The Power of Swan Cove

Chapter 10

Christmas Day 🎄

December 25, 2015
"Merry Christmas!" I greeted. My mom was hosting a party. She does it every year, so I'm used to greeting people and the whole system. The only thing different this year is that my mom said some new guests are coming. I know that one of them (or four of them) are my cousins that just moved from Germany. They speak English, their kids aren't great at it, but are decent. Their parents are from America so they speak fluent German and English. I didn't know who the second family was, though. Mom refused to tell us. The next to walk in was the Thorne's.
"Briar!" I went over and hugged her.
"Hey, excited for white elephant?"
"Yeah, even though we do Secret Santa, it's still fun to watch. Last year my mom got, like, two bottles of wine, a blanket, and a s'mores maker thing. It was awesome." I exclaimed.
"I know, I was there, next to you." She stated. If you didn't know, white elephant is this game where there's a bunch of gifts. Everyone pulls numbers out of a hat and that's their turn. So, person one will go, then two, then so on. The only catch is that people can steal each other's gifts on their turn. Normally, we do a maximum of 2 steals, no more steals, but sometimes we do 3 or even no limit. The reason you can't do it until your 21 (in our family) is because a lot of times the gifts have some sort of alcohol. It's kinda hard to explain. My mom walked over.
"How 'bout you girls go get something to eat. You're gonna miss out on all the good stuff when people start filing in." She recommended. I shrugged.
"I guess so." We started walking over to the food table. I got a paper plate and put shrimp, roast beef, and these two mini taco things. I grabbed a juice box from the cooler on the porch, cause why not? Briar got the same thing. It's not a real Christmasy meal, but whatever. We walked up the stairs and into my room. We wanted to talk about private stuff, I'm not antisocial.
"So what'd you get for Christmas?" Briar asked me.
"Art stuff, gift cards, and a rockin' mermaid onesie. You know, nothing much."
"I got clothes, shoes, makeup, gift cards, the usual." She replied.
"Wanna talk about something interesting?" I asked.
"Yeah." I answered immediately.
"Is Brayden coming this year?" Briar asked me.
"Yeah, most likely. Like, our parents are really good friends. I've basically knew him my entire life." I said.
"Do you know who the new family is? My mom wouldn't tell me. All she said is to be nice." Briar mocked her mom when she said 'be nice.' I shook my head.
"Well, she had a point when she said to be nice. You can be pretty...overprotective." I pointed out.
"Only because I care about you as a friend, Heidi. If you didn't have a friend like me, you could end up dating a serial killer. Thanks to me, you will still be alive."
"Good po- wait, what?!" I yelled. She shrugged.
"The only person I don't want it to be is-"
"Hey, your mom did say I would find you up here." I smelled the familiar scent of the beach. Like, the nice smelling beaches, as in the candle smell, kinda. I whipped my head around. Of course, it had to be him. It just had to! The one guy I didn't want to see. Don't get me wrong, I would totally love to see him. Just, just not now. Sorry, I'm suffering a severe case of crushitis. It just had to be Luke Montgomery. I could see Briar out of the corner of my eye biting her lip, trying to not laugh. I shot her a quick glare.
"Oh, um, hi Luke." I greeted.
"Hi Heidi, hi Briar." He said back. He was looking at Briar like she was insane. She couldn't help it, she burst out laughing. So much that she fell off the side of my bed. I crawled over and looked at her. Luke was walking over to her. By then, tears were streaming down her face from laughing so much. She got up and fixed her dress. It was a maroon velvet that was long sleeve. She also fixed the matching bow in her hair.
"Sorry, I just thought of something hilarious." She lied.
"Sup guys." And Brayden came rolling in. He had on a pale green button up shirt and khaki shorts. Just like Luke, only his was blue. They both had on tan sanuks. I don't understand why boys wear shorts even when it's 40 degrees outside. It's like their brain cells froze just like they are.
"Sup Brayden." Luke said.
"Hi." Briar and I said. He plopped on my bed next to me.
"Um, Brayden can I see you in the hallway?" Briar asked. I looked at her.
Don't leave me!
I mouthed to her. She just smiled and shrugged. That's her way of telling you it's for your own good. I heard their footsteps echoing down the hall. Luke sat next to me.
"So," I started. Yep, this was gonna be awkward.
"Um, what'd yo get for Christmas?" He asked.
"Gift card and art stuff." I left out the mermaid onesie. Hey, you would to.
"You?"
"Football things, that's really it. Everything else was also sports related, mostly." He said.
"Oh." Was all I said.
Think Heidi, think. You need to start a conversation. If you don't, he may end up dating and marrying Sydney. You don't want that! Hobbies! That's it! No, but it's all my stupid brain can think of. Ugh! Please work...or please come up with something else that's better. God, help me!
Yeah, it would be a Christmas miracle if this worked. Maybe I could think of a hobby we possibly both like. Soccer, no. Football, definitely not. Art, NO! Swimming, sure.
"Do you like swimming?" I asked out of nowhere.
"Yeah, I practically live in the water. Actually I ha-" he stopped and started blushing madly. I giggled.
"Are you alright?" I asked.
"Um, yeah. Aye ok." I smiled at him. I could tell he was embarrassed. Mainly because because he was blushing a lot.
"I like it. Maybe we could go swimming in the summer. We have a pool in my backyard and my parents are never home in the summer. They don't really care if people come over."
"Are you asking me out?" He asked. Then I started blushing.
"No." Crap, he's onto me.
"Sure, is it chlorine?" He asked.
"Saltwater."
"Um, maybe we could go to a chlorine pool. Saltwater makes me...um...break out?"
"Ok." That's weird. If he breaks out from saltwater, then why does he smell like it. Like, good smelling salt. He's smells good, not bad.
"Hey, remember when Sydney fell off the dock during 5th grade graduation?" He brought up. I laughed.
"Yeah, she was all like, 'Oh my god! Jess, help me! Now! I'm soaked and ugh!'" I mocked. He chuckled.
"She's such a spaz when it comes to messing up her newest mani pedi or new curls. She doesn't like to get her hands dirty, she'd rather hire a maid to do it for her."
"Ha! You're right." I replied.
"Aw, so romantic." I heard two voices say. We looked at Briar and Brayden standing in the doorway.
"Shut up, Brayden." Luke groaned.
"Yeah, it's not like we are dating or anything!" I scoffed at Briar.
You wish you were.
She mouthed. I glared at her.
"Guys, time for gift exchange!" My mom yelled from downstairs. All four of us went down the steps. Gifts, here I come.
Hey guys, Merry Christmas! I hope you liked this chapter and thanks for reading. Part 2 will be coming out later today. Maybe tomorrow if I get to lazy or can't finish it. Once again, thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed. Have a very Merry Christmas!
~rainbowmorkie