Chapter 23, Hola :)
CHRISTMAS EVE
Christmas' in Denver were always incredible.
Eve would wake up with snow surrounding her home, and with the smell of turkey wafting into her bedroom. For the rest of the morning, presents would be opened, and the turkey would in carved in time for lunch. Then, afternoon would arrive, and Eve, Kofi, Carol and Andrew walk trudge downtown through the snow towards Carol's parents' house, where the whole family would meet, and celebrate Christmas together. They'd walk back to their house in the evening, and settle down on the couch with DVDs and hot chocolate before going to bed with stuffed stomachs.
But this was Beverly Hills, and there was certainly no snow.
On the contrary, Eve woke up feeling hotter than an oven. She tossed off her duvet covers and pulled open her curtains, letting the sunshine stream into her bedroom. Eve didn't feel festive just yet. Before she could go downstairs, her cell phone began ringing. "Hello?"
"Merry Christmas." It was Jack. Eve put him on speaker, as she got dressed out of her pyjamas.
"You too," Eve smiled. "How's your Christmas going so far?" There was a knock at the door, and Eve hushed Carol as she came into the room.
"Pretty lame so far." Jack admitted. "My parents took a last minute 'business trip' to Bali, so it's just me and ESPN today."
"What about Jovita?" Eve mouthed 'his housekeeper' at Carol.
"My mom told her she could go back home to Portugal for the holidays."
Eve felt her heart break a little bit. "That's terrible."
"Jack, it's Carol, Eve's mom." Carol piped up. Eve instantly regretted being on speaker phone. Listen, I'd hate for someone to be alone on a day like today. Why don't you come and spend Christmas at our house?"
There was a short silence, before Jack said, "I couldn't ask that of you-"
"Christmas is a time to be with those you love, and if you can't be with your family, you may as well be with your best friend and your girlfriend. Besides, we've got plenty of food to go around. Come on, you can't spend Christmas alone."
"Thanks, that's real generous of you." Jack sounded genuinely grateful.
"Come by in an hour," Carol instructed, before Eve hung up her phone. "You're welcome," Her mom winked, before leaving the room and going downstairs, where Kofi was already gnawing his way through one of Carol's famous gingerbread loaves.
"This is good stuff," He said through a mouthful of food. For one day, he could let his basketball diet go, and just eat whatever the hell he wanted. "Thanks Carol."
"Save the eating for later. I'm busy in the kitchen, so the least you can do is take out the trash." She replaced the gingerbread loaf with a bag of garbage. Lazily, Kofi got to his feet, and made his way outside the house and over to the trash can. The sun was shining down on him, and as nice as the weather was, it just didn't feel like Christmas.
"Merry Christmas."
Turning around, he saw that Kelly was walking down the path towards him, looking festive. A red Santa hat sat on top of her blonde head, and she wore a red skirt with a black tank-top.
"Merry Christmas to you," Kofi responded walking over to her, yet not daring to cross the flowerbeds. He watched as she placed her own garbage bag in the bin, before returning to her previous spot. "Looks like we've both been put on trash duty."
Kofi hadn't spoken to Kelly for a while. They exchanged awkward 'hellos', but it never came to anything. Kelly implying that there was something wrong with their friendship had sent Kofi on a guilt-trip. He was with Alicia, and that was that; he had too much love for her to do anything to jeopardise that.
"So how's your Christmas so far?" Kelly asked, breaking the silence.
"It's good." Kofi nodded. "I've already eaten half a gingerbread loaf and I haven't even opened any presents yet."
"Gingerbread loaf? Sounds yummy." Kelly commented. "You'll have to bring me some at some point."
Did she feel just as awkward as he did? "So what about your Christmas?"
"It's actually really nice." Kelly's smile widened. "My mom managed to take the day off work, so it's the three of us together." Neither one said anything, until eventually Kelly rolled her eyes, as if bored of the awkwardness. "Whatever," She muttered, before sloping off inside. "Merry Christmas, Kofi."
"We have no wieners."
The way Carol announced this; it was as if she was announcing the outbreak of war. Her eyes widened, and her mouth drooped open.
"So?" Eve shrugged, cutting up vegetables.
"I wanted to make pigs in blankets." Carol sounded so disappointed, Eve couldn't help but smile.
"No big deal, we'll just skip them out this year." Normally, Carol would've served food at lunchtime, but the addition of Jack meant she was going to push it back until the evening.
"I want everything to be perfect. After all, we have guests here," She tweaked her head in the direction of the living room, where Jack and Kofi were attempting to teach Andrew how to play one of Kofi's new Xbox games. It was then Carol shot Eve a pleading smile.
"No." The teenager responded; she knew exactly what her mom was thinking. "Are you serious?"
"Come on, the store's open on Christmas day, and it's just down the road. You don't even have to take the car."
"Fine," Eve sighed, before going into the living room and lightly tapping Jack across the back of the head. "Get up, lazy bones. We're going to the store." He was so comfortable he wanted to put up a fight; however he decided against – seeing as this wasn't his house – and followed Eve out of the house.
"Thanks for inviting me today." Jack told Eve, as the pair walked together hand-in-hand to the store.
"Hey, don't thank me, it was my mom that offered."
"Yeah, but I can't do this to your mom." He stepped out in front of Eve and leaned in, gently kissing her on the lips. He pulled away a couple of seconds later, "Well, I could, but it would be really weird." E
Eve giggled; she had a tenancy to do that a lot when Jack was around. He made her feel like a school girl with a crush on the most popular boy in school, which, in all honesty, was what she was; he knew how to make her feel special, and feel wanted. They'd overcome any problems put in front of them so far, and as they chatted comfortably on their way to the store, Eve couldn't help but feel relaxed.
"This is the part where we split." Eve told Jack, as they entered. "You take aisles one to six, I'll take seven to twelve." She gave Jack one last quick kiss, before heading off in search of wieners.
Eve thought of what all her friends would be doing this Christmas; Maryse was spending the holidays back in Montreal with her family, whereas Rosa and Alicia were sunning themselves in San Mateo, and Tampa. Nikki and Brie were staying in Beverly Hills. In fact, Eve had met up with the twins for some last minute Christmas shopping the day before. If she had to choose her favourite members of the cheerleading squad, it would be the twins. They were sweet, harmless-
"It's a bit late to be getting a turkey," An amused voice from behind Eve told her. She expected some sarcastic cashier – bitter at being forced to work Christmas Day – but instead, she was greeted by Ted.
"Oh my God!" Eve chuckled, throwing herself into her friend's arms. "I didn't expect to see you here."
"My mom forgot cranberries, which are seemingly the be-all-end-all of our meal." Ted said, sarcastically. "What about you?"
"Wieners." Eve was still grinning at her pleasure of seeing Ted. "We're both on store duty, aren't we?"
"It looks that way doesn't it?"
"Eve, I found the-" Jack came round the corner, holding the bag of wieners, but he was even more shocked at what Eve had found. Jack knew all about Ted and Miz's brawl, but he decided to keep it from Eve; there were some things his girlfriend didn't need to know. "Merry Christmas, Ted." He also remembered his girlfriend's wishes for the two of them to get along. Despite not liking it, Jack knew there was nothing he could do.
"Merry Christmas, Jack." Ted responded, just as courteously.
"We should probably get going," Jack touched Eve's upper arm. "Your mom will be wanting to make a start on the pigs in blankets."
"Sure," Eve reached over to kiss Ted on the cheek. "Merry Christmas, sweetie." She winked, before walking towards the tills.
Ted shook his head in despair, and pulled his cell phone out of his pocket. "Hey Mom, what was it you wanted me to pick up?" He'd completely forgotten why he was there.
Aww, poor Ted :( And poor Kofi too :( So Christmas isn't the happiest time of the year...
BTW, it was so hard writing Christmas when England's going through a heatwave! Haha :)
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