A Very Freyan Christmas

Chapter 2

Dix

Dix cupped her hands around her fourth mug of hot chocolate and slid into the breakfast booth, snatched a crumpet from Jordan much to his displeasure, but she reckoned with the mountain of pancakes piled on top he wouldn't have missed one tiny crumpet. Her head was still sore despite the bottles of water she'd downed and not for the first time, she wished they could use Bubblers in Freya so she could grab some, what's it called, aspirin, from the nearest store.

"Today," Declan announced, whilst he puffed out his chest mockingly. "We have been ordered by Princess Delucia to get fitted for our ski boots. I, however, would like to contest that matter and ask for snowboard boots."

"I'm pretty sure they're the same, Dec." Alex grinned.

"When did I order anything?" Dix groaned, rubbed at her temples.

Bear pulled up a very long document on his phone which she squinted at, reading through all the details.

"Despite being tipsy you still managed to rearrange our entire itinerary and fix all the bookings and calls with the staff. Nice one, Delucia." Bear laughed. Dix swatted him with her beanie and grumbled to herself as she sank down lower in her seat.

"We do appreciate it, though." Kaiden added thoughtfully. "I'm pretty sure Alex had no plan whatsoever when she said—ow!"

Alex's expression remained innocent, although Kaiden was keeled over dramatically into her lap. As she ignored this common occurrence, Dix munched on her crumpet thoughtfully. She was quite excited to go skiing - after all, they didn't have that kind of stuff in Medora. Dix was fairly good with balance, and from what she could gather from the sport, a lot of it had balance. And if you wanted to stay on a horse's back, balance was your best friend.

After breakfast and a quick clean up, everyone piled back into the lift and climbed back up to their floor. Dix grabbed her previously packed backpacks from her's and Jordan's room and hunted for her jacket, before she flung it over her shoulder. She walked into the lounge area to see that Jordan was already over by the fridge, hunting through the snacks and drinks to sneak into their bags. Rolling her eyes, she left him puzzling over two types of jerky to retrieve a bottle of sunblock from the fridge.

She lathered sunblock onto her face and arms, shivering slightly at the chilled liquid. Alex strolled from her room, Kaiden trailed in behind her, bags flung over their shoulders. Dix tossed the sunblock at the back of Jordan's head and he cried, clutching at his bed-hair. Declan laughed as he entered, hand in Bear's, and grabbed some ice from the fridge.

He passed it to Jordan who pressed it to his, thankfully not bleeding, head. "You are a lot stronger than you look, Dixy." Jordan laughed at her scowl before ducking behind Declan, using him as a human shield, to escape the words beating to burst forth from her lips. Alex took Dix's arm, and held her back gently, laughing all the time. Dix shrugged her off, looked around at the rest of the room, who were all nearly doubled over with laughter, before she broke down and giggled herself.

Several minutes, a lot of sunblock, and a quick check to make sure Jordan wasn't concussed, later, the gang strolled through the large foyer and stepped onto the street outside. Their jackets protected them from the wind but the sun beating down on them still made sweat drip down their backs as they stepped forward, and turned to Dix for directions. She pointed left, towards the town square with the large Christmas tree towering in the center.

Shimmering lights, large red baubles, shining gold stars and lush green branches that reached to the sky blocked our view. A light layer of snow dusted the branches and the wooden benches around it were covered with snow and blended with the ice covered ground. Dix sucked in a chilly breath and grinned, knowing her pale freckled cheeks would already have pink blooming from the cold.