𝟏𝟖

♕

𝑖𝑟𝑖𝑠' 𝑝𝑜𝑣

After Aurora and I's intimate moment, we both showered and got dressed for the day.

I had curled my hair and tied some of it back with a white ribbon. I was wearing a chunky red knit sweater with black mom jeans. Warm, fluffy white socks protected my feet that were stuffed inside of my UGG boots.

Aurora's hair was pulled back into a tight bun, but after I scolded her for damaging her hair she loosened the strands up. She was wearing a similar red sweater as mine that she tucked into a pair of straight leg leather pants. Instead of wearing UGG's she had on a pair of Dr. Martens.

Once we were dressed, we headed into the guest room to wake up Ariella and get her ready for the day.

A queasy feeling ran through my stomach as we all prepared ourselves for the day. It was something that I enjoyed about us all being so comfortable around each other.

I was loving the bond that was forming between all of us. They were like family to me. I loved them like family. I really hoped that they wouldn't deem me weird for associating myself to them as such, but then again I know how they felt about me. Especially Aurora. My thoughts were just full of insecurities— something that I'm working on. I wouldn't want my lack of self confidence to tear us apart.

Not after how much I've grown to know them.

The sound of Ariella giggling caused me to snap out of my thoughts. Aurora had just finished putting her hair up into pigtails and was now tickling the little girl.

"I—Iris! Help me!" Ariella managed to yell out through her giggles.

I chuckled and made a move to help the girl, but Aurora had gotten ahold of me and thrown me on the bed beside Ariella, using both of her hands to jab at our stomachs and necks.

I yelped and kicked my legs just as Ariella was doing, "Ro! Stop my— my hair!"

"Uh uh. You tried to help the little princess, so you must endure her punishment too." Aurora declared in a evil tone, her ridiculous laugh that followed making her character seem more wicked.

She tickled the two of us for a few more seconds, squeals and evil laughs filling up the room as Ariella and I struggled. Eventually, we were left huffing as Aurora stood above us with a satisfied grin.

"You . . . are evil, lady. Just evil." I pouted, standing up and moving towards a nearby mirror.

My curls weren't completely destroyed, but they were still frizzy and out of place. I huffed and stared at my reflection as I attempted to seem more put together.

Aurora had snuck up behind me and placed a gentle kiss on my forehead, "You still look beautiful."

I rolled my eyes to draw attention away from the tint on my cheeks, "Whatever." I mumbled.

Once everyone had freshened themselves up, we made our way out into the city. We made a stop at the bakery where I worked and ordered a not so healthy breakfast before continuing our journey in Aurora's Audi. The car was full of loud singing of whatever Christmas song that played, Ariella dancing around in her booster car seat.

As the lyrics of 'All I Want for Christmas Is You' by Mariah Carey began to flow out, Aurora turned down the radio to speak. "So I was thinking that we could go ice skating today."

My head immediately turned toward her in excitement.

"Oh my god!"

"Really?!"

Ariella and I yelled at the same time.

Aurora laughed and nodded her head.

"This should be interesting."

♕

"This is harder than I thought." Ariella pouted.

Aurora and I laughed at the young girl's words, watching as she held tightly onto the skate helper in front of her. Ariella didn't realize that roller skating and ice skating were two different skills, so she believed that since she was so good at the first that the second wouldn't be all that hard. Boy was she wrong.

"Would you like one of us to help?" I asked, squeezing onto Aurora's hand as we skated beside each other.

"Isn't that the purpose of this thingy?" Ariella questioned aloud, very obviously referring to the skate helper.

"Purpose? Wow that's a big word." Aurora laughed.

I laughed along with the older blonde before releasing my hand from hers and moving to gather Ariella's smaller hands in mine. Aurora took it upon herself to hand the skate helper to a kid who had just slipped on his butt.

He needs it more than she does.

Aurora followed closely behind us with her phone, recording Ariella and I as I helped her get the flow of ice skating. After about ten minutes of me giving tips to the learning girl, she decided that she wanted us to speed up our pace, so I allowed it. However, I soon regretted my decision when Ariella took off unexpectedly, leaving me to fall onto the ice.

"Ow." I groaned out into the cold.

While Aurora immediately came to my aid, Ariella stood in front of us with worried eyes.

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to hurt you."

I silently thanked Aurora who questioned if I was alright before facing Ariella with a small smile.

"Hey. It's okay. Accidents happen, sunshine." I brought her to me to share a hug, "I think that's our sign to go elsewhere. What do you think?"

The small girl giggled and nodded her head, "Can we visit Phoebe? She owes me another movie marathon."

"We sure can."

Phoebe's home wasn't far away from mine. In fact, we were only about 5 minutes away from one another. I suppose that's why it was so easy for us to plan outings and such.

All it took was a phone call for my best friend to prepare herself and her home for our arrival.

Ariella, Aurora, and I grabbed ourselves a hot chocolate before heading over to Phoebe's. We didn't get to knock on the door before it swung open on its on— thanks to the redhead's Ring doorbell.

"Ella!" my best friend exclaimed, her arms up in the air to emphasize her excitement.

"Bea!" Ariella returned the greeting with a huge smile.

The two girls hugged with Ariella's legs wrapped around Phoebe's torso.

"When did they get on a nickname basis?" Aurora chuckled into my ear.

I shrugged my shoulders with a small frown, "Bea was my thing."

Aurora laughed at the pout on my face and moved down to kiss it, her arms secured around my waist.

"Aw, you poor thing." she fake sympathized.

"I guess she can be an exception." I playfully rolled my eyes, my arms crossed to my chest.

"As if they needed your permission anyways." the blonde laughed, backing away when I swatted my hand towards her.

Phoebe invited us into her home— which looked liked Santa threw up in it; Christmas lights lit up the entirety of the home, the sound of the fire in the fireplace mixed with the soft piano music that played from her speakers, and fake snow was scattered onto the floors.

That was just a brief description of some things that adorned the house.

I didn't mention the inflatable Santa Clause or the small elf and reindeer that followed after him.

One thing about Phoebe: she goes all in.

God, just wait until Halloween.

When we all entered the living area, a little girl wearing a Santa hat was watching us with big eyes. She shared similar features as Phoebe, causing me to question their relation to each other.

As if she read my mind, Phoebe spoke up, "Oh! This is Madison. She's my brother's only child and I offered to watch after her today since he's busy with work."

"He's always busy with work." the curly haired girl muttered.

"Yeah. . . well—"

"My name is Ariella. Nice to meet you, Madison."

Me and the other two adults watched as Ariella introduced herself to the young girl. Madison attempted to hold a frown on her face, but she eventually gave in and sent a small smile toward Ariella.

"Nice to meet you too." Madison muttered nervously, glancing at the ground beneath her.

Phoebe, Aurora, and I awed at the innocent interaction between the two girls.

"Madison was just getting started on a gingerbread house. I'm sure she wouldn't mind if Ariella joined her." Phoebe announced, not noticing the panicked expression on Madison's face.

"I think that would be a lovely idea." Aurora agreed.

I nodded, "Have fun!"

And with that we left them in the living area, gathering into the kitchen.

Phoebe poured three glasses of wine, sliding Aurora and I our own.

"So, I take it you two sorted everything out?"

My cheeks heated up, "Yeah. It was just a misunderstanding."

"One that won't happen again. Evelyn didn't have the right to do what she did, and I should have pushed her away sooner than I had." Aurora reassured me, grabbing ahold of my hand.

I smiled up at her and pulled her into a sweet kiss.

"You two make me sick." Phoebe gagged.

♕

-E

A little bit of wholesomeness before the chaos<3