Problems Under the Mistletoe

Chapter 2

 "I'm serious!" I giggled to Eva a few weeks later. "He had an eye on you the entire time!"

My friend laughed and swatted the thought away, insisting, "There's no way! He looked way older than me. Plus, that's a little creepy don't you think?"

I shrugged and stepped off the escalator at the mall. It was almost lunchtime and we were pausing our shopping trip to get some junk food that was absolutely no good for us. Eva walked by my side as I asked her what she wanted to eat. When she didn't respond, I turned to her. My friend was looking somewhere off into the distance, her focus on something other than my question.

"Hey, Ev," I said again. "I just saw a dancing zebra."

"Sounds great, Lain." She said absentmindedly.

I giggled, giving myself away, and her head snapped over to me. After realizing what had happened, she laughed with me and we walked over to A&W.

"What's wrong?" I asked her as we waited in line.

She looked down at her feet and shook her head. "Nothing... I'm just feeling like I'm going to be single forever."

I stuck out my bottom lip and hugged her, saying, "Oh, Eva! You will get a guy, I promise!"

She smiled at me and we walked up to order our food.

I jogged across the street back to my house after waving goodbye to Eva. Right as I stepped onto the sidewalk, I thought I heard her call to me but when I turned around, she was walking inside. Must have been my imagination.

I stepped into my house and ran up the stairs, setting all my shopping bags on my bed and heading back to the door.

"Wait!" I heard from the living room. When I walked into the doorway, I saw my mom sitting in her usual chair, looking for me. "Where are you going?" She asked.

I pointed my thumb over my shoulder and replied, "To the Key's house."

She shook her head with a smile on her face and asked, "What are you doing this time? Is Collins making you help with one of his videos again?"

I giggled and nodded. She knew everybody so well. "Yeah, Mom. He's filming a 'Guess the YouTuber Challenge' but if you get the YouTuber wrong, you get a food dumped on you. He needs me to be there so that I can show them the pictures and handle all the camera equipment when they're done."

She laughed and shooed me out of the house.

"Joey Graceffa!!" Collins shouted before everyone else.

The four people in front of the camera, Collins, Devan, Veronica, and Vanessa, all looked at me for confirmation. When I nodded and zoomed out on the picture, Collins celebrated and everyone else protested. I opened a huge can of tapioca pudding and handed it to Collins, laughing as he dumped all its contents over his friends and brother. His screams of pure joy seemed to echo through the whole neighborhood. The three food covered people groaned in disgust and complained about how it felt. All I did was laugh from behind the camera.

"What are you laughing about?!" My boyfriend asked.

I smiled and replied, "You guys! Collins is winning this whole video and all three of you are covered in disgusting foods!"

Devan stood up and carefully made his way over to me, attempting not to slip all over the ground. Once he hit normal ground, he ran after me and opened his arms for a hug.

"NO!" I screeched and ran around his small yard, trying to get away. "Devan! Stop! Get away!"

Everyone laughed and the twins came after me too, trapping me in the corner of the yard. Out of nowhere, Collins ran in between them, grabbed my hand, and pulled me towards the front of the house, yelling and screaming as they chased us, the camera in his hand. I grinned and ran to keep up with Collins and his long legs, but eventually, I fell behind and got captured by the food monsters when we circled back into the backyard.

I screamed as they hugged me exaggeratedly, smearing food all over me.

"Guys!" Collins yelled at them. "She's supposed to do the camera and computer! She was supposed to stay clean!"

Everyone became super quiet, evaluating what had just happened, then bursting into more laughter.

"Maybe we're done, then!" Veronica exclaimed, attempting to wipe some pickle juice out of her eyes.

Collins nodded and put his camera down, saying, "Sure! That makes a good video anyway."

I looked at Devan in all the food. There were baked beans all in his hair and mustard down his shoulder. Rainbow sprinkles covered his pants, the colors popping against the black material. He was a mess, but he was my mess.

I sighed as I closed my book I had been reading tonight and looked out my window. Devan's curtains were open and he was walking around his room without a shirt, a sight he only let me see. A smile crept onto my face and my phone rang from across the room. I tore my eyes away from my boyfriend and walked over to my dresser, picking my phone up and answering it.

"Hello?" I said, realizing I hadn't checked who had called me.

A quiet voice came from the other end, "Hey, Lainie. It's Eva..."

"Hey! What's up?"

"Okay...so. I don't want to be the bearer of bad news but I have something that I have to tell you. I should have said something earlier but I didn't feel like I could."

"Eva, you can tell me anything."

"Okay...I saw Devan with another girl."

I froze. What did she mean? I knew all his friends and he didn't look like he was keeping a secret with any of them. My eyes drifted up to my window again and saw Devan painting at his easel.

"Eva, What do you mean?" I asked in disbelief.

"Remember when we were at the mall a couple weeks ago and we had just walked out of Hollister? We were talking about a guy and I suddenly got super quiet and distracted. I had seen Devan there with another girl. They were across the food court and he was hugging her, laughing with her, and paying for her lunch."

I felt like I just got stabbed in the chest. My heart was falling into pieces and floating away. The pain was unbearable and I fell to my knees.

"Lanie," I faintly heard Eva on my phone. "I'm so sorry. I didn't say anything and made up a different reason because I didn't know what to do. I knew if I told you, you would be so upset, given your past. I couldn't keep it in, though. These past couple days it tore me up inside and-"

"Eva I have to go." I interrupted.

"Lanie, I'm so-"

I hung up before she had the chance to speak. I sat there on my floor for a few minutes just thinking. There had to be something logical about this, but the only thing I could think of was that he was cheating. Who else would he buy lunch for? He tells me that he only buys stuff for me, now her too? Whoever she was, she messed with my guy and my heart.

Slowly, I got up and held all my tears in as I walked over to my window. My hands grasped the curtains and I was just about to close them, my eyes caught Devan's. He smiled at me and tapped his nose, an inside joke meaning 'good night.' The joke didn't run through my head as it normally does, however. All I could think about was him with another girl. With a blank face, I pulled the curtains shut and turned towards my bed.

Suddenly, the tears began to fall as they pleased and pretty soon, I felt like there was a waterfall in my eyes. My body racked with sobs and my breathing was so loud that I never heard my phone ring with Devan's caller ID on the screen.