wedding date | miniminter

xxxi

a brief time skip to december 24th, christmas eve.

— Eve

I folded my arms over my chest as I was waited for the front door of the Sidemen house to open, the cold air brushed against my cheeks and sent a quick shiver down my spine. My teeth were chattering so hard it was starting to hurt my jaw and in my desperation, I raised my hand to knock again.

The door opened then, a gust of warm air hitting my face and causing my cheeks to suddenly fill with warmth.

"Eve!" Josh greeted, "Hello."

"Hey Josh, is Simon in?" I asked, looking over his shoulder at the Christmas tree that was looming behind him and my mouth was quick to fall open as I noticed how big it was "Holy fuck, that's a big tree."

"Is that Eve?" a voice questioned and Josh looked over his shoulder, watching as Simon almost galloped down the stairs and hurried towards the door. Josh raised a brow, looking between Simon and I before he gave a small shrug and moved out the way.

"Hey Eve." Simon greeted, welcoming me inside with a wave of his hand "Come in."

I took a step into the house, removing my coat and hanging it up on one of the cost hangers that was fastened to the wall. I shuddered again, rubbing my arms as I looked up at Simon, who was starting down at me.

"What?" I asked, raising a brow.

"You look different." he said, running his fingers through his hair. I cocked a brow, playing with the ends of my own hair.

"I got my hair cut." I said, "Just a couple of inches off the bottom, that's all. I'm surprised you even noticed to be honest."

"It's the little things," he grinned, wrapping an arm around my shoulders "Come on, I wanna give you your present."

I stopped, looking up at him with wide eyes "You got me a gift?"

"Course I did." Simon smiled, squeezing my shoulder lightly with his hand before dragging me towards the stairs.

I bit my lip. I hadn't gotten him anything, he had left me completely in the sale about a gift exchange and I felt bad that he would be empty handed whilst I would be tearing open wrapping paper. Tomorrow was Christmas Day, where was I going to find anything in a day?

He pushed open his bedroom door, flicked on the light with his finger and made his way into his room. The last time I had seen this room, I had been helping a very drunk Simon and I hadn't really appreciated how nicely his room was laid out.

"I tidied it before you came, you know so you weren't tripped over wrapping paper and clothes." he said softly, letting going of my arm to walk over to the sofa in the corner of the room and collapse on top of it.

I smiled, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear as I walked over towards the sofa and stood in front of it. Because of his abnormally long body, Simon took up the whole sofa and when he noticed me standing there, he scooted over a little and patted the sofa cushion by his legs.

"Have you had a good Christmas so far?" Simon asked, resting his head on the arm rest as he gazed up at the ceiling.

"Yeah, I have." I responded, "Yourself?"

"It's been pretty good."

I nodded, looking around his room at the various things that he had on his walls "Are you and the boys doing gifts this year?"

"Mmm." he hummed and I looked back at him, he had his eyes closed now and his hands were resting behind his head.

"Simon, have you been sleeping enough?" I asked, scooting a little closer to him. He nodded, adjusting his head so he was more comfortable.