Alice Milburn hated how her life revolved around chaos. With her mum being a sex therapist, her dad being an absent author, her brother being seemingly late to puberty (Jean's words, not hers) and his best friend always trying to become popular, Ali...
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bonus chapter ; two
{ unedited }
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IT WAS CHRISTMAS DAY. Christmas and Alice's birthday both in one day. Normally, she would hate this day but today she was looking forward to it. She and Ruby had been dating for two years and Alice had never been happier. The bakery was still going strong and bringing in a steady income that, with Ruby's salary from her hair salon, the two had managed to get a loan and buy a house a few streets away from Ruby's parents' house.
It was quite a beautiful house. Smaller than Alice's childhood one but bigger than Ruby's. It was Ruby who chose it, wanting to live in a better one she grew up in. It was a semi-detached house with two bedrooms and two bathrooms. There was a shed attached to it from the kitchen that Alice used for her paintings, something she was successful in selling, and there was a big front yard with tile flooring as was the floor and walls in the bathrooms and kitchen. Alice's bike was parked near the shed and Ruby's car not far from it.
Alice was on her way back from the bakery early today, eager to get home. She had walked to the shop today since she was only meant to be there for a few hours. Ruby hadn't gone to work today, wanting to surprise Alice with the decorations she was going to put up. It was the only reason Alice had gone into work―Ruby had kicked her out.
Alice knew that Ruby was most likely done with the decorating but still she was making her way to the hotel that her friends were staying at, all four coming home for the holidays. She would visit Carmen too but they had gone back to Manchester to spend Christmas with their sister. Stella and Jade had gotten married the year prior and all four, five including Carmen, wouldn't stop asking Alice when she was going to propose to Ruby. That was something Alice couldn't answer yet.
"I come bearing treats," Alice announced as she walked into the hotel room Stella and Jade were staying in. Johnny and Yuriko were already there and were the ones to text Alice to make a pitstop there before going home. Four heads snapped towards Alice and, in a hurry, they tried to hide their glasses behind their backs. "Oh relax, I'm not gonna go crazy 'cause there's wine out."
"What's in the bag?" Jade asked, being the first one to snap out of the weird faze and rush for the bag Alice was holding. Alice chuckled when she snatched it out of her hands and lit up at the sight of cake slices and pastries all boxed up. "Oh, sweet! Thank you!"
"Yeah, no worries. I'm gonna head home but I just wanted to drop these off first."
"Going home to Ruby?" Johnny asked with a teasing grin. It only grew when Alice threw a glare in his direction. "What? It's cute. Happiness looks good on you, Alice."
"Oh, screw you," she said but her tone was light as she rolled her eyes, her lips tugging up into a smile.
"That's not very merry of you," Yuriko piped in and Alice's glare turned to him. None of them have mentioned her birthday yet which was thankful for since she wasn't a fan of celebrating it. She could put up with them talking about Christmas but not her birthday.
"Screw you too. Goodnight." Yuriko laughed as Alice made her way to the room door and flipped him off without looking his way. "I'll see you all tomorrow," she said as she opened the door to leave.
"Merry Christmas!" Stella called after Alice as the door closed behind her. Alice smiled at the worker going past before making her way out of the hotel.
It was snowing on the way home, something that was rare in England. It never snows this much where she lived without it melting away or turning into black ice. Alice loved it even if she was walking through it without a hat or coat. She was sure to get sick but, at this moment, she didn't care.
The walk home was mostly quiet. There weren't many people walking around with it being cold and close to the evening. She took the quick way home, enjoying the way the snow hit her skin and hair but eager to see Ruby again.
Alice jogged up the driveway to the house and opened the door quietly, wanting to surprise Ruby after not seeing her for hours. She closed the door carefully, careful to not alert Ruby of her presence as she dropped her keys down in the bowl before making her way further into the house.
The house smelt like cookies and there was a Christmas tree was put up, fully decorated with a collection of wrapped presents under it which weren't there this morning. Alice felt bad for not having bought anything for Ruby but she knew the woman didn't care. Still, she made a mental note to buy something for her tomorrow when they went out with the others.
Alice smiled when seeing Ruby standing by the window looking at the snow, unaware that Alice was home. She was silent as she made her way to hug Ruby from behind, her chin resting on Ruby's shoulders. "Jesus Christ, you're freezing!" Ruby exclaimed as she jumped away from the older woman and turned to face her. "Were you out in the snow without a coat? Are you crazy!?"
"Stop yelling, Rubes, I'm fine," Alice laughed. She pouted when Ruby tried walking to the kitchen and grabbed her wrist before she could leave, pulling her back into a tight hug. "Where do you think you're going? You still gotta show me the tree."
"I was going to make you a hot drink. I don't need to show you anything, tree's right here. Let go, you're too cold." Alice whined when Ruby tried to move back and only held on tighter. She couldn't help but smile when Ruby stopped trying to fight her and tilted her head up to rest her chin on Alice's chest to meet her gaze.
"That's what you're for," Alice said after a few seconds of silence. "You're warming me up."
"How romantic," Ruby muttered, rolling her eyes. Alice hummed with a nod that made Ruby chuckle. "There is something I do wanna show you though."
"Hm? What's that?"
"Look up," Ruby whispered and Alice did as asked, laughing when seeing a mistletoe hanging above them. She was surprised she hadn't noticed that sooner. "You owe me a kiss."
"You don't need a mistletoe for me to kiss you," Alice said, looking down at her girlfriend.
"Just trying to be festive. Shut up and kiss me already." Alice didn't waste another second to cup Ruby's cheeks and pull her into a sweet kiss. There was a faint taste of cookies on Ruby's lips that made Alice not want to let the kiss break but she didn't have a choice when running out of air. "Merry Christmas, baby," Ruby whispered against Alice's lips. "And happy birthday." This was the best Christmas and birthday for Alice and she knew there were many more great ones to come with Ruby by her side.
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° ✩ • ☽ ° ✩ • ─── NOTE sorry it's short but i lost motivation after like 500 words lmao but merry christmas and happy holidays!! :)
