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Now on with the story!

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Chapter Thirty Seven: What's Christmas without Ugly Sweaters?

"Ew it's you." I recover from my moment of embarrassment in which I fell, may I say very dramatically, into Landon's arms.

"You're quite the welcoming host, aren't you Gem?" He puts me down gently.

"That's me." I wink.

"DEE!!" Dylan pulls me into a hug, slightly lifting me from the ground. "I missed you."

I laugh. "I literally saw you yesterday Dyl."

"Still." He puts me down smiling.

"Step aside boys the life of the party has arrived." Lewis pushes past Landon and Dylan and jumps into my arms.

"Merry Christmas Heidi!" He flashes me a dimple filled smile.

"Merry Christmas Lewis. Wow you look handsome."

"That would be my hard work." Lisa, Landon's mom, chimes in.

"Well you are a fashion designer." I smile, setting Lewis down.

She pulls me in for a hug. "Merry Christmas honey."

After exchanging greetings with everyone, including Landon's dad, we make our way to the living room. Lisa and Carlos make their way to the kitchen to help out my dad.

"Hey gu-" I turn to see Dylan and Landon sleeping on my couch. SLEEPING.

I turn to Lewis who shrugs in response. "You'll get used to it."

"NO SLEEPING ON CHRISTMAS!" I throw a pillow at each of them, successfully waking them up.

"Ow!" Landon groans. "It's 11am! Why are you awake?"

"Christmas is for sleeping." Dylan mumbles, closing his eyes again.

I scoff. "Christmas is a time of cele-"

I'm cut off by Landon's large palm covering my mouth. "Save the inspirational speech for later, Gandhi."

"Who's Gandhi?" Lewis questions.

"I WANT FOOD!" Dylan shouts.

I groan loudly. "Jesus I need you! I'm surrounded by idiots."

"You called?" Carter slides into the living room alongside Gigi.

"GEE! Thank fuck a girl's here." I wrap my arms around her.

Carter puts a hand to his heart. "It's like I don't even exist wow."

"Told you you were a bad host." Landon points to me, making me stick my middle finger up at him causing him to laugh.

I hug Carter. "Did you bring what I asked?"

"Oh yeah I almost forgot." He hands me a bag.

I pour the contents of the bag onto the coffee table.

"What are they?" Dylan questions.

I pass the three of them a sweater. Correction, most probably the ugliest sweaters to exist.

I clap my hands together. "What's Christmas without ugly sweaters!"

"It looks like a rainbow puked all over it." Landon inspects it in disgust.

"Well I like it!" Lewis squeezes into his sweater.

"That's the spirit, Buddy!" Carter gives him a high five.

"It's tradition. Since you guys our part of our friend group you have to wear them." Gigi points out.

Dylan reluctantly slides into his, leaving us all to stare at Landon.

He crosses his arms. "I'm not wearing it and there's nothing you can do to make me either."

***

I smile at Landon who's now wearing the sweater.

Lewis shakes his head at his brother. "Really? All it took was one 'please' and a sad face from her to convince you?"

"Who are you and what have you done with Landon Knight?" Carter says, dumbfounded.

"DID SOMEONE SAY WHIPPED?" Dylan exclaims.

Landon shoots him a glare. "Say that one more time Dylan and the only thing you'll be saying is goodbye to Dylan Junior."

Carter rubs his hands together. "Well that'd be an eventful Christmas."

Dylan shuffled away from Landon. "You monster."

"WE'RE ALL MISSING THE POINT HERE!" I shout frustratedly.

"Which is?"

"The Grinch is on. Now shut up!" I sit on the floor next to Lewis, who's eyes are glued to the tv.

Soon enough we're all crowded around the tv quietly watching The Grinch, well aside from the boys pulling random comments.

A comfortable silence sits between all of us. Well that is until Ryan enters the room, turning the atmosphere from comfortable to uncomfortable real quick.

Gigi and Carter pull him into hugs an Dylan gives him a small nod. Landon keeps his eyes fixed on the tv, refusing to acknowledge his presence.

I mean anything's better than them punching the crap out of each other.

***

Dinner was actually a lot better than I expected. Turns out Lisa, Carlos and my dad were all actually high school friends. Small world, right?

Landon bought a turkey for dinner, after hearing my meltdown on the phone earlier. We didn't have a turkey-less Christmas after all. I told him we'd pay for it but he brushed it off like it was nothing. Oh yeah, my potato salad was a success too!

"Oh Heidi dear, dinner was wonderful." Lisa puts a hand on my shoulder. "Your dad told me how much effort you put into today for us."

"It was nothing really." I smile politely.

"We got you a little something from us." Carlos smiles, handing me a small bag closed with ribbon.

I take the bag and open it to reveal an expensive watch. Holy shit. This probably costs more than any pay check I've received in my life. "Oh my god. You didn't need to at all."

"We wanted to, sweetie." She smiles. "We hope you like it."

"I love it. Thank you." I hug them both, making them smile.

"GEM HURRY UP WE'RE DOING PRESENTS!" Landon shouts from the living room.

"And he says he hates Christmas." Carlos shakes his head.

"Liar." We all say in unison.

I laugh and make my way to the living room, sitting in between Landon and Gigi.

"Someone's eager." I tease him.

"Shush you." He nudges my shoulders playfully.

I turn to Gigi who's drawing air hearts directed at Landon and I, making me roll my eyes.

"ILL GO FIRST!" Carter announces, throwing a gift at each of us. I smile to see he's included Dylan, Landon and even Lewis.

I open my box to see a Led Zeppelin t-shirt and a new set of headphones. "How did you-"

"You've been wearing broken headphones for months, Dee." He smiles. Who knew Carter could be so observant?

"Oh look he got you both matching t shirts!" Gigi points out. I turn to Landon who's holding up the same Led Zeppelin shirt.

"You guys totally planned that." I whisper yell to the both of them. They shrug, smiling at eachother.

The rest of us hand out our gifts. I got a new pair of Dr Martens from Gigi, a signed Queen vinyl from Dylan, John Mayer tickets from Ryan and Lewis even gave me his favourite book.

I really do have the best family ever, in the least cheesiest way possible.

Landon insisted that we leave our gifts for each other till last.

"I'm literally freezing my butt off here!" I say, sitting on the porch step.

"You're overreacting. Okay now close your eyes."

"Depends, are you going to murder me?"

"You're so difficult I-"

"Fine fine." I close them.

I feel some sort of fabric in my hand. "Okay now open." He says.

"You got me a..." I unfold the pics of fabric to reveal the biggest bra I've ever seen to this day. "How did you you even- do they even make them this big?!"

"Clearly." He snorts.

"You're a pig. You know what it's a good thing your gifts no better." I place my gift into his hand.

"XXXS condoms... do they even make them this small?!"

"Clearly." I mimic him.

"My manhood feels severely attacked right now, Gem."

"So does my womanhood considering I can't live up to this." I wave the bra in his face.

"You should do."

"Shut up, small dick."

"Hey! I can prove it to you right here right now." He starts to unfasten his belt.

"Woah no!" I quickly stop him. "Keep your pants up please thank you."

He tuts. "You're the one missing out."

"Merry Christmas, Gem." He suddenly hands me a small box neatly wrapped. I instantly recognise Landon wrapped it, like a true perfectionist.

I quickly take it from him, not bothering to hide my excitement.

I tear the wrapping to find a silver bracelet half filled with charms delicately lying in the box.

"Woah..." I carefully take it out of the box, marvelling at its beauty.

"Here, let me." He takes the bracelet and adorns it onto my wrist. "You like it?"

"Like isn't the word." I smile widely. "I love it. It's beautiful."

He smiles, lifting my wrist up. "Okay so, I'm gonna run through the charms I put on here. First we have a piano because the first time I officially talked to you is when I caught you playing in the auditorium."

"I fell off the bench." I laugh.

"Like the graceful elephant you are." He laughs. I elbow him hard.

"Ow! Okay moving on. This one is a leather jacket because your first impression of me was Danny Zuko."

"No way is that a mini leather jacket. They make those?!"

"They make everything. Literally, the next charm is a chicken nugget because I ate all your chicken nuggets the day we became friends."

"You mean the day we became sworn enemies. No one touches my nuggets." I playfully warn.

"Noted. This ones a guitar because you're one of the few people who I showed that part of my life to." He gives me a small smile. "Plus, we've had a lot of jamming sessions with my guitar."

"You mean all the times we procrastinated from doing homework?"

"Which leads me onto the next one, a math book." He shivers dramatically. "For the time you practically blackmailed me into playing in the school show with you, in return tutoring me."

"It's not blackmail if I'm returning the favour!" I defend.

He smiles. "The final one aka the most important one I guess. It's a sun because it was sunset when I took you to the rooftop."

And also the day I fell in love with you. But, I restrain myself from blurting that piece of information.

"And I told you about my dad... yeah you get the point." He quickly adds, not wanting to talk about the subject any longer.

"This is the most thoughtful gift I've ever gotten, Landon. I- I don't even know what to say. Thank you." I smile.

He smiles back. "You're welcome, Gem. Now don't get all cheesy on me."

"You've literally been a ball of cheese for the past five minutes." I say, making him laugh. "What are these empty spaces for?"

"When we make more memories, of course. I don't intend on stopping just here, do you?"

"Of course not, Zuko." I poke the dimple on his cheek, by being able to restrain myself. "ANYWAYS. I did actually get you something... ta dah!" I pull out a small gift bag from behind my back and hand it to him.

He hesitantly takes it from me. "I swear if something jumps out at me..."

"Shut up and open it Zuko."

He shakes his head amusedly and takes out the contents of the bag.

"Socks? With pizza on them?" He looks at me confused.

"Well if you're gonna be a rockstar you need a gimmick to make you memorable."

"I mean my handsome face is pretty memorable." He winks.

I roll my eyes. "Funky socks can be your thing. Look they even light up!" I press a button on the socks and the little pizzas illuminate.

"I can't believe you even got my favourite food on them. You little weirdo." He laughs.

"You're welcome." I smile.

My smile disappears when I see Landon taking out my notebook from the bag. "NO!"

"What!"

"I don't want to give this one anymore. I changed my mind hand it over." I try to snatch the book back, but Landon stretches his arm out away from me, making it almost impossible for me to get it back.

"Let me see." He carefully unties the ribbon and opens the book.

"My boy ain't the one that I saw coming,
And some have said his heart's to hot to hold,
And it takes a little time,
But you should see him when he shines,
You never want to let that feeling go,
When you love who you love."

"You wrote this?" He says, eyes still fixated on the page.

I nod.

"A-about me?" This time his eyes meet mine.

I nod again.

"I-"

His eyes are suddenly filled with passion, but as quick as the emotions once came, they leave. And his once soft eyes turn to stone.

"I can't do this." He drops his hand and stands.

Soon enough his bad boy facade reappears, and I'm just another girl Landon Knight rejected.

"I'm flattered babe, I really am. But it's a no from me."

"Landon?" I question in disbelief at the boy standing in front of me right now.

"That's my name." He obnoxiously replies descending the stairs.

I quickly run down after him, pulling his arm back. "Stop it!"

"Stop what?"

"Acting like this! It's not you!"

"I'm not acting like anything. Just back off Heidi." He jumps onto his motorcycle.

"What about everything you just said in the last five minutes? What about this!" I desperately point to the bracelet on my wrist.

He ignores me and kick starts his bike.

"Landon, if you leave right now..." I warn. "Don't ever talk to me again. Forget I exist."

He looks at me, and for a split second I really believe he'll reconsider, but he doesn't.

Suddenly, the bike roars and he zooms away, faster than I could think of anything else to say.

I'm left alone, staring at the spot where the boy I love's bike once stood.

The boy I love. The boy that didn't love me back. The boy that left giving no explanation.

Now, I'm left alone trying to pick up the pieces of my broken heart.

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OMG THIS IS THE LONGEST CHAPTER IVE EVER WRITTEN.

An I love you was said. A heart was broken. Anyone else crying?

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~ H <3