Wednesday, December 23rd. 2 days 'till Christmas...
Odette was waiting in the building's lobby when Meg came down for her lunch break. She furrowed her brow when she saw Odette.
"What are you doing here?" Meg asked.
"I'm taking you out to lunch," Odette replied.
"No thanks."
Meg walked past Odette, but Odette fell in to step next to her. "It's not really optional."
Meg rolled her eyes. "Fine."
They went to a sandwich place near Meg's work. After getting their food, they sat down at a table near the back of the restaurant.
"Thanks for lunch," Meg said.
"Well, you know there's a catch..."
Meg nodded. "Yeah, I know Proteus sent you to talk to me."
"Actually, Proteus doesn't know I'm here."
"Then why are you doing this?"
"Because it's almost Christmas," Odette said. "All your brother wants is to spend it with both of you together."
"I know."
"Then why do you keep fighting him on this?" Odette asked. "He was right last night, you know. Vanessa isn't to blame for what happened."
Meg crossed her arms over her chest and leaned back in her chair. "He was also right about how close Vanessa and I used to be." Meg sighed. "I'll admit: seeing her last night, for the first time in years, made me realize how much I actually miss her."
"Maybe it's time to let go of all that anger; for Proteus and your parents."
"Why are you doing this? You don't know me or Vanessa; and you certainly don't owe us anything."
"Because I care about your brother."
Meg raised an eyebrow. "Are you falling for him?"
Was she? She definitely cared about him and she enjoyed spending time with him. But, did she like him as more than a friend? She hadn't thought about it, but now that she was, she thought maybe she was falling for Proteus. He was funny, and caring, and thoughtful. She didn't want to talk about this with Meg, though.
"Don't try to change the subject," Odette told her.
Meg smirked at her. "I think you are."
"I'm here to talk about Christmas, Meg."
Meg shrugged. "Fine. But, for the record: I think he likes you, too."
"He does?"
Meg laughed. "You two are so obvious."
Odette cleared her throat. "I understand you spend Christmas with your friends at Anya's house, right?"
"Yeah, that's right."
"Why don't you invite Proteus and Vanessa to go to Anya's with you? You can use your friends as a buffer and ease back into this."
Meg thought about that for a moment. "That might work. Except, I think Proteus wanted it to be just the three of us."
"He'd probably take this compromise," Odette told her. "Having a few extra people around is better than not spending Christmas with you at all."
Meg sighed. "All right. I'll run the idea by him. If he agrees to it, I'll invite him and Vanessa to spend Christmas with me."
OOOOO
It was two days before Christmas and Eric was sitting alone in his hotel room. He thought after everything that's happened in the last two weeks he'd be happy to have some real alone time; instead he just felt lonely.
He still hadn't decided what he was going to to do on Christmas. It should be an easy choice: spend it with John's family like he's wanted to from the start.
However, if he wanted to get Ariel back, he should spend it with her. Showing up on Christmas to spend the day with her and her family would be his way of fighting for their relationship. But, he still wasn't sure if he wanted to get back together with her.
Eric didn't know what he wanted.
A knock on the door jarred him from his thoughts.
"Eric? It's John." John's muffled voice came through the door.
Eric answered the door and let John in.
"Aurora told me you were staying here," John told him as Eric closed the door.
"How did you know what room I'm in?"
"I'm the owner's son; it wasn't difficult for me to find out."
"Right."
John took off his coat and hung it on the rack mounted on the wall next to the door. "Aurora said she thinks you and Ariel broke up."
"We did," Eric confirmed. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you about any of this. I just don't feel like talking about it."
"That's fine because, truthfully, I came here to talk about something else."
"If you're wanting to know what I'm doing for Christmas, I don't know yet."
John shook his head. "I'm not here to talk about that, either."
"Oh. Then, what is it? Is something wrong?"
John shook his head and started pacing.
"Is everything all right" Eric asked. "You're making me nervous."
John let out a small laugh. "You're nervous?"
Eric gently grabbed John's arm to stop his pacing. "John, what's going on?"
John looked in to Eric's eyes, his gaze intense. "Eric, I think I love you." He shook his head. "No, I don't think I do; I know I do. I love you."
Eric's heart pounded against his chest. He wanted to say something to John in return, but he didn't know how to respond to that. He didn't even know how he felt about it.
John stepped back, forcing Eric to let go of his arm; which he hadn't realized he was still holding onto. "I'm not trying to pressure you or anything. You don't need to say anything. I just needed to tell you."
Before Eric could actually respond, John grabbed his coat and left.
Eric stared at the door. John loved him? Of course Eric knew John was gay, but not once did he ever think John would like him as anything more than a friend. Eric's head was reeling. He had no idea what to do now.