"And who are you looking out for?"

I smiled at my dad as Mae followed me to the kitchen with a huge bag of Christmas decorations.

Mae was staying with us for Christmas since her mom wouldn't be coming home before tomorrow evening and Alex, her brother, wasn't coming either. But it was alright since we spent Christmas together every year anyways.

Dad was tiptoeing around the kitchen with a box of....hang on.

Are those Lou Ellen's cupcakes?

I squinted my eyes to read the name better. They were Lou Ellen's cupcakes.

Dad's in trouble, my subconscious snickered. Quick, use this to your advantage!

I remembered the shard of a certain vase I'd glimpsed in the bin while taking out the garbage a few nights back.

I smirked.

He gulped. "No o-one?"

Mae shook her head at us, already knowing how this was going to go.

"Don't lie to me, Dad," I pouted, even though I was sure my eyes were still smirking. "I know what's going on."

"No you don't," he narrowed his eyes.

"Of course, I do. I know everything that goes on in this house," I leaned beside the dining table as Mae segregated all the decoration stuff on the table. "You, for example, Dad, are trying to smuggle in Mom's favourite cupcakes so as to soften the blow when you tell her you broke her favourite vase, the same vase that was a gift from Grandpa. You know the cupcakes won't be enough, right?"

Dad's face paled, telling me I was right. I continued with an evil smirk. After all, the higher the stakes, the crueler you need to be.

"And Mom is currently deciding your fate since she already knows you broke it." If possible his face paled further—this was fun. I remembered I'd passed Caleb on the way to the kitchen, sitting with all his books spread out.

"Caleb is pretending to study. But he's actually doodling the name Hea on the back of his book, I'm assuming she's the crush. You guys cannot hide anything from me," I finished, helping Mae with the baubles.

CRASH.

It seemed like Caleb had dropped everything from the coffee table in the living room. Oops.

"Can no one have some privacy now?" Caleb yelled from his place.

"Nah, bro," I roared back.

"Well, it's only fair for me to share this information, then," Mae looked at Dad. "Aria likes a guy."

"What?!"

Dad and I both turned on her. My cheeks heated at an alarming rate.

She shrugged. "What? You said no privacy." I could see that she was trying really hard to keep a smile from slipping out.

"Oh my God," Dad screeched. "My princess has grown up. Oh look, she's blushing as well. Mae, if you are lying..."

He trailed off, giving Mae threatening looks that didn't seem to threaten her. Neither did mine for that matter.

"No knives for you," I growled at her, snatching away the new knife set we'd bought on our way home. "You broke the sacred sis code."

"And I can break your face too," Mae growled back. "Gimme the knives."

Another crash sounded in the living room. "Aria likes a guy?!" Caleb yelled.

Slowpoke, I thought smugly.

He is your brother, after all, my subconscious retorted.

I sometimes wished I didn't roast myself so much but that was like asking for Chris Hemsworth as my husband. It just wasn't possible.

Well, Torryn is pretty hot, my subconscious whispered.

True, but still, not Chris Hemsworth, I thought.

I snarled at Mae, this was why I didn't want Dad or Caleb knowing about Torryn just yet. Now they would leave no opportunity to tease me. My cheeks felt like someone had held a candle to them.

The second crash that Caleb had caused had apparently attracted the wrong sort of attention.

"Aria?" Came my mom's voice from upstairs. "Are you home?"

It was just amazing how even though I wasn't the one who caused the noise, my mom still linked it to me.

"Yes," I yelled back.

"Okay. Tell me when your dad gets home!"

I raised my eyebrows at Mae. "Should I tell her he's already home?"

Mae grinned. "Do it. It'll be fun."

"Hey," my dad whispered harshly. "What do you want?"

"You know me so well, Dad," I grinned. "The cupcakes."

"What? No! They're the saviours," he tried hiding the cupcakes behind his back.

Mae and I exchanged a look that said, isn't he so cute?

"Wrong," I told him. "I am your saviour." I spread my arms wide in a theatrical gesture. Mae and Dad snorted.

"I'll give you something better than the cupcakes," I offered.

"What do you want in return?"

"Well, you see," I laughed nervously. "Hehe, what happened was—"

"She needs you to come with her to the police station the day after tomorrow," Mae spoke up.

One of the biggest advantages of having a best friend who has known since you were a baby, is that they know what you're going to say and will sometimes say it for you. At least, Mae did.

"Oh no, what did you do?" Dad whispered, aghast.

"Thanks for believing in me, Dad," I grumbled. "I didn't do anything. I'll explain it later—"

"Aria!" My mom's voice rang out again. "Is your father home?"

"Do we have a deal or not?" I whispered. "Say yes, or I'm telling her you're home."

He shot me a conflicted look. "Urgh, yes. Now, what do you have that could possibly save me?"

I searched around my bag for a while and brought out a gift-wrapped box. "Give this to her," I handed the box to him, ushering him towards the staircase. "You bought it because you broke the vase and felt incredibly guilty. This teapot has the same design as the vase. She'll love it. Cool?"

He grinned down at me and kissed my forehead, "Cool. Thanks, love."

"Eh, we're family, aren't we?" My soft smile swiftly changed into a smirk. "I'll also be needing some cash, Mr Miller. Thank you."

After shaking his head at me, he walked up the stairs.

"Mom," I hollered. "Dad's home."

Walking back to the kitchen, I smirked at Caleb who was hiding all his books from me. Mae was leaning against the counter, eating one of the cupcakes.

I snatched one. "Ah," I moaned, biting into the cupcake with the ferocity to rival a monster's. "This is heaven."

"Yeah," Mae nodded. "I would've loved Lou Ellen if she weren't a bitch."

"She still hasn't told you the recipe?" I raised my eyebrows.

"No," Mae muttered bitterly. "She spewed some bullshit about not giving away secret recipes. As if I was going to set up shop right next to her," Mae snorted.

"You could always tell her that you won't be around to threaten her territory that much," I picked up another cupcake.

Ah, yes. Mae Jackson, lover of knives, threatener of men, and baker of cakes, was thinking of attending some culinary school in France. After being attached at the hip since birth, it was difficult for me to think about my best friend possibly going away. So I didn't.

Mae shrugged. "I like seeing that terrified look on her face."

I nodded in understanding.

"What are you going to give Jade now?" She asked.

I had bought that teapot in a small antique shop in town as a Christmas gift for my mom. At the time, I wasn't sure if Caleb had broken Mom's vase or Dad. Or maybe it was me. As I said, I wasn't sure.

I shrugged, Christmas wouldn't be very joyful if my dad was dead, so I didn't regret giving away the gift. "I'll write her a poem or something."

Mae gave me a knowing look. "You suck at poems."

"No, I don't," I pouted and cleared my throat. "Listen to this one.
Roses are red
Violets are blue
Please don't kill me,
Cuz I love you." I grinned, expecting Mae to tear up. (Spoiler alert: she didn't.)

"Charming," she snorted instead. "Why is she gonna kill you?" She licked the frosting.

"Because even though Dad has agreed to come with me, I will have to tell her why I'm going to the police station. Don't forget Inspector Bryant is coming tomorrow," I placed the bag with baubles in the doorway.

"Oh," Mae nodded. "Makes sense. He'll come?" She nodded to the door.

I smirked. "Just watch." Turning to the door, I started talking loudly. "Mae, did you know that the Lees are coming tomorrow, too?"

Mae raised an eyebrow. Hea's family?

I nodded. Yup.

We only had to wait for a few seconds before Caleb burst through the door. "Who is com—aaaaaaah!"

He had tripped over the bag of baubles I had placed at the door, no doubt damaging most of the baubles inside.

Mae and I burst out laughing.

                      ×-×-×-×-×

My phone pinged as everyone sorted through the gifts.

Pigeon: Are we supposed to match?

I frowned at the text and my phone pinged again.

Pigeon: Happy Christmas.

A small smile broke put on my face.

You: Happy Christmas.

You: Match for what?

I put my phone aside and helped Mae put the trays away.

When I came back to the kitchen, there was another text.

Pigeon: For the party.

I blushed and smiled at the thought of the party. Mae coughed from beside me and I glanced up, startled. I blushed at the look Mae and Dad were shooting me.

"What?" I demanded.

"Nothing," Dad sang and turned away grinning.

Mae leaned against the kitchen door.

"Shut up," I murmured.

She smirked.

"Shut up," I whined.

She put up her hands in surrender and walked out of the kitchen, snickering.

I went back to my phone.

You: Sure. I'll be egg and you can be bacon.

Pigeon: Hilarious. My eyes are watering from all the laughter.

I giggled. Trust Torryn Cole to be sarcastic during any time of the day.

You: I'm assuming you were asking for your tie?

Pigeon: You assume correctly, Miller.

Oh gods, my subconscious sighed. He used 'you' instead of 'u'. What a dreamboat!

I quickly texted him the preferable colours for his tie and put my phone aside.

It's family time, Miller! I thought with determination.

So now you're calling yourself by the name he calls you? My subconscious piped in.

Shh! Family time!

Only, before I could reach said family, Inspector Bryant intercepted me in the hallway. And since Mae had great eyes, she glided away from her mom and towards us.

"Yes, Inspector?" I smiled widely.

"How did you know?" He asked, looking like he had wanted to do so for the past two hours, which he probably did.

"How did she know what?" Mae asked, standing beside me.

I knew what Inspector Bryant was asking about but I thought it would be polite to let him say it.

"About the bug," he grumbled.

"Are you continuing that stupid insect project now?" Mae raised an eyebrow.

I pouted, shaking my head. "No, I haven't done any research on that one since the 'Bee Incident'."

Both Mae and Inspector Bryant winced at that. Mae knew everything I did and Inspector Bryant had the misfortune of living next door. Hence, they both remembered what had happened all too well.

"Thank God, you didn't. I've never seen a doctor look so terrified," he shook his head.

"I have that effect on people," I grinned and turned to Mae. "No, he means a bug as in a listening device."

"Someone planted a listening device in your office? Cool," Mae nodded in approval.

"No," Inspector Bryant grunted. "Not cool. Now, you, kid, how did you know it was a bug?"

I shrugged. "I've read a lot of books. You come across stuff like that. Also, one of my college friends is studying engineering. I was curious about listening devices and I asked her. She brought one along with her to explain it to me. The bottom was carved in a similar manner. It was just a hunch though. Who do you think planted it?" My eyes widened eagerly.

"That's a question I'm not going to answer," he narrowed his eyes and walked over to his wife.

"Fine," I called out. "I'll find out on my own."

"Will you now?" Mae asked.

"Nah, we already have too much on our plates. I just like keeping him on his toes," I grinned cheekily at her. "Where are the brownies?"

She nodded to the dining table. "I tried doing Lake's recipe but I didn't have all the supplies so I just did it my regular way."

"Eh, I like your way better anyways," I tried to speedwalk my way to the kitchen but Mae slipped out from behind me and ran to the kitchen. She, of course, reached the bowl of brownies before me and grinned at me.

"Ha, I'm going to eat them all—oh hey, Mom," Mae laughed nervously at her mom, who was somehow even scarier than her.

"Hey, sweetie," Pam smiled. "I was just taking these lovely brownies outside so that everyone could enjoy them. You girls are coming right?"

"Of course," we both chorused and followed her outside.

"This is all your fault," I glared sulkily at Mae.

"No, it's not," she huffed.

"Did you girls say something?" Pam turned to raise an eyebrow at us.

"No," we echoed and continued bickering behind her back.

********************************

Hello there!!
Now I know this chapter was kinda plain but I think that's because the next one will be very long. I think.

I was in a bad mood before but the penguin is now happy again! Rejoice, my loyal subjects!

Lemme know what you think about this chapter!

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Aria: Vote because my poems are amazeballs!