I woke up this morning expecting everything that happened yesterday to have been a dream. But it wasn't. Colton and I got into a fight.

Christmas Eve is tomorrow and I still haven't heard from Bryce. It's just fucking irritating because it's not that hard to pick up the phone and call me.

I sigh as I roll onto my side. I haven't moved from my bed yet. I didn't sleep particularly well last night. I can't get stupid fucking Colton out of my head.

I have no idea what I'm supposed to say to him. I know the parents are going to shove us together. But we can't go back to the way things were after what he said.

But I know I have to say something. We can't just ignore each other and just leave things the awkward way they are. I don't think Colton has anything left to say, so I guess I have to think of something.

Hey, Colton. Sorry I hurt you in high school, but we should just move on. I sigh. I can't say that to him. Shit. I roll around and then sit up.

Dad and I have to leave in a little while. We're going to Alex's apartment. I guess they're making Colton and I bake cookies while they go on a date. Alex is having a Christmas party.

I sigh and stand up. I get ready quickly and walk downstairs. Dad smiles at me. "Are you ready to go?" he asks, standing up.

I nod. "Yeah." We grab our jackets and walk out to the car. "So, who's gonna be at the party?"

"Alex's friends and some of my friends," he says. "We're officially announcing our relationship."

I smile. "I'm really glad you and Alex are together." My smile fades. "Wait, so Mother doesn't know? She's just going to find out tomorrow?"

Dad nods. "Yeah. I figured she might not make as a big of a deal if there's more people."

I start laughing. "She's gonna be the Grinch."

Dad smiles. "How's Bryce doing?"

I shrug. "I wouldn't know. We haven't talked in a while."

Dad frowns. "That's too bad. Is he going to be here for Christmas?"

I shrug again. "I don't know."

"And you and Colton are...good? I know you have a past?" Dad says.

"We're good. We're kind of buddies now," I tell Dad. "We're just happy that you and Alex are happy."

Dad smiles. He pulls up in front of Alex's apartment and we both get out. Dad presses the intercom and says hi to Alex, who lets us in.

I frown as I remember when I dropped Colton off on Sunday. He wasn't okay and he wouldn't let me know why. Maybe it's connected to the bad stuff that's been happening to him.

Dad says hi to someone as he walks by and I smile. He must spend a fair amount of time here. We take the elevator up to a floor and get off. I remember vaguely being here in high school.

My face pales as we walk down the hallway and Dad knocks on the door. I have to talk to Colton and I don't know what I'm supposed to say. Shit.

Alex answers the door. "Hi," she says excitedly. She kisses my dad on the cheek.

"So, we're supposed to bake cookies?" I ask as I look around. The apartment looks pretty much the same.

"Yes," Alex says. "Colton's already in the kitchen. I need to show Christopher something."

Dad whispers something to her and she giggles. She and Dad walk through the living room and past the kitchen into one of the bedrooms. I walk slowly over to where Colton is. I stand on the other side of the counter, so I'm opposite him.

"Uh, hi," I say. He looks up but doesn't say anything. "Are you baking something?"

"Not yet," he says. "You're supposed to help me."

"Right." I walk around the counter and wash my hands in the sink. "Do you know what we're supposed to make?"

He shrugs. "Christmas cookies."

I roll my eyes. "What kind though?"

"Why am I supposed to know?" Colton asks. He's moody today, and kind of confrontational.

I shrug. "I don't know. You're the one looking through a recipe book." Colton mutters something and I sigh. I'm standing a foot away from him. "Look, can we just be cool? We just have to get through Christmas and then we don't have to see each other."

Colton laughs bitterly. "Did you even hear what I said last night?"

"Yes I did," I say quickly. "And that's why I think it's best for us to just try to be okay for the next few days." I hear Alex laugh. "And if not for me, for your mom. The more we act like we can't be around each other, the more she's going to put us together."

"Whatever," Colton says. "Do you know anything about baking?"

I shrug. "Kind of."

Alex and my dad walk back into the kitchen. "Okay, so you're making chocolate peppermint cookies and little sugar cookies that are decorated," Alex tells us.

Colton groans. "Can't we just buy them?"

"No," Alex says. "And I'll know if you do."

"Where are you guys going?" I ask.

"Out to lunch," Dad says. Alex kisses Colton on the cheek and leaves a red mark. "Bye, Andy. Love you."

"Love you too." My dad and Alex leave. I look at Colton. "So, what do you wanna start with?"

"I hate this," he says. He shuts the recipe book.

"We're stuck with it though," I remind him.

Colton shakes his head. "It's so irritating. My mom makes us do all of this shit and for what? Yesterday was a disaster and we didn't even have to clean."

"Well, there's actually going to be a Christmas party tonight."

Colton rolls his eyes and says, "Wow. Thank you, Andy. I had no idea."

I narrow my eyes. "Look, there's no reason for you to be a dick. I'm trying to be nice. And I'm trying to make this suck a little bit less."

"Fuck this," Colton says. "I'm going to my room."

"Hey," I yell as he starts walking away. "We both have to do this. And I'm not doing it by myself."

Colton stops just before he opens his door. He looks at his watch. "Fine. I'll start baking in half an hour." He walks into his room and slams the door shut.

"You better not get high!" I yell. I sigh as I walk back into the kitchen. I think it went pretty well. It could have gone considerably worse.

I sit down at the table and pull out my phone. I frown when I see a text from Bryce, Hey, isn't my boss' dog cute? There's a picture of a cute dog, but I don't even care.

I'm so fucking irritated right now. Yeah, it's nice that Bryce texted me a cute picture of a dog, but that's what he texts? Seriously? I've been trying to talk to him about our relationship a week now, and he's barely said anything.

And then he texts me a picture of a dog.

I get up and start pacing. I want to scream right now. I just really need to talk to Bryce and I haven't been able to. I pick up my phone and call him. It goes to voicemail.

"Damn it!" I hiss. I just about throw my phone against the wall. This is literally so ridiculous. I shouldn't get this worked up over a picture of a dog. "Damn it!"

I walk over to the kitchen and start pulling ingredients for the cookies roughly out of the cupboards and fridge. I'm sure that I'm slamming doors.

"Damn," Colton says.

I spin around. "What?" I yell.

He frowns. "Chill out. I forgot my phone." Colton looks at me. "Are you okay?"

"No. No, I'm not okay," I tell him. I pull eggs out of the fridge and slam them down against the counter.

"Hey, Andy?" Colton says. "You just broke all the eggs."

I look down. "Shit."

"So, uh, what exactly happened?" he asks.

"Why the fuck do you care?" It's funny. It's like Colton and I have switched roles. Now I'm pissed off and he's calm.

"I don't," Colton says. "I just figured you wouldn't break anything else if you told me."

"You're so funny," I tell him sarcastically.

"Or I can guess," he says. "I'm guessing it's Bryce?"

"No shit, Sherlock," I say. "I've been trying to talk to him for a fucking week and now he sends me a picture of a dog. And then his phone goes to voicemail."

Colton frowns. "I don't get it."

"He won't answer his goddamn phone when I call him," I explain slowly. "But then he sends me a stupid picture and when I try to call him, he ignores me."

Colton shrugs, almost smiling smugly. Probably because Bryce and I are having problems. "I guess you have to talk to him then."

"Really? I never thought of that," I say as I roll my eyes. I sigh. "Sorry I broke the eggs."

"It's fine," Colton says. "I guess we have to go to the grocery store and waste a lot of time."

"Oh, I get it," I say as I smile. "You think if we spend forever there getting ingredients, your mom and my dad are going to have to help us."

He grins. "Exactly."

***************

"What happened to you being pissed off?" I ask Colton as I push the cart around. We've been at Target for fifteen minutes and haven't put a single thing in the cart.

"I guess I realized it might be slightly easier if we try to be okay," he says.

"Yeah." I turn the cart and grab chips. Colton grabs another three bags. "The fuck are those for?"

"For the party tonight," Colton tells me. I turn the cart down into another aisle. Colton grabs a bunch of a soda and puts them in the cart.

I start laughing. "It looks like we're throwing a party."

"We are," he tells me. "Just not a high school one."

"That's true. We'd need way more booze." Colton grins suddenly and stops walking. I frown and turn around to look at him. "What?"

"We should put weed in the cookies," he says. His grin grows. "Man, I wanna see my mom high."

"Yeah, but what about my dad? He's on call for the hospital," I remind Colton.

He frowns. "Shit. But I guess we could only put them in some cookies."

"Or we could just let it go and be responsible," I say.

Colton sighs. "You're no fun."

I frown. "Hey, I'm a lot of fun. I got high with you, didn't I?"

"You stole my weed," Colton says. "And that was only kind of fun."

My frown deepens. "What would you consider to be fun then?"

"Let me think about it."

I turn into the dairy isle and grab cream and eggs. Colton's trailing begins me, seemingly deep in thought.

At least we're okay now. It's weird how fast it switched, but it doesn't matter. I'm just glad we're okay for the most part. We only have to see each other for a few more days.

"We gotta do something crazy," Colton says.

"Why?"

"You only live once," he tells me. "And you never know when you're going to die. It could be tomorrow. So, we gotta do something crazy today."