35: I Had To Pee

It's Christmas day. Fa-la-la-la-la.

"Hazel! Wake up! It's Christmas!" The twins start shouting.

They're jumping up and down on the bed, making it hard to concentrate on what's going on. The twins keep jumping even though I'm noticeably awake and sitting up in my bed. That is until Braden falls face first onto the bed. I laugh and pat his back to make sure he's okay, but he's laughing away.

"Christmas!" He yells at me.

He's about to get up and start jumping again with Ben when Oliver walks out of the bathroom. He looks at what's going on and smiles at the boys lightly.

"You shouldn't jump on top of your sister."

The boys look sad when Oliver speaks up. I'm thankful for him since they would never listen to me in this situation. The two against one dynamic is barely ever in my favor.

"Without me," Oliver finishes.

I look at Oliver wide-eyed just to see him run and jump up on the bed in one swift movement. Before I know it, there's three boys jumping on my bed that I'm still inside, might I add.

"Come on, Hazel," Ben begs me.

"Jump," Braden adds on.

I roll my eyes but stand up anyway. I grab my pillow and before I start jumping I hit Braden with the pillow. It's hard enough to knock him off balance, but not too hard that he falls over. He starts laughing and picks up my other pillow that I have on my bed and hits me with it.

"Pillow fight!" Ben yells.

Oliver goes to grab two pillows, one for him and one for Ben. He has a mysterious glint to his smirk. Once he's on the bed again his eyes are on mine.

"Attack!"

The twins obviously listen to him and I'm suddenly attacked by three pillows coming from different directions. I put my pillow in front of my face to try and protect it, but Oliver picks it out of my hands. I keep my arms up but it's no use.

I'm laughing and screaming, trying to get away. There's no way out of this one though, I'm trapped between the three of them. So, I just fall to the bed and sit curled up while they keep hitting me with the pillows.

"Stop," I laugh out.

"Never!" Braden laughs.

I keep blocking the hits and when I see an opening I take it. I grab Ben's feet and pull him down with me. Soon enough Braden just falls on top of Ben on purpose to keep him down. Oliver is the last man standing and he pulls a Braden and plops down beside me, wrapping his arms around me to hold me hostage.

I wriggle around in his hold. He shifts so he can grab me tight. I'm on top of him and he's laying on his back. I'm still laughing, not having stopped since the pillow fight. Oliver chuckles and I can feel the movement that comes from his diaphragm when he does so.

"Let me go!" I laugh.

"No," He whispers back.

Braden and Ben are having a similar argument, but with much more yelling and movement going on. Looks more like a fight from where I'm at, but I don't stop their obvious fun.

After a while, we all settle into silence, tired from all the fighting that's been going on this early in the morning. I'm laying with my head on Oliver's chest, his arms still around me as he draws circles on my back with his finger. Similarly, I'm drawing circles on the outside of his shoulder, my eyes following the movement of my finger. The twins are talking about the names of the reindeer, trying to figure out the last one they don't seem to remember.

"Donner."

I press up off my comfy position on Oliver's chest and smile at him. He looks at me, his face confused by my movement.

"You know your reindeer," I smile at him.

"I'm a bad boy, not a grinch."

I roll my eyes at his stupid comment and then roll myself off him, standing up beside the bed. The three boys look at me.

"Breakfast?"

The twins don't even hesitate to run out the room and towards the kitchen. Cheering and yelling for the food that they're about to eat. I smile to the door and then face back to Oliver.

"You left," I raise an eyebrow to him in question.

"I had to pee."

"And I wanted to cuddle."

"We don't always get what we want, Haze," Oliver smirks at me, sitting up in the bed.

"Says mister, 'please let me sleep in your bed, it's cold," I exaggerate the conversation from last night.

Last night Oliver convinced me that he should be allowed to sleep in my bed. The night was colder than it had been and the cool air was seeping into the house. Being an old house, the heater doesn't exactly work perfectly, well okay, it barely works. A small couch sounded uncomfortable when he was complaining about it last night. So, having the kind heart that I have, I said yes.

"You didn't seem to mind."

I cross my arms and look at him for a second before walking to the bathroom to brush my teeth.

I walk to the kitchen when I'm done to find the three boys setting the table for breakfast. But they're doing it in their own stupid way.

"On your marks, get set, go!"

I stare at them race. Each one is setting a place at the table. They all look concentrated on what they have to do. Forks, spoons, plates, mugs, everything is flying to its spot at the table. Im pleasantly surprised, I've never been able to get them to set the table.

I look at Oliver, his concentration clear on his face. His brows are slightly furrowed and his lips are pressed together. He looks just like the boys do then and it takes me back to the elementary school days.

"Done!" Ben yells.

Oliver and Braden groan in defeat. They were almost done as well, only barely slower than Ben. I knew Oliver was being slow on purpose, not wanting to beat the twins, and I give him a wink when he looks up to me.

I shake my head and go ahead and start making the Christmas hot chocolate and waffles I always make. The boys are talking at the table and Oliver comes up to me in the kitchen. He turns so he can keep an eye on the boys while he talks to me.

"Need help?"

I shrug my shoulders, "Know how to make hot chocolate?"

"Nope."

I smile up to him and hand him the knife that I had in my hand. He looks at it and raises an eyebrow before taking it. He resumes cutting the chocolate that I'd been cutting. Easily getting into the groove of chopping chocolate bars.

"When you're done, mix it with the milk."

He nods to me, understanding how the basics of hot chocolate work. I let him be and work on the waffles. I check up on his progress every once in a while, but he obviously has got the hang of it. Always one to be great at everything he does that Oliver Grey.

He helps me take all the food to the table. I graciously nod at him with a smile. He nods back and sits in his chair. The boys, Oliver included, look like they're ready to devour the plates of food.

"Just eat," I laugh.

They dig in and breakfast passes without a word. Apparently we were all hungry from the fight we had that morning.

After breakfast, I force the three of them to help me wash the dishes. I tell them that the faster we get this done, the faster we get to open presents. That got them cleaning.

Man, look at me being a manipulative bitch.

Once everything is dried and put up, we head to the living room where our small tree is. I try to ignore the small bit of sadness that builds inside of me. Christmas is only a few presents nowadays. It hurts me that I give them more. I remember the Christmas presents I used to get. This Christmas didn't even compare.

Oliver must notice my slight change in mood because he raises his arm for me. His face is stone cold, not showing me any pity. I accept his arm and cuddle into his chest, smiling at his lack of pity. I hate pity, he knew that.

"Can I go first?" Ben asks.

"You went first last year," Braden pouts.

"What about you boys give Oliver his present first?"

They both nod and run to grab Oliver's present first.

"Present?" Oliver whispers to me.

I smile up to him, "It's a little something the boys made for you."

He nods and takes the gift from Ben, who'd won the race to the present. He rips the paper and picks up his present. There's two keychains in his hand. A red one and a lilac one. They're small little beaded keychains with a charm at the bottom.

"We made them for you!" Braden smiles.

The twins lean over to try and see the keychains they made. They look at them in surprise, like it wasn't them that made them and wrapped them.

"15 for my for all number," Oliver says, rubbing his thumb over the red keychain, "OG for Oliver Grey," His thumb rubs over the other charm.

The red keychain is the same as our school color. It has some hints of white, and the silver charm that matches. The lilac keychain is my favorite, but I'm probably biased since lilac is my favorite color.

"They're great, boys"

They smile with pride of their accomplishments, "Thanks for driving us, Oliver," They both say in rehearsed unison.

He smiles lightly and gives them a nod. He sets the keychains aside and snuggles close to me again. He'd unwrapped his arm from around me to better open the present. But now that he was back, I enjoy the warmth that comes back.

"Alright Braden, you go."

"From Oliver?" Braden asks when he looks at the little card attached to the present.

I look to Oliver, my eyes wider than ever and my jaw halfway to China with how much it dropped. I look to Braden's present and then back to Oliver, still in genuine shock at what's happening. Oliver just shrugs and leans down to my ear so that only I can here.

"They deserve it."

"Thanks, Oliver!" The twins smile and start ripping their presents.

After the twins open all their presents, I start preparing lunch. Ben and Braden are already playing with their new toys. I expect Oliver to just sit on the couch with his phone, but instead he starts cleaning up the wrapping paper that was littered all over the living room floor. I chuckle slightly at the sight of Oliver Grey being a housemaid.

"What?"

"Nothing," I shrug and turn back around to the pot of mac and cheese.

"Haze," He says, walking up to me.

I laugh and turn around, already in his hold. His hands are around my waist and he's smirking down at me. My hands go to his shoulders, leaning slightly on his chest. I feel the heat rise in my cheeks and I can't help it.

"Just Oliver Grey being a housemaid."

He shakes his head and chuckles at the idea. I laugh with him. I look at Oliver and his eyes are crinkling from his chuckle. He looks relaxed. I bring a hand back to the nape of his neck and mess around with the wisps of hair. The doorbell rings and my eyes shoot to the front door.

"Will you get it?"

Oliver nods and makes his way to the front door. Just like the housemaid he is. He opens it up and I hear Levi's voice.

"Merry Christ, oh, hello, Oliver."