Beating Heart •Luke Kuechly•

Chapter 12.

* This chapter is new because I forgot to add it in before. Sorry!

I love the Christmas season. It's one of my favorite times of the year. Christmas in general is my favorite season. It's the one time of the year that my whole family is able to be really be together. We hang out all through out the year, but not all at the same time some times.

It's especially hard with a big family as big as ours.

In my room Christmas lights are strung on the headboard above my bed in multicolors. I also have a little fake Christmas tree in the corner of my room. Luke went home for the holidays so he wasn't here to celebrate my birthday with me but it was okay. I'm glad he was ale to go home and spend time with his family. My birthday is a week before Christmas, December 15th. I'll be turning twenty-two.

It's the next morning and I wake up from hearing my mom in my room.

"Happy Birthday, Callie." My mom tells me.

"Thanks mom."

I rub the sleep from my eyes and pull the covers off of me. I walk up and hug my mom as I feel her arms tighten around me.

"I can't believe my baby is twenty-two."

"Mom," I groan as I pull away.

"I'm sorry but it's the truth," she tells me as a small chuckle escapes her lips and she leaves my room.

I walk downstairs in my pajamas to eat some breakfast and notice all of my brothers are here.  

Zack rushes over to me and flings me over his shoulder making me pound his back with my fists as he just laughs at me.  When I realize that he isn't going to give up I huff in response and rest my head on his back.  

He sets me down in the bar stool and ruffles my hair making me groan.  

"Stop," I whine.  "You know its my birthday right?"

"All the more reason to annoy you," he says with a smirk.  

"You know most brothers would be nice to their little sisters on their birthday."

"What was that?" He asked tilting his head to the side.

"Nothing.  Nothing at all," I mumble.  

I know he heard me, but I also know he's just joking with me.  I love my relationship with Zack because of how playful he is.  He never gets mad at anyone.  If he does it's rare and it has to be over something huge.  

"Happy twenty-second birthday, Callie." Zack tells me.  

"Thanks Zack." I hug him as I feel his arms wrap around me.  

"Happy Birthday, Callie." My older brother Wesley told me as he came up to me and wrapped his arms around me in a hug.  

I cuddled more into his chest as I wrapped my arms around his waist.  Wesley and I have always had a closer relationship then me and my other siblings.  My mom would always say it was special.  Although, I'm still really close to my other siblings.

"Thanks, Wes."

As I let go of him, the rest of my family wishes me a happy birthday.  We all eat our breakfast, which consists of oatmeal with brown sugar sprinkled on top and I poured milk in it.  Getting my toast out of the toaster I start eating.  

"You get to decide what you want to do today Callie.  It's your day," my mom tells me and I nod my head.  

"Can we just stay around here and have fun?"