Dedicated to @AsdfghjklIcanteven

"What no hug?" He asks as he extends his arms open for me.

I smile before walking over to him and giving him a warm hug which he returned.

"I have missed you." I state as we pull away from the hug.

"Same here." He replies. "You look stunning."

I smile at him before responding, "Thank you, you don't look so bad yourself."

"Would you like anything to drink Mathew?" Blake asks.

"No thanks," He responds. "So how is college."

We walk towards the couch and take a seat before Blake answers, "Good, how about you how is MAP?"

"It's okay, wish I had stayed in normal school though." Matt responds.

Matt attended Juilliard's Music Advancement Program, he had applied since the age of eight. Impressive right?  

"Is it really that hard?" I ask.

"No it just doesn't have my best friend there." Matt responds causing me to smile.

"So what instrument do you play?" Jessica asks.

"I play the piano." Mathew responds. "Ashley and I used to play perform at our church assemblies or even on the holidays. While I played the piano she would sing."

"She does sing good." Ryder states grabbing our attention.

Oops, I forgot they were here.

"Really, I thought you said know one knew you could sing except me." Matt asks raising an eyebrow.

"Well for the record I didn't mean to let him know it was an accident." I reply.

"I still don't get how we volunteered to sing when we didn't say anything, we were just arguing how Ryder kissed Ashley." Came the voice of Andrew as he entered the living room.

"You kissed her?!" Sandra yelled out at the same time that Amelia yelled out, "Oh my god you to kissed again?"

"Again?!" Sandra exclaims.

Blake, Jessica, and Mathew stared at us amused by what was going on.

"Ryder I need an explanation right now." Sandra orders.

"Sandra calmed down the first kiss-"

"It was a dare." I state.

"Shut up I wasn't talking to you, you little b-"

"I swear if you finish that sentence there will be no tomorrow for you." Amelia threatens.

"The first kiss was a dare, we were at a party and we were both drunk. The second one, i-it I...I um," Ryder turns around to look at me for help.

Don't look at me I didn't kiss you kissed me, I wanted to say but decided not too.

"The second one we were at the mall and I-"

"You guys went to the mall without me?!" Sandra exclaims as she turns to look Catherine in disbelief.

"I don't hang out with liars, and people who talk behind my back." Catherine simply replies and I finally notice the tension that has been going on between these two since Sandra arrived.

"Guys, guys calm down its Christmas Eve, we all should be happy not fighting over stupid things. Now let's all calm down and deal with this some other day." Blake states and we all oblige.

Andrew sits next to me and I kick his leg.

"Ou, what'd you do that for?" He asks as he rubs his leg.

"Next time keep your mouth shut okay." I reply.

"Okay, damn woman so violent." Andrew responds.

"Did you and Ryder actually kiss?" Mathew asks.

"Yeah but i-it was just a dare." I respond.

"Oh okay." Mathew replies. "So how have you been?"

I smile at him grateful that he changed the subject. I honestly didn't want to talk about the worst night of my life.

***

"Okay everybody time open on of our presents." My mom states.

We all head towards the living and hover around the Christmas tree.

"Wait aren't we supposed to open these until tomorrow?" Ryder asks.

"No actually we have a tradition where we open one gift we got on Christmas Eve at midnight, but we can only open one gift. Tomorrow we open the rest." I explain.

"Oh." Ryder replies.

"Ashley you should open mine first." Andrew yells and I smile at him.

Before I can go over to get the gift Andrew got me a box with a ribbon on it is placed in front of me.

"Merry Christmas Ashley," Mathew states as he hands me the box. "I wanted to see your reaction when you opened the gift so here."

I smile at him before grabbing the box and opening it up. Inside there was a gold necklace with my name engraved on it.

I hug Mathew as I state, "Thank you Matt."

"You're welcome beautiful." Mathew responds.

I stare up at him in surprise, that's the first time he has called me that. I give him a small smile which he returned.

"How dare you get that girl something but not me!" We hear Sandra exclaim before she marched out of the house.

Ryder stares at her and just rolls his eyes as I hear him mutter, "Drama queen."

"Let me guess you forgot to get little miss greedy something?" I ask Ryder.

"It's not like I meant to forget." He responds as he scratches the back of his neck.

I let out a soft chick before replying, "Come on help me pass out the annual Carter cookies."

As we enter the kitchen I find Blake eating the cookies.

"Blake!" I exclaim and he jumps back before clutching his heart.

"Don't scare me like that woman." He responds before continuing to eat the cookie.

I snatch the cookie from his hand and place it on the plate.

"What the-"

"What do you think you are doing?" I ask.

"I was eating my delicious cookie before you rudely snatched it from my hand." He responds.

"Those cookies are for the guests not for you." I respond.

"Well I made them so I can eat them if I want." Blake replies.

I feel someone's arm rub on mine and I quickly turn around to find Ryder with two cookies, one in his hand and another in his mouth.

"What?" He asks innocently while Blake just laughs.

"Stop eating the cookies!" I yell before snatching the cookie from him.

I eat it and they both stare at me in disbelief, "I made the first batch which thank to you went to waste but it still counts so I can eat a cookie if I want to."

I grab the tray of cookies and start walking towards the living room before I turn around and state, "By the way there aren't going to be anymore cookies for you too."

I hear them whine before I enter the living room. I place the tray on the coffee table and by the time Blake and Ryder appear at the living room entrance the cookies are gone.

"My cookies!" Blake exclaims as he picks up the empty plate. "Greedy pigs."

We all laugh before everyone finishes their last cookie. I still had a cookie left and so Ryder came towards me and sat on the couch next to me.

"Hey Ashley." He states sweetly.

"Hi Ryder." I respond knowing exactly what he was up to

"Can I get that cookie please?" He asks.

I shake my head and state, "Nope."

"But as I said please." He whines.

"Oh well guess you will have to wait until next Christmas." I respond before biting the cookies.

As I was about to eat the other half the cookie is snatched out of my hand and placed into Ryder's big mouth.

"A-whole!" I state as I stare at my poor cookie being eaten by the bastard.

"I asked nicely." He replied before swallowing down the cookie.

Rest in pieces my poor cookie.

"You do know I bit that, so you just ate my germs." I respond.

"Yeah and?" He asks.

"What if I had harpies or something, if you die just know it was your fault not mine." I reply.

"Oh god." Ryder states before running to the sink causing me to laugh. 

"Oh my god you guys would make a cute couple." Amelia states before I almost choke on my drink.

"No, no, no! Him and me don't make a cute couple, nope not at all. I can't like my enemies brother." I respond.

"Ah so your saying you like him, I see." Amelia replies.

"No, I never said that stop putting words in my mouth." I state.

"Mhmm." Amelia replies as I throw her a death stare.

Fudge no, I can't like my enemies brother. Can I?

***

I snuggled into the warm covers that block the cold from freezing my body as I snuggled into the pillow. Ah, Christmas Day so peaceful, so quiet, so-

"Ashley Imani Carter wake up, it's Christmas Day!" I hear my mom yell as she banged on the door. "Wake up, it's Christmas!"

I rub my eyes and with a groan get out of bed. The alarm clock marked six thirty and I was immediately put in a bad mood. My dad opens the door and steps into my bedroom.

"Here is your sweater your mom wants everyone downstairs in five minutes for the family photo, here give this to Ryder and Catherine." Dad states before handing me three ugly Christmas sweaters.

"Not again." I whine as my dad closes the door behind him.

I tie my hair into a neat side ponytail before walking towards Ryder's door. I knock once, twice, thrice before the door opens.

I look down and get Ryder's sweater as I state, "Took you long enough to answer the god-"

Standing in front of me was a shirtless Ryder with his toned chest and muscular arms on show.

I guess I had been staring at him for longer than I intended since he then stated, "Done checking me out?"

I could feel my cheeks heat up as I look away to avoid eye contact with him.

"No, I mean there is nothing to check out." I reply and his face drops causing my to laugh.

One point me, Ryder zero.

"Oh really then what do you call this?" Ryder asks as he shows off his muscles.

I pat his shoulder before stating, "I don't want to destroy your fragile ego so yeah I am sure that is all pure muscle and not fat."

Ryder stares at me as he opens and closes his mouth and saying nothing, just like a fish.

"Now here out this on, we are taking a family picture." I order.

"But we aren't fa-"

"Just out it on and stop being stubborn." I reply.

"Saids you." Ryder murmurs and I just roll my eyes.

I knock on Catherine's door and she quickly opens it unlike her brother.

"What do you need?" She asks.

"My mom needs you to put this on and come downstairs." I reply as I hand her her sweater.

"Okay I will be down there in a bit." She responds.

I walk down the stairs and my mom is setting up everything for the traditional Carter Family Christmas picture.

"Ryder, Ashley, Catherine here put these on and stand by the tree. Where is Blake?" My mom asks as she hands us Christmas hats.

"Do we really have to do this mom?" Blake whines as he walks down the stairs.

"Yes we do." My responds.

Blake groans as he walks over to the Christmas tree and places his Christmas hat on.

"What are we doing?" Catherine asks.

"Taking our traditional Christmas Day picture," Blake starts.

"And it involves is wearing these ugly sweaters and standing in front of the Christmas tree as a family." I finish.

"You guys have a bunch of traditions." Ryder responds.

"We are a traditional family." Blake states.

"Okay everyone on the count of three say Merry Christmas!" My mom orders.

We all do as told and the picture comes out "perfect" the first time which I was thankful for. Last year we had to take twenty, TWENTY pictures until my mom finally got her "perfect" picture.

"Can we go open our presents now?" Harper asks and mom nods.

We all walk grab our Christmas gifts and give them to each other. Ryder walks over to me and hands me a small rectangular shaped box wrapped in wrapping paper with a bow on it.

"This is for me?" I asked surprised.

"Yeah, I thought I should at least get you something for letting me stay at your house and not killing even though I am pretty sure you want." Ryder replies causing me to smile.

I take off the wrapping paper before opening up the box. Inside there was a beautiful hold locket with an A engraved on it. I look up at Ryder before I unexpectedly hug him and he wraps his arms around me.

"Thank you." I state.

"Was it a perfect Christmas present?" He asks and I suddenly realize.

"Was I talking to myself out loud again?"

"Yeah." Ryder replies.

"Well thank you, it was a perfect Christmas present. Although this isn't the one I saw at the store this one looks more expensive." I state.

Ryder scratches his neck and responds, "It was only worth two hundred dollars."

My eyes pop out and I reply, "Ryder I can't accept this, why would you waste your money on me like that!"

"Ash it's okay, I have the money to buy it. I am just glad I was able to put that beautiful smile on your face." He responds.

I feel my heart skip a beat at his words as I smile up at him. Wait what?! My heart? Skip a beat? No, no, no! Nope I can't like Ryder no, sir.

"Thank you Ryder, I got you a pair of clothes and sneakers." I respond as I hand him a bag and box.

"Well thank you, first time I get more than one present." Ryder replies.

I stare at him confused but he ignores it. He smiles as we tried on the sneaked and mouths thank you. I grab a bag from the Christmas Tree and walk towards Blake.

"Merry Christmas Blake." I state as I hand him the bag.

"Ou yay my present can't wait to see what it is." Blake states excitedly. "A bear thank you Ash."

"Look what's in between the bear and heart." I reply.

Blake finds a box inside the bear and opens it up.

"Oh my god a time travel watch, Ashley you shouldn't have." He replied causing me to laugh.

"I wish, they ran out of those so I had to get you a regular watch." I joke back.

Blake laughs before hugging me and stating, "Thank you sis, it's a wonderful present. Now I can get to places in time."

"No problem." I reply.

I grab two other bags that were near the back of the tree and sit next to Catherine who was helping my brother set up the toy he got.

So she can be nice.

"I got you these two because I didn't know what to get you." I state as I hand her a bag which contained the box set I bought at Victoria's Secret.

"Thank you." She replies with a small smile.

"I also got you this since I know how much you love your jewelry." I reply as I hand her the box.

She opens it up and inside is a silver glass jewelry box with her name engraved on it. She stares at it before opening it up and music starts playing.

"It's a music jewelry box so whenever you open it-"

"I can have something to listen to while I chose my jewelry." Catherine finished my sentence.

"Yeah, how did you know I was going to say that." I ask.

"When did you go into my room?!" She asks as she turns around to look at me with tears in her eyes.

"What do you mean I haven't gone into your room?" I reply dumbfounded.

"Don't act dumb with me you took this from there, why just why?!" Catherine exclaims before running up the stairs with my parents behind her.

"I know you were trying to get revenge on us but you went to far with this!" Ryder yells and I stare at him confused.

What did I do wrong? I don't even know what happened. All I did was give her a gift and then she suddenly turn into a mad man.

"What the hell did I do?" I ask Blake and he wipes away the year that I didn't even know slipped before he hugs me.

"It's nothing," He replies as he rubs my back before murmuring, "They still haven't told you."

What haven't they told me?

•~•~•
Hey my lovelies!!! So sorry I didn't double update like I said I would but I was pretty busy both December 24 and 25. I don't have service right and I had to stay at my grandparents house (which has wifi that is not good) and I finally came home so I was finally able to update. I hope you guys enjoyed reading this chapter. This chapter is dedicated to AsdfghklIcanteven for being a great support, thank you. Don't forget to vote, comment, and share.

QOD: How were your holidays?

Thank you so much for reading, bye my lovelies xoxo.

Mathew

(Mathews Gift to Ashley)

(Ashley's Dad ugly sweater)

(Ashley's Mom Ugly Sweater)

(Chris's ugly sweater)

(Harper's ugly sweater)

(Blake's Ugly Sweater)

(Catherine's Ugly Sweater)

(Ashley's Ugly Sweater)

(Ryder's Ugly Sweater)

(Bear Ashley gave to Blake)

(Watch Ashley gave to Blake)

(Locket Ryder gave to Ashley)

(Jewelry Box Ashley gave to Catherine)