The Christmas Playbook (Shadow Valley U)

Chapter 15 Spoiler alert: we do it in the hot tub. We do it in the shower, rinsing off hot tub water. We finish our fucking escapade on the floor because Mira won't let me fuck her on the bed when her hair is wet, which, now that we're snuggled up together under the covers, I totally get. A soaked pillow would suck. "Tomorrow is Christmas Eve," Mira mumbles. I stare at the ceiling. "Yeah." "Is it weird not being with your family?" I haven't really been thinking about my family. Between Mira and her family, and our ruse, I've been busy. Too busy. But now that I do, a hollowness fills my chest.

"Yeah," I manage through a lump in my throat. Official source is FindN0vel.net God, what a baby I am. First Christmas away from my parents...this should be fine, and yet, I'm overcome with this stupid melancholy. "Do you have traditions?" I pull her tighter into my side. She comes willingly, inching her knee up until her leg is across my thighs. Her arm across my stomach. It's secure. She's secure. "We'd always do stockings on Christmas Eve," I say. "At midnight or however close my parents could get us to it. When we were younger, I think they lied about the time.

I was probably in bed by eight o'clock so they could put out the presents from Santa and prepare for an early wake-up." I chuckle, but it fades fast. "Everybody contributed to the stockings. Little gag gifts, you know. Or things they had been asking for but it wasn't really a present. Like, one year, Mom kept complaining about losing her reading glasses. So, I got her a pack of six, and Dad got her those cords that let you hang the glasses around your neck." 'That sounds nice." "Yeah.

Then, obviously, Christmas is the presents, and all the extended family would come over since our house was the best. And my parents are excellent cooks. We'd do more presents, an early dinner..." "You sound sad." I clear my throat. "Well, maybe sad-ish over missing it." "And you're here instead of there because...?" The guilt hits me next. "Thorne is going to the draft, and this was our last hurrah as a friend group." Mira sits up suddenly. Her hair swings in her face, and it's automatic to reach up and tuck it behind her ear. All it does is reveal her horrified expression, though.

"Rhys," she whispers. "I've been keeping you from your friends this whole time⁠-" "It's okay." I tuck her hair again and keep my palm cupped to her cheek. "We have a whole second semester together before we go our separate ways..." "That's not the same as spending quality time⁠-" "They're all coupled up," I interrupt. "Thorne and his girlfriend, Briar, have probably been fucking like rabbits in their cabin and only surfacing for food and a run or two on the slopes.

Same with Aaron and Willow, and the rest of them." I don't mention the standing dinner reservations for our group that I've been excusing myself from every night. It's a miracle my friends like to eat late, and Mira's family tends to prefer the early bird special. "Let's talk about your family." Mira groans and flops onto her back. "Let's not." "You remind me of the forgotten kid from Home Alone." She jabs a finger at the ceiling. "That's exactly who I am! Thank you for validating my feelings about that." I grin. "Anytime, babe." "But... it does suck.

Just know that you participating in this scheme with me is making things, like, seventy percent better." I roll on top of her. My dick has officially woken back up, and she spreads those pretty legs for me easily, making room for my body. When she feels my hardness between her legs, she loops her arms around my neck. Her knees come up, and I push inside her with little resistance. She's still slick from her previous orgasms and perhaps renewed arousal. Talking about the woes of family and holidays can really turn a girl on, apparently. "Seventy percent better," I murmur against her lips.

"Missed opportunity for a sixty-nine reference." She huffs. "Let's see if this"-I pull out then thrust back in, watching how her eyelashes flutter-"can raise the bar." I leave Mira asleep and head out to meet my friends. I got a rather sternly worded text from Aaron that basically said: show up or Thorne is gonna beat my door down. Can't have that. So, here I am. Exhausted and happy. Satiated. And trudging across the freshly fallen snow to join my friends for an early breakfast. They must be fucking during the day and actually sleeping at night to get out of bed so early. Heathens.

This is vacation! "Merry Christmas Eve, Rhys!" Willow, Aaron's girlfriend, calls when she spots me. She's wearing a dark-green...I guess you could call it an ugly sweater. It looks like it could fit her huge boyfriend better than her, swamping her frame. There's a reindeer on it with a red pom-pom nose. Glitter pom-pom. I had a run-in with glitter once. A poor prank by a girl I was dating-or, uh...fucking. Who can tell the difference these days? She put glitter in my shampoo, and it took ages for it to all come out. Did I also generally use my shampoo as bodywash? Yes. I've since learned...

one, don't fuck psychos, and two, use bodywash for the body and shampoo for the hair. I've also learned that anyone who has any glitter is in the psycho category. She comes closer, and I twitch. "He's got a phobia," Thorne calls. Willow pauses and turns back toward him, her brows furrowing. "What?" He gestures vaguely at her. "Reindeer. Terrifying creatures." I snort. Willow faces me again, covering the face of the reindeer. "Oh my God, Rhys, I'm so sorry. What an awful time of the year for you!" "I-" I shake my head and nod at the same time, ending up moving my head in a circle.

"Thanks." "Come on." Thorne tilts his head. "We've already got a table." I follow him back, weaving through the tables, until we get to a giant C-shaped booth. I take the lone chair facing my pack of coupled-up friends. Thorne and Briar are closest to me, Aaron on my other side. Some of the other names and faces I should know, but they're not my friends. My chest tightens. Why the hell do I wish my fake girlfriend was with me right now? Probably because it's not really fake anymore, asshole. "So, who's got you cooped up in your cabin?" Briar asks. I jerk. "Huh?" She smirks.

"We've hardly seen you, so..." "I've been around." My tone comes off defensive. "In between doing the horizontal tango with some girl?" Her eyebrows go up. "Or maybe girls?" My face flushes. "No. I mean, yeah. No. I don't know. I've been hanging out. It's you guys who are all..." Guilt flashes across Thorne's expression, but he doesn't say anything. Not since there are so fucking many of us. Eight plus me. Jack and Aaron are on the football team. Marley and Lydia are Briar's friends. The only person I'm unfamiliar with is Marley's boyfriend.

I probably would know him better if I showed up to more shit, but... "It's Christmas Eve," Lydia says suddenly. "We're spending it together as a group, right? There's some choir tonight, I think they're doing a singalong sort of thing. That'll be fun." I swallow. "Yeah." And yet... how the fuck am I going to get out of doing shit with Mira's family? The waitress comes by and takes our orders, and the topic shifts from me to an incident Lydia and Jack saw on the mountain. It isn't until I tune back in that I realize they saw us. Mira and me.

"He had her on his back, snowboarding down the mountain. I don't know if she was injured or what, but it was cute as fuck." Lydia nudges Jack. "Would you carry me down the mountain if I sprained something?" "Of course, baby." Jack leans down and kisses her. Ugh. "We should've made a no-PDA rule," I say under my breath. Thorne grimaces. Although, it's kind of nice to know that my actions were observed and deemed cute as fuck. I'll have to tell Mira that. "You gonna come up the mountain with us?" Aaron asks me. Jack and Lydia are still kissing. I point to them.

"If those two quit it, then yes." Marley nudges her friend, and the two separate. Lydia's face is red, and Jack seems smug. I shake my head, trying not to smile. Ah, to be young and in love. Can't relate. Something twinges inside me-the instinct that what I just said was very much a lie. Oh, no. I can't relate to that, can I? I'm not in love with a fake freaking girlfriend. And yet...