christmas eve, 2007

laughter was heard throughout the huge kitchen as the armani family along with alexandra were decorating their own individual gingerbread houses. "i think alexandra has us all beat!" giorgio pointed out with his raspy tone making alexandra chuckle as she began to spread her frosting out

"no sir, i think yours looks better than mine." alexandra complimented making him flash a smile. grant glanced over at her with a big smile happy that she was here.

alexandra motioned for grant to come closer to her. she then purposefully hit icing across his nose making his mouth drop. "good one alex!!" his father yelled out making them all chuckle

"you are lucky you're all dressed up." grant said playfully rolling his eyes, quickly wiping the icing off his nose. the day with the armani's was quite literally the perfect day

donatella and alexandra came over this morning. the first thing they all did was a huge christmas puzzle together which was super fun. it was peaceful and nice to catch up with them while sorting the puzzle out. after that, the adults went in the kitchen and began to cook and bake. alexandra and grant insisted on helping but the adults shooed them away

grant and alex then went and watched home alone. after a couple of hours, donatella had left. her and elsbeth had plans of going into town to take care of some business. they then went on a candy cane hunt with the adults included after cooking which took awhile since candy canes were all around the house and outside. then after that fun scavenger hunt, they play christmas charades then decorated gingerbread cookies

after that, they had dinner. cleaned the kitchen up, now there they are. "alexandra darling, your aunt told me you are bringing in the new year in africa for humanitarian work." giorgio said making alex nod

"yes sir. i'm really excited to go over there and help as much as possible." she stated being genuine. donatella sadly can't tag along, but she made a huge and generous donation to the organization with her niece

"it is incredible how amazing you are at the ripe age of seventeen." grant's mother said in complete awe making alex lightly blush at the compliment

"your aunt donatella raised such a good person. it is amazing to see you grow into an incredible woman that we all knew you would be." grant's dad said making alexandra quickly fans her eyes to keep from getting emotional

"okay enough. i'm wearing makeup for once guys." she stated in seriousness but everyone bursted out into laughter. suddenly a horn honked from outside. alexandra quickly stood up and ran over to the nearest window to see that it was her driver waiting to take her to the catton estate. alexandra sighed before turning around, "time for you to go?" grant asked as if he didn't want her to leave. she quickly nodded making everyone stand up. she hugged everyone goodbye before grant walked her to the door

they both walked down the steps together. alexandra deeply sighed, "today was so much fun, i had a really good time." grant was clearly sad that she had to leave. he wanted her to stay for a little bit longer

"are you sure you can't stay just for a couple of more hours?" grant attempted to ask hoping for a yes. alexandra bit her lip then shook her head, "i would love too but my aunt is waiting for me. dinner at the catton's starts soon. elsbeth wants me to be there on time." she explained making him chuckle

"it was worth a shot." grant said with sadness plastered all over his face. alexandra felt bad but what could she do? she was torn in between

she quickly hugged him, "we'll see each other soon." his arms wrapped tightly around her waist as he quickly rested his head on top of hers. he caressed her quickly before they both broke away from the hug.

she headed towards the car making get out to come open the door for her but she insisted nicely that she could do it herself. alexandra pressed the button making the window go down to get a last glimpse at grant. "text me when you make it."

she shot him a grin, "i will, merry christmas."

grant quickly licked his lips, "merry christmas ya filthy animal." he said making her chuckle. he blew her a kiss as he watched the car go off into the sunset. alexander watched him until they left out of the gate. she then put her window back up and sat in silence the entire ride which was an estimated forty minutes away from saltburn.

when she arrived, there were tons of cars parked outside but luckily the driver was able to drop her off in front of the house. she immediately tipped him and stepped out to see duncan standing in the doorway with a smile.

alexandra quickly ran up to him giving him a huge hug. she hasn't seen him or the catton's other than felix in months. after the workshop, she was swamp with modeling jobs, photoshoots, endorsement deals, meetings and so much more. she hasn't had any time to visit any of her friends plus all of her friends are in college or modeling meaning both sides were busy.

she kept up with everyone through phone calls and texting of course. after their hug, duncan escorted her inside. there were christmas decorations plastered around. he took her into the dining room where everyone was sitting. "there she is!!" sir james yelled making everyone turn to look over at her

felix lit up like a christmas tree, happy to see his friend. he quickly stood up and came over to hug her and squeezed her tightly. he then kissed her forehead. after that she greeted and hugged the rest of the catton family. she then tightly hugged her aunt before sitting beside her.

she looked around the room looking to see if oliver was here but she didn't see him anywhere. she looked over at felix and mouthed, "where is oliver?" she asked hoping that he was here considering she peeped an empty chair among the room

felix pointed his finger upwards motioning that he is upstairs. she frowned quickly wondering why he wasn't down here. duncan and the rest of the serves began giving everyone their plates.

alexandra quickly scooted her chair back, "may i be excused for a quick second?" donatella gave her a quick frown then hit her arm

"donatella, she is fine. go ahead darling!!" elsbeth said with a smile. alexandra gave her a smile before heading out of the room with venetia and farleigh watching her meanwhile felix was chatting it up with one of the female guests. donatella quietly sipped her wine noticing

alex immediately headed upstairs and towards oliver's room. the door was open so she happily peeped to see oliver sitting on the bed. he was wearing an all white tuxedo with a black tie looking handsome as ever. alexandra noticed he was wearing his glasses this time. but either way he was cute with or without them

oliver hadn't noticed that someone was in the room until alexandra let out a cough. oliver quickly shot his head up, his eyes immediately softened upon seeing her. he quickly flashed a small smile at her, "what are you doing here?" he asked happily

"i can't pass up a chance to spend christmas with the catton's." she said sarcastically making him lightly chuckle. he stood up and walked over to her giving her a comforting hug. he was really happy to see her

they both broke away from hugging and oliver quickly noticed her festive outfit, "this is our second time just magically matching." alex said making him nod

"i don't mind it a bit." he said quietly. "what are you doing up here? dinner is being served right now as we speak."

oliver shrugged, "i just didn't feel like coming down..." he said slyly, he then sighed, "but since you are here, i could come downstairs." he suggested making her smile. alex didn't hesitate to grab his hand and continue to make their way downstairs

when they made it towards the table, oliver gently let her hand go but she didn't take offense to it. "everything okay alex?" sir james asked as she headed back to her chair

"yes sir, thank you!!" she could feel farleigh and venetia's eyes burning as they stared her down but she refused to make eye contact with them. oliver slickly smirked.

a few hours later, everyone was chatting amongst themselves in a different part of the house. alexandra was drinking the night away while donatella watched her. elsbeth whispered in her eye, "i have never seen her get this drunk.."

donatella sighed seeing her niece chug down a bottle of wine. she could barley stand up on her own, "this time of the year is really tough on her..." she admitted to her close friend, elsbeth gave her a sad frown knowing what she meant

her father absolutely loved christmas. he always went all out for the holidays. they always did classic and fun family traditions together such as picking out fresh christmas trees, stringing popcorn, bake cookies and so much more. she missed her dad more than anything.

oliver watched her as she stood by the vintage record player. i'd like you for christmas by julie london was playing as she carefully leaned over the radio with a goofy smile plastered onto her face. alexandra then made her way over to the bar grabbing a shot glass chugging down some vodka. it immediately burnt her throat making her squint her eyes. donatella came over and grabbed her arm, "alex why don't we get you into bed hm?" she whispered making alex frown

"i'm so good. i'm not tired." she said with a slur as she looked over at oliver who was sitting by himself. her aunt began to talk but alexandra completely ignored her heading over to oliver with stumbled legs due to the high level of alcohol in her system. she fell immediately onto the couch laying her head down on his lap letting out a cute, drunk laugh

"having fun?" he asked in a serious tone while looking down at her. alexandra quickly laughed before touching his nose and nodding. he hated seeing her like this. oliver sensed that she was hurt about something but he hadn't figured it out quite yet. she nodded

oliver titled his head a smidge, "what are you trying to run away from?" he asked cautiously making alexandra chuckle, "nothing!! i'm trying to have fun." she cried out

he sighed, "you don't have to lie to me, alexandra." he stated making her roll her eyes, she pushed herself up and quickly stood up. the room felt like it was spinning for a second. oliver was about to get up and help her but she flipped him off, "i don't need your help."

one of the guests quickly spoke up, "can we change this song?" he asked. alexandra had the song on repeat at least over four times. when he went over to attempt to touch the music box, she felt herself getting defensive.

alexandra quickly stormed over and grabbed his hand squeezing it super hard, "don't touch the goddamn record player!!" she yelled aloud making everyone look over at her. everyone was taken back by her sudden outburst

"alexandra!!" donatella yelled out in disbelief as she pushed the man away from her. elsbeth quickly intervened, "honey c'mon, let me take you to bed."

"i got her." felix quickly called out sitting his drink down beside the girl. alexandra was about to bust her ass but he quickly grabbed her. everyone watched as he escorted her out of the room. donatella wasn't even embarrassed just hurt. she quickly went over and apologized to the man for her niece's outburst

he took her to what was basically her room of the house at this point. alexandra had her face buried in his chest as he opened the door, he then gently placed her onto the bed. he quickly took her shoes off and her jacket along with her hat. just as he was about to walk out, alexandra suddenly grabbed his arm. she quickly got up onto her knees making him turn around

"don't leave me please." she begged making felix shut his eyes and sigh. alexandra yanked onto his t-shirt quickly kissing him on the lips which caught him by surprise but he kissed her back instantly. alexandra began unbuttoning his shirt making sure not to break away from his soft lips. felix gently pushed her down onto the bed continuing the make out session

alexandra suddenly felt a lump in her throat, she pushed him off her then bursted into the bathroom quickly shutting the door. he could hear her violently vomiting in the toilet. felix mentally cursed at himself then punched the air before buttoning his shirt back up then walking out of her room

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