Enough | ✔️

+ EPILOGUE +

Several years later...

● qυorra neverѕea ●

"Alright, you grab the ham out the oven, I need to fix this yule log."

Lara only giggles as I look down at the mess of a homemade yule log before me, absolutely flustered. While I try to smooth over the slightly-bitty, questionably-layered chocolate frosting that encases it, I feel my hands shaking in time with the stampeding of my heart in my chest. Why has Christmas time always got to be so stressful?

Lara touches my arm and, upon seeing my troubled expression, offers me a bright smile, "Just relax, Quorra. I haven't seen you this stressed out since your exams. Slater will enjoy today no matter what."

I sigh and stand up straight, placing a powdered-sugar-covered hand on my waist to force myself to stop. It's Slater's first proper Christmas, so I want to make it the best day of his life. We've spent two Christmases together now, but we've both always been busy with work and forced to spend time apart with nothing more than a 'merry xmas, honey' text. This Christmas, I managed to avoid going to work, since all the roads were completely blocked with snow, but with the nature of his important job, Slater couldn't escape it.

He did manage to get an early leave though, so hopefully he'll be back soon, I think to myself, worriedly glancing up at the clock.

With everything that's gone wrong today already (seriously, what are those bits in the frosting?), I'm doubting that anything will go right at all. There's also the added pressure from the fact that tonnes of people are coming - family and friends from not only my side, but Slater's too. I met his parents for the first time last summer, and while they seem fairly welcoming, I do not want a terrible Christmas dinner contributing to my name.

God, why did I have to suggest hosting this at our place? Why couldn't I have just let my parents host it, as they always do? We never got back onto great terms, but we at least tolerate and understand each other now. Lara, Bennett, Elena, other friends and family, and most importantly, Slater would be there to distract me. But no, of course I had to take it upon myself to make a whole homemade feast.

My mental rambling is interrupted by a body pressed up against my back and familiar arms hugging me from behind. A chin settles on my head as I crane my neck slightly to see Slater and a head of dishevelled hair speckled with melting snow behind me. He's finally come back from work and while I missed him dearly, my levels of stress are much to high for me to smile.

"Hey," I greet, albeit miserably, leaning back into the warmth he radiates even though he's just left the subzero temperatures outside.

He paints on a breathtaking smile, but it does little to ease my nerves. Lara leaves as Elena start whining for something outside, muttering a comment under her breath and dropping her oven gloves onto the counter in defeat.

"You look like you're in pain, sweetheart," my boyfriend murmurs, brushing a thumb across my waist to soothe me as he turns me around to face him, "Your cheeks are flushed."

"I am," I confess, unable to help myself from looking around at the mess of our kitchen.

A chipped bowl of half-mashed potatoes sits on the counter, the oddly-scented stuffing container is overturned and half of it spills onto the flour-covered floor, bitty chocolate frosting is smeared all over the table and me, and the smell of burning-

"Fuck!" I curse, lurching forward to pull the oven door open and turn off the heat.

A blinding cloud of smoke infiltrates the room, bringing with it the unpleasant stench of overcooked ham. I squint through the cloud and cough, grabbing the over gloves off the counter and trying to fan the greyness away.