Under the mistletoe

Chapter One - Clueless About Love

6 months later...

"Please, Lizzie, you just have to do this. Give me some credit, it's Christmas," Salome Daniels pleaded.

Lizzie rolled her eyes. "No, no and no!" she replied, frowning. Her older sister, Sally, was getting married in a couple of weeks. The best man, Ethan Mills, was coming to help in the preparations for the wedding. But coming along with Ethan were his two siblings, Jordan and Lily. Sally and Spencer, the soon-to-be-brother-in-law of Lizzie, is asking her to show Jordan and Lily around, making sure that they won't feel lonesome.

"Why won't you do it?" Sally asked.

"It's so complicated and confusing," Lizzie said. "I don't get it."

Sally sighed. "What's not to get? I'm going to marry Spencer. Spencer's best friend is Ethan Mills so Ethan Mills will be the best man in the wedding. Ethan has two siblings, Jordan and Lily. Their parents had some sort of problem that they needed to fix but they can't take Jordan and Lily. So Jordan and Lily are coming along with Ethan. They're the ones you're going to show around. Not Ethan because he is going to help us with wedding preparations. Okay? Get it?"

Lizzie stared at her sister. "Jordan and Lily are siblings? I thought they were, like, boyfriend and girlfriend?" she stuck her tongue out at her sister, "See, I totally don't understand this whole thing."

"You'll get it," Sally promised. "Look, Jordan's just your age. Maybe, you know," Sally grinned and wriggled her eyebrows knowingly.

Lizzie wrinkled her nose. "No, I don't know, Sally," she said. "And I am not looking for romance. There's enough romance going on around me to last me a lifetime."

"Aha! So you do get it. You know that I think you and Jordan should hook up," Sally said. She opened the cupboard and took out a bag of Doritos. "And you know, weddings are the places to fall in love."

Lizzie stifled a giggle. "You might not fit in your wedding dress," she mumbled in an attempt to change the subject.

"Hey," Sally cried indignantly then she giggled. "I'll risk it," she said.

"Right. Well, chow down, sis," Lizzie said as she walked out of the kitchen. But she bumped into Spencer. Literally. "Whoops, sorry," she mumbled stepping back to let him pass through. As far as she was concerned, she didn't like Spencer. The last time she saw him, he totally broke Sally's heart.

"Yes or no?" he asked raising an eyebrow at her.

Lizzie rolled her eyes. "No!" She pushed past him and stormed out of the room.

But not before hearing Spencer ask, "What's up with her?"

"Maybe PMS," Sally replied.

Lizzie's jaw dropped. Her eyes narrowed to slits. She didn't bother to tell her sister off. She would've lost because it was two against one. There was so in love together that they never fight and whenever they fight, they're both on the same side against someone. So Lizzie was going to loose. Instead, she headed outside to the stables. She shivered once outside. Her sweater didn't give much warmth but still it helped. She ran towards the stables only to discover that Becky was also there. Lizzie turned around deciding to go somewhere else.

Too late.

"Aw, look who's here," Becky's voice said.

Lizzie turned back to her sister.

"What are you doing here?" Becky asked tucking her arms inside her coat. "And did you notice that you're not even wearing a coat, just a sweater?" she added raising her eyebrows at Lizzie.

"Yes, I happened to notice that," Lizzie replied walking inside.

"Got a lot of things in your mind?" Becky inquired picking up a bucket. She headed over to one of the stalls and disappeared.

"No," Lizzie answered unsure of what to say. As a matter of fact, she had a lot of things in her mind, like maybe stalling Sally's wedding. Plus being the new friend of Jordan. And Lily. Her thoughts drifted back to that fateful day at the mall. She remembered the little lost girl whose name was Lily. Could it be possibly possible that this Lily was the same Lily she saw at the mall? And the Jordan really was that gorgeous guy?

"Yeah, right," Lizzie mumbled kicking at the hay on her feet.

"Yeah right what?" Becky asked her head appearing from the stall.

"Um, nothing," Lizzie asked shaking her head. "Just thinking out loud," she mumbled.

Becky's head disappeared again. Then she walked out of the stall, the horses snorting. "But what were you thinking that made you say 'Yeah right?'" she queried, brushing hay of her coat and hair.

"Nothing," Lizzie replied wincing. She knew she was no good at lying. She was like Pinocchio. Instead of a nose growing longer, it was her face. Not that her face grew longer. Her face just betrayed her most of the times. It would always show if she was lying or not.

"Ah, I see," Becky began rolling her eyes.

Lizzie stifled an urge to laugh. Her happily married sister, soon to be a mother, still rolled her eyes. She couldn't imagine her mother rolling eyes.

Becky looked at her in a weird way. "Let me guess, laughing out loud now?" she joked. Then she waved her hand dismissively, "I know. You're thinking about Spencer."

Lizzie frowned. "Huh? What's to think?"

"Liz, I know you hate him," Becky said. "And I think Sally's starting to notice."

Lizzie shrugged. "You think? Well, that's good. Now she knows that I don't like her soon-to-be-husband," she said morosely. "Look, Becky, duh. Why wouldn't I hate him? I mean, the last time I saw him, he totally broke her heart. And she ended up locking herself up in her room for like a month, then she comes out, her eyes were all red. She cried day and night, I couldn't sleep," Lizzie explained referring the time when Sally and Spencer were the couple in the local high school. But after five months of going out together, Spencer decided it was time to see other people.

"Ah," Becky nodded thoughtfully.

"And now, this isn't high school. They're not in some stupid girlfriend- boyfriend relationship. Duh. They're engaged. They're getting married and if he breaks her heart," Lizzie paused then she shook her head. "What am I saying? He cannot break her heart. That'll lead to divorce and that just can't happen either," she stopped and turned abruptly to face Becky.

"Whoa, slow down, we're not analyzing war and peace," Becky said raising her hands.

Lizzie rolled her eyes. "I mean, our family is like known to have zero divorces and, oh," she stopped and narrowed her eyes, "You know, maybe he's planning on ruining our family name. Maybe he'll make up some fight with her so he can file a divorce. Oh, I don't believe it," she finished shaking her head.

"Oh, what a coincidence. I don't either," Becky said. "Be serious, Lizzie. That's just insane. Look, Spencer loves Sally and she loves him back. They're not about to get married and file a divorce twenty-four hours after the wedding."

"So you trust him to not break her heart this time around? Well I just don't," Lizzie said. "He once said those three romantic words to her but look how it all ended."

"Look, you just don't get it, Liz. But I'm sure you will, once you're there," Becky said seriously.

Lizzie raised her eyes at her sister. "Once I'm where?" She wasn't sure why she still asked that question. She knew what Becky meant and she knew what Becky was going to say.

"Once you're in love." Becky smiled and patted Lizzie on the shoulder. "You'll understand love when you're in love," she said then she walked out of the stables.

"Yeah, yeah. So I've heard," Lizzie muttered rolling her eyes. "Just because I'm the baby in the family, I'm suddenly so clueless about everything."