SANTA TELL ME ( JOE KEERY ) [SLOW UPDATES]

TEN

CHAPTER TEN - DAY FIVE

"WHEN will we meet him?" Ariana's mother pondered as she sipped on her coffee, the warmth of it thawing at her cold hands.

"Meet who?" Ariana responded, leaning back on the wooden fence as she watched her father and sister glide around flawlessly and laughing together. How could they act so happy and normal?

"The boy. Whitney tells me he's your boyfriend but I don't believe her. You would have told me if you had a boyfriend, right?" Her mother's voice sounded certain, but Ariana knew her well enough to hear the underlying unsureness. Since her father had become ill Ariana had retreated into herself and didn't share with her family anymore. She hadn't even told them about her promotion, they only found out when she had turned up late to their weekly family meal. She'd told them her excuse nonchalantly, forgetting she hadn't told them about it and her mother didn't speak to her for the whole night. An hour into the night Whitney had pulled her into the hallway and harshly whispered about 'how could Ariana do that, especially with everything happening' and 'how she needed to pull herself together for their parents'.

"Whitney is delusional, she just really wants me to be with someone" Ariana sighed, she couldn't believe her sister had spoke about it with her mother. It was a silly, childish joke and Whitney had taken it too far. Ariana was frustrated about it, but mostly angry at how Whitney had put her in the position were she had to ruin her mother's false hope.

"What's so bad about that?" Her mother asked, her eyes distant as they watched her husband, obviously retreating into her mind as if speaking to herself "What's so bad about being in love with someone? Sometimes you don't have enough time with them, it's never enough time"

Ariana felt pained and guilty as her mother spoke, and she wanted to tell her what she wanted to hear; but she couldn't lie about her and Joe. It wouldn't be right. Regardless of how much her mother hoped it was true, how much Ariana wished it too "Well Whitney needs to back off, if I fall in love with someone it will be because of me, not because of Whitney's persistence"

Ariana was fed up with being in Whitney's shadow all the time. If she wasn't outshined by her then she was letting her speak for her. She'd had enough, she was an adult for god's sake; she needed to learn to stand up for herself.

"Invite him to the market, we're going tomorrow. Tell him to come along"

"Mother, we're not dating" Ariana pressed, huffing through her nose. Why didn't anyone listen to her? Joe listened to her. She didn't have to retreat to the quiet, agreeing Ariana she had always been with everyone else. The whole trip and lodge had reminded her of her stupid, timid self. Even if time had passed, nothing had changed.

"Just invite him to the market"

"But mother-"

"Please" She begged, her tone desperate. Ariana could feel her eyes burning as she tore her them from staring at her father and sister, and instead to the snow that clumped around her boots, she moved her feet back and forth like a windshield wiper to make a large imprint, focusing on that rather than the emotions building inside her small body.

"Fine" Ariana sighed, exasperated and drunk from her cup deflated. Why were her family so stubborn?

"I saw you skiing with him" Her mother said, a smile evident in her voice. Ariana glanced up at her shocked slightly, it seemed he was invisible to her family or he always turned up when they were never there. But maybe they had noticed and just hadn't been as vocal about it as Whitney had. "Every single time we came here you refused to go on the ski lift, even when your father bought you all that chocolate from the gift shop to bribe you, or even when Whitney teased you so much to try and get you to cave to prove her wrong. Do you remember?" Ariana nodded in reply.

"But you went on it today, I saw you all the way up there like a little fluffy speck with the bobble hat you always wear. You were with that boy, Whitney pointed him out and told me, he's the same one I saw speaking with you at the reception when we first got here, I could tell by the hair and eyes. And when you came down you were holding hands with him and laughing, I haven't seen you laughing like that since, well since." She continued, her smile wide now and crinkling her brown eyes half closed.

Ariana stood in silence, she didn't know what to say. She hadn't realised anyone had noticed them but when she thought about it she did laugh like she used to when around Joe. Joe made her forget about everything. He made her feel happy as if nothing could get her down, he made her forget about her father's illness tricking her for a few hours that everything was normal, better than normal even. It made her feel a little guilty, as if it meant her father's illness wasn't important to her, like she thought it was something forgettable when in reality it was the opposite for her; it kept her up at night, it was the reason for the bags forming under her eyes and the small, healing burns on her arms were she had spilt the hot water from her kettle when she found herself completely lost in drowning thoughts instead of paying attention to what she was doing.

"Well I was feeling brave" Ariana huffed and subconsciously puffed out her chest as if this proved her point "I'm an adult now, plus Whitney kind of tricked me. Well more like forced" She grunted through an annoyed, clenched jaw.

"She's tried to force you before" Her mother stated, tipping her mug slightly with raised brows and a smirk as if she'd just won the whole argument; so that's were the girls got that from.

"I was a kid, I still slept with a night light on" Ariana said the same way her mother had as if that made the conversation pointless now because she'd won. But Whitney had tried to persuade her to go on the lift the day that they had arrived but Ariana was adamant she wouldn't even go near it. Nothing had changed since then, except Joe who made her feel brave and confident. So maybe her mother was right, maybe he did make her better.

"All I'm saying is you must like the boy" Her mother cooed like she was gossiping teenager, that's how the whole conversation felt to be honest.

But her mother was right, Ariana did like the boy and it did seem like she was different around him, a better Ariana even. When she thought about it, she liked him very much. Maybe too much.

Her mother sighed happily, taking Ariana's silence as a reluctant agreement; she had finally won the argument.

"Mothers are always right"