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 andherfamily, 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.
God, what a baby I am. First Christmas away from my parents…this should befine, 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’ssecure.
“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 apresent. 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-ishover 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 theircabin 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 aboutyourfamily.”
Mira groans and flops onto her back. “Let’s not.”
“You remind me of the forgotten kid fromHome 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.
