Chapter 26

"Wake me up, waKE ME UP INSIDE, I CAN"T WAKE UP, WAKE ME UP INSIDE" blared across the house and as I heard it, I buried myself deeper under the blankets.

"SAVE ME, CALL MY NAME AND SAVE ME FROM THE DARK, WAKE ME UP" blared louder, penetrating through my vast layers of blankets. Giving a frustrated sigh, I got out of bed to investigate where the noise was coming from.

Putting on my dressing robe and grabbing my slippers, I dawdled out of my room in a sleepy haze. In the corridor I met Jen, dad and mom.

"Colin and Mike must be deaf or have really big earmuffs, c'mon I think it's coming from downstairs in the lounge room" murmured dad.

As we trudged down the stairs, the music got louder and we were forced to cover our ears. We entered the lounge room, and were greeted with an unbelievable sight. Sitting right next to the home entertainment system was Mike, wearing massive earmuffs, smiling.

"Michael Dominic Gardiner!!! WHAT ON EARTH DO YOU THINK YOU"RE DOING!!?? TURN THAT HORRIBLE NOISE, MUSIC RIGHT DOWN NOW!!!!!!!!" yelled mom, rivalling the music emitted from the entertainment system.

Mike reluctantly turned down the music, as mom began to berate him.

"WHAT IN GOD'S NAME DO YOU THINK YOU WERE DOING? YOU DISTURBED YOUR SISTERS FROM THEIR SLEEP! YOUR PARENTS! AND MOST LIKELY THE NEIGHBOURS! HAVE YOU HEARD OF SOMETHING CALLED CONSIDERATION?!!!" screamed mom as she tried desperately to tower over Mike.

"Of course mom, that's why I decided to wake everyone up. I wouldn't open the presents up without everyone down here to watch. Opening presents is a time for family. That's why I decided to wake everyone up" smirked Mike.

"You woke me up at (I glanced at the clock on the wall) 4.30 in the morning, so you could what????" I yelled.

"Actually, 4.15 but you guys were in to deep of a slumber. I believe you were in stage 3 of the sleep cycle; and to open the presents" replied Mike nonchalantly.

"WHY, YOU LITTLE PEPSQUEAK!!! YOU ARE SO DEAD!!!!! I SHOULD REMOVE ALL YOUR INTERNAL ORGANS! STARTING WITH YOUR… PANCREAS!!!!" I yelled as I slowly moved towards my brother, my hands in the strangling position, with dad swiftly moving behind me to hold me back.

"Let me get him, daddy let go" I whined as I struggled against my father and had to be content with shooting death glares at my brother.

"Yeah Mike, that was slightly inconsiderate. Perhaps you should have waited until maybe 6 am?" asked a sleepy Jen, a smile illuminated her tired facial features.

"But Christmas won't be Christmas without any presents" whimpered Mike, looking defeated and scared simultaneously.

"Little Women won't save you now Mike" I hollered as I untangled myself from dad's grasp.

"Well why don't we all go back to bed and get some more sleep. Will be down at shall we say 7?" asked an amused sleepy dad. Without waiting for an answer, he had already wrapped an arm around mom and was proceeding to the stairs.

Giving one last death glare at Mike, I journeyed to the stairs with Jen and Mike following from behind. Reaching my room, I close my door and shuffle to my bed. "Hmm… sleep" I murmured as I crawled under the covers.

2 hours later

"Elle! It's Christmas!!! Elle, It's Christmas! Wakie Wakie! Wake up!" shouted an enthusiastic voice, as about 80kg crushed my body.

"Gerrof me!" I murmured as I tried to curl up into a ball.

"Nooo…. You have to wake up, if you don't we can't open the presents!" whinged the voice.

"If you don't get off me right now, I'll make sure you'll never be able to wake up" I threatened as I struggled to bury the blankets.

"Aw… you're no fun! C'mon Elle, Wakie Wakie!" chirped Mike as he pulled off all my blankets.

"Ah!!! It's cold!!! What do you think you're doing? What's wrong with you?" I yelled as I tried to protect myself from the incoming cold.

"I'm just trying to wake you up, it's almost time to open the presents" replied Mike calmly.

Glancing at the clock, on bedside table, I yelled "It's only 6.45! Dad said we were opening presents at 7! I have 15 minutes more of sleep!" as I lunged at him for my blankets back.

"Yeah, but you have to get ready in the morning. No offence sis, but your breath stinks" smirked Mike.

"Why you little sadist! You stupid, chauvinistic, misogynist, moronic, JERK!" I shouted as I grabbed a pillow and whacked him on the head. "You better run!" I yelled.

With that, Mike dropped my blankets and made a run for it, with me chasing him out with my pillows.

"AARGGGHHHHHH!!!!" I screamed frustrated, as I headed towards the bathroom to brush my teeth and hair.

After I had finished, I walked out of my room and bumped into Colin. "Hey Colin" I greeted unwillingly.

"Eleanor, Good morning! It seems like everyone else is down in the lounge room already, leaving you and me" replied Colin. "Shall we go down together?" asked Colin as he did a sweeping bow and offered me his pinstriped, pyjama covered arm.

Laughing, I replied "No thanks Colin, let's just go down. I think we're late." With that, I moved swiftly down the stairs with Colin following behind like a little lost puppy dog.

"Wait Eleanor! Please…" choked Colin as he fell in front of me.

"Yes, Colin…" I asked irritated, tapping my foot on the wooden floorboards.

"I was wondering if you, well of course you would, consider becoming my girlfriend once we get back to New York City?" enquired Colin.

"I… uh…" I stuttered as he grasped my hands.

"I must have you know that I have admired you from a far for a long time Eleanor. You're beauty has enthralled and enchanted me. I don't think you could find a better match suited to you, than me. In fact, I have every intention of marrying you, but mother thinks I should start dating you before we jump to matrimony" smiled Colin as he walked towards me.

Taking a couple of steps back, I stuttered "Colin, uh… I don't… you see… I'm not…but we're COUSINS!"

"Cousins, twice removed so it is perfectly legal, Eleanor. Besides, I talked to your mother and she doesn't seem to mind at all. In fact she encouraged me to ask you today. That's why I am so enchanted with you. You're so modest. Though you do have a lot of negative traits, like some of your temper tantrums, remember the instance you ripped Mr Wickham's head off? Entirely not professional and your opinionated, immoral, wrong, controversial, radical views but we can work on that together" said Colin condescendingly before smiling.

"You, arrogant, self-obsessed moron! I don't like you!" I yelled, as I took possession back of my hands, and then turned leaving a shocked Colin in my wake.

Storming into the lounge room, I was greeted with a "There you are! What took you so long?" from Mike.

Glaring at him, I replied in a deadly, cold voice "I was detained."

"Ok," replied Jen shakily. "Why don't we start opening the presents?"

"But Colin isn't here" whined mom.

Ignoring my mom, I walked towards the Christmas tree and grabbed a present addressed to me. "Shall we start?" I asked moodily.

"That's what I'm talking about! Let's begin!" exclaimed Mike as he tore into his stash with a maniac speed.

Watching with a slight bemused expression, Jen and dad sighed before proceeding to open their presents. Half way into unwrapping the presents, Colin sullenly entered.

"Colin, why don't you take a seat next to Elle and start unwrapping your presents?" asked mom.

"Thank you, Aunt" murmured Colin as he moved to sit next to me.

Speaking in a hush tone, Colin started talking to me. "I understand why you're mad at me Eleanor. You girls like playing hard to get and I deprived you of that. I'm deeply sorry."

"You really are thick, aren't you?" I hissed back and got up to sit next to Mike, who was happily wearing the New York Knicks basketball singlet/jersey.

Chapter 27

After a frustrating morning opening presents, I decided to take a run, but this time in an icy blue, nike camisole and black short shorts. It wasn't that my presents were bad or something like that it was more the events that followed before I could open them.

"I was your girl, gave you my world, My everything, But you wouldn't see, I had your back, I backed you up, whatever I did was never enough, Just you... you, That's all you ever thought about, You... you, No one matters like you do, what goes around comes around, You should know by now" sang my ipod as I ran around the park, 4 blocks away from my house.

"Yo Evans!" shouted someone but to no avail as I had the earphones securely in my head and only heard a strange sound. Shrugging it off as an animal of nature, I picked up the pace and began to switch from my jog into a run.

"EVANS!!!" cried an exuberant voice as I was tackled and collided into the ground, my earphones knocked out of my ears.

Looking up startled, I come face to face, with Rick's cheerful eyes. "Get off me!" I yelled as I rolled him off me.

"What? No hello or anything?" asked Rick in mock hurt.

"I believe you just said Evans, but hello" I said exasperatedly as I placed my earphones back into my ears.

"Ooohh… what are you listening to?" asked Rick as he grabbed the earphones out of my hands.

"All your one night stands, should've thought about that, Says she's just a friend, should've thought about that, Are you satisfied now, should've thought about that, cause you can't hold me down" sang my ipod in response.

"Ooohh… angry girl music, you couldn't have been dumped yet! I mean you don't even have a boyfriend for cheating to occur…" teased Rick and then whispered quietly "Unless you're secretly married?"

"How'd you know, it was suppose to be a secret" I teased right back.

"What's suppose to be a secret?" asked Andrew.

Looking in the direction of the voice, I smile before saying "Oh, hey Andrew, Rick trying to guess why I'm listening to Marion Raven"

"Angry girl music, actually" corrected Rick.

"Huh? Angry girl music?" asked William.

"Hey William, what brings you here?" I asked in surprise.

"Oh, mom, dad, Georgie and I are spending Christmas with family, which means Rick and Andy" replied William, uncomfortably.

"Yes, it's all true! We're stuck with him for another 3 days. Granny won't hear of anything else" whinged Rick.

"True, True, little brother" agreed Andrew in mock dismay.

"So, why are you out in the freezing cold and not inside with your family?" I asked smilingly.

"Well… you see" began Andrew but was cut off by Rick. "We could ask you the same question and you haven't answered my previous question."

"It's not angry girl music, it's more like passionate music…" I replied defensively.

"Passionately angry, and?" teased Rick.

"Had a bad morning" I replied resignedly.

"Bad morning? But Evans… it's Christmas morning, meaning PRESENTS!!!" exclaimed Rick excitedly.

"Yeah, presents Elle, unless you got crappy presents?" piped up Andrew.

"Why is it that guys always have to think about presents, when one says Christmas morning?" I asked exasperated.

"Because that's the only thing to look forward to" exclaimed Rick.

I raised an eyebrow in disbelief and asked "Really?"

"Yup, I got awesome presents. Thanks for the iphone by the way" smiled Rick as he gave me a quick embrace.

"Eww… Rick's hugging me! You know the one thing I didn't get that I needed was antiseptic?" I said jokingly.

"Ouch, how you wound me milady" teased Rick. "C'mon Andy, I bet 10 bucks that I'll beat you in 5 rounds of the park."

"You're on, Rick" replied Andrew before turning to William and me and saying "I trust you two can behave, right?" before winking.

"On your marks, GO!" yelled Rick as they sprinted off down the track.

"So, uh… why the bad morning?" asked William awkwardly.

"Wow… you're actually trying to have a proper conversation with me" I teased as William flushed a bright red. "Do you really want to know?" I asked amused.

"Sure, why not?" replied William.

"Well… I was woken up at 4.30 in the morning by my sad excuse for a brother, then woken up again at 6.45 and then accosted by a disturbing cousin. Is it fair for me now to have a vendetta against all of the males species?" I asked, frustrated.

"Uh… I suppose so?" asked William awkwardly "So, how have you been?"

"Since the last two days ago?" I asked chirpily.

"Uh… yeah" replied William as he began to fidget. He looked so adorable and cute.

"Well… I've been good, you?" I replied.

"Yeah, good" smiled William.

"So, why are you out here in the cold?" I asked.

"Well… I… We… uh… called… you… Jen said… here" stuttered William uncomfortably.

"You're going to have to repeat that" I said smilingly.

"Rick wanted to see you today and so he called your place and well… Jen said you were running, so we uh… jogged here" replied William abashedly.

Laughing at his awkwardness, I asked without thinking, "Is that why you're here as well? Because, Rick wanted to see me?" After I asked that question, I was psychologically beating myself up with a stick.

"I…Uh… you see, the thing is… Iwantedtotalktoyouaboutthekisstheotherdayunderthemistletoe" stammered William, looking highly uncomfortable.

I raised an eyebrow at him in confusion he really had spoken too fast. I watched as he took a deep breath in and exhaled. He opened his mouth and said calmly, slowly "I wanted to talk to you about the kiss the other day, under the mistletoe."

"Uh… there's really nothing to talk about. We kissed and you felt nothing, I felt nothing, so really there's nothing to talk about" I blabbered feeling highly uncomfortable with his green eyes staring and searching into my eyes.

"I didn't feel nothing" he replied softly as he walked closer to me.

"Yeah… you did. It's really ok, I mean…" I replied as I looked from side to side. I tried to move away but my feet were rooted down for the moment.

"The lady doth protest too much, methinks" murmured William as he was now barely a foot away from me. "You're really unconventional Elle. You've treated and said things to me that no other girl would have, ever. You're different. You're special."

"Gee… thanks" I breathed as I felt his warm breath against me and looked down at the snow covered ground.

I felt two warm hands on either side of my cheeks. Looking up I saw that they were William's and he was gradually raising my face, so that he was looking into my eyes and I was looking into his green ones. Looking into my eyes he said softly and gently without breaking eye contact "You're eyes are an amazing blue. Sapphire, I think."

I felt myself drowning into the depths of his green eyes. The next thing he said really astounded me. I watched as his lips opened and heard his gentle, caring voice say "I think… I think I like you. Perhaps even love you."