Christmas with the Gerard's

3

Chapter 3 

20 Days till Christmas 

I woke groggy and with a pounding headache, thanks to staying up until nearly five am, catching up with my family. We caught up on everything, there were tears and laughter. I was overjoyed to meet my nieces and nephews I hadn’t met yet. Theo left us around ten pm, mum kicked him out because he had been with me all week, he decided to go out drinking with Colton.  I still hadn’t had much chance to speak to my nan, I gave her an envelope with the money I had taken from her and she simply threw back at me, called me an i***t and walked off. I need to get up and go make things right with her. I jumped out of bed and ran to the shower. No matter how hot the water is or how good the shampoo and body wash smell, I still feel groggy when I finish. I throw on my sweat pants and an old jumper I usually wear when I’m slobbing around the house. It’s the prefect clothing for how I feel. I quickly towel dry my shoulder length brown hair and walk out of my room. I make my way through the hall and down the stairs, I can’t hear any noise down there, happiness fills me as I realize I am home alone and can have breakfast in peace and rest a bit before I get cornered again by my family. I round the corner into the kitchen and I stop dead in my tracks...  

A shirtless Colton is sitting at the breakfast bar, earphones in, totally oblivious to anyone else, sipping coffee and reading something on his phone. I take my time hungrily eyeing him up, his black hair has gotten a bit longer than I remember him wearing, the soft tendrils just reaching his eyebrows, his shoulders have gotten broader and he is now sporting a massive tattoo across his chest, there are words on it but I can’t read them from here, my eyes trace every line of his muscles, every bit of skin, he is hotter than I remember. And just like that my childhood crush was back full force! I was startled out of my thoughts by a throat clearing and I look up to see deep soul sucking blue eyes staring back at me... Oh my God! Why did I put these clothes on!!!  

‘Like what you see D?’ Colton asks with a smirk. Stupid i***t hasn’t changed at all. 

‘Not really, just thinking how unsanitary you are!’ I retort  

‘What do you mean?’ He asks looking around him 

‘Topless in the kitchen?’ I say motioning at his chest.  

He quirks his eyebrow and chuckles quietly, not saying anything more as I move around the kitchen to grab myself some coffee. I pour it into a mug as I feel his eyes on me. I turn and lean on the worktop, taking a slow sip as my eyes once more take in the Greek God in front of me.  

‘You haven’t changed at all D!’ He says with a laugh ‘Still hard headed I see!’ 

‘I don’t know what you’re talking about Colt.’ I take turn my back on him and take some cereal from the cupboard, I move to get a bowl and tip some in it. I walk to the fridge and open it, shoving my whole face inside it to both cool my red hot cheeks and look for the milk. I find and close the door, jumping when I notice Colton standing behind it.  

‘f**k you made me jump!’ I say placing my hand on my racing heart 

‘You don’t need to be scared D.’ He says moving closer to me.  

‘What, what are you doing?’ I stutter as he leans closer to me, the heat from his body radiating onto my skin. My, he smells divine! 

‘I need more coffee, it’s behind you.’ He simply says, leaning further in, his face inches from mine, his eyes boring into mine. My heart beats faster and faster in my chest, the thumping so loud, I swear he can hear it too. My eyes travel over his chiseled cheekbones, watching his perfect lips, slightly parted as he takes a breath, his chin is so manly, he has a little stubble on his face and I wonder if I’d like the feel of the small prickly hairs under my palm. 

‘D? Move over.’ He whispers and the spell is broken, I shake my head slowly and apologize. As I move out of his way, his eyes flash with pain, and I can’t help wonder why? 

‘So?’ He asks 

‘So what?’ I move to the breakfast bar and sit in the chair opposite his. He grabs more coffee and moves to sit back where he was.  

‘You have a boyfriend?’ I stop eating, my spoon hovering in front of my open mouth.  

‘No, you?’  

‘No boyfriend either D.’ He replies and I slap his arms, as my hand makes contact with his skin he inhales sharply and I pull my hand back, going back to eating my cereal.  ‘No, I’m single too. I was dating someone but we broke on halloween.’ He tells me. I sit quietly pondering on why of all the questions he could have asked, why the boyfriend one? 

‘D?’ He calls, I look up at him and give him a small smile, shoveling more cereal in my mouth so I can’t possibly answer anything he needs to ask me. ‘You look beautiful.’ He says and gets up and leaves. I stay at the breakfast bar, mouth full of cereal milk dribbling down my chin in a trance. Colton thinks I’m beautiful when I look like a slob? 

***** 

‘Cordelia Grace Gerard!!!’ I hear from downstairs 

‘What?’ I shout back 

‘Get your bottom down here now!’  

‘Why? I’m trying to do some wrapping!’ 

‘Stop back chatting me or I’ll come up there and slap you into next week!’ 

‘I’m a grown woman mum, you can’t just hit me!’  

‘Try me!!’  

I roll up the wrapping paper again and hide the gifts under my bed and head down the stairs before my mother beats me up. At the bottom of the stairs I run into James, my oldest brother, he wasn’t home yesterday, so we haven’t spoken yet. We weren’t close at all growing up, he was ten when I was born, he wasn’t exactly the best role model or brother, having started drinking and taking drugs at fifteen. By the time I was old enough to connect with him, he was an addict and he scared the living daylights out of me. When I ran, his text was the one that shocked me most.  

‘Delia.’ He said, ‘When did you get back?’ He leaned down and wrapped his twiggy arms around me. For a forty-year-old, James was still living like a teenager, he looked ill. His face gaunt and pale, the big circles under his eyes were darker than night. In short, he looked like s**t.  

‘I got back yesterday.’ I wrapped my arms around his back, feeling every rib and bone in his spine digging into my skin.  

‘Be careful Delia. You know too much.’ He whispered in my ear. I was about to grab him and ask him what he knew when my nan chose that moment to walk in.  

‘Nan!’ I shouted moving around James’ lean frame and moved towards my nan. I took her bags off her hands, which she handed willingly to me. 

‘Come on James, follow us, your aunt is on her way and so is Avery and her brood.’  

We followed her into the kitchen where Mallory and Theo were aggravating my mother, something those two had always been brilliant at, while Gabriel stood by the sink, washing something.  

‘Amber, your sister is on her way.’ 

‘What?’ My mother exclaimed.’ She said she wasn’t coming. Why is she coming now?’  

‘Because she wants to see her family. At least that’s what she said, but we all know she’s coming so she can see Cordelia. Apparently, you two have unfinished business.’ My nan said turning towards me, and with her everyone else was suddenly staring at me.  

I swallowed dryly. Oh, this is not going to be  fun.