Book of Ruel

Christmas Photos

The Van Dijk siblings and I walked through the shopping mall, Coco and Sylvie with their boyfriends, and Ruel and I - who was my absolute best friend and nothing more than that, well at least to him I was nothing more than that. We strolled around, enjoying the holiday spirit, looking around at all the lights and decorations. While we were walking around, we came across a small set up that showed a photographer and small 'living room' set, with a couch and fake background. I noticed a sign towards the side of the set that said "Free awkward family Christmas photos", before I knew what was happening, Coco shrieks and starts pulling all of us towards the short line.

Ruel rolls his eyes as we get pulled into the line, turning to talk to the other boys, while I just stand next to him and look at the cute family getting ready for their pictures. I notice that it's an actual family made of two parents and two daughters, I instantly pull on Ruels sleeve upon noticing. He immediately stops talking and turns to me, looking over me to see if I'm alright, before settling with a confused look when he sees I'm fine.

"Ruel I think this is for actual families, like you bring your children and shit here" I whisper out to him, laughing as I think about how dumb we're going to look. He looks at the family and lets out a chuckle, giving me a small shrug as he realizes I'm right, neither of us realizing the rest of the group had been listening to our conversation until Sylvie speaks up.

"Bitch what do you think we are? We are a family, just not biological since well incest isn't cool" Sylvie states, realizing that their boyfriends were in fact a part of this group. I let out a laugh as I watch the two boys look at their girlfriends in mild disgust, thinking about being related to them. I feel a nudge on my lower back while I'm laughing, turning to glance up at Ruel, only to have a camera shoved in my face while we wait. I groan and smack his phone away from my face, watching as he smiles at his screen, before putting his phone in his pocket and giving me a cheeky little grin. We turn back to everyone, only to see Coco and Sylvie getting all cuddly with their boyfriends while waiting, causing Ruel and I to gag instantaneously, both of us laughing when we see our matching expressions.

Finally after 20 minutes of waiting it was our turn to go up, and of course we all attacked the prop and costume table. We all grabbed and passed around ugly sweaters, right when I reached for one, I was spun around and pressed against Ruel. Before I could react to the position, he let go of my waist and shoved an ugly sweater over my head, completely messing my hair up. I huffed as he ran from me and tried to fix my hair, only to see him coming back towards me again quickly, putting fake glasses on my face, identical to the ones on his own. I laugh at how dorky he looks, only to end up silent as he leans in towards me, reaching out to fix my hair for me. I blush as he slowly pulls away, staring into my eyes, before letting out a slight cough and straightening up.

"Alright dumbasses it's photo time!" Sylvie chants out, all of us laughing and walking towards the couch. The two boys sat on the sofa, grabbing their respective girlfriends so that they could sit on their laps. I shook my head a little and forcefully squished in next to Ruel, hearing him let out a groan when my elbow makes contact with his stomach. He rolls his eyes when he realizes he has no space, deciding to grab me and pull me onto his lap, wrapping his arms around my waist and resting his chin on my shoulder. It's not that we've never sat like this before, it just feels different when we're like this next to two other couples, especially when I know he doesn't feel the same for me.

"Is this alright? I don't want you to be uncomfortable" He whispers into my ear, wanting to keep it just between us. I blush as his lips lightly touch the outside of my ear, shakily nodding my head yes as I lean against his chest. He lets out a chuckle, the vibration of it against my body causing me to also laugh. Stuck in our own little bubble, neither of us notice the two couples watching us with small smirks, the smirks only growing larger as they watch Ruels hand give my thigh a little squeeze.