Nick shakes his head before turning to me and flashing a smile. “Nope. This is the best I’ve ever done. And it’s all because of Poppy. She tutored me. Helped me get my grades up.”
He laces his fingers in mine and kisses my cheek. A moment later, the front door opens, and Anna appears.
“Merry Christmas!” she says before setting down the bag of gifts she’s carrying and hugging her parents.
She runs over to me, smacking Nick on the shoulder along the way.
“What, no hug for your twin brother?” he jokes.
“I’ll hug you later.” She smiles at me. “I’m so happy you’re doing Christmas with us.”
“Me too.”
Her smile fades after a second. “I’m sorry though that things with your dad are bad,” she says softly when we break apart.
The day after I fell out with my dad, I called Anna and tearfully spilled what happened. She’s been checking on me a bunch since then.
“Yeah, so am I,” I say.
“Has your mom called you at all?” Anna asks.
I shake my head, both sad and upset that my mom hasn’t reached out. She’s always been a united front with my dad my whole life, but I was hoping that this time she’d break from him to support me. But I guess that’s not going to happen.
Anna tugs a hand through her hair. “This is so messed up. Your mom should have your back.”
I just shrug. “She’s always supported my dad. I shouldn’t be surprised.”
Anna crosses her arms and shakes her head. I’m heartened at how she’s upset on my behalf, but I don’t want to bring down the happy holiday mood by talking about my family drama.
“I’m happy I get to be with you guys. Your family’s the best.”
She grabs my hand and leads me to the Christmas tree. I help her unpack her gifts and set them under the tree.
“So how goes fake dating my twin?” she teases.
I bite back a smile. “It’s going well. Like, really well.”
She stares at me for a second. “Wait, what’s that look for?” Her eyes widen and she gasps before I can answer her. “Hang on…your smile…you’re smiling like you like him.”
“I like him, Anna. A lot. We’re dating for real.”
She gasps again and tackle-hugs me. We land on the nearby couch, and I can’t stop laughing.
“You two okay in there?” Nick hollers.
“We’re perfect!” Anna says before sitting up and pulling me with her. “Are you serious? You and Nick are dating for real? He’s your boyfriend for real?”
I laugh at her reaction. “Yeah.”
She shakes her head and presses her eyes shut, like she’s in utter disbelief. “But you couldn’t stand him. He annoyed the crap out of you since we were in middle school. And what he did in high school, how he asked you to the prom as a joke…”
“It wasn’t a joke. He asked me out for real.” I explain how my lack of a reaction led to him trying to save face and how we both read the situation wrong, and since we never talked about it, it led to a years-long misunderstanding.
“Oh my gosh, I had no idea,” Anna says.
“I didn’t either until we talked,” I say. I explain to her how Nick and I admitted that we both had crushes on each other when we were younger.
“After spending so much time pretending to be a couple, it just started to feel real,” I say. “It got harder and harder to deny our feelings for each other.”
