Sunburn

Chapter Forty-Nine.

Walk a Little Straighter - Billy Currington [this song really applies to Juliet's convo w/ Shane, if you look up the lyrics it'll make sense (: !!]
The Christmas Song - She & Him
Take Care - Beach House
Friends Make Garbage (Good Friends Take It Out) - Low Roar
Jolene - Ray LaMontagne
Ruby - Foster The people
Broken Jaw - Foster the People
Follow You - CHVRCHES
Close (Ft. Tove Lo) - Nick Jonas
Drag - Day Wave
Wolves (You Got Me) - DREAMERS
Fog (Black Windows) - The Joy Formidable
Nothing But Time - Opus Orange
Twinkle Lightly - Talain Rayne

❋Juliet's P.O.V.❋

I wake up Christmas Eve morning, ten minutes before my alarm. I look across the hallway to see Ashton not in his bed. Darn it. I was going to ask him if they're the kind of folks that want their guests to wear pajamas in the morning for breakfast or change into clothes. Ugh.

"Gosh darn you, Ashton," I mumble, fishing through the clothes I've hung in the closet.

"What?" Ashton leans out from his bathroom, and I see his head popping out.

Oh. I guess he didn't leave me alone to fend for myself. 

"Good morning!" I call out to him. Ashton emerges from the bathroom with a thin little headband on, holding his hair out of his face. And it's so cute. Thankfully, I see him still in his pajamas.

"Ready for breakfast?" Ashton asks me.

"Hold on," I say, and quickly brush my teeth, wash my face, and change my sleeping shorts into pajama pants, just out of respect since his whole family, including a bunch of college boys, and religious old people, is here. "Now I am."

We meet outside our bedrooms, where we barge in on Gus sleepily walking downstairs.

"Morning guys." Gus mumbles in a sleepy voice. He looks like he just rolled out of bed.

"Morning," Ashton and I say. He links his fingers with mine and we walk down the stairs to the kitchen. Not that many people are downstairs yet, just Ashton's parents and an elderly great aunt. But she dozed off on the living room sofa.

"Good morning my precious darlings," Catherine says cheerfully, giving each and every one of us a kiss on the cheek. "Juliet, how do you like your eggs?"

Hmm. It's a deep question. Honestly it tells a lot about a person. "Scrambled."

Ashton and Gus ask for fried, and Catherine begins cooking even more eggs. I glance to my left and see Shane at the table, scrolling through a MacBook. "Whatcha doin?" I ask him.

"Scrolling through songs," Shane tells me, not moving his eyes from the screen. Finally he does, with a warm smile on his face. "Wanna pick a song for me? Something's gotta wake everyone up."

I chuckle and then take a seat on the table. I scroll through Shane's music library. Mostly older music. I picked an Al Green song and joined Ashton speaking to his Mom, leaning on the kitchen island.

"Mom, I'm telling you. I didn't get you a big gift." Ashton says.

Catherine nods while mixing pancake batter. "Yes, because you know how much I hate big gifts, and you wouldn't do that to your poor old mother."

"Emphasis on the 'old'," Shane calls from the table.

My eyes widen but then I smile when I see that Catherine is chuckling. That's so cute. "Hey, you old coot, you're three years older than me, remember that." Catherine says to her husband. "Anyway, son. No. Big. Gifts."

"Alright, alright." Ashton says and then drapes his arm around my shoulder. He winks at me quickly. I already know what he got her, and it's big. It's a joint gift from the both of us to both his parents; the both of us couldn't afford it individually.