University of Iowa
Girls' Dorms
Sunday, December 25
6:20p.m.

MB;

"It's kind of weird, driving out to go to dinner on Christmas and then planning to spend the rest of it in the common room or whatever they call it here," I remarked, adjusting one of my bangles.

"True, very true. But then again, at least we aren't totally alone," Alicia added, pulling on a jacket.

"I know, eight of us in all, but it's still weird."

"What's weird?" Kristen asked, walking in with Olivia behind her.

"We were just talking about the strangeness of it all," Alicia answered, looking out the window.

I looked out the window and stared. The snow had gotten up to about fourteen or fifteen inches.

"Aren't we supposed to meet the guys in the parking lot?" Olivia inquired, tilting her head so that a curtain of blonde hair fell sideways.

"Oh, I forgot about that. We should get moving," I answered.

The four of us made our way out of the dorm room and trudged through the snow out to the parking lot. Each boyfriend was leaning against their car, refusing to let us girls drive in their small cars, even my car, which did come with four-wheel-drive. I walked up to Landon who greeted me with a hug before grinning and disappearing around the driver's side.

With a quick eye roll, I climbed up into his truck and gave him a very pointed look.

"What?" he asked incredulously.

"I think you just don't like my car," I answered, raising one eyebrow.

"No, it's a nice car, but I prefer not to ride in it." He grinned again.

"And if I said that about your truck I would never here the end of it," I teased.

"Oh well. Merry Christmas." Landon was definitely in high spirits considering the situation.

"Merry Christmas to you too," I chuckled. He backed up and followed the line of the other three cars, heading to one of those hole-in-the-wall restaurants that were fantastic but partially hidden.

I looked out the window as a very light, hopefully non-sticking snow began to descend.

"Aren't the winter supposed to be smaller than this here?" I asked, still staring into the white fluff-filled air.

"Yes, but everyone has the oddballs once in a while," he responded.

With a small nod, I settled farther back into the seat and just watched him drive. Whether he noticed or not was hard to tell because he kept his eyes on the road, but a slight smile seemed to be tugging at the edge of his lips. I figured that he did know because his eyes flitted in my direction every once in a while.

"We're here," he announced, parallel parking not far from the restaurant.

With a small hop, I got down at of the truck and went around to the other side. Landon hooked his arm around my shoulder and led me across the street and up to the door.

Alicia and Chris were just ahead of us, Josh and Olivia behind. Derrick and Kristen were already seated thanks to reservations.

We all sat down around the rectangle table and already had their "Christmas Special"-whatever that was- being prepared.

"Eh, this is different," Olivia giggled.

"I could get used to it," Kristen replied, tilting her head against Derrick's shoulder.

"I think I could to," he said in turn.

"Definitely, although it would suck if we were without our families every year," Alicia noted.

"Yeah, that does make sense. There's always summer and stuff though," Josh retorted.

"Very true," Chris nodded.

"Maybe we should just enjoy each other's company and stop talking about it?" I suggested.

"And somebody talks some sense," Landon responded, catching my hand under the table like usual.

I half expected him to add "Hallelujah" or something, just out of common notion. He brushed his thumb against the side of my hand and left it tingling whenever it moved to the other side. Also as usual, I savored the feeling of it, knowing he'd let go eventually only to start holding it again later.

The 12 Days of Christmas played softly from the speakers in honor of the holiday. Idle chit-chat filled the space as we waited for the meals, which came out fairly quickly. A set of waiters came out and set the plates down, along with their special eggnog, which I was hesitant to try at first.

"Do you ever feel compelled to burst out in song?" Josh asked at one point, twirling his fork around in sweet potatoes.

"No, but I'm sure that's how you're feeling right now." Chris chuckled to himself.

"And why would you assume that?"

"Because you asked…"

"Oh, I guess that makes sense then." Olivia giggled at her boyfriend. Between the guys, you could have a comedy show, but between the girls, you would get more of a drama-filled and cliché show.

"Weirdest Christmas ever…" I murmured, letting a smile peek out from behind my lips.

"Aw, you know you love it," Landon teased, putting a piece of something (I'm not sure what it was…) in his mouth.

"Alright, I'll give you that."

The rest of the time at the restaurant was spent eating, talking, laughing, and just grinning. All of us were in incredibly high spirits considering we were stuck in Iowa City.

After we each put down the money and got up to leave, Landon led me back out to his truck. Halfway through the street though, of course, I slipped. I would've gone down completely had he not been holding onto my waist in the first place.

"Hmm, I told you to be careful," he noted.

"Whoops?"

Landon shook his head and got me around to the other side and insisted, although unneeded, upon helping me into the truck before going around to the other side and climbing up.

The drive back was mildly quiet, just a few remarks and such.

Once we got back to the university, every single one out of the eight of us made our way into the living room-type spot in the girls' dorms. Most of the other girls were with their boyfriends or had decided to brave the roads and drive home. That was the problem, the snow wasn't utterly terrible, but the ice was very real and not pleasant.

"It's awfully quiet…" Chris sighed.

"It usually is." Alicia shrugged in response to her boyfriend's comment.

"Well, now that we're here, I think we know what time it is," Kristen grinned.

I laughed and held up my tote. "Already got mine," turning to the guys I continued, "and this would be why we carry such large purses sometimes."

Josh and Derrick both sighed. "Oops, we'll be right back…"

Landon and Chris shared a look before grabbing two different sets out of the cupboards. Kristen, Olivia, and Alicia had done the same as I had, putting what they could in their purses. As a comprise, we'd agreed to get every female the same thing and every male the same thing. Only two sets of Christmas presents were needed, making it much simpler.

Landon sat down on one of the large-er arm chairs and looked at me before gently gesturing for me to sit on his lap.

"Nope," I replied, switching out of my Uggs into a pair Deerfoam slippers.

"Yes you are…"

"No, I can almost guarantee that I'm not."

"You did say almost," he replied.

"Only because I never know what you're going to pull, or how many people might suddenly show up."

For the first time ever, I witnessed him roll his eyes. It had never been something very common; I think he actually picked it up from me…

"Please?" For a second I thought he was going to pull the puppy-dog face, which probably would've worked so I'm glad he didn't.

"You two are so weird," Alicia mused, looking at the way we were playfully arguing.

I looked up and grinned. "Coming from the girl who-"

"Anyway… Here come the other two guys." She cut me off with a teasing glare and her own statement.

In an effort to at least keep him quiet, I perched on the arm of the chair and pulled the different packages out of my purse, pulling off the cover so that it was just seven individual things.

Throughout the room, Derrick and Kristen grabbed one side of a couch, Olivia and Josh on the other while Chris and Alicia took the loveseat.

"I'll start!" Olivia squealed rather loudly. And that's how it went on for a while.

Olivia gave the girls all three different bottles of her latest obsession, nail polish from the Pure Ice brand; she then proceeded to give each of the boys a personalized T-shirt. Josh took the stand after her, giving the guys each some sort of watch thing and giving us girls gift cards.

"Hmm, that hard to come up with something?" I teased after thanking him.

"At least I didn't get them to the first place that came into my mind." Josh smirked. I eyed him momentarily before shaking my head and curling my legs up on the edge of the chair.

"Whatever, I'm next," Derrick volunteered. He gave each of the males some certificate to personalized Converse or something- his newest discovery online. The girls received knit hats; he must have been on a clothing hunt.

Kristen followed suit and handed each of us a different customized notebook and the guys each a box of cookies. "I go on the theory that if you keep them full you keep them happy," she shrugged.

"That's sometimes very true," Derrick agreed from beside her.

Alicia shook her head and passed out three different scrapbooks to the girls, each showing the tons of pictures she'd taken of all of us together. With the guys, she pulled a Josh and just handed out various gift cards. Chris went after his girlfriend, giving the guys a new pair of headphones (also claiming that they couldn't use the same pair forever) and the girls each a candle. I almost started laughing at that… almost. It was kind of strange, possibly the first thing that came to his mind, but kind of sweet.

I took the liberty of going next. For Alicia, Kristen, and Olivia, I got a bracelet, all with different friendship inscriptions on the back. For the guys, I got each of them a wallet, not knowing what else to go for.

"Guess that leaves me," Landon remarked.

"Pretty much," I answered. He raised an eyebrow before turning back and giving each male a baseball hat and each female… Lip gloss?

"Landon…?" I asked cautiously, wondering how on earth he'd figured out exactly what kind each of us girls used.

"Yes?"

"Were you going through my makeup bag; and Alicia's, Olivia's, and Kristen's?"

"No. You only put yours on about twenty times a day, and all I had to do was ask those three for the others. Besides, Derrick suggested it." He gestured to the other guys at the "those three" part.

I shook my head. What were they thinking when they said that girls were the biggest partners in crime? They evidently had not met the four guys throughout the room.

"You know what I think?" Alicia asked. When nobody responded she continued, "We should have a movie marathon like we did on Halloween. Of course, it would be Christmas movies this time I guess, but it was still pretty fun."

For a few seconds we all thought about it before the agreements rang out.

"I'm in."

"It was fun last time."

"None of that lame crap."

"It's Christmas, deal with it."

"Let's just go."

"Thank you!"

-(0)-

9:00p.m.

By nine o'clock, we were all seated around the room. The eight of us were just barely into the first movie and you could already tell that it would end up as another big, overnight event.

I was still sitting at the time, and looked down at my jeans. "I'm going to go change," I said quietly, standing up and grabbing a pair of pajamas from my drawer and heading into the bathroom. Once in there, I closed the door and washed off my face before putting on my nightly moisturizer.

I then switched out of my jeans and blouse and into purple plaid pajama pants and a slightly tight black T-shirt. I brushed my teeth quickly and then went back out into the room. Landon looked at me for a few seconds longer than usual, as if evaluating my outfit.

With a small shake of my head, I sat down on my bed beside him and laid my head down on his shoulder as the movie continued.

-(0)-

10:55p.m.

LC;

I couldn't help but smile, feeling like it was better than an average Christmas present. I mean, honestly, the girl who I'd almost lost hope of more than a friendship from was curled up against my side, her head resting lightly on my shoulder. One of my own arms was around her waist, holding her close.

It was different, having to be stuck away from our families because of flights and road conditions, but it felt a lot better with all the guys around, the strange girl conversations, and of course Massie.

Everyone in the room, including myself, was in a very mixed move. Half of our bodies were on the verge of passing out, the other possibly trying to stay up till dawn. At that point it was just past eleven and across the room Olivia still seemed kind of bouncy and bright like it was noon. Massie must have noticed it too because she looked up, rolled her eyes, and snuggled further into my side.

The movie wore on further. Around an hour later, we'd switched from sitting to lying on the bed, one large blanket covering the both of us. Massie seemed to be staring at the ceiling though.

"Are you even watching the movie anymore?" I inquired in a whisper.

She turned her head to face me. "Not anymore."

"Is it boring you?"

"I guess I just kind of tuned it out," she admitted. Did she really have to look straight into my eyes? There goes the whole holding-onto-your-thoughts attempt…

"I see…" I was quiet for a moment, our breathing in sync.

"Do you two care if I turn this off? Everyone else is out like a light," Alicia whispered from across the room.

Massie just shrugged her free shoulder. "Nah, go ahead," I responded. A few seconds later, the TV turned off with a soft click, bathing the room in complete darkness.

Despite the darkness, I could still feel her gaze against mine. I still remember the last time she'd voluntarily- well, kind of voluntarily- slept in my arms. It was over Thanksgiving break and it was still friendly. Of course, unbeknownst to her, on Halloween night she had been in a rather cuddly position during her slumber. I'd moved before she woke, trying not to make her go into complete shock because I'd figured that she would if I wasn't careful about it, but that was back in October…

"Goodnight," Massie murmured so quietly that I almost missed it.

"'Night…"

She curled up further into my chest, such a position that I was starting to doubt would ever happen in all the time spent with her. I smiled to myself, glad that it finally seemed to be working out.

-:-

So, don't hate me for a such a late update! I started another story, plus I kept rearranging parts of this chapter. I mean, how many times can I rearrange it? Evidently, a lot…

Anyway, I do have another story up called Guess Who's Back and is yet another Clique. It's my own twist on a somewhat familiar plot.

I will be bouncing back and forth between the two, whether it happens that I put myself on a schedule or just go with whatever strikes my note at that time. Bear with me please.

Anyway, I will stop boring you with my rants.

Review? Peace. nVm

SDOW