Under the Mistletoe (Christmas Special)

Chapter 8

I flutter my eyes open and they feel sticky. I groan - I must've forgotten to take out my contacts last night.

My vision adjusts to the light shining through the window and I realize that I did wear my contacts overnight. And I'm sleeping on the couch, not my comfy bed. And the telly is still on the Discovery channel.

Well, something's not right.

I get up and stretch. My neck kind of hurts due to not sleeping on a proper bed. I look around for my phone and find it wedged in the couch cushion. I pick it up and check the time. 9:07. Not bad, but not good.

My eyes wander over the date and immediately widen. It's already December 18th! There's only a week left until Christmas! Time to freak out.

What am I supposed to get for Liam?

I still have to bake cookies for everyone at work!

I turn the telly off, scramble to my room, change into some leggings and an oversized t-shirt, tie my hair up, and get to work baking cookies.

I decide on sugar cookies and take out my recipe from the cupboard. I've memorized it for the most part, but I still follow it just in case. I start making the dough for the cookies, roll pieces for the tray, and pop it in the oven.

While they cook, I get my laptop out. I sit up on the countertop and turn it on. I begin by simply searching "what to get your male best friend for Christmas" in Google. I get a few good results, but none of them really scream Liam's name. One of them said concert tickets, though, and I could get him concert tickets if they aren't too expensive.

I look up some of his favorite artists and bands. None of them have concerts that are really soon.

I see that The Script has a concert in March. Only three months away - that's not too bad. Plus, The Script is perfect and Liam loves them. I decide to get two tickets and I'm seriously hoping he doesn't have a One Direction commitment on that day. Fingers crossed.

I use my creativity to come up with the idea of making a small scrapbook of a bunch of pictures of us and then putting the tickets in the back. I just have to find pictures and buy a scrapbook.

I check on my cookies; they smell and look like they're done. I pull the tray out and just as I do, I hear someone knock on my door.

"Leave!" I yell at no one in particular. It's probably Liam or Melissa anyway.

I don't get any response, so I set the tray on the counter, take my oven mitts off, and head over to see who it is. I look through the peephole but I don't see anybody.

If I was just ding-dong ditched, someone's going to get hurt.

I swing the door open and instead of a person, I find a bouquet of red roses. Mixed in with all of the red roses is one white rose.

Is this some sort of sick joke? One of my sisters putting this here and tricking me into thinking it was some secret lover of mine, perhaps? It must be revenge for all of the (not-so) innocent pranks I pull on them.

I pick up the bouquet and a little letter catches my eye. I actually laugh. Out loud. This is definitely a joke.

I open it up and begin to read:

Josie,

I can't believe I'm actually doing this. By time you read this it's already too late for me to take it back, so I guess here goes nothing.

I love you. I sincerely love you.

It's everything about you that drives me crazy. The little things, the big things, and everything in between.

It's your contagious laugh and your weird jokes that wouldn't be funny if anyone else said them. It's the way you admire the smallest things in life and the way you sing along to songs even though you know you sound terrible (no offense). It's the way you make fun of yourself and make jokes at serious times. It's the way you're afraid of the strangest things and the way you're not afraid to be yourself despite what other people might think. It's the fact that no matter where I am, I just want you right there next to me.

You're not fake like so many other girls are these days. You're naturally the most beautiful girl in the world. You would do anything for the people you love and you walk around with this confidence and happiness to you. I've never met anyone like you and I don't think I ever will. You're perfect in your own way. You're one of a kind. That's why there's one white rose. You're different. You stand out (in a good way) from everyone else.

I know you don't feel the same way about me. I know you want to find a boyfriend and you don't think you can find that in me. But I want you to find that in me. I want you to I want you to I want you to. Every time you talk about another guy, it kills me. It's the worst feeling in the entire world, but I can't do a single thing about it. I'm a wimp who can't tell you how he feels. And who am I to tell you who you can date? I want to tell the rest of the male population to stay away from you because your mine, but who am I to do that? I'm not your boyfriend. You don't see me as anything more than a friend. I wish you would, but I can't control that. I can't control how I feel either, but I think you at least deserve to know everything I've kept inside for so long.

I just hope you can see how amazing you are. I hope you can see how beautiful you are. And most of all, I hope you can see that you deserve the best the world has to offer. Don't settle for anything less.

And it ends there. Without a name. Without any indication as to who wrote this. I'm actually crying on the inside right now.

It's probably a joke. Nobody that I know is in love with me. And if they were in love with me, I'd definitely know. I'm not blind! Is it someone I don't know? Is it someone I work with? Do I have a stalker?!

I swear, if this was one of my sisters, I'm not giving them any of their presents and I'm going to hate them forever.

But how could this be a joke? It's so sincere. Can't this person just come out and tell me who they are? I'd date them in a second after they wrote this letter. Don't they know that?

So maybe my mission before Christmas isn't to find a boyfriend. It's to find out who wrote this.

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I hope I did that right and didn't completely mess it up. You all probably know who wrote that letter...haha. Credits for the idea of the letter go to @Vikkigee, the coolest cat. She's also my favorite writer on here so you should DEFINITELY go check her out. Tell me what you thought - comment & vote! it only takes a second :)

Merry Belated Christmas! I hope you had a blast with your families :)

thanks for reading!

xoxo

CHRISTMAS IS OVER WHOOPS