A little something for the holidays.. inspired by Carly Rae Jepsen's rendition of Last Christmas ;) Best to play it while reading :D

Happy Holidays everyone!

xoxo Lexi1989

LAST CHRISTMAS

CHAPTER 1

A snowflake lands on my gloved palm and I stare at it before I shake it off. It's that time of the year. Christmas season. The season of giving gifts, drinking eggnog and kissing under mistletoes and all that crap. I don't mean to sound so cynical but I hate Christmas. Call me the Grinch or whatever, but I have a very good reason for feeling this way. It's because I got my heart broken on Christmas.

I know what you're thinking. What kind of cruel, heartless, jerk breaks a woman's heart on Christmas? Well, I can without a doubt, tell you that Natsume Hyuuga is that cruel, heartless, jerk. He's been my best friend since we were in high school. It all started when some of our classmates were bothering him and I told them off for being noisy. Why would they bug him, you ask? Well, it's only because Natsume Hyuuga is the campus crush. At the tender age of eight, all the girls at school went gaga over his brooding but handsome looks. Now that we were sophomores, he was the female population's idol.

I used to be one of those girls, but since we were in the same class, I didn't want to appear too overtly forward, so I kept my feelings to myself. One day, all these girls were crowding in the classroom, making him more temperamental as usual. Since I couldn't get to my desk, I screamed at them to get out, else I'd scratch their faces out, proudly displaying my long but well groomed nails. They scrambled out as fast as they could and I sat down on my desk, minding my own business, waiting for the school day to start.

The next thing I know, Natsume standing in front of my desk. I quickly became nervous, because he didn't smile (not that anyone except his best friend, Ruka Nogi has seen it), and I suddenly feared he was mad because I scared away the fangirls.

"Thank you." He said at me and he gave me one of his rare smiles.

"You're welcome." I said shyly. I could feel my neck and face burn up with the blush I know was evident all over my tiny little face.

That was just the beginning. As I was walking home after school, he fell into step next to me and I felt my heart pound. He lived in the other side of town, so there wasn't any reason he was going my way.

"What are you doing?" I finally asked him after walking in silence for a few minutes.

"Walking you home." He shrugged.

"Why?"

"Because you're not like those other girls. I like that." He had his hands in his pockets, and he was looking directly at me.

"Not like them how?" I asked though I knew the answer.

"You don't go all mushy and crazy at the sight of me." He smiled smugly.

"And why does that give you the liberty to walk me home?" I raised a brow at him.

"Because you are now my friend." His tone had this certainty that made you never want to question it so I let that be the end of the conversation since we had reached my house.

"This is me." I gestured at our house as I opened the gate. "Would you like to come in for something to drink before you go? It's a long walk home for you."

"How do you know where I live?" He asked with narrowed eyes.

"You're Natsume Hyuuga, campus idol. Everybody knows where you live." I nervously answered and he rolled his eyes.

"Fine." He said as he followed me inside.

There was a basket of strawberries on the counter, most likely brought in by my mom who was on a juice diet and I grabbed a few and made some smoothies. We spent the afternoon doing homework and talking about ourselves. And that is how our friendship started.

I was the subject of envy of every girl on campus when they learned that Natsume was spending time with me. I was that girl, the girl that Natsume Hyuuga chose to be with. We would go to the movies together, hang out either at his place or mine or Ruka's. And I felt special. Little by little, my hidden feelings for him grew, though I never really told him about it and thinking about it now, he never really told me if he felt something for me either.

Rumors circulated that I was his girlfriend when he asked me to be his prom date. I laughed it off and scoffed at it but deep inside, I was happy. Senior Year was the best year of my life. I would be graduating with honors, captain of the volleyball club, attending a prestigious University after I graduate, and to top it all off, my prom date is the hottest, most sought after guy in school. Never mind that there wasn't any officiality to it. The fact that he asked me to prom meant something.

During the last dance, he held me close and I inhaled in his scent of peppermint and sandalwood. His hands were on my waist and my head was on his shoulder.

"Thank you for being such a cool best friend." He murmured.

I raised my head and looked up into his captivating crimson eyes. My heart fluttered and my mind raced, thinking this might be the moment that he confesses his love to me. I said nothing and gave him a shy smile, giving him an opportunity to start talking. To my dismay, he remained silent and once the dance ended, he drove me home. That small setback didn't deter me though. I figured before we leave for Uni, I'd talk to him about this, and finally ask where our 'friendship' was headed.

That plan never worked because he left early since he was in the early honors program. He graduated top of the class after all. We still kept in touch everyday. There were lots of avenues for communication. There was Facebook, Skype, calls and text. And I took it as a good sign. No guy would stay in touch with just a friend, right? A girl would have to mean a lot to him if he kept in touch because even Ruka had mentioned that he and Natsume barely talked on Facebook. I felt even more elated when during Christmas break, Natsume asked if he could visit me citing he had something to tell me. I wasn't going home for the holidays since my parents were travelling so I told him he was more than welcome to spend Christmas with me at my two bedroom apartment.

So he spent Christmas break with me. He helped me pick out a small tree and we decorated it with stringed popcorn. I made eggnog and Christmas cookies. And we sat down by the fire in front of the tree on Christmas Eve, Christmas carols softly playing in the background from my phone. It was ten minutes till 12 midnight and we were lounging around, just watching the fire blaze in the fireplace.

"So, what did you want to tell me?" I asked him.

"It can wait." He said seriously. He had been quiet this evening after dinner. I caught him looking at his phone many times, his expression thoughtful.

He stood up, telling me to wait as he went up to his bedroom. I felt butterflies in my stomach and tried to calm myself down. This is the night that I am going to tell him how I really felt. And I knew just the opportunity on how to do it. He came down carrying a small gift box topped with a green ribbon in his hand and I felt myself blush beneath his gaze. The clock on the wall struck twelve and I could hear the fireworks begin.

"Merry Christmas." He said as he gave me the box.

I opened it to find a small gold charm bracelet. He took it out of the box and clasped it on my hand. And then he took something from his pocket. It was a small silver charm in the shape of a flame which he attached.

"You can add charms to it later on. This one symbolizes our friendship." He smiled.

"Thank you." I whispered. His face was inches from mine, his eyes on my bracelet which hung on the hand he was holding.

"Here's my present." I told him and as he looked up, I closed the gap between us and claimed his lips.

I should've known something was wrong when I felt him stiffen against me. He put his hands on my shoulder and gently pushed me away, his expression confused and his eyes searching mine for an answer. The silence hung for awhile before he finally mustered up the courage to talk.

"What happened back there?" He asked softly.

"I –" I hesitated before I finally blurted out the words I've been holding on to for so long.

"I Love you Natsume." I whispered softly, hoping and praying he felt the same.

He looked taken aback by my confession. And then he uttered the words I dreaded to hear from him.

"Sumire, I'm already seeing someone."

So I guess you can all guess what happened after that. If you didn't, here's the rundown.

I locked myself in my room. He apologized a million times (and no, it's not an exaggeration, though in reality, it was probably ten times in a span of 6 hours.). The next morning he told me he was going. It's been a year and I haven't spoken to him since.

~Last Christmas, I gave you my heart~

~But the very next day, you gave it away~

END OF CHAPTER 1

So let me know what you think?

Bet you thought it was Mikan huh?

This one will be a short multichaptered story.. probably 3 to 5 chapters just for the holidays..

I just couldn't get this thought out of my mind...

Read, Follow, Favorite and Leave a Review ;)

Ja Ne!

xoxo Lexi1989