Rebel Without A Claus

I took off my outerwear and curled myself up in the corner of the sofa. There was a blanket on the back of the sofa that I pulled down and wrapped myself up in it. Nicholas looked at me with amusement—it wasn’t like I was wearing a bikini, after all.

No, I was wearing fur-lined leggings, a long-sleeved shirt, and a thick, wooly sweater.

That told you how cold it was outside.

“Are you ever warm?” Nicholas asked after a moment.

I shook my head. “Nope. As soon as October hits, it’s like, boom. I’m a walking icicle until about April.”

“At least I know what to get you for Christmas. A thick sweater.”

I wrinkled my face up. “I’ve seen the sweaters you wear. I’ll pass.”

“I was considering getting you one with the Grinch on, but I wasn’t sure if you’d wear one with your face on it.”

“Ha!” That was a little funny. “Well played. For what it’s worth, I love the Grinch. Both sides of him are completely relatable.”

“How can you relate to both sides of the Grinch?”

“Easy. Think about all the things I dislike about Christmas. It’s what he takes issue with, too.”

“Okay, but the second half of him? When his heart grows again?”

“He changes his feelings on Christmas morning. So do I.”

He raised his eyebrows. “What? You wake up on December twenty-fifth and you’re suddenly the sugar plum fucking fairy?”

“Clara and the nutcracker, too,” I confirmed with a nod. “It’s like a little switch flips, and there I am, singing and dancing with my family like a little weirdo.”

“Even to Mariah?”

“It’s the one day of the year she’s allowed to tell me what she wants for Christmas.”

“Wow. Well, that’s my Christmas plans done, because I have got to see Madame Scrooge singing to Mariah Carey, of all songs.” He grinned, propping his arm up on the back of the sofa.

“Well, you can call me Scrooge all you like, but he has a change of heart on Christmas morning, too.”

“Is that your real name? Quinn Grinch Scrooge Langley?”

“Quinn Grinch Scrooge McDuck Langley, thank you very much.” I hid my smile behind my hot chocolate. “I can’t be that much of a Scrooge. I was here at the ass-crack of dawn to put your lights up, wasn’t I?”

“You were.” He smirked. “And that’s exactly why I think you like me a lot more than you’re letting on.”

“In your dreams, Santa. In your dreams.”

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

“This is feeling very Clark Griswold,” I said, wrapping my arms around myself.

Nicholas glanced at me. “Careful, or I’ll make you do a drumroll.”

“Come over here, and I’ll show you what you can do with your drumroll.”

Erin laughed and leaned into Oscar’s side. “Come on! I wanna see what you did!”

“Yeah, turn them on!” Oscar agreed, wrapping his arm around her shoulders.

I couldn’t believe I’d agreed to this. When we’d taken a break from the grotto this afternoon, Erin had come over with cake and coffee for us and asked if we wanted to go out tonight with her and Oscar.

I’d refused. It was far too much like a double date for my liking.

Which was exactly when Nicholas stepped in and invited them over to see the lights and hang out. I hadn’t been able to wrangle my way out of this one since I’d made such a fuss this morning about wanting to see my hard work all lit up, so here I was.

On the pseudo double-date that I hadn’t wanted to be on in the first place.

Yay, me.

I was trying not to be a grouch about it. I hadn’t spent as much time as usual with Erin the last couple of weeks as we’d both been so busy, and where she had to wake up so early to start baking, she’d been going to bed early every night.

I didn’t blame her. The lights being switched on had been the only exception, but she was starting work later tomorrow, so tonight was our chance to hang out.

On a fake double date.

No, no. I wasn’t going to bitch. Honestly, I wasn’t. Nicholas was as excited about this as I had been to see the town lights last night, so aside from my little drumroll quip, I was going to be nice.

“Come on. It’s cold.” I nudged Nicholas with my elbow. “Let’s go, Clark Griswold. Let’s go!” I bounced in an attempt to warm up, and he laughed at me while Erin just shook her head.

“All right. Three, two, one,” Oscar said, hopefully to hurry things along.

Nicholas hit the switch.

God bless Oscar.

The whole house lit up, just as we’d imagined it would. The icicle lights danced magically, while the blow-up snowman I’d claimed as my best friend exploded into life and glowed. The bushes were covered with multicolor lights that twinkled and blinked along with the porch, and the reindeer and sleigh added a pop of warm white color to the front yard. Santa climbed a ladder on the wall, and light-up candy canes marked a path along the edge of the driveway, ending right by the garden stake that begged Santa to stop here.