Chapter Nine
I slam down the trunk of my car and my breath comes out in a white cloud in front of me.
"Are you sure you don't need a ride?" Trent calls from two cars over and I shake my head.
"No thanks, I'm good. Plus, I think your cars already full." I nod my head towards Zack as he slides across the hood of Trent's car.
"All right, Peas, but you're missing out!" When Zack makes it to the passenger side door, he turns and points a finger at me. "Trent and I always have the best road trips."
I nod and find my eyebrows going up in amusement. "I'm sure you do."
"Hey, where's Stephanie?" Zack chooses to ignore my comment as Trent closes the trunk of his car.
"She already left with Savannah," I say walking over to the driver's side of my car.
"Aw, man, I was going to use this mistletoe on her." He pulls mistletoe out of his pocket and I shake my head laughing. If anyone's going to have mistletoe in their pocket, it would be Zack. I open the driver's side door, put my key in the ignition, and start my car. "Alright, well, I'll see you next year Peas!" Zack gives me a salute before hopping into the passenger's seat of Trent's car.
I send him a wave back as Trent leans into the driver's seat and starts his car before turning back around. He rests his arm on top of his door and sends me a grin. I find my lips curving upward in response just as someone walks in between our gazes. A plaid shirt blocks my view of Trent for a good ten seconds as he talks on the phone and rustles with the keys in his hand before he finally lowers himself into the driver's seat.
I open my mouth to wish Trent a good break, but then the hum of the engine cuts in between us and fills the quiet air.
"Have a good break, Lacie!" Trent yells as the car starts backing up.
"Have a good break, Trent!" I call back as the car finally cuts out of the parking spot and zooms towards the exit of the parking lot. I turn back over to Trent and we stare at each other for an extra few seconds before he sends me a wink and turns to hop in his car. I follow suit and buckle my seat belt.
College has been cool, but I'm excited to be able to spend a whole month at home. No classes, no work, my own bed, my mom's food, and Christmas. I turn on the radio, making sure to blast the Christmas music, and check behind me for any cars before pulling out of the parking lot.
I hope there's not a lot of traffic.
****
Pulling into the driveway, I pull the keys out of the ignition, and let out a sigh. I glance up at my small, ordinary two-story house and a smile graces my lips. I get out of the car, jog up to the front door, and slowly open the door. Walking in, I see my dad on one side of the couch staring down at his cell phone, my mom on the other side sliding her finger along her tablet, and my sister on the other side of the room sitting on the love seat playing on her phone.
"Glad to know you're all happy to see me," I say and just like that all their heads whip in my direction.
"Lacie!" Layla calls and before I know it, I'm being squished in a bear hug by my whole family.
It's good to be home.
****
Elf is playing on the television above the fireplace as Layla and I hang ornaments on our pre-lit Christmas tree. We set it up by the window, like we usually do, making it so anyone who drives by is able to see it. My mom's always wanted a real tree, but we don't have enough room for it and my dad doesn't like them.
I take a step back and admire the tree once its finished.
"I think it looks good," Layla says coming up beside me and I nod.
"Me too." I turn to her and nudge her shoulder with my arm. She shoves me back before going over to the couch and plopping down. "You're not going to help me put the boxes back in the attic?" I ask walking over to them.
"Nope," she shakes her head and picks up her cell phone. I open my mouth to yell at her, but my mom beats me to it from her place in the kitchen.
"Layla! If you don't help Lacie Santa's not coming here." Layla lets out an exaggerated groan and rolls off the couch while a satisfied smile graces my lips as I pick up the box in front of me.
****
The days of break roll by and before I know it, it's Christmas Eve. I honestly don't know how that happened. Between binge watching T.V. shows on Netflix and barely leaving the house, time just flew.
"Lacie! Layla! Are you guys still making cookies to bring to Grandma's?" My mom calls from the kitchen and I stand up from the couch. I glance over at my dad as he continues to stare at the T.V. screen. Then looking down I go to grab the last m&m out of the bowl on the coffee table, but before I know it Layla swipes it out of the bowl and pops it into her mouth.
"Hey!" I yell, but she just grins at me and continues to skip into the kitchen.
I follow in after and see my mom laid out most of the supplies we need on the table. Luckily my mom bought the premade sugar cookie dough, so the only thing we have to do is roll it out, use cookie cutters, and decorate them. We wash our hands and roll up our sleeves before I cut open one of the packages, divide the dough in half, and give one half to Layla.
We start rolling it out and making our cookies as some Christmas music plays softly in the background from our mom's tablet. I quickly grab the candy cane cookie cutter off the table before Layla can grab it and when she gives me a look I childishly stick my tongue out at her.
After making a few cookies, Layla drags the bag of flour over to put more flour on her side of the table. Using the spoon she digs into the back only to flick it up into her face, leaving me to let out a laugh.
"Ha, nice job," I snort and she glares at me wiping the flour out of her eyes. I pick up a bottle of red sprinkles and go to twist it open, only to have the cap fly off, and red sprinkles to fly out across the table.
"Way to go." It was Layla's turn to mock and I send her a glare before picking up some sprinkles and throwing them at her. "Hey!" she yells and digs her hand into the bag of flour and throws it at me.
"Layla!" I yell quickly wiping the white powder off my sweater and out of the air. Then I reach down and pick up more sprinkles and throw them at her. She retaliates again with more flour leaving us both to continue to throw things at each other. A stocking cookie cutter flys past my head and I duck. "Seriously?!"I yell and Layla laughs manically.
I pick up a candy cane one and chuck it at her leaving her to duck with a yelp. It lands on the floor with a clatter and I grab another star shaped one, but as I go to throw it, Layla throws more flour, leaving my aim off, and the cookie cutter to fly across the room and hit our mom in the back. She whips around and seeing us, her table, and the floor all covered in flour her mouth drops.
"What the hell is going on?" She yells just as our dad walks into the room. I bite my lip nervously, but then tasting flour there I cringe. Passing a quick glance over at Layla I see she's giving our parents an innocent smile and our parents stare us down is response. We stay like this for a few seconds fidgeting under their stares before they both burst into laughter. I look over at Layla again, and taking in her flour covered appearance, we both start laughing too.
Then more flour is slapped to the side of my face and I turn around only to see my dad glancing around the room innocently.
"Hey!" I yell and throw some that contains sprinkles in it back at him.
Just like that both my parents join the fight, leaving us all to run around the kitchen throwing flour and sprinkles at each other. At one point my mom dumps what is left of the red sprinkles on my dad's head leaving him to grab her and tickle her. She lets out a girlish squeal and my dad grins like a fool.
"Ew," Layla and I groan at the same time. Then turning to each other we both say, "jinx."
Both my parents straighten up, attempting to dust off some of the flour covering their clothes.
"Okay, well," my mom says wiping at her sweater before looking back up at us.
"Clean this up." My dad twirls his finger and they both send us smiles before walking out of the room.
I shake my head and with minimal grumbling from Layla, we both reluctantly walk back over to the table. I push away some flour to see if any cookies survived, then in the corner of my eye I see Layla pick up a small piece of dough and pop it into her mouth. Feeling my gaze she looks over at me.
"What?" She asks with an innocent shrug and I just shake my head.
****
I walk out of the bathroom, free of flour, and with my pajamas on. Layla taps away at her phone sprawled across my bed while I bend over and pull my hair into a pony tail. Standing up straight, I continue to smooth it back as a ringtone starts to play.
"Red Velvet?" Layla questions picking up my cell phone and my eyes widen.
"Layla, no!" I finish tying my hair and launch at the bed.
"Hello?" She answers and moves the phone away from my grabbing hands. "No, this is her sister, Layla." She gives me a sly smile and I go to tackle her, but she stands up. "Oh, Trent, is it?"
"Layla!" I yell and yank on her ankle in attempt to bring her back down on the bed.
"Yeah, she's here." She looks down at me and opens her mouth to say something else, but I wrap my arms behind her knees and pull her down. "Ah!" she yelps falling on top of me and I quickly snatch the phone out of her hand before shoving her off of me and quickly standing up from the bed. I look down at my phone still seeing the minutes of the call and then slowly bring the phone to my ear.
"Hello?"
"Lacie?" Trent's voice rings in my ear and a small smile tugs at my lips.
"Hi."
Layla starts making kiss-y faces at me, but I quickly swat her away.
"I didn't know you had a sister," Trent says and I let out a nervous laugh, scratching the back of my neck.
"Yeah..." I drop my arm and fold it across my stomach. "So, why are you calling?"
"Ah, well," he pauses. "I was just calling to see how much you missed me."
I smile at his usual arrogance. "Not a lot actually."
"Oh yeah?" I can hear the grin in his voice. "It's been a few weeks, though." Layla leans in closer to the phone and I shove her face back down onto the bed.
"Yeah well..." I trail off. "Is that all?"
He chuckles and it feels almost like he's standing here in front of me. "No, I also wanted to wish you a Merry Christmas."
"Oh." I tuck a fly away air behind my ear.
"Yeah..."
"Ugh, would you just say it already!" The high pitched sound of Layla's voice makes me jump, seeing as she pressed herself next to me again, and I shove her back down on the bed before quickly running into the bathroom while Trent's chuckling fills my ear again.
"Sorry about that," I say closing the door behind me and leaning against it.
"Its fine, but I guess I better say it now."
"Yeah," I laugh. "I guess."
"Well... Merry Christmas, Vanilla."
I bite my lip, holding back a smile. "Merry Christmas, Red Velvet."
****
Walking out of the science building Raven holds the door open for me and I pick up my pace to catch it.
"Thank you," I mumble and she nods before continuing to walk. I suck in a deep breath as I officially step out of the building and as I take in my surroundings I can't help, but think that break went by way too fast. It feels like I never even left.
I glance around campus and a few feet away I see Trent standing around with a group of guys. I'm a little surprised they're standing there seeing as its still cold outside, but I guess feeling my gaze Trent looks over at me. He waves and I smile, but then seeing Raven wave back, I immediately turn around.
Curse that awkward moment when you think someone's waving to you, but they were actually waving to someone else.
I duck my head down completely embarrassed and start to speed walk in the opposite direction, but then I hear foot steps behind me.
"Lacie, wait," someone grips my arm and I turn only to see Trent in front of me. He catches his breath before chuckling. "I was waving to you."
"Oh." Heat travels up the back of my neck despite the cool air around us and Trent grins before taking a step forward.
"Go out with me."
I blink back at him for a few seconds before tilting my head up towards the sky in exaggerated laughter. Then I look back over at him only to see his expression remained the same and I straighten my stance in response.
"Oh, you were serious."
"Yeah," he nods an amused smiling tugging at his lips.
"Oh, um," I swallow unsure of what to say.
"Look," He says forcing me to comply to the command. "I've been wanting to ask you out since the moment I met you and yet somehow we kept getting interrupted, or you kept running away so," his grin falls back into place and he grabs my hand, "go out with me."
"I-I, uh, um." I quickly pull my hand away and go to take a step back, but he grabs my other one. I bite my lip and turn my head away not so discreetly avoiding his eyes.
"Lacie O'Conner!" He yells drawing attention from a few people and I cut my gaze back over to him. "Will you, please!" I take a step back, but he follows. "Do me the honor!" I pull my hand out of his and go to walk away, but he quickly grabs my other one again. "Go outâ" I slap my other hand over his mouth and watch his green eyes dance in amusement.
"If I say yes will you shut up?" He quickly nods under my palm and I slowly pull my hand away. I glance around us and let out a relieved breath now that everyone went back to minding their own business. I turn back to Trent only to see a victorious grin on his face.
"Great, so I'll pick you up at six." I open my mouth to protest, but he leans down and plants a chaste kiss to my cheek before walking away, leaving me completely baffled.
What did I just get myself into?