“Love came down at Christmas,
Love all lovely, Love Divine;
Love was born at Christmas;
Star and angels gave the sign.” -Christina Rossetti
Eden:
I woke up that morning and reached instantly for my pounding head, pressing palms into it on either side to stop it from splitting. The light made my head hurt more, so I squinted against it, pulled the blanket up over my head. Someone chuckled.
“Ol-lie...” I groaned, “Don’t laugh so loud”
He laughed louder, and pulled the corner of the blanket back, flooding me with light. He pushed a steaming mug of coffee and two tablets into my hands. I grimaced at the cup.
“I don’t take my coffee black. You know that”
“You do today. It’ll help, trust me” he smirked, “Now, I can’t work out if you’re just a lightweight, or if you were sneaking drinks behind my back – because you’re the only person I know who’s ever gotten a hangover from two cocktails”
I groaned again and sat up slowly, rubbing my head and trying to balance the coffee cup on my knees, “I may have had a couple more than that”
He raised his eyebrows, “A couple?”
I coloured, “Okay, maybe five more”
“Five?! How did you manage to sneak five drinks without me seeing?”
I shrugged, “I can’t actually remember, if I’m honest with you” my ball gown rustled as I wobbled to my feet and yanked the pearl barrettes out of my hair.
He shook his head, still smirking. I stuck my tongue out at him.
“I don’t know why you look so smug. It’s your loss, after all – you never got to see what I was wearing under this dress”
“I think it’d make you feel better to show me it now, as a matter of fact”
“Oh, do you really? And when did sex become a hangover cure, Ollie? Do tell”
He checked his watch, “Thirty seconds ago, when I declared it to be one”
“I don’t think that’s valid” I retorted maddeningly, “Especially considering the fact that I’m still half asleep”
“I’ll wake you up”
“I haven’t brushed my teeth”
“I can wait while you go do that”
“I haven’t finished my coffee”
“I’ll make you a new one later”
“Someone’s got an answer for everything this morning” I observed, almost smiling myself ,“I have a headache”
“Trust me, I’ll get rid of it for you”
It was my turn to raise my eyebrows, “Someone is also rather full of himself this morning”
He moved towards me, removed the mug from my hands, and planted a kiss on my forehead, “Is that a no, then?”
My smile finally broke out, “It’s never a no. Just give me five minutes”
************************************************************************************************************
The next day was Christmas Eve. We’d agreed to stay over at my house that night and spend the entirety of Christmas day with my parents. I knew Ollie was looking forward to it – he’d admitted to me that he hadn’t had a proper Christmas since the deaths of his parents, and I thought it would be good for him to experience a proper family Christmas again.
YOU ARE READING
Paper Hearts
Romance“Something magical has happened to me: like a dream when one feels frightened and creepy, and suddenly wakes up to the knowledge that no such terrors exist. I have wakened up.” - Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy. Eden Copley is sixteen the day she meets O...
