Style | Dallas Winston

Chapter Fifteen

"If you look for it, I've got a sneaky feeling you'll find that love actually is all around"- Love Actually

(I know it's after Christmas I meant to get this out before but obviously that didn't happen. Even still I hope you enjoy!)

Maeve drifted around the room, spinning in circles with her arms stretched out to the side, dancing along to the rich baritone voice of Frank Sinatra. Her mom had put his christmas album on the record player while she cleaned, it being a favorite of hers during Christmas. So now, when she heard his song on the radio (even if it wasn't a Christmas song) she would always get that nostalgic feeling you only get during Christmas.

Maeve was supposed to be helping her mom clean the house before her relatives came that evening, but clearly she wasn't much help. Today was December 24th, Christmas Eve, and Maeve was in a joyous mood. She always liked Christmas Eve more than Christmas Day, because she still had more festivities tomorrow, but on Christmas day the impending tomorrow lurked over you as a reminder that it would all be over soon.

She was also cheerful because today was Christmas with the boys. Secret santa, making cookies only for them to immediately be eaten, and a snowball fight were all annual Christmas activities with them. Maeve had always been a festive person, whether it was Christmas or Halloween, she went all in. She didn't understand how anyone couldn't like Christmas—it's the most magical time of the year.

She always had fond memories of Christmas. Of course, as the years went on, the magic dulled. She had stopped believing in Santa, elves and flying reindeer, but while the magic went away the excitement never did. The day after Thanksgiving she would beg her mom to get the decorations out of the attic and put up the tree. Her dad never cared for Christmas, so even when he was living with them, decorating was always a thing for just her and her mom.

While they hung the ornaments on the tree, Maeve would turn to the Christmas channel on the radio, filling the house with music that rang of merriment and cheer. They would make sure to pick up a tv guide from the store to keep track of when all of the good Christmas movies were coming on, White Christmas being Maeve's favorite.

One thing that she wasn't looking forward to today was seeing Dally. He was inevitably going to be there–late no doubt, refusing to look her in the eye, or even worse, looking at her with the same hatred he did the day of the rodeo.

She hated how often her mind drifted to Dally. Lately it seemed that he had become a looming figure, plaguing her thoughts, feelings, and actions. It made her feel pathetic, then angry when she realized how much power he had over her, how much of an influence he had over her life. But today she decided not to let him bother her, no matter how he treated her, because it's Christmas, and nothing could spoil her mood.

After speed cleaning the house, and shoving everything on her bedroom floor under the bed, she got dressed in an ugly Christmas sweater and boots. Thankfully, she remembered to blow out her candle before she left, not wanting to set her room on fire... again.

She wasn't making the mistake of walking to their house in the snow again, so she called Two-bit and made him pick her up. She was surprised that he picked up the phone, or even was home at all, but since he was on his way to the Curtis' anyway, it wasn't any trouble.

She grabbed her secret santa gift from under the bed, told her mom goodbye, and scrambled out the door when she heard Two-bit honking outside. It took a couple seconds to recover from nearly slipping on the ice but eventually she made it into the black Chevy without breaking anything.