Chapter Fourteen: The Holidays

Aesha’s POV

 It’s been a few weeks already since that day when Cole was mad at me. We never spoke again since, and I’m beginning to get worried. It was already winter break and I can tell he’s getting weaker and weaker every day. I just hope he’s okay.

Brent’s still the same, Kennedy and I have been hanging out, and Cylene and the two of us, too. Cole went back to the popular group and he’s ignoring me. The twins aren’t talking to each other either.

I wanted to tell Cole that I was sorry. I wanted to admit my feelings to him, just like he did to me. But I never had the chance. Why can’t I redo things?!

“Aesha, sweetie, breakfast time!” Mom called out from downstairs. I looked at myself in front of the mirror again. Pony-tailed hair, a simple baggy t-shirt, white pants and sneakers. Perfect.

“I’m coming!” I answered. I ran out of my room and down the stairs, towards the kitchen. Sean was there, busy with his Ipad. My sister was nowhere to be seen.

“Sweetie, can you please wake your sister up?” mom asked. I nodded and headed to Shaelon’s room, which was somewhere near mine.

I cautiously knocked on the door. No sound came out.

I knocked again.

Still nothing.

Slowly, but carefully, I opened the door to reveal my sister sleeping. Her brown hair was a morning mess and her arm was covering her eyes. And she seems to be snoring softly. I walked over to her bed and she suddenly jerked out of her sleep.

“Aesha!” she grumbled. I can’t remember her to be a light sleeper…

“Sorry, Mom told me to wake you up,” I apologized. She pulled her covers closer to her, “Yeah, wake me up. Not turn my room into snow world,”

I blinked a couple times, “It’s that cold? I’m that cold right now?”

She rolled her eyes, “Yes! Do you even know what season it is now?”

Shaelon sighed in frustration and got off her bed, “Stay here while I get ready,” she said, “We’ll go down together.”

I patiently waited for her to take a nice morning shower and change her clothes. Then, she emerged from the bathroom, fresh and clean.

Shaelon sat on her bed, combing her hair in place. “Can I ask you something?” she said while I nodded.

“Are you on my side… or Sean’s?”

That made me all full focus on her. Why is she making me pick sides? They’re both my favorites, nobody’s greater nor less. But why, Shaelon?

“Shae, I don’t pick any side,” I replied, “If I could, I’ll choose both of you.”

She scowled at me, “What if Sean’s the bad one? What if I prove that to you? Well, he tried to hurt me with scissors in front of our friends!”

That made me wince a little. She’s got a point. Whatever she did to Sean, he had no right to hurt her like that. But I remembered what happened that day, when we were all alone in the hallway.

“But that doesn’t explain why you were acting so mean few weeks ago. It was like you were torturing him emotionally.” I blurted out. I didn’t mean to defend you, Sean. But it felt like Shaelon did something wrong, too.

“He deserved it. He’s a liar and a stealer,” I can hear Shaelon mumble.

Just when I was about to say what was that all about, Mom’s voice filled the room, “Girls, get down here now!”

“Come on, let’s go.” Shaelon said as if we talked about nothing at all.

~~~~~~~~~~

When we got downstairs, Shaelon and I headed straight to the kitchen. “Everything’s ready,” Mom announced, setting down the hot bacon and eggs for Shaelon and cold cereal for me.

Mom leaned forward on the kitchen counter, putting her hands together. “So,” she said, her eyes sparkling with excitement, “I have good news!”

Our attention turned to her.

“This man, Mr. Leigh, I’ve met in my work we’re…..um…how do I put this? We’re dating,” Mom said. Sean almost choked on his toast while Shaelon’s eyes bulged out.

My sister burst out squealing, “Oh my God, Mom! That’s so romantic!” She went into a fit of screams. After her joy died down, Mom continued, “Anyway, Christmas is coming-it’s already in two days, and he invited us to stay in a first class hotel in the center of the city. We’ll spend our Christmas there. How’s that sound?”

 Sean and Shaelon, despite for their hate for each other nowadays, willingly agreed to stay there. Because we’re not that rich, we rarely get wealthy treatments like this. They’re happy, but I remained silent.

Mom turned to me, “Sweetie, is it okay for you?”

I hesitated for a while. Sure, I wanted to go but my powers…I do not want to freeze the entire hotel. Damn, it was so tempting to say yes.

“Mom, my powers…” My voice trailed off. Mom looked at me, eyes full of concern, “Don’t worry, Aesha. It’s going to be fine,”

“Then…I’ll go.” I said.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Cole’s POV

Some weeks after I left Aesha in that rooftop, now I’m sitting on our living couch, trying to survive the Winter season.

Cylene came and sat beside me, her worried sister mode on. “Cole,” she said, “I know you’re frustrated with the cold and all, but don’t worry, it’ll be over soon.”

No, I’m frustrated because I left Aesha. Ever since I left the girl I’ve fallen for, the cold’s really getting into me. It wasn’t like those moments when the cold never bothered me when I'm with Aesha. Right now, it’s killing me.

I didn’t answer my sister. I never told her about everything.

Cylene put a hand on my shoulder and squeezed it, “Just hold on for a while,”

The front door burst open, to my surprise. Oh God, that person standing on the doorway…

“Dad?” Cylene asked.

Sure enough, it was our dad, in his business suit and his hair cut perfectly. He looked professional as ever.

“Cole, Cylene,” he said. That set Cylene into a more frustrated mood than me. She stormed off the living when Dad walked in, towards her room. She’s always like that whenever one of or both our parents came home.

Dammit, Cy, why did you leave me here alone? With him?

“Hey, Dad,” I said to him.

Dad sat on a chair in front of me, with a serious look. “Cole,” he began, “would you like to spend your Christmas somewhere else?”

I nervously glanced at the direction where Cylene went. “I don’t know, Dad. Cylene would never agree,”

“I’m not asking her. I want to hear your answer.”

Me? Only me? Cylene’s not coming along? I didn’t want to leave my sister behind. But our dad always gets his way, no matter what.

“Uh, yeah sure. Are we going right now? I need to pack my things…” I said hesitantly.

“Don’t worry, your bags are already outside,” he said.

Well, that’s creepy, I thought.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The hotel was nothing special though, just the usual our family goes to. It had a lot of floors, a carpeted floor. There are some couches and PCs in the reception area, plus a little restaurant. Of course, it also had a swimming pool outside.

It was already afternoon when we got there.

“Why this place, anyway?” I asked Dad while we went inside.

“Leigh’s taking his new girlfriend and her family here. It happened that she was a single mom, so Leigh decided to invite us.

“Oh,” I said. Ah, Mr. Leigh, one of my Dad’s business partners and the owner of this very hotel. I actually never paid attention to Dad’s business sermons, but he mentioned Mr. Leigh so many times, that the things about him was already stuck to my mind.

We went to the second floor, which was like a green room, or where the guests stay before they enter their suites. There waiting for us was Leigh himself, looking as stern as my Dad.

Did I care? No.

I had my red headphones on and I was just concentrating on the music. I flopped down on one of the comfortable couches and started snacking on the chocolate bars.

The two men began talking to each other while I didn’t pay attention. A few minutes later, the elevator stopped in our floor.

“Ah, that must be them,” Leigh said. I looked up from my phone. Out the elevator stepped out…

Oh, damn. It was her.

She didn’t seem to notice me. She was busy…panicking. Why was she panicking? She whispered to her Mom, who – apparently - was Leigh’s ‘girlfriend’, and she went away.

Since the twins were busy arguing silently and the adults were talking, I curiously followed her to wherever she went.

After passing a hallway, I spotted her running towards a random suite. Whoa, if they’re spending the Christmas here…then it’s probably her suite.

The room had to beds in it and looked like a normal suite for a hotel. Though, I waited outside. Her powers, I wondered.

With the coldness I could feel inside that room, I burst inside.

~~~~~~~~~

Aesha’s POV

Don’t worry, Aesha, I repeated to myself for the umpteenth time, your powers are going to be fine.

But noooo, it’s not fine because I’m here, standing inside a hotel suite, with a snowflake on my hand and, of course, Cole leaning on the doorframe, a smirk on his face.

Damn.

It’s been weeks, Cole. Freakin’ weeks.

“H-hi,” I said awkwardly. Please don’t be mad, please don’t be mad.

“Never thought to see you here, ice girl,” he said. Oh, good, the jerk is back.

“Y-yeah,” I said, “I didn’t expect you to be here either.” I gulped.

A man went inside the room, who – I think – is Mr. Leigh, my mom’s boyfriend and my possible future stepdad.

“Oh, I see you’ve met each other,” he said. We both nodded our heads.

“Good,” Mr. Leigh said, “because you’re sharing this room.”

“What!?” Cole and I chorused. Please tell me this is all a dream.

“We want you to get together, to know each other better,” Leigh explained. Right, as if we don’t know each other yet.

I took a deep breath. Things are already awkward between me and Cole. And then I’m going to share a room with him!?

“We’ll be glad to share a room, Mr. Leigh.” Cole said.

Mr. Leigh scanned our eyes for a millisecond, “But don’t do anything…illegal.”

Really? Is that what adults think of us now? He hates me!

Then he left us. Alone in the room. Oh, great.

“I have to go,” I said to Cole and headed for the bathroom. What was I gonna do in there?

I closed the bathroom door softly behind me and leaned on it. I sank down to the bathroom floor and looked up at the ceiling. This was not how I wanted to spend my holidays. With a guy who left me and who’s mad at me. With a guy I really liked.

I balled my hand into a loose fist then unfolded it, revealing a shiny sparkling snowflake. I made the snowflake glide and fly across the room, and it ended up exploding into snow dust.

What if my powers suddenly go off when unexpected? Damn, I should be careful.

I opened the door a little, checking if Cole’s in the room. I just want to curl up into a ball and cry and cry. I regret how I acted. I acted stupid, and I wasn’t aware that I would hurt his feelings.

I stood up from my spot and walked towards my bed. The switched off air conditioner was, no doubt, Cole’s doing. I didn’t bother turning it on again.

I lay down on the soft bed, softer than my own bed. I hugged my knees while the tears started to fall down. It was all my fault. I was the stupid one.

The tears flowed freely causing the pillow to be covered with it. I don’t know how to apologize to him. To Cylene and Kennedy, it was easy but it’s difficult for someone you like romantically. A lot.

~~~~~~~~~

Cole’s POV

Dad told me to go fetch Aesha some moment after I just went out of our room. He said we were having snacks.

Okay, why me?

I tried to complain but, as I said before, he gets his way. So I ended up trudging towards our suite.

I know Aesha was thinking that the whole think was awkward, but I secretly liked us sharing the room. That way, I get to be closer to her and keep an eye on her.

I slowly pushed the door open, to reveal Aesha sleeping. She’s so cute when she’s sleeping. I creeped over to her bed and studied her face.

She was as beautiful and gorgeous as always, with her sleeping.

Absentmindedly, I leaned closer and pecked her cold lips.

Maybe I should forgive her?

~~~~~~~~~~~

Hi. Is this chapter short? Don’t worry, I decided to cut it into i-don’t-know-how-many-parts ‘coz it’s too long

-Vireen