A Taylor Christmas

Chapter 8 - Rebellious

5 days to Christmas

**Luke's POV***

And with that last door slamming shut, peace and quiet during the day will be a thing of the past.

Without really wanting to, a loud groan escapes my lips and a throw myself back on the bed. Crossing my arms over my face, I take a deep breath. It will only be a few seconds until the house is back to its usual daily chaos, curtesy to my youngest brothers and sister.

I love them, I really do, and they can be great fun, I won't deny that. But I also love it when I have the house all to myself. It certainly helps my creative juices flowing when I can just sit anywhere in or outside our family home, play my guitar and write songs. That is quite impossible though when the little ones are running wild, wreaking havoc.

"What's up with you?" Sam asks.

Ah yes, and there's the additional distraction called older brothers that have returned home from college for Christmas break. Another thing causing ambivalent emotions inside me. I obviously love them as much as I love my baby sibs. But the older guys can be just as much of a hindrance to my creativity, only in a different way. Like, when they try to boss me around or force their chores onto me.

Nothing new there, unfortunately. They have taken advantage of my good-naturedness for as long as I can remember. I am not one to go looking for fights and prefer to keep things nice, easy and peaceful. Therefore, I normally don't protest too much but just get the job done. It saves energy and is the most efficient way to move on.

My older brothers had that figured out pretty quickly and – though it pains me to admit– the younger ones are starting to catch on, too. That's where I have to draw the line, obviously, because I won't let them walk all over me. It's bad enough that Sam and Ben, the siblings closest to me in age and those who I grew up with, are still pulling rank with me whenever they please.

Sam's probably still half buried in the disaster that is our shared closet, which explains his somewhat muffled voice. I have been watching his sad attempts at getting ready for his oh-so-secretive date for the past half an hour. Dashing in and out of our bedroom like his ass is on fire.

It is actually quite entertaining, even if it is distracting me from finishing the lyrics for that new song that has been taking my mind hostage for the past two days.

First, Sam went to grab a shower, only to return a few minutes later, scantily clad with only a towel around his hips, looking for his razor that had mysteriously disappeared. He believed to find it somewhere in our room, which made no sense at all to me. As it turned out, my instinct was right because he had to return to the bathroom empty-handed after turning his half of the closet upside down and emptying out his bedside table to no avail.

After the shower, he reappeared to look for his deodorant which had also "gone missing" from the shared bathroom. I didn't tell him that I have my suspicions who might be the thief of all his stuff, because as long as Sam leaves his fancy stuff in the bathroom, said thief won't take my not-quite-so-fancy toiletries. Interestingly, he found a replacement deo in his socks and underwear drawer (I decided not to question that hiding place).

Finally, after having left me in peace for almost a quarter of an hour, he returned in a huff because he couldn't get his hair to do as he wanted. Let's just say it isn't a complete exaggeration if I claim that my big bro is about to have a nervous breakdown because of this date.

I wonder who the girl is that he's taking out?

Sam is always very secretive when it comes to dating and relationships and such. I don't remember him ever bringing a girl home. Either these girls he's seeing don't stick around long enough for him to get round to introducing them to his family – or he's uncomfortable bringing a girl here. I couldn't really blame him if the latter were the case, seeing as we are not exactly an average kind of family.