Dedicated to @britanya_rich for the cover at the top! Thanks💓💓

Chapter Twenty Seven: "Merry Christmas."

"BUON NATALE!" GIGI SAID when Justin was in the midsentence.

"Merry Christmas." Justin said. "Can we open our presents now?"

"Oh my gosh, here, just take it already." I shoved his present towards him when dad moved out of the kitchen in his pajamas, holding my camera in his hands.

He ripped open the package and looked down at the video game in his hands with wide eyes. I've seen this same facial expression my entire life. "How did you get-"

"Sam knows a guy and I had to work more shifts than necessary just to get that for you. So when I beat you in it be grateful either way."

"Thanks Mace." My brother hugged me and already started getting up. "Hey, dad can I invite Christian over?"

"It's Christmas." My dad retorted lamely, the camera pointed on Justin.

"Aren't they coming over tonight anyway?"

"Hey, why didn't grandpa and grandma come over this year?" I asked dad, already knowing his answer would be no to Christian coming over anyway.

"They went for a cruise." My dad responded about his own parents. "Something about not wanting to experience snow this year. I'm pretty sure they just didn't want to drive all the way up from US but they'll call later today."

"Smart move." Justin mumbled, looking outside at the snow falling outside. "It's coming down."

"At least it's not a green Christmas like last year." I pointed out, glancing outside.

"That's because global warming-"

"Justin, I really don't want to be educated when I'm going back to school in a couple of days. I would love to refrain from learning please and thank you. Now, let me beat you in this game."

Hours later, Justin and I were sitting in the basement, the both of us in our sleepwear like it's been ever since we were kids. Except Justin has chosen to wear a basketball team jersey over his shirt and I wore a soccer team jersey over mine. So...nothing has really changed.

I leaned against the bottom of the sofa, turning to look at Justin. "How is everything?"

"Everything? Like everything everything?"

"I'm pretty sure that's what everything means, yes." I avowed.

"I don't want Emma to go back to Redmond." He revealed after a couple of seconds.

"It's not that simple Justin. It's not like she can pack up her entire family and move here. And by the way, I wouldn't exactly appreciate it if Alexis moved all the way to where I was born and raised, thanks."

"Alexis is travelling all over the world after Christmas anyway, she's irrelevant in this. You know Emma and I aren't even together though. Like when she's here we have a label but when we're not together it's like oh we're just friends but at the same time not really."

"Yeah, I know." I said, putting the controller down. "But isn't that only because of distance? Because every time she comes here you guys are all boyfriend and girlfriend either way."

"Yeah, but before the break this girl in my history class asked me out and I didn't really give a certain answer because-because of Emma."

"Did you tell Emma about this?"

"She told me to go out with her. She encouraged me, Mace."

Clearly, Justin didn't sound as happy with that sentence.

I opened my mouth to speak but my little brother was ready to rant like my dad did whenever he got excited about something. Justin was the opposite, he only ranted whenever he was upset about something. "I didn't understand it. Like, there's Emma. I love Emma. It's not that hard to know that and she even knows that I love her. I told her this. She knows that I do. But-"

Justin cut himself off and it was then that I realized how much this was actually bothering him.

"What?"

"She thinks I don't really love her. That I'm caught up in this whole high school idea of loving someone."

"Really?"

"Yeah," He put his own controller on the couch. "She started talking about how we're probably too young to understand what love is and all other stuff." He slouched against the sofa beside me, both of our knees up. "I just don't want her to push me onto someone else just because we're not really together."

"But if someone else asked Emma out and she asked you about it would you stop her from going out with him?"

"I don't know."

"You want my thoughts on this?"

Justin sighed, a lazy smile forming on his face. "Please."

"Okay...I think she's only telling you to go out with the other girl because she doesn't want to be this kind of roadblock on you going on with your everyday life. I'm sure you wouldn't want do the same thing. And, yeah, you guys aren't dating and I feel like she clearly knows this even with your guys' type of relationship anyway. Just because you guys have something that...can't be attained because of distance, she doesn't want to stop you from the chance of having something with someone else. Does that make sense?"

Justin nodded. "Yeah. Yeah, it does."

"You should talk to her tonight. Try to sort this out between the two of you."

"Thanks." He let out a long exhale, before grabbing his controller. "I'm beating you in this. I don't even care."

"You wish." I muttered, grabbing my own controller as we started the game up again.

Hours later, our house was packed. There should be a limit to how many people should fit inside the Anderson house.

There was all of the Cahill family plus Lucy that made twelve. No wait, Ivan was missing because he was having dinner with Natasha's family before they were going to head here.

Then there was Emma, Alexis and their parents so that made four.

There was Caleb, Tia Maria who hasn't stopped yelling at him since they got here, and his older brother Leo.

Then like every single year Andrew's family came over and that included five if you counted the dog, Freddy.

That made 23-no, add Justin, dad, Gigi and me and that made 27 people squeezed inside the house.

How the hell did Justin manage to throw a party here back in the beginning of the year, I thought back to that time.

I wasn't even sure how we all managed to eat dinner in the same place but for some miraculous way, Liz came through and our dining table was replaced and extended all the way to the kitchen, stopped at the island in the middle of the kitchen then end at the doorway to the living room.

Wow. I was saying in my head for the thousandth time while trying to shove broccoli down my throat.

Andrew stabbed his broccoli with his fork and displaced the last of it onto my plate. "I can never eat this."

"You should." I mumbled, almost choking when I left Sam's foot nudge my own. "It's good for you."

I glanced up at him from where he was chatting with Alexis and the slight smile on his face let me know he was trying to distract me on purpose.

"Says the girl who treats food like her first love."

"I'm right here." I heard Sam divulge and I rolled my eyes, pushing his foot down with my own under the table.

"You're a close second."

"I'm hurt."

I turned away from him as Andrew kept piling broccoli on my plate. He turned to his little sister that was on the other side of him. "Riley, you like the broccoli?"

She made a face and everyone laughed. Sam looked at her over the table. "Riley, just finish one for me." Riley crossed her arms. "Please?"

She sighed and took her fork, stabbing the vegetable with it then slowly the small piece of it inside her mouth. I couldn't help but start laughing when she made an even worse face than before, struggling to chew and eventually swallow it. "I did it!" she exclaimed.

"Good, now you can give it to Andrew."

"Who will now give it to Macy!" Andrew foretold, adding more broccoli to the pile on my plate.

I shot my best friend a look. "You do realize that this happens every single year right?"

"You realize that I will still hate broccoli every single year, right?"

"Andrew, eat it," Gigi made her way over to us, dessert in her hands. Andrew and I both stilled looking at it but I shoved another piece of broccoli in my mouth. "You're a grown boy. You should know that you should eat vegetables."

Andrew huffed, taking a broccoli off my plate to eat it himself. "I hate every single second of this."

My eyes trailed over to Caleb who was on his phone, texting frantically. It was strange that he hasn't made a comment in over ten minutes. "Caleb, what's up?"

"You know my secret right?" He asked, looking at everyone that was listening to him.

"Which ones are you talking about?" Sam asked, taking a sip of the ginger ale in front of him.

Caleb opened his mouth, glaring at Sam. "Not those ones, you idiot."

"Don't call me an idiot you jackass, take your-"

"Take my what? You piece of-"

"Anyway!" I interrupted the two before they got into an argument that could either lead to them laughing it off or Caleb saying something disturbing in front of all the children present. I didn't want to go with the latter in the case that any older adult would say something. "Caleb, what secret?"

"My author secret." He said, leaning back at the table and glancing down at his phone for a brief moment to type something before giving everyone his attention.

"What about it?" Toby asked, his phone in one hand on the other side of me and I could already see that he was texting Austin.

"It's been three years. I just released another book not too long ago and I think that-"

"You should reveal yourself?" Sam inquired.

"At least let me finish my sentence Samuel." Caleb drawled out. Sam put his hands up, hiding a smile. "But yes. I wasn't sure if I should but after talking to my agent they thought it would be a good idea."

"When?" Cedric asked on the other side of Toby.

"Maybe next month. They want me to go in for a press conference, something no one has been able to get me to do because of the whole hiding my identity thing."

Caleb's brother, Leo implored something but I didn't understand what he was saying because they had started to converse in Spanish. Sam didn't look bothered by the news. I figured it was because he already knew and engaged back in conversation with Alexis again.

"So, um, I saw someone the other day." I told Andrew quietly.

"Who?" he asked, reaching forward to pour himself Coca-Cola.

"Jasmine."

Andrew's movements slowed down a bit and I could see Caleb out of the corner of my eye stop texting as he waited for Andrew's reaction too. "How's she doing?"

"Okay, I guess."

"That's good." He nodded, taking a sip from his cup before shrugging. "I kind of figured she would be on the good side anyway. Are you seeing her anytime soon?"

"Yeah. In a couple of days."

"Great," Andrew leaned closer to me, reaching to steal the carrot off my plate as he spoke. I really regret not eating the healthy stuff first when we first started. "I'm surprised you're reacting to this Alexis situation easily."

"What Alexis situation?" I mumbled back. "Last time I checked they were just friends. And if Alexis pulled a move, I would be the first to know."

"She's smart not to pull something you know?"

I impaled the chopped carrot on my plate. "I know."

"You alright there Mace? That poor carrot is already dead, don't ruin it even more." Caleb whined like a five year old making Riley laugh.

"Really?" I stabbed the carrot again and made a show of putting it in my mouth and chewing aggressively.

Caleb made a face, tapping Sam who was already watching me. "How do you find this...attractive?"

"I question that myself sometimes."

"Rude." I quipped, frowning.

About an hour later I was tucked on the couch next to Andrew, whilst listening to Caleb and Phillip sing random Christmas songs that they were trying to usher everyone into.

My phone buzzed with another one of the multiple texts I kept receiving today but this time the one from a group chat with Matteo and Maddy where they kept attacking one another with different memes.

I closed my eyes, looking up to the ceiling as a silent prayer for those two before looking down at the conversation that was named-wait for it because it wasn't very original-'Triple M'.

Maddy:

You make me cringe.

Matteo:

How?

Maddy:

If you're going to love a Youtuber love a good one.

Matteo:

Just because he doesn't have a lot of subscribers doesn't mean he isn't good.

Maddy:

I've watched his videos. And half of his followers hate him. He suckssss

Matteo:

Just because he isn't talking about make up shit doesn't mean he's bad.

Maddy:

I don't just watch make up shit. He's trying to be funny when he's not. WAKE UP MATTHEW HE'S NOT FUNNY

Matteo:

CALL ME MATTHEW AGAIN I DARE YOU

Hence, the start of a meme war and random pictures being sent to my phone at one another, expressing their opinions rather brightly.

Me:

Will you idiots stop this? Matteo go to sleep, Maddy go be with your family. If I see another picture, I am leaving this group chat.

(2)Me:

Merry Christmas again : )

I rolled my eyes, tucking my phone in my pocket when Phillip and Caleb were on their second rendition of Feliz Navidad. Someone tapped me on the shoulder and I tilted my head back to look at Sam who lent forward to press a kiss to my forehead. "Get ready."

"Where are we going?"

"Cliff." He mumbled, walking towards the front door, already slinging his jacket on.

I followed him, wearing my jacket, boots, mittens and grabbing my hat and scarf. "Are you serious?"

"Yes." He raised an eyebrow at my get up and I spun in a circle for him dramatically to show him how bundled up I was.

"You realize how cold it is outside right?" I stated as he only put on his leather jacket as if that would give him all the warmth in the world.

Just as Lucas was passing by, he plucked the hat off of his head and put it on his own and took gloves from Cedric's jacket. He put them on himself and gave me a smile. "Now let's go."

"No, no, no." I grabbed one of Justin scarves off the hanger and tossed to him. "Sam." I said as he opened the door and pulled me out of my own home. "Are you just going to take me out and not even tell anyone?"

"I told my dad. He's okay with it. I told your dad. He's okay with it."

"What about Gigi?" I asked him.

He paused before pulling me along to one of the cars parked in the driveway. "Gigi will be okay with us being gone for about a bit."

"Will she? Will she really?"

"No, but honestly I just want to leave before she comes running down those stairs fast. Let's go." We entered the car and he drove off as fast as he could in the weather. "That house was getting so packed. Emma had to go upstairs with how close everyone was to one another."

"Did Justin take her?"

"Yeah. Last I checked he calmed her down but he'll send me updates on how she's doing."

"Remind me again why we couldn't have a dinner at your gigantic mansion instead?"

"Maybe because my parents were getting tired of having things at their house all the time? I have no idea. Plus, this is the first time ever that we've actually celebrated Christmas at here so it was really strange when all of a sudden this morning we actually had to open our presents straight from that giant ass Christmas tree in the middle of the house."

I snickered. Of course Sam would find something I thought was completely normal weird. "What did you get?"

"Uh-A watch, a really cool pen from Phillip that I'm sure he picked out with mum. It says my name and everything," Sam chuckled. "Oh, Caleb got me socks."

"Socks?"

"Yeah. They have a weird pattern on them but they say Italy at the bottom of it."

"What did you get him?"

"Socks that have a weird pattern and say England at the bottom."

I laughed, my breath coming out in white puffs. "Are you serious?"

"Yeah we planned it out and everything. He found them online. We're both wearing them right now. Because according to him 'we have to do everything as best friends' or some shit like that.'" He said that last part in a really high voice that faded out when a rendition of 'Last Christmas' came on.

"You guys are so weird."

Sam laughed, slowing down to park. "He doesn't usually get me anything anyways. It's not like I want him to."

"Is it because your birthday is so close?"

"Kind of," He took the key out the ignition. "I'm not really into the whole-hey it's Christmas let's give each other presents thing. I'm more into the whole 'let's prank Ivan when he's sleeping' or dump a bucket of cold water on Toby's head kind of thing."

"So family bonding?"

"If you want to be formal then yeah I guess so." We got out of the car and started walking through the snow covered forest. I didn't even notice Sam grab like three bundles of thick blankets as if that was going to stop the cold from hitting me in the face.

When we reached our spot, he spread one blanket on the ground not as close to the edge of the cliff and handed me one blanket to put on my legs. "Well, I still got you something for Christmas."

"Hazel..." He trailed off, looking down at me.

"You don't understand how hard it is to buy a present for someone who can easily go out and get it himself. It's a long process trying to find out what to give you for Christmas and your birthday so you're going to take it whether you want to or not. Are we clear?"

He cracked a smile, fixing the hat on his head. "Okay, what is it?"

I took the gift out my pocket and handed it to him. "I already knew that you weren't into the whole Christmas thing so I decided on getting you something simple. Simple but useful. It's kind of cheap but honestly remember that your real present is coming for your birthday."

He held it in his hands, looking at me with squinted eyes. "Really?"

"I figured why not?" I told him as he opened the book and started flipping through the pages.

"A coupon book," He murmured. "One for two hugs? One for ten kisses at anytime during the day-I already do this-"

"Just appreciate the gift," I practically demanded. "The real one is coming on your birthday."

Sam smiled, looking down at it. He flipped through the many pages before stumbling on one I knew wasn't in my hand writing. Oh my goodness. "A coupon to give Sam-"

I grabbed the book out of his hand, tearing that piece of paper out of the small book. I crumpled it in my hand and threw it over the cliff, wincing after when I realized I littered. "Caleb probably wrote that one. He was helping me out. Well not really helping me out after that I guess."

Sam leaned back, his fingers thumbing the book when he took it back. "Hmm..."

"I know it doesn't seem like a lot but honestly your birthday was stuck in my mind and I already it you something for that and I-"

"Hazel...you willingly took part of your time to create this. I have a feeling that you started making this during exam season-"

"I did. And there's like a hundred different coupons in that thing by the way."

He chuckled. "You made this for me and you didn't even have to do this."

I didn't have to do this? Yeah, right. "But I did so-"

I was cut off by the short but sweet kiss he left on my lips. "I'm trying to say thank you."

"You just cashed in a coupon didn't you?"

Sam ripped the paper out and handed it over to me. "Here you go."

I rolled my eyes, taking it from him before I scanned the tiny print at the bottom of paper. "It says free hug for Caleb as well."

Sam scoffed, ignoring that comment. "I have a Christmas present for you too."

"Oh really now?"

"Yeah, but it's not here."

I took a moment to realize what he just said. "What?"

Sam cleared his throat; his glove covered hand taking my mitten covered one. "I technically couldn't bring it here so I had to leave it back in Manchester."

"What? What is it?"

"You'll figure out what it is soon enough...once we get back."

"But that makes me what to know what it is even more."

"Hazel-"

"Sam, just tell me."

"I can't."

"You can."

"I really can't."

"Sam, c'mon-"

"Hazel?"

I sighed, realizing defeat. "Yeah?"

"Merry Christmas."

A smile came to my face as he pulled me closer to him. It wasn't even that cold but honestly my hands were freezing even with my mittens on. "Merry Christmas. Now as much as I love this place, it is winter and I am freezing my butt off. Can we please leave?"

"And moment over." Sam got up laughing, taking the blankets with him as we walked back to the car.

"What do you think about the Caleb thing?" I asked him when we started driving again.

"It's Caleb's life. If this is what he wants to do then he should do it. Honestly, his fans have been waiting for so long to find out whose work they've been reading anyway. This can either be really good or really bad."

"How can this be bad?"

"Caleb likes attention and people. But too much of it? That isn't something he's all in for. The second he tells everyone who he is there are going to be so many people looking at him. I just think he'll be overwhelmed at first."

Sam blew a raspberry with his lips before shrugging. "It'll be good for him."

My phone buzzed in my pocket for the hundredth time tonight and I looked down at the screen.

Maddy:

MATTHEW SHUT UP

Matteo:

MADELYN SHUT UP

Maddy:

IT'S MADELINE

Matteo:

Who cares?? I'm right and you know it.

Getting out of that group chat where I was certain that Maddy was immediately going to respond to, I saw I had a individual text message from Matteo.

Matteo:

Victoria, just agree with me so we can end this please?

(2)Matteo:

Like my name isn't Matthew smh.

A laugh escaped my lips and Sam glanced at me as we pulled into the driveway of the house. "Why are you laughing?"

"Just Matteo. Him and Maddy are in an argument over some Youtuber."

Sam stopped the car, taking the key out of the ignition and I even though it was kind of dark, the light outside the house illuminated the frown etched on his face. "Matteo?"

"Yeah, remember? The one you met at the indoor track before exams?" I questioned when we got out of the car.

"You still talk to him?"

"Yeah..." I narrowed my eyes at Sam when we opened the door to the inside of the buzzing house. I could already hear Caleb singing All I Want For Christmas by Mariah Carey off key. "We're friends."

I was in the middle of taking off my boots and my jacket but I could see how he wasn't pleased when I told him that. Sam opened his mouth to speak but was cut off when we heard another voice. "Where were you two?"

I exchanged looks with my boyfriend, struggling to breakout into a smile at the situation. "Shit." I heard Sam uttered when we turned to face the wrath of Gigi.