Girlfriend for Christmas | CURRENTLY EDITING

chapter four

I don't get out of bed, turning my focus from Ivy's weird matching game to Amari. She offers to call me, and so we lay there in bed in a way that nearly feels together, my phone resting on my chest while I lose myself in her sweet voice and adorable giggle. Everything about this girl feels too good to be true.

She and I call for an hour before we're interrupted by my brothers. It starts off with a cautious knock and one of the older two asking: "Are you dressed?"

"One sec," I whisper to her, setting my phone on my mattress and sitting up. My four blankets fold over on my lap. Bright white morning light streams in through my translucent curtains. "Maybe. Why?"

I hear a whisper of "she's dressed" before they start banging on my door.

"ELSA! ELSA! ELSA!" Nathan and Jeremy shout. "PLEASE, WE KNOW YOU'RE IN THERE."

Then they fling open my door and charge in with long rolls of Christmas wrapping paper raised above their heads, screaming.

"Jesus Christ superstar!" I shout, picking up a pillow to try and shield myself. I'm too late though; Nathan lands a blow right on my head. A hollow thonk rings out.

I grab another pillow—a memory foam one—and start wailing on the pair of them, hopping out of bed and thwacking them as hard as I can, despite their pleas for mercy.

"I'M GOING TO CASTRATE YOU BOTH WITH MY FEET."

"ELSA, PLEASE," Nathan howls. "UNCLE! UNCLE! QUARTER!"

Above our howling, I can hear Amari's light, breathy laughter. "Castrate them with your feet?" I hear her ask, at what would have been a whisper if she weren't on speakerphone.

Nathan hops off my bed like he's been shocked by electricity. Jeremy's arms are raised above his head, prepared to strike with his wrapping paper with little Will Ferrell faces on it. When he hears Amari's voice, he gasps and drops it straight on his head.

"Are you on the phone with a girl?" Nathan asks.

"Guys—" I warn.

"Is it Amari?" Jeremy asks, bending to scoop up his wrapping paper. He waves it in front of him like a sword. "You cannot imagine, Rafael, how I have dreamed of this moment, night and day, twenty long years."

"Are you seriously quoting The Mask of Zorro right now? Wow, now I'm really going to castrate you both." I crack my knuckles suggestively (ow) and point to the door. "Please leave. Now."

The Disaster Twins share a look that I'm sure only they could ever understand. "Fine, fine, fine," they say, receding out into the hallway, dragging their wrapping paper behind them in defeat. Jeremy turns and gives a solemn salute with his Ferrell roll.

I pick up my phone immediately, sliding one of my disarrayed tank top straps back onto my shoulder. "Sorry about that," I tell Amari. My breaths are on-god shallow from the actual physical exertion that was just forced upon me by my parents' demon spawn.

"You're fine," Amari says, still laughing. "Oh my god, that was awesome."

My cheeks are hot with embarrassment, but I manage to laugh along with her. "I'm glad you thought so."

"It seems like you get along really well with your brothers," she says. "I dunno. For me, personally, good sibling relationships are about as green of a flag as you can get."

Good lord, do I like hearing that. "That makes two of us. How many siblings do you have?"

"Funny you should mention that," Amari says, and I can hear the soft smile carry through the phone. She has one of those gentle, soothing voices. I'm obsessed. Call me crazy, but Amari doesn't sound eighteen. She kinda sounds like the world's best mom? Which is such a weird thing to think about a person's voice, I know. She just sounds nice and comforting and warm and mature and holy cheeseballs, why am I even thinking about this?

"I'm a middle child," she says. "Of seven kids."

"No." I can't imagine having double the brothers I do now. The mere thought sends shivers down my spine.

"Ohhhh yeah. To be fair, the youngest three were adopted from foster care, and I was a late baby for my parents, so it's not like we were all in the house at the same time. So it's a weird mix of being the middle, the youngest, and the oldest. A really strange dynamic overall, I suppose."

"Wow. I had no idea."

"Ohohohohhh, yeah," Amari says, sounding muffled for a second. "Sorry, adjusting my pillow."

"You're good."

"And you're cute."

I nearly choke on air. "Damn, Amari."

"Whaaat? You are."

"Not nearly as cute as ... you are." Is this how you talk to a girl? I'm not sure. I hate self-deprecating crap, but it also feels like the most down-to-earth option half the time, so it becomes a sort of unavoidable crutch. I also find it impossible to take a compliment, so my brain is short-circuiting right now.

"Hmmm, I think I'd have to state the opposite, actually," Amari says.

"Well, hmmmmmm, I think—"

There's a knock on my door. "Hey, Catey-Cat, want a ride downtown? I'm helping Annette unpack some new stock."

I freeze at my mom's invitation. Annette is my mom's best friend, a quaint little white woman with her own downtown boutique, the kind with thirty dollar notebooks, funky bath bombs, and socks that insult your coworkers. She is also Ivy's mom.

"Sorry, Amari, one sec," I whisper. This time, I press mute and turn off my speakerphone.

"Hello?" Mom asks. "Cate, I know you're awake. Answer me."

"Sorry, just getting dressed!" I lie, trying to be as quiet as possible while I slide out of bed. My room is so frigid that even the carpet feels cold. Jesus, I miss Texas. "I'll go downtown, but do I have to go to Annette's?"

"I mean, I'm sure she'd love to see you, but if you really don't want to go, then you can take a wander around."

"Mom, it's Sunday. Everything is closed."

She sighs, frustrated. "Well, Cate, I don't know what to tell you. You could always just sit in Found Ground for a few hours. Bring a book. I just hate to see you sleeping in till nearly noon"—okay, it's 10:30, which isn't even that bad—"and not socializing, honey. You're such a little hermit. And you're not going to be a little hermit while you're here, do you understand me?"

I do not feel like re-hashing the Great Hermit Daughter argument, so I'm just gonna bite the bullet on this one. "Fine," I tell her. "I'll even say hi to Annette."

"Wow, the bare minimum. Thank you."

I wait till I hear her footsteps retreating before I unmute my mic. I don't want anyone potentially hearing Amari, though, so I keep the speakerphone off. "Hey," I murmur, hoping I've nailed the balance between volume and audibility, "sorry about that. That was my mom."

"Oh! No problem. Does that mean you have to get going?"

"Yeahhhh.... I'm sorry."

"No, no! Don't be. I should be getting up anyway."

I exhale. I really wish I could just stay in bed, chatting with Amari. Or, better yet: I could just stay in bed, back in Texas, away from Ivy and this stupid town, and be next to Amari. I love the thought of us lying on our sides to face each other, noses just mere inches apart. The thought of us laughing together, then inching in, closer and closer, till our lips press together. The thought of my hands settling on her waist, pulling her in—

"—but maybe we could call Wednesday or something?"

Crap. What was she talking about?

"Uh, sure, no problem!" I tell her, definitely sounding natural and totally not weird. At all. "Just text me when you can and we'll go from there."

"Okay, cool. Bye, Cate!"

"Bye, Amari." I can't help but smile when I say her name. This girl. This amazing girl.

A/N - ayo, 4 chapters over the span of 4 days???? Where was this energy during NaNoWriMo lmfaooo 🥲

Hope you guys are enjoying! It's 3:30 AM here sooooo, GOODBYE.