The Distance Between Us

Chapter 28: The Christmas Party

Chapter 28: The Christmas Party

I sat on the couch alongside my friends, listening to the Christmas music and talking excitedly about the upcoming holidays. The music suddenly lowered in volume and Isaac was caught singing along in a horrifically offkey tone. He didn't stop though and only continued as if given an opportunity to have a solo. He only shut up when Demetrious covered the twin's mouth with his hand.

"Because Colton has to leave in a few minutes, we're going to exchange gifts for secret santa," my brother announced. We all got up and made our way to the table behind the couches, which had a gift for each person sitting on it. Some were wrapped while others were placed in gift bags. I still wasn't sure who was my secret santa but I was Oliver's and his gifts sat in a blue, snowflake decorated gift bag at the center of the table.

"For you," Isaac sang as he helped distribute the gifts. He handed one to Camilla and she looked at the tag to find that her secret santa was Oliver. I immediately checked him off the list of my potential gift givers. It's narrowed down to Camilla and Sidney.

"For you," Isaiah spoke, handing me a pretty red bag with a reindeer on it.

"Thanks, Cam," I smiled at her as I held the gift in my hand. When everyone recieved their gifts, we all opened ours on the count of three.

"Awesome!" Miles exclaimed.

"Socks?" Isaiah asked.

"The fluffy kind!" Isaac retorted and I could tell that Isaac was his brother's secret santa.

Mine was a cute shirt I'd seen in the store not too long ago but didn't have time to purchase. I never bothered to go back and buy it but my friend bought it for me. I grinned at her, thanking her again. Oliver practically tackled me with a hug, practically smashing his mug against my back as his arms clamped aroud me.

Because Isaac and Isaiah invited Sam, they decided to buy him a gift. But because they know absolutely nothing about the red head, they bought him a reindeer mask and a whoopee cushion. He seemed quite happy with his new gifts so I wasn't going to scold the two boys on their decisions.

When everyone settled down from the frenzy of finally finding out what their gifts were, we began seeing Colton off. Occasionally someone would say "I'll see you next year" to which we'd all groan and cringe. As Colton was leaving, Axel decided to step out to use the bathroom. I contemplated whether or not I should follow after him and quickly exchange gifts before returning to the party. There hasn't been many opportunities and leaving outright with him at my side seems a bit awkward, especially because Sam is here. Speaking of the innocent boy, he was sitting beside me talking excitedly about what Christmases are like at his house. I was listening for the most part.

I suddenly decided that I should run upstairs and exchange gifts with Axel. I waited for Sam to have a break in his explanation before lightly touching my stomach. "Sam, I've got to go to the bathroom. I'll be right back."

"By bathroom do you mean hook up with Axel?" Isaac queried from a few feet away, where he was resting in a chair. Sam immediately grew awkward and I knew he took note of the fact that Axel wasn't in the room, either. "Say 'bye' while you can Sammy. Once she leaves, she's not coming back."

"That's not true," I told Sam, shaking my head. He looked extremely uncomfortable. The entire time, the guys made small jabs at him that would've been funny had Sam actually been close with them. But from an outsiders perspective looking in, they were petty, immature jokes that simply made things awkward.

"You're not over her yet, Sammy?" Isaac questioned and Sam sighed as he grabbed his bag from beside him.

"Actually, I think I'm just going to go. I've got to get up early tomorrow, anyway," he mumbled and quickly brushed passed me and Isaac. I looked at the boy a few feet away from me with narrowed eyes.