All Bets Are Off

Christmas 2015 Special

"Ella, everyone's waiting for you! Get down here!"

"I'm primping!" I called back, fixing another clip into the curly disarray of blonde hair. I tilted my Santa hat to the side and adjusted my sequined top, which read 'Merry Kiss-Mas' with a set of lips emblazoned on the front.

"I'm sure you look great," Phoenix replied, his voice just outside my door. "Now please come downstairs. Your father is about to burn his hand off on the grill and your mother is pulling another one of her pranks on my father."

"What is it this time?" I asked, clipping in a pair of flashing reindeer earrings.

"Something festive. She made him a bauble with his name on it and then put super glue on so that when he picks it up it sticks there. He's been screaming about it for the last five minutes. I think it's going to need to be surgically removed."

I heard the familiar sound of a page turning and frowned. "Phoenix, are you reading?"

He was silent for a second. "Um... no."

I whipped open the door to see him standing there with a paperback novel in his hand. "Ha! You're reading! On Christmas!"

"And you're primping," he replied. "On Christmas."

"Primping is part of the Christmas experience," I replied.

"So is A Christmas Carol," he replied, holding up the Dickens novel in question. "Come on, Elle. Just let me read for five more minutes."

"You can read while I finish my makeup," I allowed, walking over to my dresser and adding some mascara. "But then you are coming downstairs and we are going to be a social couple."

"Can I at least bring my book with me?"

"No," I replied. "Because then you'll be tempted to pull it out and read it while we're eating turkey, or something. I love you, Phoenix, but I don't trust you with a book around."

He sighed and collapsed onto my window seat. "Fine. Your lack of faith in me never fails to amaze."

"And your lack of discretion while you read never fails to amaze me," I replied, slicking on some pink gloss. "Also, what are you doing?"

He looked up over the brim of his book unsurely. "What?"

"You're in my room."

"I am aware of that fact, thank you," he answered. "Can I keep reading?"

"If my father finds you up here, he'll kill you," I informed him, fixing my hat again so it sat at the perfect angle.

"Ella?"

"Yes?"

"We live together. You do remember that, right? I'm pretty sure there's nothing we could do here that we haven't done before."

"But we're back home now," I told him. "Things aren't like they are at college. There are no boys allowed in my room. No alcohol. No bodies under the cover."

He crossed his arms over his chest like a petulant child. "Then I don't like this whole coming home for Christmas arrangement. Maybe they should come to our house, and there will be no rules."

"Maybe next year, sweetie," I replied. "Come on, I'm pretty now. We can go."

"One more chapter?" he pleaded, holding up the book as if it was a lifeline.

I rolled my eyes. "If you make it through lunch and dessert, I'll tell everyone you're sleeping off a food coma and you can come up here and read, okay?"

He bounced up and pecked me on the lips. "Have I mentioned I love you, Ella Fordman?"

"A few times. But I'll never get tired of hearing it. Now let's go socialize"

We made our way downstairs, where the whole family was gathered. Sage was running around laughing and giggling, while Noah chased after her. Marley sipped a champagne and watched them both with amusement, and grabbed me into a tight hug as we made our way onto the patio. "You're here just in time. You didn't happen to bring popcorn, right? The show is just getting good."

She pointed to our parents. The fire was blazing as my father grilled the steaks, a look of fear on his face at the leaping flames. Noah was almost tripping as he tried to catch his wayward daughter, and Annie was clapping her on, trying to lure her even further away from Noah.

Meanwhile, my mother and my Uncle Cole were in a playful argument. Cole was trying to shake a bauble off of his hand. "This isn't funny, Grace!" he crowed. "We're not eighteen anymore."

"I know, you're old. You're forty, you know," she replied, mixing up an eggnog.

"You're only three months younger than me!" he crowed.

"And yet somehow I can still take a joke!"

"How am I supposed to get this off?" he asked, chewing on his lower lip and giving it another cautionary shake.

"Get a sense of humor. It should drop right off," she replied, poking her tongue out at him. It was like they'd never graduated from high school.

"Oh, you're funny," he replied. "Seriously, though. Soap? A saw?"

"Steaks are ready!" my father called, quickly extracting the meat from the grill.

"So is the turkey!" Grace replied. "And don't worry, we have plenty of salads for the vegetarians."

"You're the only vegetarian, sweetie," my father Matt reminded her, pecking her lightly on the head.

"Oh, right," she replied. "Well, anyway, take a seat. I'll start bringing stuff out."

"I'll help," Marley offered, and disappeared with her aunt in search of the turkey and the salads.

Phoenix pulled out a chair at the spacious dining table, and eventually the rest of the family filtered out. I looked around the table at the gathered people, a mismatched puzzle.

Marley and Noah sat next to each other, talking quietly as they dished up potatoes. Sage sat bouncing on their lap, staring in awe at the smorgasbord of food. My mother and father sat next to each other, serving up Waldorf salad and laughing as Cole tried to get the bauble off of his hand. Annie was tutting at the whole affair, smirking in amusement at the whole affair.

And then there was Phoenix, who sat next to me dishing up the food and making sure I got the best steak of the bunch.

We were a bunch of strangers with a hundred jokes and plenty of stories to tell. All brought together by pranks, jealousy, and bets. It wasn't the best way to start.

But I couldn't have imagined a better way for our story to end.

~      *      ~

Thanks for reading everyone. This is my Christmas gift to you lovely readers. I just wanted something laidback and merry for Christmas, and I figured getting the gang back together would be a great way to do that.

Please remember to vote, comment, follow me, and share with friends! Let's spread the cheer!

Forever Love xx