Chapter Twelve Hayden
CHAPTER TWELVE
HAYDEN
G ood evening, participants. Welcome to round four of the Lost Days of Christmas. You’ll note that we are almost through our games and things are heated. I placed the scoreboard on the screen for you to look at.”
Jingle My Balls 43 points
Wrap It Up! 42 points
Sleigh My Name 39 points
Ho Ho Homies 37 points
Yule Be Sorry 35 points
Sleigh What?! 30 points
I scanned the ballroom, noting the excessive decorations as I eyed our competition. Now that teams weren’t broken into two, I could study them more. Jingle My Balls and Sleigh My Name were our biggest competition at this point.
“I’m pissed we aren’t in first, but those are some damn good team names.” Charlotte stood next to me, her face set in fierce lines. “Don’t tell him, but Bernie is starting to piss me off.”
“Not into the elf anymore?”
She growled. “We might want different things in life. Plus, it’d be hard to date someone who lives at the North Pole.”
I snorted, more pleased than I should be that she didn’t want to date him.
“Now, round six is simple. We took two lines from a popular holiday song, put it through Google Translate twice, and displayed the lyrics. You have to guess the title of the song. You have one minute to write down your answer on the sheet at your tables.” Brendon paced near the podium, looking way too smug. This man clearly enjoyed the power. “Once my team of elves collects your paper, we’ll show the answers. Each answer is worth two points.”
“Let’s go!” someone from Sleigh What?! shouted.
Charlotte scoffed. “They are in last. They don’t have a chance.”
My lips quirked. I loved a shit talker, and Charlotte was one of the best. She leaned toward Penny and whispered something, causing Penny to laugh. They bent their heads together and snickered for a bit, and the image of them smiling warmed me. Penny laughing made me feel better.
“Y’all were worried. I am the king of lyrics. I know everything, and when I drink, my mind expands, and I’m even smarter.” Garrett pointed to his chest, grinning. “You wait and see. I’m gonna be the hero.”
“Not sure that’s how it works, bro, but I’m glad you’re here.” Christian pulled him into a hug on one side, Charlotte on the other. “Both of you. Hayden, you join this hug too.”
“No hugging, idiots. It’s about to start!” Penny hushed us. “Pay attention.”
I covered my mouth with my hand to hide my amusement. Since Gwen came along, I hadn’t had a lot of game nights with these two, but it was clear their competitiveness had only grown.
“First song begins now. You have one minute!”
RATTLESNAKE, RATTLESNAKE, RATTLESNAKE PEBBLE.
“What the fuck is this?” Garrett mumbled.
“Come on, hero,” I teased because I couldn’t stop myself. “Expand your mind?”
“Rattlesnake isn’t even Christmas?” Christian ran his hand over his hair, the ends sticking up making him look unhinged. “Snakes? Worms? Pen, you got anything?”
“It’s clever.” Charlotte smiled as she studied the projector screen in the front of the room with a half smile. “I really like this idea. It’s so unique.”
“Thirty seconds!” someone yelled.
“Wait.” Charlotte held up her finger. “If you say it in a rhythm like rattlesnake, rattlesnake, rattlesnake, pebble ? It sounds familiar.”
“All you did was say the words! There was no rhythm!” Christian yelled. “‘Jingle Bells’? ‘Twelve Days of Christmas’? Maybe there’s a snake in there?”
“Wait! ‘Jingle Bells.’ Hold on.” Garrett snapped his fingers, his eyes growing to the size of ornaments. “Jingle bell, jingle bell, jingle bell rock.”
“Write it down! Yes, G-thang. You sexy rock star!” Penny threw her hands in the air and shimmied. “That’s totally it!”
“This game is dumb,” Christian said, despite writing the answer down on our paper just as the timer went off. “If you call him sexy again, I will kill him.”
“Murdering me won’t make me less attractive. My obituary photo will be hot as hell.” Garrett puffed out his chest. “Not just a pretty face. I know lyrics too.”
I shook my head, my lips twitching just as Charlotte caught my eye. A soft smile was splayed across her lips, but it disappeared as a light pink blush crept up her neck. God, I would love to know why she blushed. Even if nothing could happen because of it, I just wanted to know. She cleared her throat and took the marker from Christian’s hands. She spun it around her fingers in a fun twirl a few times before Brendon spoke again.
“Song two. Make sure you write your team name on the paper, please. You’re lucky you weren’t the only ones who forgot, Jingle My Balls.”
“They can’t even follow simple directions,” Charlotte whispered. “How sad.”
“You’re ruthless.” I nudged her. “I wouldn’t want to play against you, Coach. You’d intimidate me.”
She beamed. “Good. Remember that.”
And if you viewed him
you would suggest it shines
all other animals
I used to laugh and insult her.
They never left poor Rodolfo…
“Rodolfo?” Christian frowned. “Insult?”
Penny chewed one of her nails as she paced, muttering to herself. If I didn’t also want to win, I’d observe how everyone reacted. It was entertaining as hell.
“Oh, come the fuck on. This one is so easy! It’s ‘Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer’!” Garrett pointed at the screen. “It’s right there.”
“How do you even know this?” Christian yelled. “If this was trivia, I’d kick all your asses. I know that shit. Dumb shit. Random shit. I own it. But this? Not so much.”
“Stop saying you own shit. That’s weird.” Charlotte wrote the answer down on the paper. “Mom and Dad always said we all have our strengths. Being bad at this is just one of yours.”
Garrett laughed. “God, I love your sister. Can I marry her? Char, be my wife. Make me a kept man.”
She laughed instead of throwing up on the spot. I’d prefer that reaction, because it’s how I felt at the mere thought of her being with Garrett. An ache formed in my chest that must have come from dinner, because what the heck?
Christian glared. “Absolutely the fuck not.”
Charlotte handed the paper to one of the weird elves who sprinted from table to table, and then faced her brother. “And what if I wanted to marry him, dearest brother? G and I could just make fun of you together. We could have daily roasts of you.”
“Big fan of this idea. Huge fan, actually.” Garrett slung an arm around her.
“You smell like a bottle of rum.”
“Like a sexy pirate then?”
“No.” Charlotte laughed and shoved his arm off her. The ache dulled. Weird coincidence.
“Fine,” Christian said, rolling his eyes so much he reminded me of the freshmen boys on my team, the teenaged divas. “You can marry whomever you want, Charlotte. If a dumbass hat rack like Garrett made you happy, I’d allow it.”
“But he’s your friend,” I blurted out without thinking.
Christian blinked a lot, moving his attention to Penny, then me, and then Garrett. “Is this a real conversation?”
“Yes.” Penny laughed. “If Charlotte wanted to be with Garrett, would you stop it?”
“No. I’m not an idiot.” Christian set his palms on the table and lowered his head to be eye level with Charlotte. “Hey, I thought we were messing around, but if you wanted to date Garrett, you know I’d never stop you, right? If you’re happy, I’ll be okay. That’s all I want.”
Charlotte’s face softened. “I’m not interested in Garrett like that, but this is awfully sweet of you. And unexpected.”
“I’m feeling things. It’s weird.” Christian scratched his chest. “I don’t like it.”
“Bro, you gotta talk more about your feelings. Not healthy to keep them bottled up.” Garrett kissed the top of Charlotte’s head. “No proposal today, so don’t worry.”
“I’ll breathe easy now.” She smiled, clearly more amused than annoyed.
Did he always have to be so close to her? Garrett touching her felt like a bug under my skin, itching and annoying me, and I couldn’t stop it no matter what I tried.
“Next lyric is up. Sixty seconds on the clock.”
Santa Claus has a little friend, his name is Dominic.
Kicking the cutest ass you’ll ever see.
When Santa Claus and Dominic visit his farmers,
It will be why can’t deer climb the Italian hills?
I hated being zero help on this challenge, but I grew up like a normal person and listened to Christmas music only in December. Garrett hummed with his eyes closed, swaying side to side when he snapped his fingers.
“‘Dominick the Donkey.’ I am the best.”
“Write it down, fast, come on!” Penny yelled. “I wish we got points for speed on this round. Or having the best handwriting.”
“Competitive looks sexy on you, Pen,” Christian said.
My gaze immediately went to Charlotte. Her face read This is good, right? Christian complimenting Penny was a great sign. Christian even pulled her toward him in a hug that bordered on a little too much for public.
Charlotte’s entire body relaxed as she watched them, some foreign expression on her face. It almost seemed like sadness and relief. I didn’t like seeing sadness on her face at all. It made me want to fix it that second.
“Alright, folks, we’re going to tabulate the scores and announce the winners in ten minutes. Use this time to hit the bar or visit the photo booth.” Bernie grinned like an evil little elf. “This is going to be a close one, so we’ll see how our judges are feeling. Did we mention that we’re also adding bonus points?”
“What?” Penny screamed. “Bonus points for what?”
The crowd of teams booed and pounded on the table. The relief on Charlotte’s face disappeared, and she swallowed hard.
“Hey,” I said, nudging her arm, “remember when you were into Bernie? Do you regret that yet?”
She laughed. “I do. Thank you for the reminder.”
“You hit your head this morning. It clearly caused you to make poor life choices for a minute. It’s fine though. No harm was done.”
“To think I was gonna find him under a mistletoe.” She closed her eyes, but her words caused my stomach to drop in a horrible, roller-coaster type of way. Imagining the two of them together sent a hot bolt of jealousy through me. Christian granting Charlotte permission to date Garrett really fucked me up.
Not that I was using that as an excuse for never pursuing Charlotte, because I damn well knew I had a million excuses, but hearing Christian explicitly say that made me want to do something. What? I had no idea. I was a mess. I had no one to help with Gwen. My main source of support was leaving, and I was in no place to date. Let alone the fact that Charlotte was one of the few people who could also help with Gwen. It was too messy.
I stood not a foot from Charlotte, and the urge to touch her overwhelmed me. Her hair was one of my favorite things about her, and some had escaped around her face, and I wanted to push it behind her ears. It’d be too intimate, but damn. Today reminded me of why I struggled around her years ago. She was easy to be around.
“Hey, let’s go. The other team is done with the photo booth. I want one of all of us in the most ridiculous getups we can create.” Penny pointed toward the corner that was set up like a snow globe. She and Christian ran over to get the next spot in line, but whoa. The decorations were insane. People could walk into this snow globe for the photos, and holy Christmas bonanza. The props went beyond the normal booths I’d seen at weddings.
We could dress in a full reindeer onesie. Or a full Grinch. Or a blow-up gingerbread man.
“Why?” Garrett swayed to the left a bit and shook his head. “Why would anyone want to put those on after another human? It is disgusting.”
“Because Penny wants us to.” Charlotte narrowed her eyes at him. “We’re gonna do it for Penny and Christian.”
“No. I’m not… look, I am a germaphobe. You might not assume that about me, but I will gag. You can’t make me.” He pointed toward the bar. “I’m going—”
Charlotte grabbed his hand and yanked him toward her. The movement caused him to almost crash into her, but their chests touched. The jealous feeling from earlier returned full force at the sight of them inches away. I had the urge to… hoist Charlotte up over my shoulder and take her away from here.
“You will do the photo booth. This isn’t up for discussion, Garrett.” Charlotte spoke in a direct tone.
“Hot,” Garrett said, mirroring my own reaction.
“Stop.” Charlotte rolled her eyes and dragged him toward the corner. Their hands were still intertwined. Sure, he was drunk and needed babysitting right now. Especially if Penny wanted this photo and he resisted it. But shit, how much longer could I fight my attraction to Charlotte?
What were my reasons for not kissing her again?
My phone buzzed on cue, like the universe reminding me of my issues. It was a random number.
Hi Hayden. It’s Frankie. I hope your parents told you that they gave me your number and asked me to get in touch. I’m excited to meet you and talk about watching Gwen. I know your mom set up Monday, but my professor switched my classes so could we meet Sunday instead? I can work around your schedule.
Classes? Was she in college? Part of me thought she’d be too young, too inexperienced, but class schedules maybe meant more flexibility.
Hayden: No problem. Let’s do 4:00 pm.
Sunday night would be the last Sunday dinner at my parents’ house before they moved. Sure, they’d be back for Christmas weekend and the wedding, but that was only for two days. They had performances the next two weeks and practice. New Year’s was a work night for bands.
We all prepared for the photo, and Charlotte actually got into a costume. There was a little dressing booth off to the side, and she ducked in. I put on a green top hat and green overalls, along with a cane. I had no idea if I was a Christmas version of the Monopoly man, but Penny had a vision for this photo, and I obeyed.
I waited for her to come out. When she did, I sucked in a breath. She was dressed in full elf gear—a sexy elf too—with red-and-white tights, a red sweater thing that hugged her body, and a hat and fake ears. She even wore pointed shoes and did a heel click.
As I watched her spin around and smile, reality hit me. It wouldn’t be fair to her, or to myself, to start something I couldn’t finish. I swallowed down a ball of regret and made sure my costume was in order.
Christian was Santa, obviously, and Penny his Mrs. Claus. She positioned the five of us so they were in the center, Garrett was on the ground as a reindeer—which, hell yeah, that was funny—but it put me together with Charlotte. Her familiar and comforting vanilla scent surrounded me as I neared her.
“Could you imagine how much fun Gwen would have here?” Charlotte asked. “She would be the cutest little snowflake. Or the snowman princess. I don’t know, but I keep thinking about her. She would have an awesome time.”
Fuck. This woman was incredible. How could I not want to be with her when she mentioned my daughter with genuine care?
“Yeah.” My voice cracked, and I adjusted the green polka-dot bow tie. Maybe I needed distance from Charlotte to get my head on right. Three years of distance had helped, but one day together had put me right back where I was.
“Okay, folks, three, two, one, smile!”
Flashes blasted us. The elf working the photo booth pressed it again, and Penny immediately ran toward the computer. “Oh my God, Christian, babe, we need to print this out and hang it at our house.”
He rested his chin on top of her head, wrapping his arms around her. That was another great sign. “Yes. Hell yes. This is perfection. Look at G… and Hayden… God, this is golden. Could be wedding favors for everyone who comes.”
“We can put them on T-shirts and hand them out.”
“I’m taking this as a good sign,” Charlotte whispered right next to my ear, her breath hitting my neck. “Talking about wedding favors means they want a wedding.”
She was so close to me. Too damn close. Her body heat surrounded me, and it was like every muscle went on red alert. I focused on Bernie, who held a clipboard and bossed two other elves around.
“Don’t you think?”
I nodded, clearing my throat. I couldn’t ignore her or not speak. We’d just gotten to a solid place again, and it wasn’t fair to her to shut down. I forced myself to say, “Great sign.”
“I need to get out of these clothes.” She laughed at herself.
Heat flooded me. Charlotte meant the costume. I knew she meant the costume. But with her wit and care for Gwen and how good she smelled and thinking about kissing her… when was the last time I was this messed up? High school?
I followed her lead, removing the costume and laughing when Garrett fell over twice in his reindeer outfit. It was good for his ego to look that ridiculous.
“Alright, everyone, we have the winners. Please return to your tables, and when the song ends, we will showcase them on the board. Thank you all so much for playing our games. This is our Super Bowl here that we prepare for all year. This year has been one of the best. You have about two minutes to get back.”
“I feel like we could create games like this, babe.” Christian rubbed Penny’s shoulders. “We could even start a neighborhood competition for kids to play too.”
“Yeah.” Penny wore a dreamy smile, her eyes dazed as she glanced at Christian. “That would be the best, and we could have your dad dress up as Santa at the end.”
I snuck a glance at Charlotte, who smiled at them, her cheeks a little pink. She was so beautiful that it wasn’t even fair. Scrubbing a hand over my face, I hoped that’d knock sense into me. I could get through the announcement and then sneak off toward my room. Penny and Christian didn’t have any plans for the rest of the night besides “fun,” and getting an uninterrupted, full night’s sleep seemed real fun to me.
“Why am I nervous? I totally am.” Charlotte jumped up and down, her hair flopping on her shoulders with the movement. Her eyes sparkled. “I think we won.”
“We better win,” Penny said. “We need this.”
“Let It Snow” started fading out, the crowd going silent as the presentation slide updated. “Wrap It Up! You are in first place, congrats!”
We won.
I’d won a lot of games in my life, but nothing compared to this—balloons fell from the ceiling. Loud music blared. Air horns blasted. There weren’t even that many people in the room, yet it was so damn loud.
“We fucking won!”
“Hell yes!”
Christian swung Penny around. Garrett fist-pumped the air and twirled with a stupid grin on his face. That left Charlotte…
She jumped on me. “We did it, Hayden! We won!”
She wrapped her legs around me and hugged me tight, her cheek pressing against mine as she squeezed me. I felt like an overheated laptop that had stopped functioning. My motherboard failed. All I could feel was her soft hair tickling my face.
She pulled back and grinned so wide that it stretched across her whole face. “I could almost kiss you right now.”
I stared at Charlotte’s lips, the tug on my lower gut urging me to close the distance, to taste her again after all these years. My nostrils flared, and I bent closer to her. I could do it. Kiss her right here. I could calm this fire inside me. Her mouth parted, and she sucked in a breath when she realized I wanted to kiss her too. I leaned in just as Garrett, Penny, and Christian all threw their arms around us in a group hug.
They jumped and cheered, chanting and being general idiots. The movement changed Charlotte’s face, and she withdrew from whatever moment we just had. I fought the urge to yank her toward me as she slid down my body, even though I knew it was for the best.
She joined her brother in jumping and cheering, but her smile dimmed. I knew her real smiles, and this one was performative. I wasn’t sure what the hell was going to happen next, but we had to talk about this. Because if she wanted to kiss me too… that changed things.