Jingle Bells and Parallels

16. Ryder

Chapter 16

~Ryder~

       Dad tried telling us to stop getting involved with the whole Santa thing going on. When he told him it was too late for us not to be involved, he threatened to ground all of us.

       I wasn't afraid of his threats.

       And I made sure Dad knew I wasn't afraid.

       While my whole family, plus Jerome because apparently he couldn't live five minutes without Nolan, was at the table eating diner, I asked Alan, "So when is phase three of the plan starting?"

       Before Alan could even answer, Dad sighed heavily. "I thought I told you all to stop this."

       "Yes, and we told you that it's too late to stop," I said. "We have dirt on Santa. We can't stop now."

       "You will if you don't want to spend Christmas being grounded," Dad said.

       "Will you really ground national heroes?" Alan asked.

       "I'm pretty sure whatever you're doing isn't going to deem you as national heroes," Dad said.

       "You don't know that," Alan said. "Everyone will praise us for standing up to that evil Santa. I would still like to know what his real name is. He's my boss and I don't even know what his name is."

       "I give up parenting you three," Dad said.

       "Who's us three?" I asked to be a pest since it was clear who the three was. "You have seven kids, Dad. You have to specify."

       Dad looked over at Mom. "They're just your kids now. I'm disowning them."

       "They get their attitude from you, Grayson," Mom said. "If you want them to stop giving you attitude, then you have to stop with your own attitude."

       "Don't tell me what to do," Dad said.

       "You're just proving my point even more," Mom said. 

       "So, Dad, since you disowned me, Orchid, and Alan, that means we can continue with our plan without getting grounded, right?" I asked. "Thanks, Dad. You just made this easier for us."

       Dad glared at me but he also didn't say anything else. He was now giving me the silent treatment because my attitude was too much for him to handle right now. It was his fault. He taught me this attitude at a young age. 

       And since Dad was no ignoring me, I asked Alan again when phase three is starting.

       "Whenever the Christmas store figures out the heist that happened," Alan said. "If they take too long, Brandon and I will go back in there and try to find another way for them to realize it."

       "Brandon, huh?" Nolan asked as he stabbed a piece of the chicken on his plate. Literally stabbed. He wasn't trying to pick it up. He just downright stabbed it with his fork.

       "Uh, yes?" Alan said, his eyebrows furrowed. "He's involved with all this. You know that. You're the one who said you didn't care because you're not involved."

       "Whatever," Nolan muttered.

       "You okay?" Jerome asked.

       "Just peachy," Nolan said, stabbing his chicken again.

       "Dude, why are you so upset right now?" Alan asked. "You literally said you didn't care about Brandon getting involved because you're not part of it. You're still not a part of it. Why is it bothering you now?"

       Nolan just glared at Alan before getting up from his chair and heading upstairs, leaving all of us feeling confused. Jerome was quick to get up as well and follow Nolan to make sure he was okay.

       "What did you do?" Orchid asked Alan.

       "I didn't do anything," Alan said. "You were literally there when he said he doesn't care about Brandon joining our plan."

       "Well, you have to remember that Brandon hasn't been... exactly nice to Nolan," Mom said.

       "I know," Alan said. "That's why I asked Jerome and Nolan if they were okay to it, and Nolan said he didn't care."

       "Then there has to be some other reason why he's mad," I said.

       "There is," Jerome said as he came back down the stairs, without Nolan. "He wouldn't tell me what it was and he told me to go away."

       "He told you to go away?" I asked. Nolan was definitely really mad about something if he didn't even want to be around Jerome right now.

       "He did but I'm about to go back up there because I don't listen to him when he tells me to go away," Jerome said. "I just had to come back down here because he wanted me to tell Alan, and I have no idea what this means, that the kitchen window gives him a clear view of what happens in the front yard."

       Alan furrowed his eyebrows before he looked as if he understood why Nolan was mad. "Oh."

       "So you did do something," Orchid said, glaring at Alan. "How dare you make Nolan, the precious bean of the family, mad?"

       "What did you even do?" I asked.

       "Well..." Alan said slowly. "I might have... kissed Brandon."

       The dining room went silent then, not a single fork or knife scraping against the dinner plates like it had been for the past few minutes since diner started. I had to say, I didn't think I was too shocked about it. I guessed Orchid was right this whole time.

       Jerome was the first one to say something. "Hold on. You kissed my ex-boyfriend?"

       "Don't sound mad," Alan said. "He's your ex."

       "Who's a huge jerk to Nolan, your brother," Jerome said. "Now I see why Nolan is so mad right now, and I guess I'm the one who has to calm him down."

       When Jerome walked back upstairs, Orchid was next to talk and her reaction was the complete opposite of Jerome's. "I knew it!" she said. "I knew you liked him!"

       "Is this a new ship?" Tulip asked. "Should I like this ship? I'm conflicted. Brandon's mean to Nolan but... It's a ship."

       "Yeah, Alan, you're really going to have talk to Nolan about this," Dad said. "I'm not going to shame you or anything for liking and kissing Brandon because you don't always control who you like, but you can't forget everything he has ever said and done to Nolan and Jerome."

       "Trust me, I know," Alan said. "I'll have to wait for Nolan to calm down before I talk to him though because he's scary when he's mad."

       He wasn't wrong there. Nolan was normally the sweetest person so when he got mad, it was best not to be around him. Only Jerome and Mom could actually handle being around him.

       Alan suddenly got a text message so he took his phone out of his pocket to look at it. He then smiled and looked at me and Orchid. "Guess what? Phase three is about to start."

       Dad sighed. "And we're back to this. I'm not going to convince you three to leave this alone, am I?"

       "Definitely not," I said.

________________

oof the drama oof nolan being mad oOF TULIP FANGIRLING.

her fangirling was minimum here but don't worry, it will get a lot more hyped soon *winks in french*