Chapter 3: We're Already Doomed

"Well, I'd like to know..." she took a dramatic pause. "why you're lying to us."

The twinge in my stomach made a comeback. I really thought that her and mom fell for it, that maybe there was a chance that this lie would work out perfectly in the end, but what was I thinking? This Christmas would only lead to disaster. Kiley wasn’t fazed by my shock. She proceeded to paint my nails like she didn’t just expose me.

Quickly, I searched through my brain for anything to say. It wouldn't matter anyway. Anything that would leave my lips she would automatically know I was lying my ass off.

Like I said, I sucked at lying. And she knew that. There was a part of me that had to, at least, try. "What?" I dragged out the word. In a high pitched voice which was clearly what gave me away. "Me? Lying? Pffft. Yeah, okay. Like I could..." I was starting to lose faith in myself. "...possibly get away with that."

"Mmmhm." She held her head high and sniffed around the room. "Do you smell that?"

I sniffed with my nose in the air, but all I could smell was the Gingerbread-scented candle that was burning on the dresser. "No. What is it?"

"Smells like... bullshit."

I relaxed my muscles and breathed out a sigh. Why did I even bother? "How did you even know?"

"First, he looked scared as shit and his face turned pale when he realized you two were under the mistletoe. And you were hesitant to kiss him. Mom may be too blind to have seen it and she even teared up when you kissed him, but you can't fool me."

"Well, yeah, but he's just shy. He isn't an affectionate person in general, let alone in front of strangers."

"True. But there's also a second thing. On the way up here, you mouthed to him that he was James."

Dammit!

Busted.

I only mouthed to him because I was afraid he'd forget. The thought of Kiley seeing me never crossed my mind. My fingers slid down my face and my teeth were clamped over my bottom lip to keep myself from groaning.

"So tell me the truth."

There went my plan to keep my mind off him. My eyes were downcast on my barely-painted nails as I tried to script how to start. "The man downstairs isn't actually James. He's... my best friend I've known since freshman year."

"Why lie? What happened with the real James?"

I rolled my head back in frustration. I couldn't relive what happened. I could feel the tears already welling up in my eyes for the third time today. At this point, my body had to be dry of tears.

However, I needed this. I needed to come clean to someone in the family, because if I kept this inside for two weeks, this heartbreak would kill me.

I rolled my head back down and continued to stare with my fingers. "The real James cheated on me."

A small gasp broke out of her lips. A sympathetic glint hid in her eyes and she switched into comforting sister mode with her hand on my leg. "Dammit, Bailey. I'm so sorry this happened to you."

"That's not even the worst part." My voice didn't make it to the last word without wavering.

In a heartbeat, fear was written in her eyes. "What is it?"

My heart sunk the more I pictured his amber eyes centimeters away from mine. His lips grazing mine and the way my breath hitched at the action. Add Vanessa to that picture, I was seconds away from bursting into tears. "He cheated on me with Vanessa."

Her comforting aura and the sympathy in her eyes were instantly wiped off her face. Now she resembled an overprotective mama bear before she attacked the threat of her cubs.

"Vanessa? That nasty bitch from high school? The one I told countless times to burn in hell?"

I nodded. I wasn't the only one who hated that woman with all my heart. When Kiley would see her in the halls talking with the friends that used to be mine, she'd mumble curse words under her breath.

When Vanessa would "accidently" bump into me and make me drop my books, Kiley would make a scene of calling her a rich, snotty bitch. However, when she graduated, I was left defenseless.

Kiley drew me into her arms and silently rubbed my back, allowing me to pour my tears all over the material of her t-shirt. She was like Sammy; letting me sob in her arms without telling me that everything would be okay.

I hated when people would tell me that. How the hell would they know if it would be? They didn't. They just say that because they know that was what you want to hear. The following words jumbled around in my head and spit out without asking my brain for permission.

"I wish I was enough for him."

Her hand was stopped in the middle of my back and she pulled away from the hug. She looked surprised that I said that. Hell, I surprised myself. I tried to be the best girlfriend I could be. A lot of thought and effort went into his birthday, anniversary and Christmas presents. Without warning, he dropped me like a hot potato.

"Don't say that. You're drop dead gorgeous which is more than I could say about she-who-shall-not-be-named. He cheated on you with that... that... thing? That was his loss. Not yours." After a beat, the corners of her mouth tilted upward. Not wide enough to reach her eyes, but wide enough that I could tell she was going to change the subject. "So who's the hottie that you did bring home?"

Sammy and I met at orientation. We were being given a tour around campus and he was by my side the whole time we were walking around. I started making small talk with him and before I knew it, we were hanging out almost everyday, studying together and going to the campus cafe after every exam to relieve stress. "Sammy. He's been my best friend since freshman year."

"He seems like a really nice guy. Are you sure this relationship between the two of you is fake?"

My face heated when he sent me a wink. "Yes, I'm sure. We're just friends. I don't like him like that."

"I don't know. That kiss looked quite passionate. I saw the way his hands slid from your lower back to your face. That's like, a sexy ass move. You may not be into him, but he's sure into you."

I had to admit that there was something special that came with that kiss. I had never experienced that with James. Not once in the three years we were dating. When Sammy kissed me, something strange stirred inside me.

I could've sworn I felt a zing spread throughout my body as his hands traveled from my lower back to my cheeks. It made me feel giddy. Just thinking about it sent a smile to form on my face.

"Enough about me. Have you interviewed for any jobs yet?"

I was so lost in my thoughts, I hadn't realized she started over with my nails and was making a cute Santa hat design on the tips.

"Not really. I was thinking that me being fired was a sign. That I should go to law school and pursue my dream of becoming a lawyer."

It had always been a dream of hers to become a lawyer. Growing up, if mom grounded me, Kiley would find a way to convince her to let me out of my room. If I spoke back to her, Kiley would argue that I was just expressing my opinion.

If I had more than one glass of chocolate milk a day, Kiley would argue that I used the same glass both times. Technically, I listened to her and only had one glass. Mom would give in every time. She knew there was no sense in arguing with her.

At the beginning, Kiley's arguments were weak, but mom's resolve crumbled anyway only to give her the satisfaction that she solved a case. I couldn't help but agree with her. Her losing her job had to be a sign that she was meant to achieve her dream.

***

An hour later, she was done with my nails, leaving me excited about the final product.

She suggested we watch Love Hard for our sister movie day. While mom made time in the evening to make a family movie night, Kiley and I started our own tradition. In the afternoon, we'd schedule a sister movie day to watch a movie that dad wouldn't like because it was too sappy.

I was expecting to find mom interrogating Sammy on the arm chairs in the entry room. To my surprise, the area was empty. Instead, I found them both in the kitchen. Mom was preparing more sugar cookies in the shapes of Santa, a tree and reindeer while Sammy was holding a toddler in his arms.

They were decorating the freshly-baked cookies with red and white icing and Oliver was beaming at the yummy desserts. I didn't know what it was about Sammy holding my nephew, but whatever it was, it tightened the knots that were settled in my stomach. Perhaps it meant he was sensitive. Or that he was good with kids.

Other than not having the responsibility of taking care of them, the best part of being an aunt was how their faces lit up when they saw you. The second his feet reunited with the floor, he hurriedly approached me and he launched his tiny frame into my arms.

"Uncle James and I are dec-ating cookies!"

Something about him calling Sammy-or James his uncle made me feel uneasy. I didn't know if it was him calling Sammy James, the one who I had hoped would be his uncle, but it didn't settle right with me. "Where's grandpa and daddy?"

"Over here." I found my dad with his arm draped around my mom who was preparing a second batch of cookies with baby Jasmine in her arm. "And Ryan's taking a shower in the guest room."

"Daddy!" I put Oliver down and leapt into dad's arms where he picked me up and spun me around. I was always closer to my dad than my mom.

When it came to a taste in movies and music, mom and I had more in common, but dad would take me to the park all the time when I was a kid and would take me to the local candy store every time I aced a spelling test in middle school.

We call each other everyday - if not, text. He sends me presents he found at the store that reminded him of me and sends me flowers before each exam along with a 'good luck' note. "Where's that boyfriend of yours your mom kept babbling about?"

Shit! Sammy!

"James—"

"Hold up, baby." Dad inspected my eyes with his fingers hovering over the corners. My father knew me far too well to let me get away with not telling him something. I was hoping my eyes wouldn't look as swollen after the hour of doing my nails, but with how hard I was crying, I was only kidding myself. My eyes still felt sore and I prayed to God that there was no pink around the irises. "Have you been crying?"

That immediately got my mom's attention. She spun on her heels with a glint of concern shining in her eyes. Even baby Jasmine was staring at me with her big brown eyes, clearly oblivious. "Wait, what? Why have you been crying?" She asked in a tone that a woman would use on their young child when they scraped their knee.

"I don't really wanna talk about it, mama. I'll be fine. Honestly." That was the safest bet. They wouldn't make me talk about it if they knew I didn't want to. Dad silently interrogated me with his eyes while mom was hesitant on walking away. Eventually, dad nodded his head and left with a pat on my back. Mom played with my hair before slowly stepping back and resuming talking baby talk to Jasmine.
"James, baby? Could I talk to you for a sec?"

He didn't respond. Sammy was too busy stuffing his face with Santa and Rudolph cookies. Red icing was dripping from his lips and his cheeks were puffed out like a chipmunk. He felt my eyes boring into him so he dropped the rest of the cookies onto the counter and wiped his hands on his pants.

"Yes, my love." He interlocked our fingers on our way to walking out of earshot. The weird part was that it felt natural. Us holding hands. As if our hands were built for each other. I found myself being disappointed feeling his fingers slip away.

"Please don't tell me that my dad didn't scare you too much?"

"Nope."

I was taken aback. Mom was the one who nagged me about getting a boyfriend, but dad was the one who teased me for never having brought home a boy. He would make comments about how he was looking forward to embarrassing me in front of my first boyfriend. Despite that, I breathed out a sigh of relief that he was only joking. That didn't last long. "Well..."

"Heh?"

He shot his arm out toward me in a 'don't freak out' gesture and grabbed my wrist. "He didn't scare me, but he showed me baby pictures of you in the bathtub and-"

"Heh??" I asked a little more aggressively.

I could tell Sammy was using every fiber in his body not to crack up. His face was red and his fist was covering his lips, but he couldn't hold it any longer. He burst out laughing, holding his stomach as he was hunched over.

I was narrowing my eyes at him with my arm folded, but that didn't scare him one bit. I glanced at my apple watch and folded my arms again, impatiently waiting for him to stop so I could kill him. I jumped a mile in the air when I noticed Kiley stood by my side.

"What's so funny?" She looked over her shoulder to see if the coast was and leaned in toward him with a hand covering one side of her mouth. "Sammy."

Upon hearing that, he immediately stopped laughing. He started stammering and pointing between Kiley and I. It was so entertaining watching him freak out, I pressed my lips in a tightly-closed line.

"It worked! You're welcome."

"How did-I mean when did-she's not supposed to-but she-"

I nervously rubbed my neck while I forced out an awkward laugh. "Oh yeah, about that... she knows about our little arrangement."

"She what?" Sammy questioned too loudly.

I rushed to shush him, but checked behind me and saw that his words fell on the ears of my deaf parents.

"That's partly why we were taking so long upstairs. She noticed our hesitation to kiss and saw me mouth to you on our way upstairs, so I had to tell her everything."

"Wh-"

"But the other part was my nails! I mean, look how pretty!" In an attempt to avoid the topic, I showed him my nails which he slapped away.

"I don't care about your damn nails. She knows?"

"Relax. I'm her sister. I'm trustworthy. I'm not gonna say a thing." She pinched her fingers together on her lips and slid them to the other side as if she was zipping her mouth shut. "I won't tell a soul. Now," she grabbed each of our hands. "Who's ready to watch Love Hard?"

"I am! I am! I am!" I cheered with my hand raised, jumping up and down with a bright smile tugging at the corner of my lips. We were barely halfway up the stairs when mom called out to us.

"Hey! Make sure you're back down by six for the family Christmas movie."

"Which one are we watching tonight?" I inquired.

"Why, our family favorite, of course."

"Elf!" Kiley and I cheered in unison.