"No, Lee, I'm not arguing with you anymore." I pinched the bridge of my nose and looked up at the ceiling for guidance. Or a sign. Anything at this point.
The life as the sibling of Lee Adams, ladies and gentlemen.
Lee twisted himself in the bean bag on his floor, crossing and then uncrossing his legs until he found a comfortable position. I raised my eyebrows at him but didn't comment. It's not like I could use his fidgeting to prove his dishonesty. He was a fidgeter. Regardless.
"I'm not arguing. I'm stating a fact. And for some unknown reason, you're trying to disprove it."
"That's what arguing is!"
"Actually, arguing is—"
"Lee!"
"Parker!"
Deep breaths. In through the nose, out through the mouth. "Look, I don't know why you've decided to unleash this argument–"
"Discussion," he interrupted.
"—debate," I corrected, "But I still have to pick up Emily, and you have to get dressed if we're going to meet Emmett on time," I finished, standing up from my leaning position against the frame of Lee's futon.
"What exactly are we doing again?" he asked, finally getting to his feet.
I refrained from rolling my eyes. "Like I've told you at least 12 times today, I have no idea. Emily said Emmett volunteered for some holiday fundraiser for his new frat, and I agreed to help."
"So you agreed to help him without knowing what you signed up for?" Lee managed to give me a disapproving look even as he hopped around the room trying to put both shoes on.
I waved a hand through the air in dismissal. "It's Emmett. Whatever it is, I'm sure it can't be that bad. He'd do whatever for me and my frat."
"Pretty sure that's like, what you're never supposed to say before going into something blind." He put his second shoe on. "That's like saying 'what's the worst that could happen?'" He turned in a circle, looking for his jacket. "You're a total jinx, man."
I narrowed my eyes at him. "Are you going to berate me for everything I do today?"
"Only the stupid stuff. So yeah, I guess."
"Speaking of stupid, your jacket is under the futon," I said, grabbing my lanyard off of his desk. "Meet me outside."
Lee bent down and grabbed his jacket, a look of surprise crossing his face before he stood up. "Yeah, yeah. Oh, and Parker?"
I raised my eyebrows at him in question, leaning halfway out the door.
"Santa is real!"
I slammed the door, not bothering to argue about this further with him.
~~~
"Okay, that's enough," Emily said, stopping in her tracks before opening the door to the backseat.
I paused with my hand on the key fob, raising my eyebrows at her. "What are you talking about?"
"What's got you so 'bah humbug?'"
Lee busted out laughing from the passenger side of the car before he put in his air pods. I shot him a glare from the outside, although it was pointless. "I'm not being all 'bah humbug,' I don't even know what that means," I grumbled.
Emily just stared at me. "You're not being serious."
I groaned. "Emily, is this really important? I'm freezing my ass off here."
Every Floridian's problem when it dropped below 70.
"First of all, A Christmas Carol is one of the best Christmas films of all times, and should not be disrespected."
I rolled my eyes.
"—And second," she continued, "we're about to go fundraise for the best holiday of the entire year and you have absolutely no cheer."
"You just said that because it rhymes."
"Parker Adams, you're ruining my cheer. What happened?" she asked, flicking her eyes over to Lee.
I nodded in silent confirmation, and Emily's mouth turned down in a frown. She walked around to Lee's side of the car and opened the door. Lee had his headphones in, purposely tuning out our conversation. His fingers were tapping in sync on the dashboard with the music, his eyes closed.
"Lee," Emily called once. He didn't react.
"Emily, just drop it—" I began.
She ignored me and pulled one of Lee's air pods out. He startled, turning around to face us with wide eyes. "What the hell was that for?"
"Hey, watch the attitude," I warned him. "Emily, leave it alone, we're going to be late."
"No, fuck you," he snapped at me, ignoring my warning or simply trying to piss me off.
"I swear to God, if you start with me one more time today—"
"Boys!" Emily yelled. Lee and I's head snapped over to her in unison.
She sucked in a breath. "If one of you doesn't tell me what happened and work out whatever it is that's going on, you're going to ruin this for Emmett. You both agreed to this and you can't volunteer for a Christmas fundraiser without any Christmas spirit at all. So, what happened?"
We both stared at her, and then Lee smirked.
"Asshole," I muttered, knowing what he was about to say.
"Parker doesn't believe that Santa's real."
I expected Emily to be confused, maybe look at Lee with fond amusement and agree with me.
She put a hand up to her mouth and looked at me with mock-horror. "Tell me you're lying."
"What the fuck is going on?" I groaned.
"Right! That's how I reacted. How could he not believe in someone who's 100% real. It's literally science," Lee explained.
I was baffled to say the least, frowning out of confusion.
Emily shook her head at me, a faint smirk on her lips, and walked silently around the car to get in the backseat.
There's no way everyone just lost their mind overnight. Automatically, my eyes found Lee's, seeking out some kind of explanation. But he just shook his head at me and closed the passenger door.
I sighed before getting in the driver's seat and turning on the car. "Everyone ready?" I asked.
No one answered.
"Fuck me," I muttered under my breath.
~~
"What crawled in your eggnog?" Emmett asked, raising his eyebrows at the general expression of misery on my face.
"Don't even ask," I muttered, getting out of the car.
Emily and Lee got out simultaneously and went to greet Emmett.
"Seriously? Did you guys run over some baby squirrels on the way here?"
I ran a hand over my face. "Lee is being irrational and now I'm somehow the worst boyfriend of the century because of it."
"You're not the worst boyfriend—"
"How the fuck am I the one being irrational when—"
"Okay," Emmett said loudly, raising his hand to get our attention.
We quieted down and I realized some of the guys around were eyeing us warily. It wasn't everyday that Emmett was the rational one.
"Let's just put this behind us for right now, please?" he asked, shooting me a pleading look that was so unlike Emmett's usual bravado that I couldn't say no.
I sighed long and loud. Stressing Emmett out, of all people to become stressed out, made me feel like the biggest douche bag of the year. Maybe it wasn't even Lee trying to convince me that Santa was real (as stupid as that was) that was making me upset. Maybe it was the fact that I didn't feel in the Christmas spirit this year. At all. And everyone around me acted like they walked straight out of a Hallmark movie.
Maybe I really was being all bah humbug.
"Yeah, of course man."
"Thanks," he breathed out. "Let's go see what we can help the guys with."
We entered Emmett's dorm lobby where the other half of his frat appeared to be hanging out. I greeted a few of the guys I knew just from seeing around campus and hanging around Emmett. Most of them knew Emily because of her sister status, and Lee never had a problem getting along with strangers despite everything.
I slung my arm around Emily's smaller frame as we were introduced to the rest of the guys and ultimately what the hell we were supposed to be doing.
Peter, a stocky looking senior, gave us a wave over. "So we're just about to head to then children's hospital, but we have a problem."
Lee looked at me and Emmett and we both shrugged. I didn't know about this.
"The guy who was supposed to play Santa got called for a family emergency a couple days ago, and now we don't have anyone."
"Seriously? No one else volunteered?" Emmett questioned.
"No man, we all have assigned jobs. The program we signed up for with the hospital passed out one to each of us. There's literally no one else who's part of the frat who can dress up."
"Do you have to have a Santa?" Emily ventured.
Peter rubbed the back of his neck. "It was kinda one of the most advertised things we promised. Everyone loves a soccer Santa."
Emily frowned and met my eyes.
Hell no.
"No."
She grabbed my arm and dragged me away from the group. "Emily, I swear to God, there's no way I'm dressing up as fucking Santa Claus."
Emily pouted.
"No."
Her lips drew further down and started wobbling.
My eyes grew wide. "Oh my God, no Emily."
"But all those kids in the hospital are waiting for Santa and you could be the one to save Christmas!"
I gave her a pointed look. "Save Christmas? Don't you think that's being a little dramatic?"
"Please, Parker."
"Why can't Lee do it?"
She just stared at me. "Parker, you're slim, but he's a walking green bean."
I ran a hand over my face and surveyed the room. I wasn't in the Christmas spirit or whatever bullshit people claimed you should feel when the clock strikes 12 on the 24th. And then my eyes fell on Lee.
He was talking to Peter animatedly, hands waving back and forth explaining something. He was still fidgeting, even standing still, hopping from one foot to another in a manner no one probably noticed but me. He wasn't the same kid who landed himself in the hospital a couple years ago. His scars would always be there, but they were healing.
And I could do that for someone else. Even if it just took a smile and a fake beard.
"Fine," I said quietly, turning back to Emily.
She gave me a knowing smile and a peck on the lips. I knew she had been watching my expression as I looked at Lee.
I took the few steps back to Peter and opened my mouth to volunteer.
"Parker! Your brother here told me that you would volunteer."
My mouth fell shut. "Did he now?" I said through gritted teeth, turning a glare on Lee who just shot me a cheeky smile.
"When we heard that our Santa was going to be absent I contacted Emmett, who told me that he had someone to play Santa. I completely forgot he mentioned you would be a back up until Lee reminded me!"
Lee and Emmett were looking at me with matching sheepish smiles, and I had never wanted to deck two people on Christmas more than I did right now.
Emily elbowed me when I didn't answer Peter.
"I'll do it," I said, much to my own dismay.
"Great!" Peter exclaimed, reminded me a little too much of Lee's group therapist, Travis.
"Yep, so great," I muttered as Emily wrapped her arms around me in thanks.
~~~
The fundraiser was officially over. I pulled the fake, itchy beard down and slumped back into the waiting room chair in the lobby of the hospital.
"That was the best thing I've ever done," I said warily.
"That was the sweetest, saddest thing I've ever seen," Emily whispered next to me.
It was true. Seeing all of those kids faces light up when I walked in the room with that stupid red suit and fake beard on was priceless. Parents were teared up. The general expression of joy around despite everything was almost too much. Emmett and Lee came to find Emily and I slumped in the chairs a few minutes later, a whimsical expression on our faces.
Lee sat down in the chair to my right, Emmett across from him. None of us said anything for a few minutes.
"I'm sorry," Lee blurred out quietly.
I raised my eyebrows and turned to him. "Is this considered a Christmas miracle? Lee Adams apologizing?"
"Oh shut up, I can take it back," he muttered half-heartedly. "I really mean it, though. For earlier today."
"Hm?"
"When I kept trying to convince you that Santa was real," he explained.
"Oh yeah, what was that about?"
He crossed his right leg over his left and sat up a little more. "I, uh, Santa kinda represents like caring and love and stuff. And well, I knew when Emmett told me about how they needed a Santa I could get you to volunteer. Which is why I gave you a hard time. You kinda represent love and stuff. And I knew you'd help everyone."
Emmett and Emily were having their own private conversation. It was just me and Lee. I blinked at my little brother. That's how it was now. Me and Lee. And to think that my little brother who was no longer little essentially thought I meant the same thing as Santa does for millions of kids, well, that left me speechless.
"Can I hug you?"
He nodded. I wrapped my arms around Lee for a brief moment, and I never thought that he of all people would put me in the holiday spirit so fast.
"Alright, chick moment is over," he said when I released him.
I laughed. I laughed so hard the staff began to stare, and then Lee joined in. We laughed until tears formed in our eyes.
And I knew that for this Christmas, and every other one after, we would be alright.