My heart starts beating fast.
Oh, I’ll never stop being a big kid deep in my heart.
“” a child-like whine rang out in your ears as someone jumped up and down on your bed in a bid to wake you up. Only, it wasn’t a kid but someone rather heavy and manly. It was your best friend, Calum.
You groaned as you tried to swat him away, “Calum; get off!”
He laughed before jumping up and down some more; “Get up, get up get up!”
“But whyyyyy?”
“It’s Christmas!”
It was then that you could hear what sounded like church bells ringing out from downstairs.
You scrunched your eyes up confused, “No; it’s not. It’s only the twenty second. ”
“Please? I have a surprise for you,” as he gave a final jump he tucked his legs under him, landing on his knees and causing her bed to shake just a little too much.
“I swear if you break my bed – “
“Then I will buy you a new one but pleeeeeeeeeaaaase come downstairs. I want to give you something!”
You sat up, rubbing your eyes, “I will come down if you have coffee waiting for me and if you stop being so damn peppy.”
“Coffee I can promise. The pep? I can’t promise.”
Once you had a chance to wake up properly, you noticed something was weighting down the end of your bed. You reached forward and pulled the object over to you. That was weird. It was a stocking filled to the brim of small treats wrapped in Christmas paper. Grabbing it with one hand you swung your legs out of bed and stood up, making your way downstairs. When you entered the living room, Calum’s face lit up just like the lights he had hung around your living room. He’d even put up your tree and hung some decorations from the ceiling.
“Surprise!”
“Cal; what is this? I thought we weren’t doing decorations this year?”
He looked bashful, “Well… I know we’re heading home tomorrow but I wanted to have our own Christmas seeing as we won’t see each other until we come back.”
You didn’t know what to say. It was so sweet of him. You put the stocking down on the couch and made your way over to him. You enveloped him in tight hug.
“I love you.”
“I love you too, dork.”
If Santa needs a helper why should it be me?
And I like dancing the night away,
And waking up to jingle bells on Christmas Day.
adjusted her dress in the mirror before sinking her final tequila shot, “Now who’s ready to dance the night away?”
The room filled with cheers and they filed out one by one. She was glad she had chosen to get ready at her friend ’s house instead of her own where she, no doubt, would’ve been roped into playing “Santa’s Little Helper” for her younger cousins and that was something she would rather pass on. Why should it always fall on her? It was a tradition she was happy to see die.
As she danced with her friends, a familiar head of hair bobbed her way. She waved when she managed to catch his eye and he gave her a wide grin, waving back. Jumping up and down on the spot, she waited for him to finally twist his way through the crowd to stand in front of her.
“Ashton!” she hugged him tightly.
“Hi, trouble,” he hugged her back, “What are you doing here?”
She pulled away from him, “Just having a good old dance. Wanna join in?”
“Well seeing as I’m drunk enough, I might as well,” he laughed, taking her hand and twirling her around to some abomination of a song that was apparently number one the week before.
When things started to wind down, the DJ spoke over the end of the penultimate song;
“This is the final song of the night, folks, so grab a loved one – be it a partner, a friend or even a random stranger that you just met – and sway along to this Christmas classic. The familiar tones of “White Christmas” began to play.
’s friends began tittering away making plans on how to get home. Ashton pulled back towards him, his hand gripping hers tightly.
“Don’t think you’re getting away so soon.”
She giggled, giving into him. He pulled her in close, one hand holding hers to his chest and the other on her lower back.
He gestured to the mistletoe that had been hung (and avoided) above them;
“How about a Christmas kiss?”
She grinned as she mocked his speech from earlier, “Well; seeing as I’m still slightly sober enough…”
Under the mistletoe, we’ll fall in love for sure.
It’s only a kiss, you know, so don’t you ask for more.
Under the mistletoe, we’ll fall in love for sure.
“Right, so; I’ll distract him and you’ll run upstairs and put his present under my bed. Got it?” you told Ashton as you stood outside your house, handing him your shopping. You had been out shopping for your friend Michael’s gift and had taken Ashton along with you to get his opinion seeing as he had spent the majority of the last year with him on tour and would have a better knowledge of the things he had taken an interest in. However, whilst you were in the last shop, Michael had called you to say that he was waiting for you at your house and you had cursed yourself for giving him a key as there was definitely no way of sneaking it past him. At least, not without Ashton’s help.
He nodded, “Got it.”
You pushed down the door handle and stepped into the house, the air conditioning hitting you almost immediately. Given that it was summer in Australia, it didn’t feel like a traditional Christmas that was usually portrayed in movies and programmes on the other side of the world. Although, seeing as you had lived there all your life, it wasn’t any different to any other Christmas.
“Mike, I’m back,” no sooner had you spoken then you felt yourself being picked up off the ground and spun around. You laughed, hitting Michael’s back with your hands as he threw you over his shoulder, “Put me down, ya dingbat!”
“Nooooooo!” he ran through to the living room, you bobbing up and down with every leap he took and making you giggle. Ashton trailed behind, laughing.
He set you down on the ground, “So…. Where’s my present?” His face contorted in confusion when he discovered that you didn’t have anything on you until he realised that Ashton was carrying your bags and made a lunge for them. You decided to do something totally unexpected and put your hands on his face, looking deep into his eyes. Ashton took the opportunity to run up the stairs with the bags, yelling something about going to the bathroom.
Michael gulped, already starting to sweat. “What you doing?” He sounded like a little kid.
You had to think fast on your feet, “Giving you your present.” You leaned in and kissed him. He had always half joked every Christmas that all he’d put on his list was a kiss from you and so this year you were making sure that he got what he wanted. Even though it was quick as soon as you pulled away, cheeks flushed, you found yourself wanting more. You weren’t sure you should, though. You looked at Michael who was clearly stunned.
His face broke out into a grin, “Best Christmas present ever!”
I guess I’ll always believe that there’s a big kid in me.
Snowballs whizzed past you as you ducked and dived trying to avoid them. It was Christmas time and, instead of being back home in Australia where it was sunny and hot, you had joined your best friend Luke and his band over in London for a week before you all flew back together and rejoined your families. All five of you were revelling in the vast amount of snowfall the weather had blessed the streets of London with. You were on a team with Ashton and Calum against Luke and Michael trying to prove that you were an asset to them and not just “useless” because you threw “like a girl”. Damn right you did; you were a girl. Ashton and Calum were focusing on taking down Michael as your eyes locked with Luke’s. You narrowed your eyes at him; it was on. You ducked behind the nearest car in order to create some time as you made a couple of large snowballs. Just in time, as well, for Luke had already launched one at you. You heard a loud “thud” as it hit the window on the side closest to him. You craned your neck around the front of the car as you tried to go undetected and spied your target. Luckily he hadn’t seen you. You leaped up, hurling your first snowball at him. Crouching back down, you looked over the bonnet to see what kind of impact you had had. You laughed; you had managed to hit Luke square in the head, the snow instantly breaking apart as it struck him and fell apart in his hair. He was too busy looking angry that he didn’t realise where it had come from. You snickered, taking this opportunity to throw another at him and it hit him roughly in the same spot. This time, though, he saw you and immediately charged at you, picking up snow as he went along. You yelled at your team for help but they had long forgotten the game and were now watching from the sidelines with Michael. Traitors. You ran like lightning away from him still holding some of your ammo, zig-zagging out of his way and dodging everything he threw at you. He was gaining on you fast, and would practically be on your heels did he not stop to pick up snow every few paces. You called out again for your so-called friends to help you to no avail. They laughed, feebly throwing snow in your direction to throw you off. Bastards. It was no longer a fun game but rather an attempt at ganging up on you – even if they couldn’t be bothered running after you and just pelted you from the sidelines.
You turned to look over your shoulder and saw that Luke was getting closer and closer. He threw a snowball at you and it narrowly missed your right leg. You weaved in and out of parked cars, dodging snow like a trained police officer would bullets. You weren’t so lucky the next time as a block of chilly, white compressed powder hit your back. You squealed. You had to come up with a plan. And then it struck you. Literally. You fell to the ground, winded from the hit. You heard a few gasps and Ashton calling out, asking if you were alright. Now was the time to act. You quickly dropped the balls of snow to the ground.
“Oww!” you feigned pain as you pulled your knee up to your chest, your hands clamped tight around it.
Luke’s mouth dropped open and within a blink he was running towards you, skidding on ice as he went.
He dropped to his knees beside you, “Are you OK? I swear I didn’t mean to hurt you.”
You pretended to cry, fake tears trickling down your face slowly, “I don’t think I can get up.”
His face turned ghostly pale. He turned to call the other guys over and as he did, you grabbed a snowball, smashing it down on his head. He looked at you stunned and you stuck your tongue out at him as you jumped up and sprinted towards the others. This was too much fun.