Prove It

Chapter XXXV

Charlie wakes me up early the next morning with sloppy kisses and I shove his head away as I throw my comforter over my face. It's too early and too cold to get up.

I didn't get home until almost one in the morning, and I am more than a little exhausted. I'm still in the clothes I wore to Georgia's last night.

I sit up and look at the clock, surprised that it's already nine. I look outside my window and slide out of bed to admire the new snow that blankets over the ground. It's so perfect, the glistening white powder reflecting the barely there winter morning sunlight.

A knock comes from my door and I walk over to the other side of the room then open up.

"You ready to come down?" my dad asks.

I nod and rub the remaining sleep out of my eyes, heading downstairs with him. The living room tree is already lit up, and there are more gifts under the tree from 'Santa'.

Holden is already waiting on the couch, and Emma and Mom come from the kitchen with hot cocoa and coffee. They set the trays down on the table and Holden gets right to work handing out the presents one by one to each person.

I don't know if Holden will ever outgrow playing the role of Santa on Christmas. It's been nearly sixteen years and he still loves every second of it. Or, I mean, he's never complained yet, and he's pretty vocal about things he thinks are stupid.

It's nice to see my parents relaxed as well. Normally they're on edge around him, watching what they say to make it so he won't blow up on them, or on Emma or I. But Christmas is one of the days of the year he always is in a constant good mood. He even speaks to our family when they come over.

The peaceful morning is over before we know it, and our family is in a chaos of trying to get ready on time for when our grandparents come over for Christmas dinner. My mom slaves over the stove, giving orders to all of us left and right, and my dad spends his time preparing the house and following our temporary dictator's every demand.

"Amanda please go set the table," she requests in that way polite way that really leaves no room to say no to her.

I go straight to the dining room and open the china cabinet to get the nice dinnerware. I carefully pull out each plate, bowl, and utensil set individually, fearing I'll drop it and shatter them all over the floor.

When I have everything organized in the center, I gently place the table setting at each chair on the glossy, dark wood table.

It takes longer than I wanted it to take, but the table looks perfect, nothing out of place.

"Grandma and Grandpa are here!" Mom calls from the foyer. I hear Emma and Holden walk quickly to the entryway as I do the same in order to not be scolded for dawdling.

"Merry Christmas!" our grandparents say as they hug us. My grandpa is always a little stiff giving hugs, but I know he doesn't mean anything by it.

"Oh Elizabeth it smells wonderful in here!" my grandma gushes over my mother, giving her a tight hug.

My mom and my grandma are close, almost as close as my dad and aunt are to her. I don't know why or how that came to be, and it's one of the things that my parents don't talk about around us.

"Thank you, Sarah."

The door is swung open and Natalia and Ryan enter through with their kids, Tanner and Wesley. I still feel a little strange whenever I'm around Tanner because when we were younger all of us would be with each other all the time, and I had the biggest crush on him up until I began real school. Obviously I've never told him, and he's never brought it up, but I still feel a little awkward around him knowing my previous feelings.

"Hi," they both greet us all before giving us a hug. We don't see them as often as we used to before we moved from New York, but Tanner, Wesley and I keep in touch often. I'm not sure about my siblings, but I know I message them often.

My grandma shoos us all to the dining room where we all sit down to wait for my grandma to serve us. I don't know what it is with her, but even at other people's homes she invites herself into the kitchen and as the sole 'waitress'.

"Everybody eat up! And kids, your mother put in a lot of work, so I don't want to hear any mumbling from you," she chides us like we're seven all over again. I'm not sure when she decided that we complain about Mom's cooking, since I don't think it's ever happened at a family gathering. Even from Holden.

As we've been told, the whole table stuffs their faces with the food on the table. Even though everyone sits at the same table, we have different conversations between all the adults and all the kids.

This is mostly why I'm so grateful for when Tanner and Wesley come over for the holidays, or else Emma, Holden and I would be forced to listen to the boring conversations of the new policy being debated or the latest scandal between Adriana and Elijah from across the street.

"Could you and Tanner talk about anything else but college?" Wes whines, apparently missing his brother from the other conversation.

"Not really," Tanner replies.

"Yeah, it's not like there isn't anything else to talk about right now," I agree. But seriously, there's actually nothing more important at the moment. When the girls and I aren't complaining or gossiping about something, we're talking about college.

"Yes there is! What about the Bruin's last game? Or the weird drug assembly the school had us sit through? Or Amanda's new boyfriend?" he lists all the topics of possible interest.

"Well I hate hockey, every school has a drug and alcohol assembly, and I don't think I would ever talk to you guys about Marcus," I say.

"Why not? Gotta make sure he's good enough for you," he jokes.

"Yeah, what if he's a total loser? We have to let you know if he's too dorky for you," Tanner plays along with him.

I roll my eyes at the two of them. "I don't think so. And if you keep this up you'll never meet him."

"You can't stop me from coming over. I'm an adult I can do what I want," Tanner brags.

"Okay hotshot, like eighteen and two weeks, you're really not an adult yet," I tell him to knock him down a few pegs.

"Amanda you must learn to respect your elders!" Holden chides from across the table.

"Yeah, what he said!" Tanner keeps flapping his gums.

I look at Emma and she makes the wide eyes at me that say 'don't involve me.'

"Oh so Tanner's the grandpa," Wes says out of nowhere.

Dear Lord help me.