CHAPTER 32: Merry Christmas!

The doorbell rang.

They're back already? I thought.

It was Christmas Day—my first one in Plainview. After our typical family Christmas celebration, there was really nothing left to do, so my parents went out to watch a movie. I didn't feel like going because it was too cold outside. I just stayed in the house and started reading the new novel my parents just gave me.

When the doorbell rang, I thought they left something or had a change of plans.

I went downstairs and rushed to the door, opening it without thinking twice.

And standing on the other side wasn't my parents. It was Rodrick.

"R-Rodrick. Hey," I stuttered, after a few seconds of just staring at him.

I hadn't seen him in person since the night of the dance. We did text each other a few times, though. Okay, maybe not just a few times. The thing is, he never completely left my mind since that night. I had only been trying to shut down those thoughts. Sure, I was happy to see him on Christmas day. But I still haven't figured out what exactly I was feeling… or maybe I was too scared to admit it, to push through with it. No, I didn't want to deal with those things yet. Rodrick and I are friends. Just act normal, I told myself.

"What are you doing here?" I asked.

He showed me what he was holding on his right hand. A thermos. "I just brought some hot chocolate." He smiled sheepishly. "It's pretty cold, so I just thought—"

"Oh, right," I interrupted, realizing that I was just staring at him while he was out there in the cold. "Come in, come in."

He put the thermos on the living room table, and then started taking off his jacket. Meanwhile, I went to the kitchen to get two mugs.

"Are your parents here?" I heard him ask.

"Nope!" I replied on my way back. "They went out to catch a movie." I placed two mugs on the living room table just as Rodrick finished putting his jacket on the coat rack.

"Oh. Why didn't you go with them?" He walked back to help me pour hot chocolate into the two mugs.

I sat on the couch. "I didn't really feel like it. Plus it's too cold outside."

"Good thing I brought hot chocolate, huh? I'm such a genius," Rodrick said, sitting down next to me and handing me one of the mugs.

I carefully took it, holding back a laugh. "It's not even that cold in here… But thanks anyway."

Rodrick and I both took a sip at the same time. He was watching me while we drank, which made me a bit more conscious than I already was, so I just looked at the TV in front of us.

"Wow. This is really good," I said, glancing at him for a second then looking back immediately at the hot chocolate because he was still staring at me. "Did Mrs. Heffley make this?"

"No." he answered defensively—which made me look at him—and then pointed to himself. "I made that!"

"Yeah, right. As if." I sipped again.

"I swear, I'm the one who made that!" he repeated.

I rolled my eyes, and then nodded as I put the mug back on the table, pretending to be convinced. "If you say so."

Then he was quiet for a few more seconds before admitting the truth. "Fine, my mom made it—"

I couldn't help but laugh. "Knew it. Tell her I said thanks for the hot choco."

"But I bought the ingredients. So you should thank me too!"

I sighed. "Fine." I cleared my throat. "Rodrick Heffley, Thank you very much, from the bottom of my heart. for buying the ingredients so that your mom could make this delicious hot chocolate."

Rodrick just glared at me, while I tried so hard to keep myself from laughing. "Such kind words. Thank you," he replied sarcastically too. "I'll gladly take the hot chocolate back—"

"No, no, no!" The laughter that I was holding back for so long just exploded right then. It took me a few moments to calm down. Meanwhile, he was just watching me again, with the slightest smile on the corner of his lip like he was trying to hide it. "I'm sorry," I said when I got myself back together. "And—I'm serious this time—thanks for the hot chocolate, Heffley. You didn't have to bring some here. But thank you, really." I took the mug and drank from it again.

He didn't say anything. But he finally let out that smile. That sweet smile. Then he took another sip from his mug, not taking his eyes off of me.

There was quite a stretch of awkward silence after that. I wasn't ready to actually talk to him again in person, after everything that happened the last time we were together. Rodrick wasn't relaxed as he usually was either.

"So how's your Christmas this year?" he asked, finally. He really was pretty good at starting conversations.

"Good. It's my first Christmas here, and it's not so bad," I said.

"Oh, right." He nodded as if he just realized something. "Wow. You've only been living here for, like, 6 months?"

"Five months and a few weeks, yeah."

He took another sip of hot chocolate and then replied, "It feels like a forever ago since we first met."

I smiled, reminiscing the memory. "Yeah. You were even wearing eyeliner that night."

"Okay, let me explain that." He put the mug down and turned to me. I think he knew I was about to make fun of him again. "That night, I was supposed to watch this mini rock concert with my friends. But then my mom said I had to stay home because some new neighbors were coming over for dinner. She told me that two minutes before you guys walked in. I didn't get the chance to remove my eyeliner!"

I laughed silently. "You didn't have to explain it! I saw you wearing eyeliner a bunch of times already."

"I know… I just had to clear things up and—yeah, why the heck are we talking about this?"

I shrugged. "You're the one who felt like explaining things when you didn't have to."

"Change the topic, please." He waved his hand like he was shooing a fly away. He turned, facing front again. This time, he was already more relaxed on the couch than earlier.

After I took another sip of hot chocolate, I asked, "How's your Christmas this year?"

"My Christmas?" He paused to think. Then said, "It's okay. We do the same thing every year anyway… But this one's my favorite so far." He casually drank from the mug again.

I narrowed my eyes, trying to understand that last part. "You do the same thing every year… but this one's your favorite? Why?"

He didn't answer it immediately. He brought the mug down, holding it with both of his hands and just looked at me for a few seconds. Then he gave a rather cute smile, and then shrugged. "I don't know. It just is."

Is he trying to imply something? Why would he look at me like that before answering the question? Those were my thoughts during that time. But I also thought that it was hard to assume things. Nevertheless, it made me smile a little. I hid it by drinking from the mug again.

"By the way, I have one more reason for going here." He put the mug on the table. I did the same as he continued talking. "So last time I sent you a message, you told me you still haven't watched that movie."

"What movie?" We talked about a lot of stuff when he last texted me.

He pulled out a flash drive out of his pocket and showed it to me. "White Chicks. I found a copy on my computer."

I took the flash drive. "I could've just bought a DVD, you know. But thanks. Hold on, I'll copy this to my laptop." I got up and started heading to my room.

"Nah, bring your laptop here so we can watch it."

"Now?" I clarified.

Rodrick nodded. "Yeah... unless you've got other important things to do."

I looked at the clock. It would probably take a few more hours 'til my parents get back, I thought. Don't overthink, April. You've already watched a movie with him before.

"Fine." I tossed the flash drive to Rodrick, and went upstairs to get my laptop.

So after we've set up the laptop, we watched the movie. I couldn't believe I hadn't watched it until then. It was hilarious! I haven't had a good laugh for a movie in a while. Rodrick kept laughing too, even though he probably watched it a billion times already. He was literally just holding himself back from spoiling the next scenes. "Oh, this one's funny! This is the part where he… yeah, look, look!" he said a bunch of times.

It wasn't the type of movie you'd watch while drinking hot chocolate. What would have matched the weather and the vibe would be some tear-jerking love story. But that didn't matter. We finished the hot chocolate and had a great time with a feel-good movie.

I had no regrets watching it with him.

"Told you it was hilarious." He looked like he was proud of himself for introducing this movie to me.

I sighed. "I think cried laughing."

He nodded. "I was a witness to that."

I safely removed his flash drive from my laptop and then handed it to him. "Thanks for the movie, Heffley. And for the hot chocolate."

"No problem," he replied, fiddling with the flash drive.

A thought suddenly popped in my mind then. "By the way, do your parents know you're here?"

Rodrick looked at the ceiling as if the answer was there. "Well, they know I'm going to a friend's house. I just didn't tell them which one."

I nodded. "Oh. Well, it was a good thing they allowed you to go out."

He smirked. "I would have gone out anyway if they didn't."

"That's so Rodrick," I snorted.

After that, we started talking about the movie again, especially the most hilarious parts. It was as if we didn't just watch it sitting next to each other. We found ourselves laughing at each reference. Of course, Rodrick kept adding up to the jokes, making me laugh even more. That went on for a good 10 minutes.

"Now, you owe me a movie," he said.

I didn't get it. "What?"

"Let's do this again tomorrow!"

"What?" That was all I could say.

He moved an inch closer to explain his idea. "Suggest a good movie that I haven't seen. And we can watch it tomorrow." Why did it seem like he wanted to keep bonding with me? It was making me nervous.

I was hesitant, but then I remembered I wouldn't be at home for one whole week. Just this one time, I was saved by a family vacation. "Uh… Sure. But some other time maybe. I can't tomorrow."

He looked a bit disappointed, but tried to hide it anyway. "Oh. Why?"

"My parents and I are going out of town. We'll be back by New Year's Day already."

He nodded. And then his eyes widened for a second, as if he remembered something. He closed his eyes and tapped his head a few times. "Now that you've mentioned it… I just remembered that we're going on a vacation too. For a week."

"Oh, really? Where?" I asked out of curiosity.

"Ugh, I don't know. I wasn't listening when they were talking about it." He seemed annoyed that he was going to spend a week somewhere else with his family. On the other hand, I felt relieved that I could escape and try not to deal with this tension for a week.

He heaved a sigh as he got up from his seat. "Anyway… maybe next time then. You still owe me a movie." He pointed a finger at me.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. I owe you a movie, fine. I'll think of a good one." I took the thermos and gave it to him.

We made our way to the door. Rodrick wore his thick jacket again. I opened the door for him, but before going out he turned to me again. With a genuinely happy smile, he said, "Merry Christmas, Prescott."

I smiled back. I was used to that annoying nickname already. "Merry Christmas, Heffley."

He nodded, and then walked out. He looked back one last time. "See you next year," he mouthed, and then waved goodbye before walking to his house again.

I went back inside, still with a smile on my face. Honestly, that entire time he was in my house, I couldn't help but feel nervous and awkward. I was only trying to brush it off and act as if that long night we spent together driving around town didn't affect me at all. But at the same time, I was also happy and in a really good mood (and maybe a bit giggly on the inside whenever he smiled).

A moment later, he texted: your parents are almost there. saw the car.

I wondered why he had to report it. Then I realized that the two mugs were still on the living room table. I quickly took them to the kitchen and washed them. I didn't want any questioning from my parents if I had a visitor or what. Such a hassle.

. . . . . . . . . .

We left our house early the next day, and arrived at the winter lodges about three hours later. The place was probably three times more snowy and five times colder. Honestly, I wasn't even sure why we were staying there for an entire week when there's not even a lot to do.

"This place is so nice!" my mom commented. She was probably the most excited out of the three of us.

"We should have lunch first after we settle our things down," my dad replied. "Then we can go skiing later or something." I think he was excited too.

I just wanna sleep. The only thing that was trying to push my mood up was the fact that I didn't have to worry about Rodrick directly. But even then, he still kept popping in my mind. I had to keep my mind off of him by doing other activities.

We went to the restaurant after leaving our stuff in our rooms. There was a good number of families taking a vacation there too, having lunch in the same restaurant. Let me just say, the food was really good. This was probably one of the reasons people decided to stay here for winter.

"I'll just go to the restroom," I told my parents, who were busy talking about what they read on the newspaper that morning. They just nodded, but probably didn't even notice me leave my seat.

On my way to the restroom, my phone vibrated from my pocket. I just received a text message. I decided to just check it out later. But then, it started vibrating again and again and again. A call. I took it out, but it slipped from my hand and dropped on the floor. How clumsy, April.

I groaned and started bending down to pick it up. However, someone beat me to it. That person probably saw what happened and rushed to pick it up for me.

"Oh, thank you, thank you," I said when he handed it to me.

I looked up, and, boy, both of us were surprised when we saw each other's faces.

"No proble—April?!"

"Rodrick?!"