I woke up the next morning to Valeria and Finn bursting through the door. Finn immediately went over and yanked the curtains open, letting December sunlight flood the room. "Morning boys!" Valeria yelled, jumping onto her knees on the bed beside Zane. His body bounced a little, and he groaned, sitting up and rubbing his eyes.

"Fuck," he muttered, grabbing the water bottle I left by his feet and chugging it.

"How you feeling, big guy?" Valeria asked, messing with his hair.

"Not good," he said, before getting up and going back to his room, slamming the door behind him.

"Good morning guys," I said, yawning. Bishop still hadn't stirred in my lap. There was a nice circle of drool next to his mouth.

"Ugh, is he dead?" Finn groaned, like it was going to be annoying to deal with his dead body.

I laid my fingers against his neck, checking for a pulse. "He's good," I concluded, after a couple of moments.

"I'm alive, though I sort of wish I wasn't," he grumbled, still not opening his eyes.

"Aw, poor baby," I said, laughing at his pain only a little.

"But hey, you won, I heard!" Valeria said, trying and failing to cheer him up.

"He certainly did drink a lot, huh buddy? Which was your favorite? Was it the whiskey sour?" Bishop turned a shade greener. "The strawberry margarita?" He sat up, pressing his fist into his mouth. "Oh, you know what, I think it was the Moscow mule!" Bishop gagged a little, and I shoved the trash can underneath him in a bit of a panic

"Shut up, Finn," Bishop forced out, in the most aggressive voice I'd ever heard him use.

"Yeah, I guess that's enough, Finn," Valeria said, laughing, as the two left the room, making sure to loudly slam the door behind them.

Bishop leaned his head back against the bed frame and closed his eyes again. As I stared at him, what he said last night came flooding back into the forefront of my brain, and I smiled a little.

"Thank you for taking care of me last night. I threw up, didn't I?" He asked, placing one hand on my thigh and absentmindedly rubbing up and down.

"Yes, you definitely did. It all made it into the trash can, though, so it's fine."

He grimaced. "Sorry you had to see me like that."

"It's okay, I've thrown up in your lap, now you've thrown up in mine. We're even."

"Did I, uh, do anything else embarrassing?"

I tried to keep a poker face, but I think my blush betrayed me. I looked at the comforter, but I felt his eyes lock on me.

"Oh god, that's a yes isn't it?" He groaned, clapping a hand over his eyes.

"No, no, you were just sweet," I said, hoping more than anything that he meant what he said. "Why don't you hop in the shower, and I'll make you some food?"

"One, I'm always sweet. And two, that's probably a good idea, I'm sweating all sorts of liquors right now."

I wrinkled my nose up. It did sort of smell like a monkey cage in his room. "What sounds okay right now?" I asked.

He sat up and rubbed his face, sitting on the edge of the bed. "Fuck, like nothing really." He sighed heavily, scouring his brain for a food item that the thought of didn't immediately bring bile into his throat. "I don't know, maybe I could eat a grilled cheese."

I hopped out of his bed and pressed my lips to his slightly clammy forehead. "Grilled cheese it is."

He slowly stumbled his way to the shower, while I found the aspirin and made a couple of grilled cheeses. Zane smelled them cooking, came out of his room, grabbed one, and went right back into the darkness. "You're welcome!" I called to his closed bedroom door, rolling my eyes.

     I sat on the couch and munched on one, while Bishop came out of the bathroom, wearing just a pair of sweatpants. He had a little more color to him, and he gratefully took the aspirin and Gatorade that I held out for him.

"I threw up," he said, matter of factly.

"In the shower?" I asked.

"In the shower," he confirmed.

"Did you clean it up?"

"It was all liquor, so it just went right down the drain. And then I smelled it, and it smelled too much like the drinks from last night, so I threw up again."

I laughed and handed him his grilled cheese. "Thank you, my sweets," he said.

     "You're so welcome."

I felt him looking at me, so I slowly raised my eyes to him. "I remembered a little more of last night in the shower," he said. "So approximately how many times did I tell you're you're beautiful last night, if you had to guess."

"Hmmm, probably about 7 'gorgeouses', 6 'beautifuls', 1 'stunning princess', and 1 'we're gonna be together forever," I responded.

"Hey, I call it like I see it," he said, bringing his lips to mine. "This is a damn good grilled cheese," he whispered, without moving away.

     "Oh barf," Zane groaned, and I looked up to find him in the hallway carrying a refilled bottle of water, staring at us disdainfully. He shook his head in disapproval, before disappearing again.

     I laughed and laid my head on Bishop's shoulder, as he slowly forced down the sandwich. And luckily, it stayed down.

A week later, it was the morning of Christmas Eve. Bishop, Finn, Danny, and I were all supposed to head to the Lance's soon, and Zane was getting ready to head back to his house too. We were all sitting in the living room and kitchen, drinking coffee and eating breakfast, when Valeria burst through the door. She was bundled up and dragged a suitcase behind her.

"Hey, aren't you supposed to be on your way to the airport?" Finn asked, standing up from his seat at the island. She was supposed to fly out this morning, having to stay in the city until Christmas Eve, because of ballet.

She threw her hands up in the air, dropping her purse on to the ground. "Haven't you guys been outside?" She asked incredulously. "Or checked your phones or turned on the TV or anything? This shit's everywhere!"

"Uh, no, why?" Zane asked. Bishop opened the blinds over the fire escape to reveal snow pouring out of the sky. Danny, who had slept on our couch the night before, clicked on the news.

"The biggest storm of the decade is hitting New York City over the next couple of days, throwing a wrench in many families' holiday plans," a news reporter said, as she stood out on the street. Her scarf kept slapping her on her pink cheeks and wet snow crusted all over her hat. There was already a lot of snow building up by her feet. The streets behind her were deserted.

Just then, Bishop's phone rang, and he went into the hallway to answer it. Danny looked up from his phone. "It's supposed to snow all day for the next two or three days. We're gonna get feet of this shit," he said.

"My flight got cancelled, and now I can't go home for the holidays. I haven't seen my parents in forever, and I was so excited," Valeria said, blinking back tears. Finn sat back on his stool, pulling her over to stand between his legs. She put her head on his shoulder, and he hugged her, smoothing down her hair.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I'm sure you can come to the Lance's with us."

"Don't get your hopes up," Bishop said, coming back into the room. He held up his phone. "That was my mom. She said the cities locked down. The storms too bad, no one's really getting anywhere."

"Looks like we're stuck here for Christmas," Zane said, looking dejectedly out the window.

"Guys, it's not all bad!" I said, standing up. "We've got a tree." I gestured to the little fake tree I had set up in the corner. "We can watch Christmas movies and all celebrate together. And then you guys can do a late Christmas with your families, after the snow clears up."

"Yeah, you're right, we can still make this okay," Valeria agreed, raising her head.

"That's the spirit! Now, who wants to play in the snow?" I asked, getting way too excited about it.

     Many snowball fights and a couple of feeble attempts to sled down the sidewalk later, we clambered back into our apartment, soaked to the bone and freezing. We changed into warm clothes, and apparently I took longer than the others. When I came back out to the living room, Zane and Bishop had constructed a massive fort, encompassing the TV and looking like it would fit about ten people.

     "Oh my god!" I squealed, immediately ducking under it. It was so cozy and cute. I looked between the two builders and smilingly squeaked out, "I love it!".

"Ooo! Are we having a sleepover?" Valeria asked, coming bounding back into the room from her apartment.

"Yes!" I squealed back, grabbing her arm and dragging her into the fort.

"You think they're gonna have a pillow fight?" Zane asked, elbowing Bishop. Bishop rolled his eyes and shoved Zane's face away.

Finn's head popped into the fort. "This is stupid, but I'll allow it." Valeria cheered and grabbed his hand, pulling him into the fort.

Danny's head popped in next. "Sick fort. Can we watch the Grinch, but tape Finn's picture over the screen, so it looks like he's saying all the lines?"

"Excellent idea," Bishop said, fist bumping his brother.

"I'll make fireball hot chocolate!" I cheered, crawling back out of the fort.

"We should Vienna's face over Cindy Lou Who too," Zane said, grabbing the remote.

"I don't see the resemblance," I called, opening up the cabinet.

"Stop trying to picture it and start figuring out where Christmas is and why can't you find it," Danny said. I huffed and crossed my arms, glaring at him.

We watched Christmas movies in the fort for the rest of the day, before we all fell asleep huddled up in it. I fell asleep on Bishop's arm, and he let me stay there, even though I'm sure his arm fell asleep. At one point, I looked up, and I swear Zane and Danny were spooning. I won't disclose who the little spoon was.

     I dropped my head back down, and Bishop stirred a little. He leaned over and kissed my forehead. His eyes opened, and he looked behind me, before catching my eyes again. "Merry Christmas, Vi," he said softly. I looked at the time on the cable box. 12:01 am, Christmas morning.

     "Merry Christmas, Bishop."