Holiday One-Shot Contest for Knightsrachel

Santa is Real

"No, Lee, I'm not arguing with you anymore." I pinched the bridge of my nose and looked up at the ceiling for guidance. Or a sign. Anything at this point.

The life as the sibling of Lee Adams, ladies and gentlemen.

Lee twisted himself in the bean bag on his floor, crossing and then uncrossing his legs until he found a comfortable position. I raised my eyebrows at him but didn't comment. It's not like I could use his fidgeting to prove his dishonesty. He was a fidgeter. Regardless.

"I'm not arguing. I'm stating a fact. And for some unknown reason, you're trying to disprove it."

"That's what arguing is!"

"Actually, arguing is—"

"Lee!"

"Parker!"

Deep breaths. In through the nose, out through the mouth. "Look, I don't know why you've decided to unleash this argument–"

"Discussion," he interrupted.

"—debate," I corrected, "But I still have to pick up Emily, and you have to get dressed if we're going to meet Emmett on time," I finished, standing up from my leaning position against the frame of Lee's futon.

"What exactly are we doing again?" he asked, finally getting to his feet.

I refrained from rolling my eyes. "Like I've told you at least 12 times today, I have no idea. Emily said Emmett volunteered for some holiday fundraiser for his new frat, and I agreed to help."

"So you agreed to help him without knowing what you signed up for?" Lee managed to give me a disapproving look even as he hopped around the room trying to put both shoes on.

I waved a hand through the air in dismissal. "It's Emmett. Whatever it is, I'm sure it can't be that bad. He'd do whatever for me and my frat."

"Pretty sure that's like, what you're never supposed to say before going into something blind." He put his second shoe on. "That's like saying 'what's the worst that could happen?'" He turned in a circle, looking for his jacket. "You're a total jinx, man."

I narrowed my eyes at him. "Are you going to berate me for everything I do today?"

"Only the stupid stuff. So yeah, I guess."

"Speaking of stupid, your jacket is under the futon," I said, grabbing my lanyard off of his desk. "Meet me outside."

Lee bent down and grabbed his jacket, a look of surprise crossing his face before he stood up. "Yeah, yeah. Oh, and Parker?"

I raised my eyebrows at him in question, leaning halfway out the door.

"Santa is real!"

I slammed the door, not bothering to argue about this further with him.

~~~

"Okay, that's enough," Emily said, stopping in her tracks before opening the door to the backseat.

I paused with my hand on the key fob, raising my eyebrows at her. "What are you talking about?"

"What's got you so 'bah humbug?'"

Lee busted out laughing from the passenger side of the car before he put in his air pods. I shot him a glare from the outside, although it was pointless. "I'm not being all 'bah humbug,' I don't even know what that means," I grumbled.

Emily just stared at me. "You're not being serious."

I groaned. "Emily, is this really important? I'm freezing my ass off here."