The girl from New York

40| Oops

The doorbell rang and I walked quickly towards the door. I've finally grown to understand these stupid crutches, and can use them easily now. John opened the door and greeted our guests with a welcoming smile.

"Brooklyn!" Claire squealed, running in and quickly hugging me. "I haven't seen you in years, like seriously!" She said dramatically. I giggled and rolled my eyes.

"Claire, it's been only five days." I reminded her. I'm so glad that her mom let her spend Christmas Eve at my house. "Did you get Nathaniel and Alex to come?" I knew already that Alex was coming, his mother wanted him out anyways, so that she could wrap presents without him snooping, but I wasn't sure if Nate could come or not.

"Nate's parents are visiting his grandparents in Denver, so he was perfectly available." She said, prodding me playfully in the side. I blushed and pushed her away.

"Yeah, but shh. None of my family knows that we're together." Colin walked out of the bathroom and his eyes immediately found Alex, who was talking pleasantly with Nate and dressed in the same leather jacket that he had made me wear after that terrible party experience. A scowl found its way easily onto Colin's lips and he stormed up to me. Oh boy.

"What are they doing here?" He asked angrily, ignoring Claire's presence. I scoffed and looked straight into Colin's eyes.

"Nathaniel is Claire's boyfriend." I said calmly. Colin kept staring at me expectantly. I bit the inside of my cheek and lied. "And Alex is a friend." My boyfriend actually. But I can't just say that to Colin. He'd straight up murder Alex, which isn't the greatest Christmas present.

"...Fine." Colin said through gritted teeth and walked away. I let out a breath of relief while Claire just looked at me.

"What?"

"Are your brothers always like that? Protective and stuff like that, I mean." She asked. I nodded with a dramatic groan.

"Yup. They absolutely hate other boys. Its a long story, but there really is a reason behind it." I answered. She shrugged and joined Nate. I searched our small party of people for the familiar blue eyes and brown hair of Alex, but couldn't seem to find him. Suddenly, I felt arms wrapped around my waist and a head rest on my shoulder. I laughed and pushed him off of me.

"Not where they can see us." I warned in a hushed voice. He frowned and took my hand, leading me to the bathroom. For a moment I wondered how he knew where the bathroom was, but then I remembered the sign that we put on it, labeling it obviously as 'BATHROOM'. Duh Brook.

"God, I've missed you." He whispered as soon as soon as we were alone in the bathroom. I smiled and leaned my head against his chest, listening to his steady heartbeat as he bent down and kisses the top of my head.

"I've missed you too. Five days felt like forever." I replied softly. "But it was kind of nice to escape your dumb nicknames." I added playfully. Alex gasped with a fake surprise and pulled my back to look at me.

"Well, aren't you just rude little muffin?" I laughed at his words. Muffin? What kind of nickname is muffin?

"I'm just the Bah Humbug of your life, aren't I?" I asked sweetly, standing on my toes to kiss him. He caught on and leaned down, meeting my lips with his own. He cupped my face with his right hand and with the other he held my back.

"Well it's about time!" Grace said exaggeratedly.

I, sadly, had to pull away before anything got too serious. I didn't want anyone to get suspicious and find us under uncomfortable circumstances. In our silence, I heard the others getting excited over something on the other side of the door.

Now, I realized the predicament I just landed myself in: How am i supposed to leave without my family getting suspicious about Alex and I? There is nothing normal about a guy and a girl being in a bathroom together, and absolutely no reasonable excuse.

"Alex?"

"Yeah?"

"Uhm... How do we leave now?"

"Crap."