're too tight. They're little girls's reindeer ears," he chuckled.
"Are you still gonna wear them?" I asked.
"Oh, yeah! I'll just wait til we get there." He smiled. I smiled back. Both Ethan and I turned to Mark and Brooklyn who watched us the entire time with sneaky smiles on their faces. "What?" Ethan asked.
Brooklyn shook her head, "nothing. Let's get going." Mark backed out of the parking lot and drove us to the party.
🏒🥅
Ethan put his reindeer ears on while we were outside of the poorly decorated house. Ethan and I holding hands felt natural now, so we entered the house with intertwined fingers. As soon as we stepped foot in the door, Mark and Ethan were bombarded by their hockey friends left and right.
Ethan held me close as he spoke to the other guys. One of them looked at me and smirked, "Oh, shit! There she is, Hughskey! Ethan's girlfriend." He sang while looking over at the guy next to him. "I'm Johnny," the guy introduced himself. "This is Hughskey." He gestured to the guy next to him.
"Luke," he rolled his eyes. "Just call me Luke." He wore a Santa hat and a matching red sweater while Johnny wore a green sweater and elf ears.
"Esme," I smiled back. The two guys were tall compared to Ethan, they were clearly over 6'0.
"Oh we know," Johnny laughed. "We've heard a lot about you."
"Oh," I looked over at Ethan with an amused grin. "Like what?"
"I think it's time we get going!" Ethan cut in and nervously smiled, "Let's go meet Rutger."
"Have fun, love birds!" Johnny cooed as we both walked away. That's weird, I thought as we got further away from them. They seemed nice, but they were also really loud and probably really drunk.
Ethan cupped his hands around his mouth and yelled, "McGroarty!"
A brunette guy's head perked in the direction Ethan and I were in as a smile grew on his face. "Ethan!" He pushed through the small crowd around him and hugged him. "What's up, man?" His attention turned to me as a smile grew on his face. "Yo, is this Esme?" He asked while pointing at me.
"Yeah, hi!" I responded back.
"Hey, I'm Rutger," he said. The host of the party was also fairly tall. "You guys want any drinks? We have beer, seltzer, water, and soda."
"I'll take a Coke." Ethan smiled.
"I'll have a seltzer, it doesn't matter what flavor." I smiled as well. Rutger snapped his fingers and rushed off to the kitchen. I looked up at Ethan and rested my hands on my hips. "He's a good host."
"Only the best," he looked down at me and smiled back.
I smirked, "Is that why he took up your offer for the couples to wear matching sweaters?"
His cheeks turned bright red as his eyebrows raised. "Who, uh," he stuttered. "Who told you that?"
I giggled, "Brooklyn." He stared at me a puzzled expression. "Mark told her."
"Oh," he looked down.
Rutger came back shortly with drinks while smiling. "Here you two go," he said as he handed the drinks to us. "So, what made you want to date this sly devil?" He asked while wrapping his arm around him.
I looked at Ethan before quickly looking back at Rutger with a nervous smile on my face. The first real test. Get approval from his friends. "Well at a party when I accidentally ran into him and spilled his drink all over himself, I looked into his beautiful brown eyes and instantly fell in love."
Ethan's head perked up, clearly caught off guard by what I had said. "That's so sweet, I didn't know if he would ever find love." He ruffled Ethan's hair while laughing. "Have you met the rest of the team yet?"
"Only Luke and Johnny. I already know Mark because he's dating my best friend," I said.
"You're best friends with Brooklyn?" He asked.
"Yeah, I live with her too. It's a nightmare with her and Mark at night," I laughed. He laughed at my joke as well, Ethan chuckling a bit.
"Well, I'm gonna go find the rest of the team. Catch ya later," he smirked while letting go of Ethan. "By the way, I love the matching sweaters. Great idea, Ethan." He winked at him before walking away.
I looked over at Ethan with a wide grin on my face. "Shut up," he shook his head. He immediately opened his drink and began chugging his Coke.
🏒🥅
Brooklyn and I danced on the floor because Mark and Ethan went to find their hockey buddies. I could hear Her Way by PARTYNEXTDOOR playing on the speakers. I decided to get a beer when I finished my 2nd seltzer and I was already halfway done.
Brooklyn spun me around and let go of me, causing me to laugh. I looked over and saw Ethan in the distance. I raised my hand to wave at him, but when the person in front of me moved over, I saw him talking to the brunette girl from the hockey game who said he liked her. They laughed together, she even placed her hand on his arm.
I must've been standing there for a while because Ethan turned his attention over to me and smiled wide. "Esme!" He left her in the dust and wrapped his arm around me. He led me back to her and gestured to her, "This is Michelle, she went to high school with me."
She looked at me, her look becoming more sinister. "So, you're the one who wore Ethan's jersey. Are you actually dating him or are you just crushing on him?"
"Uh, yeah." I looked up at Ethan while smiling. "I'm dating him." Ethan nodded his head.
"Oh," she eyed me up and down. "Well, Ethan never told me that."
"Yeah," I nodded my head with my eyes narrowed. "I think it made it pretty clear when he blew a kiss at me."
She just grunted and looked up at Ethan, "I'll see you around." She walked away while still eyeing him.
I glared at her as she walked away, then looked at Ethan. "You could've fake dated her."
"I don't want to fake date her," he began. "She's annoying and I like you, not her." He let go of me and defended himself.
I shook my head, "it sure seems like you like her." I turned away and began pushing through the crowd.
"Esme!" he yelled. "Esme, stop!" He grabbed my arm and swiveled me around before I could get through the kitchen door. "I promise, I would rather be in a fake relationship with you."
"Uh oh," Johnny yelled. "Looks like someone found themselves under the mistletoe! You know what that means?" His yelling was able to grab the attention from everyone around us.
"I'm not doing this," I frowned, turning away again. Before I could walk away, Ethan grabbed a hold of my wrist and spun me around. He grabbed a hold of my face and pulled me into a kiss. My eyes widened before they fluttered shut.
It was only for a second, but it felt like the kiss was longer. When we pulled away, my eyes slowly opened while staring in his eyes. "Did you just... kiss me?" I asked.
Ethan's eyes widened like he didn't think he'd do it either. "Uh, yeah. I did," a smile grew on his face. "You wanna do it again?"
I rolled my eyes, "rule 2." I walked away from him before his hockey buddies made us the center of attention again. But, I wanted to say yes.
I looked back at him while walking away. Him and I held eye contact while the group around him yelled. He smirked and winked at me, I felt my heart flutter and my face redden.
Shit, I thought. "Rule 1," I muttered to myself. I broke Rule mother fucking 1.