A/N- Hey... so, my excuse is, is that I didn't want to write this one lol. It's not like I don't like writing this story, but having two on the go is pathetically mentally challenging lmao- so, what I'm going to do: I'm gunna write the next chapter for 'Eye of the Storm', which will be the New Years Eve chapter- then I'm going to leave it there, until I finish 'A Twist of Fate'. That story is so nearly done, it would be great to complete it and then just focus on this one. If you guys want to stay updated, then head over to 'A Twist of Fate'- it's going to be kind of obvious when I get to the last few chapters. Anyway, enjoy the late Christmas chapter, and I'll see you on New Years Eve! Bethany x

Chapter 15- Christmas day,

"It's packed."

My head turns to Christina's disgusted expression. The rest of our friends behind her look pretty much the same, staring into the over filled lounge.

With us not being the only school skiing over the holidays, I'm not surprised the lounge is busy. Small groups dot around the room, filling every corner to the point that if we take more than a few steps forward, we're going to crush someone's foot.

"Anyone got a plan B?" I ask, shifting Zeke's nicely wrapped present under my arm.

They all comically look at each other, most shrugging. That's until Zeke's face lights up. "I know the perfect place."

...

Three flights of stairs later, we're standing outside Tobias's room, and Zeke's knocking harshly against the locked door.

As soon as Four's name fell out of Zeke's mouth, my stomach flipped. Having not seen him since yesterday morning, everything's still hanging in the air. I couldn't find Peter anywhere, and my search was cut short by Christina dragging me back down to that club in the centre of town. I had fun, sure, but the need to cut it off with Peter was the only thing I really wanted to do.

And then I thought maybe I'd be able to find him this morning, it being Christmas day, he should have been easy to find somewhere in the lodge- but Lynn had other plans.

All morning me, Christina, Lynn and Mar have sat in our room, trying to find level ground between us. Mar's really the only person who has a big problem with my ways of deferring Al's interest, but with Lynn being head over heels with her, it's basically been two versus two.

By eleven o'clock, we had come up with an ultimatum. I had swore to Mar that I wouldn't do something like this again, and to put more effort into mine and Al's friendship. She had also wanted me to spill the whole truth to him, but that was a flat out no. Some things are better kept unsaid, for both our sakes.

So now, as we wait for Tobias to answer the door, the air isn't as thick. There's still annoyance radiating off of Marlene, but it's easy enough to ignore.

And with Tobias slowly opening the door, his confused face greeting us all, Marlene's issues fade away.

Zeke pushes past him, the others following on his heels. I hang back, catching Christina's ever abiding attention. She grins over her shoulder on her way in. I try to ignore it, not wanting to feel any more awkward as I already do around Tobias.

When I look from Chris to him, I find him already looking at me. I smile guiltily, even if this wasn't my idea.

"I'm assuming you know what's going on?" He asks, a small smile pulling at his lips.

Nodding, I go to walk past him, "Christmas has been relocated to yours."

"Vague," he shakes his head, "exactly what I was asking for."

I grin, brushing my shoulder against his on the way in purposely.

With not many layers separating us, I feel his arm move out, the back of his hand ever so slightly brushing my own as I walk into the room.

Nothing's changed since I was here last, except for the wave of our friends melting into his apartment.

Turning back to Tobias, I watch him close the door as our friends fill the room with conversation, "the plan was the lounge," I start, leaning my weight on one leg and twisting the other behind it, "but it was full, so blame Zeke for plan B."

He rolls his eyes, chucking the key to the door onto the small table next to the frame, "I blame Zeke for everything anyway, so that wont be hard to do."

I laugh lightly, turning back to my friends.

They've easily made themselves comfortable, spreading out throughout the living room. I just catch Clémentine sprinting across the floor, heading for Tobias's room.

"Nice apartment, Four," Mar compliments, looking around. She sits next to Uriah, his arm laying casually over her shoulder.

I sit down next to Christina, squishing her and Will into the small sofa. I watch as Tobias thanks Marlene, then pushes Zeke off of the recliner.

"Hey! What the hell?" Zeke exclaims, body sprawled out on the hard floor, head bent back looking accusingly at Tobias. On the other hand, Tobias looks unfazed, getting comfortable in his seat. "You know I'm a guest, right?"

Tobias scoffs, "yeah, an uninvited one. If you want to stay, Zeke, you'll sit on the floor."

Huffing, Zeke turns back around. He shoves Tobias's legs to the side, leaning against the chair. He begins to mumble to himself, shaking his head.

"Right…" I say, cutting through the silence those two have made, "let's get secret santa over with."

"God, don't get too excited, Tris," Uriah jokes, "I, for one, am very excited to see what my secret santa has bought me."

I shake my head, "of course you are." Uriah's favourite part of any holiday is seeing what someone has gotten him, never excited to give. He's always been such a child- but it's Uriah, what do you expect? "Anyways, grab your gifts!"

The room erupts, people shuffling around to grab gifts out of bags, from the coffee table, in coat pockets. Tobias gets up, says something to Zeke whilst pointing at the chair, then moves towards his room. Zeke looks longingly up at the empty seat, but resists moving. Instead, he crawls towards Tobias's room, then hops up, and follows his friend in.

I wonder for a second what he could be following Tobias in there for, but decide to not dwell on it. With it being Zeke, I'm sure he's just wanting to annoy his best friend.

Leaning down, I grab Zeke's present. It's pretty obvious what it is, with the girls having already guessed. But it's no big deal, as long as he likes it.

"What did you end up getting Mar?" I whisper to Chris. She holds a palm sized square box, wrapped in glitter paper.

"A jewellery box from that little boutique in town, there's some earrings in there as well!"

From the corner of my eye I can see Will shaking his head. I move my attention to him, grinning. "She's going to open it in like 5 minutes, Will- it's no big deal."

"Yeah, they're all going to open them in 5 minutes!" He responds, "you'll see what you two got your Secret Santa's in 5-"

"Tris."

My head turns, my eyes falling on Zeke standing in the doorway to Tobias's bedroom.

"Yes?" I answer back. He's got the whole room's attention now, but doesn't seem to realise.

"Just come here a minute," he replies. My brows pull in, but I get up. He sounds weird, but his face is giving nothing away.

Passing my gift to Christina, I follow him into the room. "Everything alright?" I ask as the door closes behind me. I see Clémentine get up from his comfy spot on the bed, grumbling to himself as he relocates underneath.

He says nothing, only pushing me into the bathroom. Confused, I twist my neck around, "use your words, Zeke!"

But he's shutting the door, and pointing behind me. Annoyed, I turn around. Sitting, seemingly just as annoyed, on the closed toilet is Tobias. He shakes his head at me, then moves his hand higher. I find myself looking back at my coat.

My eyes widen slightly, but I try to rein in my composure. "Ah! There it is…" I cough out a laugh, grabbing the puffy coat, "thanks, Four! Where did you find it?"

"He knows." Is all Tobias replies with.

My shoulders fall as I huff out the air in my chest, "so much for being a team, Four." My brows raise as I point behind me, "he's worse than my brother."

Tobias guilty shrugs, but I'm being manoeuvred around by Zeke's large hands before I get any more reaction.

And then I'm face to face with the annoying, overprotective older brother. His brows raise in comical accusation, "I thought you had a thing with Peter?"

My hand automatically lifts to my forehead, rubbing away the impending doom, "please don't say that name, or I'm going to get a headache." The only reply I get is his eyebrows moving that bit higher, if it was even possible. "It wasn't real, okay? I did something for Peter and he did something for me-"

Shock transforms his face, and a gasped laugh escapes me, "no, no! Not like that!" Pressing my lips together, I try to swallow my amusement, "Peter's trying to get Nita's attention, and I was trying to steer away Al's. It was working just fine until someone made it complicated." My head twists around to the boy sitting on the toilet seat.

My weightless accusation floats around him, a smile pulling at his lips as he leans back against the toilet, hands resting comfortably behind his head. "I can't stifle my feelings for you, Tris. You're too irresistible."

I roll my eyes at him, but I can't help his humoured words stoking the fire in my cheeks.

"Look," Zeke starts up again, and I turn back my head. He moves his eyes between Tobias and I, and I suddenly feel like a child again. "I want to have an actual conversation with the two of you, but now isn't the time."

It feels weird, him sounding so serious. Tobias and I aren't even together, we haven't even kissed. So when did this become such a big deal to the people on the outskirts of this situation?

"Sure, Zeke," Tobias replies, before I have the chance to say anything. Better he did; I think I would have accidentally elongated this small chat. Then his hands are on my shoulder, getting me moving. "We better get back out there before they start making up dodgy scenarios."

My face scrunches up in disgust, "gross, Four."

"I'm not the one thinking them up…"

Zeke leaves the bathroom, shaking his grinning head- with us on his heels. Tobias drops his hands just before Zeke opens up the door.

"You had a chance to speak to you know who?" He quietly says as Zeke moves into the living room.

I shake my head, following. "Hoping to catch him tomorrow."

But our friend's attention has flung to us, so that conversation ends.

"Presents?" I offer up weakly, lifting my shoulders.

Uriah, the unsuspecting child he is, cheers. "Finally! Me first!"

…

"And this one," Marlene starts, pulling out an oddly shaped present, "if for Four." She leans over Uriah, handling Tobias his present. "Sorry for the shoddy wrapping, it's not an easy shape!"

My attention intensifies. Thinking back to the day us three went down to the gift shop, I know exactly what she's gotten Tobias. I lean back into the love seat, my head resting on Christina's shoulder. I wait intently as Tobias thanks Marlene, interested to see his reaction to Mar's present.

A smile forms on my face as his eyes widen. He pulls out the white teddy, holding it in front of his face.

When Mar had picked it out for her secret santa, I thought it would be a funny enough gift. It's a throw away present, with no real meaning but to make the other person laugh. But it's Tobias's gift, and unbeknownst to Marlene, it has more meaning than she could think.

He's speechless for a few seconds, and then his eyes meet mine. My smile has turned into a grin, and I put on my best surprised expression, "hey! I have a teddy just like that!"

Mar laughs, "I mean, Tris adores that bear, Four, so I'm hoping you'll take just as good care of your french companion as she does her own!"

He laughs, his eyes flickering back to mine momentarily. They shine, but only in a way that I could see. "I'll try my best, Marlene. Thank you, though, it's a great present."

She nods at him, smiling, as she leans back into Uriah.

There's a few of us left, me being one. I look around the room, wondering who could have me for their Secret Santa. It's between Tobias, Zeke, Lynn and Al. I can only hope it's one of the first three.

With it being Tobias's turn to give, our attention stays on him. He picks up his gift sitting next to him, a thin square, maybe just a bit bigger than his palm. He stands, his neatly wrapped present held securely in his hand. I gaze around, wondering whose name he pulled out of the helmet.

I wonder if he's any good at gift giving? He seems to be quite a bit more clocked on than many of the boys in this room, let alone the ski lodge. I'm sure whoever he's got is in good hands.

He moves across the room, heading to what I'm assuming is Lynn. But he passes her, and stands in front of me.

My eyes widen ever so slightly, my head turning upwards, watching the small smile on his face. "Merry Christmas, Tris."

"Oh my fucking God," Christina whispers in my ear, squeezing my upper arm excitedly.

I reach out slowly, taking the present from him. My eyes stay glued on his dark blue ones, lighter than I think I've ever seen them.

And it feels like we're stuck like that for hours, our fingers just touching as we hold onto the item between us.

But Christina's elbow finds its way into my side, breaking my stupor. I clear my throat, removing the present from his hand, "uh, yeah, thanks, Four." Having come out of his own trance, he nods, and walks back over to his chair. Zeke, like the obedient dog he is, bends out of the way so Tobias can sit back in his seat.

With all eyes on me, I suddenly feel nervous. How long were we staring at each other? Is it hopelessly obvious how I feel for him?

"Hurry up and open it!" Christina encourages in my ear. I nod absentmindedly, ripping open the paper.

A CD is facing back, a bunch of familiar song titles written in black ink, gold bursts filling the background. I turn it over, looking at the slightly abstract picture of a group.

It's hard to believe what I'm looking at. The last time I saw this music genre was in Tobias's car, and beyond that in my home kitchen- where my Mum kept her CD player.

I open my mouth to say something, some thank you, but I'm speechless. It seemed like such a pointless conversation- some middle ground between us that I didn't think about two seconds after it ended. But he did. And this is more than I could ever ask for.

"How did you…?"

"It's not hard to remember the things we talk about, Tris."

And it's like the room slips away, our friends with it. Tobias sits alone in his chair, confident in himself. And it's taking all my strength to not get out of my own seat.

"What do you guys talk about?"

My eyes move to Shauna, sitting next to Zeke on the floor. She seems innocently curious, but that doesn't stop the heat from piling into my cheeks. I shrug, leaning back into Christina. Feigning absolute interest in my CD, I try to will the topic away. Maybe if they think I'm bored of the conversation, they'll move on to another…

"Guys?" She presses.

I sigh, dropping the CD, "I don't know Shauna? Normal things?" I hold up the CD, "like my mothers unique taste in music?"

I hear him laugh, making my own smile form. It's deep and rustic, a warm drink on a cold night. Just watching that joy in him pushes at me, makes me want to be honest with my friends. I don't want complicated anymore.

But my ego is too large, so I don't say it all. "We figured out that our Mums used to be friends, and we used to ski together when we were children." My eyes scan the room, watching Zeke and Uriah's faces scrunch in confusion, "it was before Mum met Hanna," I clarify. "The last time we all went skiing together was when I was 4." Zeke opens his mouth, but I beat him to it, "don't."

His shoulders drop dramatically, but he keeps his mouth shut. Looking around at my other friends' reactions, they all seem to be on the same page. Some minor disbelief, surprise, "that's pretty insane, guys." Will finally says, "the probability of you two ever meeting again on your own, by chance…"

I nod, looking back at Tobias. He's mirroring me, seeming lost in thought. "Anyway, let's get back to finishing Secret Santa up, I'm getting hungry." It's way past lunch by now, and the one slice of toast I had this morning isn't tiding me over.

Mumbles of agreement float around the room, and I gladly pick up Zeke's present. "Come and get your present, Zeke."

…

It's dark, Christmas day slowly coming to an end. Still at Tobias's, our friends have become part of the furniture. Having just finished a game of cards sitting around the coffee table, I stand, foregoing telling the uninterested group where I'm going. I head to the kitchen, needing a drink. I would ask the rest of them, but I'm only grabbing water- whilst the rest of them are actually drinking. Remembering how I was acting the last time I was drinking around Tobias, I've decided to give tonight a miss.

Tobias had told us where the bottles were after Secret Santa, but when I opened the fridge, only one had been removed from the packet. Unsurprising.

"Grab me one?"

I look over the door, seeing Tobias walking into the kitchen. I grab two, then close the fridge. I chuck one over to him, watching him easily catch it.

"Are there many left?" He asks, sitting on the stool under the L shaped counter.

I grin, "I think you should be more concerned about your alcohol cabinet." I open the bottle, taking a swig, "your battery running out?"

He laughs, leaning back slightly, "you could say that." He drums his right hand on the table, "I'm not used to hanging around so many people."

"Bet you're looking forward to New Years, then?"

He rolls his eyes, "overjoyed at the aspect."

I walk over to the opposite side of the counter, leaning on it. "You're not looking forward to any part of New Years?"

He, too, leans forward- a smirk pulling at his lips, "what are you trying to get at, Tris?"

I grin back, holding onto my bottle in front of me tightly, until I start to hear the plastic crunching, "absolutely nothing." I move back slightly, worried if we get any closer together I'd lose all train of thought, "so, did you want to go on the slopes tomorrow?"

He nods, "yeah, were going to need to buckle down if we want any chance of winning-" my mouth drops open, feigning shock. He laughs, "not that you aren't really good at snowboarding- it's more for me to brush up on my skills."

I nod in understanding, "It is hard, sometimes, waiting for you to get up to my level." I sigh, "really drags out the day."

He shakes his head, holding in a smile, "I won't hesitate to grab Clém, Tris."

"Clémentine won't work on me anymore, Tobias. When I went into your room earlier today- he didn't even hiss!"

He goes to get off his chair, "should I go get him-"

A strangled laugh escapes me as I chuck myself over the table, "no! No- don't wake the poor thing!" I hold onto his arm, pulling him back in place. He sits compliantly, but then we're closer than I can ever remember, and I don't know how much self control I have.

I watch his dark eyes flicker down, and my lips wet themselves automatically.

But I can still hear the noise coming from the living room, and I can't seem to block it out. It's not my friends that are holding me back, and it definitely isn't him. Tobias sees the shift, and moves back so there's a cooling gap between us. "Talk to Peter, Tris- for both of our sakes."

I nod slowly, moving back myself as my tensing body coils up. "I will, I promise."