aria
"merry fucking christmas," tyler yells, bursting into my room and jumping onto my bed. pablo rushes in after him, and begins to lick everything in sight, his tail wagging excitedly.
i squeal in surprise, and smack his shoulder. "what the fuck, dude?"
"i told him not to," billie calls from the doorway.
"come on, it's christmas! lighten up," tyler grins, grabbing my arm and practically dragging me out of bed.
he leads me into the sitting room, where the christmas tree that we decorated last night is glittering softly. finneas, ashley and shay are already sat on the sofa in their pyjamas, laughing and shoving each other around. billie walks out from behind us and plops down between finn and shay, ruffling both of their hair.
"aria is finally awake," tyler announces.
"merry christmas," i laugh. "someone play the christmas tunes."
"on it." finneas salutes before pulling out his phone; a few moments later, cliche christmas jingles complete the atmosphere of the room.
i look at the tree and question the absence of presents for a moment, before remembering that all of us agreed to just avoid the gifts shit this year, since none of us have had time. we've all been too preoccupied with the new album.
"who votes for shay to make his breakfast pancakes," is all i say instead.
everyone begins to cheer, until shay gets up and sighs, rolling his eyes.
"alright," he sighs, heading over to the kitchen. he opens the cupboards, then opens a few more, frowning.
"where the fuck are the basic ingredients?" he asks incredulously. "what sort of shite are you two living on?" he looks up at me and tyler, positively disgusted.
"fast food and candy," billie replies, standing up. "take it from me. i've been living with them for the past three weeks."
"hey, don't expose us like that," i frown, tackling her playfully so that both of us land on the sofa.
"i'll expose whatever i want while i'm living here," is all she replies.
shay, now finished with the cupboards, moved onto the fridge. "wh- you don't have milk?? i'm so done with you," he says exasperatedly. "i'm gonna need to go grab the ingredients from our apartment."
he leaves, rolling his eyes and muttering under his breath.
~~~
billie
the day passes in a blur of enjoyable laughter and shay-disapproved fast food. by the time evening rolls around, the fireplace is crackling and all of us are curled up underneath blankets on the sofas together, watching tv.
"what even is this shit," i ask, leaning over to scratch a grinning pablo behind the ears.
"it's called gogglebox," aria replies. "it's the christmas celebrity special."
"we were on this programme last year, you know," shay tells me.
"i'm so insulted they didn't invite us back," tyler says half-heartedly through a mouthful of christmas cake.
by the end of the programme, everyone is half asleep.
"this christmas day hasn't been so bad," aria mumbles, from where her head is resting on my chest.
"gee, thanks," i say sarcastically.
"no. it was better with you guys around," she replies, rubbing the sleep from her eyes as she moves to get up.
"you two should just get married already," finneas calls from the other side of the room. my cheeks flush, and i toss a pillow at him to hide it.
what surprises me is, aria flushes too, spinning away to hide her face.
"i'm gonna sleep," she murmurs, making her way towards the hall. "goodnight, bil."
"goodnight, ri," i call after her.
~~~
was this chapter absolutely pointless ? yes