Chapter One
Phoebe
“Pheebs,youhavetobe there. You are literally not allowed to leave me hanging when I’m flying from freaking Germany to be there for Christmas! I’ll pull the twinster card on your ass so fast,” Piper threatens loudly, making me want to shrink and hide anywhere but the quiet library I’m currently huddled up in.
“Piper, shut up! I told you I was in the library!” I whisper-yell at my sister and risk a glance over at Mrs. Jones, the cranky librarian, and I cringe when I see the daggers she’s throwing my way with those unfriendly icy blue eyes. Mrs. Jones has thrown me out of this library several times and I just know she’s ‘jonesing’ to do it again. I swallow an ugly snort, because Dad would be so proud of that stupid dad-joke.
I miss my parents so much. I haven’t seen them over the last year, and the last time I saw them was less-than-pleasant. Not to mention, it was what really solidified my angsty feelings about the holidays.
Christmas was always my favorite time of the year. I grew up in a small town called Noelsville, nestled near the foot of the Appalachian Mountains in North Carolina. Noelsville always went all out for the holidays. There were carts in the town square that sold all sorts of delicious sweets and hot cocoa. They have a Christmas parade and an epic Christmas Market that the town locals put together every year.
I’ve always looked forward to all the twinkling lights and the snow dusted porches. There was magic in the air to go along with all the perfectly shaped evergreen trees shining brightly through all the large bay windows. Everyone spends their days baking cookies and picking out the perfect holiday cards to send to all their family and friends. The holiday feasts Mom would create each year, decorating cookies with my twin sister, sneaking pieces of candy off of the gingerbread house with my little brother, Dad kicking our asses at cards.
Those are some of my favorite memories. Christmas was my freaking jam.
That is, until my boyfriend of four years decided to dump me on Christmas Eve last year. At his house…in front of my entire family.
I hadn’t gone home for Christmas in years, much to my dismay, but also out of sheer loyalty to my sister. Piper is in the military and it’s always been difficult for her to get her leave approved around the holidays, and it didn’t feel right celebrating at home without her. When I met Kevin, he didn’t see the point in traveling for the holidays. He hated the crowded airports and traffic, and always complained that traveled enough for work and didn’t want to spend his time off stressing about traveling even more. So instead of going home, Kevin and I invited my family to celebrate with us at his place in New York.
It was the first time my family had traveled to us for the holidays and I was so excited to show off all the decorating I had done in Kevin’s house. I went all out. We had cinnamon scented pinecones set up so it smelled like Christmas the minute you walked in the front door. The tree was 7 feet tall and decorated to perfection. Each bulb was carefully placed and the lights were perfectly spaced out between the golden tinsel garlands. The fireplace had stockings hung and filled with goodies for each of us. Yes, I might have filled my own because Kevin had forgotten. But that was okay, because my family was coming, and spending Christmas with them was more important than waiting for him to fill my stocking with mini bags of Hot Cheetos and fun holiday socks.
Somewhere between cutting the Christmas ham and getting ready to exchange gifts, Kevin decided that he no longer wanted to be with me. My parents and my brother, Phillip, who is three years younger than Piper and I, were all getting settled around the tree and Kevin asked if he could speak to me outside. I remember the twinkle in Mom’s eyes when I excused myself and followed him. I think she was expecting the same thing I was…an engagement ring.
Instead, he dumped me with that typical ‘it’s not you, it’s me’ excuse and then to add salt to the wound, he asked if I could leave and take my family back to my small apartment in Queens.
Cue the sad girl music and too many bowls of rocky road. And a new hatred for the holiday. Just call me Miss Scrooge. He not only ripped my heart to shreds, but he took away my love for Christmas.
I honestly don’t know which one is worse.
Like I said, my family has always gone all out for the holidays, which is probably where my intense love for this season came from. When we were kids, my parents and our neighbors, Mr. and Mrs. Larson, would put together these wild contests for all the kids. Like actual contests. The winners even got crowned at the end of the five day long competition. My sister Piper always won, and I’m still pretty salty that I never got to wear the coveted Mistletoe Crown. It was like a full-blown prom-like king and queen coronation in the neighbors backyard, except there was only one winner. I may not have ever won the whole thing, but my ugly sweaters were epic and I never lost that one.
There were always five of us who competed. Myself, my sister Piper, our brother Phillip, and the neighbors two sons, Spencer and Austin.
Spencer is a year older than Pipes and I, and he was obnoxiously gorgeous in high school, and basically the first guy I ever really fell for. I had a crush on him for my entire childhood, but we all know that those kinds of love stories never last. It doesn’t help that I basically ghosted him after I watched him kiss my sister at our Winter Formal…while beingmydate. Piper pulled me into the bathroom afterwards and told me that he kissed her out of nowhere, and that she couldn’t pull away fast enough.
I never confronted him about it, I just left the dance and completely stopped talking to him because I was so embarrassed and humiliated that he would kiss my sister after asking me to be his date. It’s not like I wouldn’t have let him kiss me, I was basically head over heels in love with the kid for crying out loud. He tried to talk to me a few times after that, but I made sure to steer clear of him at all costs. I didn’t want an apology, I wanted a time machine.
After that though, we purposely avoided each other for the rest of the school year and when he graduated and left for college I never had a reason to see him again. I guess I just have this innate skill for falling for douchebags.
Austin is Phil’s age and they’ve been best friends for as long as I can remember. We always called them the terrorsome twosome when they were together. They both had a knack for pranking the shit out of us when we were younger. I’m sure they still have that stupid video camera with all the recorded pranks they pulled on us. I know there’s one roaming around with me screeching like an eagle because they filled a balloon up with whipped cream and marbles…and set it up to fall perfectly on my head as I came home from swim practice one evening. Why marbles, you ask? So it would fall hard enough to pop open all over my head and face. The little weasels…
“Earth to Phoebe? Are you still there or are you busy doing that disassociating thing you do?” I look down at my phone and the only thing I can see is my sister's earlobe looking back at me.
“You know we are on Facetime, right? You actually don’t have to put the phone to your ear.”
“I know! I was trying to hear if Mrs. Jones was yelling at you yet,” she says smugly. “Anyways, I won’t get you kicked out today. I’m just reminding you that you can’t skip out on Christmas. I’m fully prepared to leak that video of you singing horribly to Taylor Swift in the shower if you don’t show up.”
“Dude I was like ten. I don’t care if you leak it.” I roll my eyes at her and duck into an empty aisle near the back of the library. The further away I stay from Mrs. Jones, the better.
“Oh you’ll care about this one, my stone-hearted little Medusa. Phil recorded it after Kevin dumped you last year. I’m pretty sure you don’t want anyone to hear your horrible rendition of ‘You Belong With Me’.”
I feel all the color drain from my face in horror, because I remember exactly what moment she’s talking about and I swear I’m going to murder our little brother when I see him.
“Fine. I’ll see you next week, only because I miss Mom and Dad. The rest of you suck,” I whisper angrily. “And honestly, of all the stupid nicknames you’ve come up with for me over the years, I think I like this ‘Medusa’ one the best. Also you better delete that video or you’re getting buried right next to Phillip!” I threaten her in my most serious voice, and instead of responding she just laughs loudly over the speaker before hanging up on me.
“Ms. Andrews…” I wince as I hear Mrs. Jones’ voice is getting closer to me. I leave as quickly as I can before Mrs. Jones finds me and throws me out…again.
I step out into the blistering cold that has completely taken over the city, and I make my way towards the subway to head home for the night. I mentally start tallying up all the things I need to get in order before I fly out next week. I suppose I should look at flights, and I definitely need to call my parents and tell them that I’m coming home for Christmas this year. The art museum I work at is pretty relaxed about us taking leave, even at the last minute, so that’s one less thing I’ll have to worry about. I need to wrap the gifts I’ve bought for everyone…and go buy a big enough suitcase to pack them all in.
