Crybaby

Warm Cheeks

Sometimes it's better to say nothing.

________________________________The first day of winter break is quiet.
An inch of snow has accumulated on the streets. People wake up late in the morning to and drink hot cocoa.
The days after the dance are spent sort of recovering. Lots of changes happened, not just for Crybaby and her friends.
Now, however, no one will see each other for a while. The next few days will be spent drinking tea and staring out windows at falling snow and thinking about things. Christmas will come and go, just like it does every year.

Something will happen the day before Christmas.

Johnny will be standing under a tree in the woods waiting for Crybaby with the snow. The quiet white blanket will cover every surface. Little snowflakes will rest in Johnny's brown hair. She will hurry over once she sees him.
They won't say anything for a while and he will be nervously waiting for her to look up. Biting his lip will make her realize.
She will look up and see the little branch of mistletoe tied carefully with red ribbon to the tree's slender twigs. No words will have to be spoken.
This will be the sign Crybaby has been waiting for.
She will look into his eyes. His cheeks will be rosy from more than just cold.

Johnny will do the thing he has been dying to do since he layed eyes on her back in the beginning of the month.
He will wrap his arms around her small body and then lean in and press his lips on to hers so gently. She will feel herself opening up. She knows she will regret this but for now she is so so happy.
There will be no noise around.
No noise except the sound of a friendship falling away to reveal the truth. The glowing, obvious truth.
They will pull away.
Crybaby will stare up at him for a moment before leaning in and whispering in his ear.
"Merry Christmas, Johnny."
It will all happen so very fast.

She will then let go of him and run home, leaving him with his mouth hung open, alone under some mistletoe. His way of confessing his feelings without even saying a word.

Now it is a few days after Christmas. Alessia is calling friends to ask them to come over on New Year's Eve.
Crybaby, Jacob, Troye, Lorde, and Electra, plus a few others, are coming. Lana can't because she is out of town with her "family". (Somehow, her Brooklyn boyfriend convinced her to sneak off and see him.)
She hasn't much spoken to anyone since the night of the dance.
Alessia smiles as she puts down the phone gently. She scribbles down the names of those coming and jumps up from her desk excitedly.

Troye and Jacob are the only ones who know about the kiss with Johnny. Crybaby ran to Troyes house the day after Christmas to talk, and Jacob had been there already. Crybaby had a little knowing smile to suppress when she noticed that Troye was wearing Jacobs T shirt.
She told them excitedly about the mistletoe and how the snow was so quiet and kept them hidden.
The way her eyes lit up made Troye so happy.
He knows the exact feeling.

Electra hasn't been doing so well.
After Lana ran home hungover on the day after the dance, Electra was left alone with herself.
Her thoughts.
Electra isn't very kind to herself sometimes.
It's my fault. She's going to be called names and hurt and teased relentlessly and it's my fault.
Lana had tried calling her but Electra hadn't picked up.
It was only on Christmas when she went to deliver everyone's jackets that she finally saw her.
Electra had snuck up to the house, set down the neatly wrapped box quietly at the door, and had been tiptoeing away when she heard the door creak open.
"Electra!"
Lana called after her and Electra flinched before turning around.

Lana had practically run to her and Electra had to brace Lana so they didn't both fall over. She was smiling, but the smile quickly faded when she saw Electra's expression.
"Why haven't you answered my calls? What's wrong?" Lana's hands had clung on to the other girls shoulders.
"It's just.... I feel..... Bad. It's my fault that you are going to be called names.... and... Who knows what else... "
Electra isn't great at facing her feelings. She barley ever feels guilt and so when she does, she can't understand it. Lana opened her mouth to say that 'it's ok' but she was not quite fast enough. Electra had whipped around and tugged her faux fur coat tight around her shaky shoulders. Her parents had been home for the first I time in weeks and that car was a block away.
The sort of peaceful days speed by, each high schooler having their own little problems and victories, but nothing big. Troye spends hours on the phone with many different people, but mostly Jacob.

Tonight is New Year's Eve.

The air doesn't have the same electricity as the day of the winter dance, but it's got just enough to make everyone a little happier than usual.

Especially Alessia, even though she is always cheery. She is glancing often at the clock, waiting for 8:00, the time her friends are going to arrive. Troye, of course, came early and so he is now pouring chips into a large bowl, humming a song from a while ago.
Alessia grins when she recognizes the tune from her childhood. She begins to sing along quietly.
"I know you, I walked with you once upon a dream..." Troye looks up from his work, surprised. Her voice is melodic and effortlessly wonderful. He begins to sing too. "And if I know you, I know what you'll do, you'll love me at once, the way you did once, upon a dream."
They both grin at each other quickly before getting back to work.
"That was very good!" Troyes mother chirps as she enters the room, dressed in a sparkly skirt and black blouse.
"Thanks." Alessia blushes hard saying this. She didn't realize that she had heard them singing.
"Well I'm going out to the party now. You and your friends behave yourselves, I'll be back by 1:00." Troyes mom is rushing out the door and they have no chance to reply.

Half an hour later the first knock sounds through the house.
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Hey!! Sorry for the lack of gifs in the last few chapters, I got a new phone for Christmas and it wasn't downloading things correctly for a while.
I'm trying to write more often, I promise. By the way, as desperate as it sounds, I love getting comments, so don't hold back on any comments you have.
XOXO