lookie, i iz a sekrit santie!

this one's for you mersaydez (aka one of the fallen)! *cue rockstar music* i hope you like it. :)

prompts for this one were: bubbles, pandakorn, black paper moon, and soul eater.

~~ how we got into this mad situation ~~
a oneshot

I kicked the bumper of the old red truck in front of me.

"Damn, Mass, lay off the car!"

"Would you like me to kick you instead?" I growled. I sniffled, daintily swiping my nose with my violet gloved hand. "It's your effing truck that broke down. I did not sign up for this!"

Derrick ran a hand through his golden hair. A dusting of snow fell from his head as he did so, and all I managed to do was glare. It was just my luck that the one time I agreed to ride in Derrick's (my recently ex-boyfriend) truck, it would break down. We were God-knows-where, with a flat tire, six frozen kids, and it was snowing. Awesome. I didn't even want to come on this trip.

Because that was what this was supposed to be. A trip to go skiing with friends. Except when I had suggested taking a plane to the ski lodge, everyone else chose to take a road-trip. It's about the trip, Massie, Claire had said in her sappy way, not the destination. Then why the hell were we even bothering to go to the resort? That was my question.

"Seriously, Massie, just chill out. We'll be good in no time. I got this." Cam glided out from behind the vehicle, yanking a spare tire out of the back of the truck and onto the ground. He grinned at me, all charm. Cam had been Derrick's best friend for years, and while it was obvious he was on Derrick's side of the breakup, I think he enjoyed seeing me rag on him. He was stupid that way. He wasn't even wearing a coat, and it was close to freezing. Totally unstable thought processing.

Because my feelings needed to be spoken aloud, I said, "God, you guys are both so stupid." And then I stomped over to the other side of the truck, and slid into the backseat where the girls were waiting. Layne was asleep against the window, totally oblivious to the situation. Lucky bitch. Claire and Dylan were huddled together watching something on one of their iPhones. They didn't even spare me a glance.

I yanked out an earphone from Dylan's pearled ear. "What are you doing?"

Dylan grinned, shoving her hair out of her face. She looked far too happy for the situation. And her perfect red hair and Christmas painted nails didn't help the situation either. I could already feel my own hair frizzing up, revolting against the snow and cold. "Have you heard of a thing called Soul Eater?" Dylan asked. I shook my head. "Well, we're watching that. It's awesome. It was what Layne was watching before she started drooling all over the door."

I wrinkled my nose. That must have been what Layne was talking about on the way here. I've never been much of an anime person myself, so I mostly ignored her jabber. "Oh," was all I said, and then I reluctantly hopped back out of the truck. Obviously they wouldn't be of entertainment. My life sucked.

Cam had out some kind of contraption that looked like it belonged to a serial killer when I came back out into the cold. He handed it to Derrick, who coughed and awkwardly held it away from his body. "I got out the tire. You can put it on. It is your truck. Massie wasn't wrong about that part." And then Cam marched right up to me and threw an arm around my shoulders, all buddy-buddy like.

Derrick's face twisted into a scowl, marring the hotness that it usually exhibited. That was one of the many reasons I had broken up with him. He was lazy and made ugly faces. He was poo.

I shrugged off Cam's arm, and ignored the grunt he made when I did. I knocked on the back window, and Claire rolled it down for me. "Get out of the car; Derrick's replacing the tire with the spare." She nodded and woke Layne, and then the three climbed out and we all stood around awkwardly watching Derrick try to figure out how to change a tire.

"Does he even know how to do it?" Layne whispered to me. She was clutching my arm around my blanket, yawning and smirking. I was so thankful she was awake, because she was the snarky one, and she was also my best friend. Though not in that order.

I laughed. "Who knows?"

And then we stood around awkwardly some more, making fun of Derrick.

That's around the time that Layne noticed Cam didn't have on a jacket or coat. He didn't even have on a sweatshirt. Just a thin tee. She flipped.

"Cameron Fisher!" He jumped from his position sprawled on the ground. The snow had gathered lightly on him, and the white specks stood out brightly against his black hair. "What the hell are you doing?"

He blinked mismatched-blue-and-green eyes at her. There was a snowflake on his eyelash, and I had the urge to brush it away. But I didn't. That would have been weird. "What do you me—"

"Don't even say a word!" She squealed out. "You put on a coat right now, Mister!"

He grinned. "Put on a coat right now, Mister," he mocked. "I don't have a coat. And I also don't need a coat. I live for the cold."

Layne gave him a face that said he was just being a stupid boy. That's probably because he is a stupid boy. But we had established that many times already. "I don't care what you live for, Cameron. You're going to get sick and then develop some kind of disease from the low immune system and then die. And I simply don't have the money to buy a dress suitable for a funeral."

"Wear jeans," he deadpanned.

"Wear a coat," she snapped back.

As much as their back-and-forth amused me, I wasn't much feeling it in the cold. Plus, I didn't have money for a good funeral dress either. Ever since Mom and Dad had made me start paying for my own stuff, the only things I could afford were gas and deodorant. Fun stuff right there.

"Get a blanket," I told Cam, simultaneously yanking on Layne's hair to shut her up. "I'm so sick of boys being annoying."—I sent a pointed glare in Derrick's direction—"So I'd appreciate if you weren't. Please and thank you. I'm going to go over there and cuddle with a tree, and then maybe die from hypothermia."

I really am quite cynical, aren't I?

Or stupid.

Because as soon as I was about to leave, Cam grabbed my arm and grinned, his teeth shining bright and his eyes twinkling in that mischievous way he was known for. He quickly unwrapped my arms from around myself, and moved his own to do the job for me.

I had forgotten that I had the only blanket. Damn.

So here I was. Cam Fisher, Derrick Harrington's best friend, the biggest flirt in the school, the admittedly gorgeous Cam Fisher, had his toned arms wrapped around my waist, the blanket itself pulled around the both of us. His headphones hung around his neck, Black Paper Moon softly ringing in my ears. Layne was looking at us confused, and Claire and Dylan were laughing at my expression. It had to be priceless.

Dear God, did I mention his arms were around me?

I had never expected to actually enjoy such a thing. In fact, Cam had only been getting on my nerves the whole trip. Stupid comments, hints at me and Derrick. He laughed too loud and his eyes were weird, and I'd always been attracted to his dark hair, therefore I hated him.

But his arms were toned, his chest hard. His chilly fingers on my hips, barely touching the skin where my sweater had rode up in the process of attacking me, were just cold enough to make me jump. I inadvertently moved closer into his back and the feel of him behind me sent shivers that were not from cold, but completely inappropriate for the situation. This made me mad. How dare he do such a thing to me, Massie Block? I would murder him.

I moved my head back so I could see him, and tried to squirm away from his touch, but his scent—cologne and grass and cold—stunned me long enough for him to whisper, "Look at him."

Cam nodded in Derrick's direction, discreet. He was glaring, a new fire in his eyes, his tire-duty seemingly forgotten. Maybe Cam was on to something.

"Are you cold, dude?" Derrick kind of snarled it.

I leaned my head back against Cam's chest as he said, "No, not really."

Claire sighed in a way that blew imaginary bubbles of laughter into the air. "Massie asked if he wanted to share a blanket." Not exactly true, but I'm pretty sure people were beginning to see where this was going. Layne still seemed a little confused, but I think that's just because she had just woke up. It usually took her a while after naps to recuperate.

"Well," Derrick huffed. He gave me an accusing look, almost pitiful. I might have just stopped and pulled away from Cam altogether until I felt Cam's head settle on my shoulder. Encouraging me. He took such a sick satisfaction from making both Derrick and I mad.

"I'm sure you'd warm up if you did this for me," Derrick continued. "I'm sure Massie would prefer the blanket to herself."

"No!" Layne caught up. "Cam needs the blanket. He doesn't have a coat."

Derrick seemed to ignore Layne, so I leaned closer to Cam to prove a point, but I'm not even sure if Derrick could see it under the blanket. "Body heat is actually better than the blanket," I said. Which is actually very true.

"Right, well…" Derrick rubbed his neck, looked away. I was beginning to feel bad. I had broken up with him, and, honestly, he really hadn't done anything wrong for me to. He was just not what I had figured he'd be as a boyfriend. However, I can say that his arms hadn't felt nearly as good as Cam's did. Not that I was noticing or anything.

I had to move away. Derrick wasn't getting anything done with the tire, and nice arms or not, I was cold and my nose was running and I wanted to get to the damn resort before Christmas morning. We only had a few hours to go.

Right when I was about to move, Cam placed a fast kiss near my ear, and then basically shoved me away from him. "Happy holidays, all!" he yelled out, spreading his arms wide, wearing a grin even wider. What was once mischievous was now just down-right wicked. He looked delusional. "I effectively gave myself a present. I just made everyone uncomfortable, while also placing my hands on Massie Block"—he dodged a leap from Derrick—"while also pissing Derrick off."

The girls laughed. Layne didn't even flinch, just said, "Screw this, I'm not even going to go to your funeral." Derrick had turned a bright red from anger, and I just stood there stupidly.

Freaking flying pandakorns. What a damn good way to be tricked around on Christmas Eve. I thought he was on my side.

Was that even legal? I mean honestly. Christmas Eve?

Derrick finished the tire in a huff. Everyone settled down, and finally we were off to the resort once more. When we finally got there, Mom and Dad, jolly and sickeningly adorable, asked how the trip down went.

All I did was glare at them.

"Don't even bother asking. Just know that I'm taking a plane home with you guys."

~MERRY CHRISTMAS~
(or whatever else you celebrate!)

hearts to all, i wish you the best of the day.

(and mersaydez, i hope you liked it! if not, i understand. you're writing is amazing; i just hope i'm up to par!
i love you!)