Sleigh Bells

Catch

"To the side, to the side!" Lucas yelled. I stumbled a few feet to the side. I was carrying the very middle of the Christmas tree. Lucas was in the front, and Zay was behind me. We were trying to maneuver the stupid thing through the front door.

"Okay, one more push should do it!" Lucas shouted. Even though he was yelling, I could barely hear  him through all of the branches and pine needles. Still, I got the idea. I braced my feet into the snow and shoved forward. 

All at once, the tree fell through the door, yanking the three of us off our feet and into a heap in the entryway. I landed on top of Lucas, and we burst out laughing. I got off of him, and he stood up and offered me his hand. I looked at it for a second before finally grabbing his hand. He pulled me up, and I let go as fast as possible and stepped back. He rubbed the back of his neck, avoiding my eyes, and I busied myself with helping Zay pull the Christmas tree to the tree skirt. 

All five of us worked together to push the tree up and get it screwed into the little thing that would help keep it upright. Finally, after close to half an hour, the tree was up.

"Finally," I sighed, "Done." I collapsed onto the sofa.

"Not done!" Riley cried, pulling me back up.

"Nooooo," I whined, "Nothing else!"

"We have to decorate the tree," Farkle said, "That's kind of the point of a Christmas tree."

"We don't have any ornaments!" I cried, throwing myself back onto the couch.

"Noooo," Riley said, pulling me back up, "Farkle, Zay, and I scoured the whole house, and there's an entire closet full of ornaments and tinsel and Christmas lights. We have enough for the tree, the house, and the yard."

I huffed and stomped over to the tree, "Fine."

"I'll get the ladder," Lucas said.

"What for?" I demanded.

"Little Short stacks like yourself can't reach the top of the tree!" he said, tweaking my nose as he passed. I scowled and leaned against the wall. A minute later, Lucas returned with a big blue ladder, and he set it up next to the tree.

Zay and Farkle walked in from the hallway, where I assume this magical Christmas decoration closet was, both of them carrying bins. The bins were full of plastic boxes, which were full of every color and size and shape of Christmas ornament.

I climbed up the ladder and beckoned to Zay for a box of ornaments. He passed me a box of gold ornaments, each the size of a large grape. I watched Riley put a shiny red ornament on the bottom that was the size of an apple.

"Hey!" I called to Zay, "Did my lack of Christmas spirit mean I got tiny ornaments?"

"No," he called back, "But the fact that you went to the tippy-top of the tree did."

"Biggest ornaments on the bottom, smallest ornaments on the top," Riley said.

I sighed and started to hand the little golden grape ornaments on the tree. I got almost a whole little section covered. Except for one little branch. I stood on my tiptoes and scooted to the side, reaching my arm out to reach it.

All of a sudden, I was falling. 

I screamed as I fell off the very top of the ladder. Even though the fall was only eight feet or so, it seemed like an eternity. 

Suddenly, I felt someone catch me. I grabbed their neck to regain my bearings, and looked into their eyes. Their gorgeous, sparkly, emerald green eyes.

Crap.

"Lucas!" I cried, jumping down from his arms, his super unnaturally muscular arms, "You saved me!"

He blushed, "Not really. You probably just would have broken something," he said.

"Yeah... like a skull," Zay chimed in. Lucas glared at him.

"Either way," I said, smoothing down my sweater, "Thanks."

"Anytime."

I grabbed a box of big green ornaments, and I let Zay use the ladder. I probably wasn't going to get back on it for a while. I looked at the ornaments, and I couldn't help but notice how sparkly and alike they were to Lucas's eyes when he caught me.

Crap.