Matching Rings [h.s]

76

POV: BAYLIN GRIGGS

The usual joy of Christmas was a little dull this year.

I didn't wake up to Mariah Carey blasting on a cheap speaker, drowning any and all other sounds out around me— which used to be a tradition in my family. Or the peppermint smell of the candles my mother lit early in the morning so that we could wake up and instantly whiff Christmas spirit. I didn't have the pleasure of gifting my perfectly planned gifts for my family, or to see the happiness in their faces when I opened theirs.

I even miss the few hours Zayn and his brother would come and visit us, my mother would treat them as her own and make pancakes for all of us. Then we'd spend the day baking pies, or watching hallmark movies.

My mother would take the day off from the hospital, but take a night shift once we were already sleeping. Once Maya and I grew up, that's when we started having our national 'up all night til new year's' as we called it— I know, such a creative name. As I'm sure you can guess, we would try our best to stay up and do the wildest shit we could for the next week until it was new year's eve.

When we were kids, we would steal any and all sugar we could find and eat it behind our mothers back. As we got older, it quickly became alcohol, or sneaking out past dark to roam in the cold winter streets.

Of course by the second or third day we would both fail miserably. I'm pretty sure we only ever completed it once, two years ago. Each night we'd buy a six pack of energy drinks, and make as much coffee as we could. By the fourth night, we both were puking out our guts— but we still didn't sleep.

Best and worst week of my life.

I really do miss all that, it's felt like forever since I really enjoyed my life like that.

This year was well past different, not bad necessarily, but different. Though I'd trade it for my old life in a heartbeat.

Instead of blasting holiday music, I wake up to the sound of my door creaking open. Still being half asleep, my brain doesn't register what it is just yet.

"Merry! Fucking! Christmas!" Niall comes barging in my room, screaming at the top of his lungs while throwing himself next to me on the bed.

I groan and toss my pillow over my head, trying to block out the sound of him. He shakes me, having far more energy than he usually does in the mornings.

"I'm exhausted, what time is it?" I complain.

"Nine." He states sitting up and finally settling on the bed. "I've been waiting for you to wake up on your own, but I couldn't any longer. I'm hungry."

I peel my eyes open, seeing the dull light escaping from the crack in the window curtain. My head isn't pounding like I expected it to be, usually after a late night I wake up groggy.

"Wake up. Jim made strawberry and nutella crepes." Niall tries to bribe me.

"Just give me a second." I take a deep breath, catching a tiny scent of the food, giving me a bit of motivation, "I need time to wake up fully."

In reality I just want to have a moment to myself, this is the first Christmas I'm spending without my family. My mother is gone and Maya is... well, Maya is wherever she is. And it's also my first Christmas without Zayn, or my own house.

I need just a couple minutes to sort my thoughts so that I don't break down and ruin this day for Niall— because he seems beyond excited.

"Fine, but hurry your ass up." Niall hops off my bed and paces out the door excitedly, shutting it behind him.