Eachtra

There's Snow Place Like Home

"Good morning, sleepyhead," Liam murmurs with his lulling cadence when I roll over the next morning. I force my eyes to open and see Liam sprawled on the couch with a steaming mug of hot chocolate. For being Irish, he doesn't drink nearly as much tea as I expected based on my extremely limited knowledge of Ireland.

It's Christmas Eve.

It's Christmas Eve, and I'm spending it with Liam despite my panic attack/tantrum yesterday about that kiss. He didn't kiss me again, and like an idiot, I wanted him to. Even though I expressly forbade him from kissing me, I wanted him to.

Oh well. Our road trip is almost over. Yesterday, in between hissy fights over Monopoly and my ultimate victory over Liam, we traipsed through the woods and collected my final two pine samples. With Red Pine and Shortleaf Pine checked off my list, the whole reason for our trip is gone. My motivation--or really, my excuse--for spending time with Liam is gone, and I hate it.

I like this guy.

After staring into his eyes for way too long yesterday and practically begging him to kiss me again, I finally admitted it to myself. I really like him. Like hold hands and dance in the rain like him. Like I want to make out with him for a few weeks. Like I don't want to say goodbye after this road trip is over.

"Hot chocolate?" Liam asks.

"Coffee," I grumble through a hoarse throat. I brush my hair out of my eyes, an image of Cousin Itt appearing in my mind. Hopefully I look more like Wednesday than her unfortunate cousin.

Liam turns his back to me and sets the coffee pot to boiling as I fight through the blankets to emerge from the bed. Christmas Eve. If everything goes according to plan, we'll go back to school this afternoon and spend Christmas separately and alone unless I invite him to spend it with me. Will the spell over us last beyond this road trip? I don't know, but I hope so.

"Here," Liam says, offering me a steaming cup of the blackest coffee.

I accept it and take a sip. Even though it burns my tongue, I sigh in pleasure. Heaven. "Ready to go home?" I ask him as he sits on the bed next to me, careful to keep at least half a foot of space between us.

I'm an idiot. I told him to keep his distance, and he has, and now I don't want him to be. I never saw myself as fickle before, but I'm behaving like the brain-addled star of a Valentine's Day release rom-com.

Liam rests one hand on the bed and leans back, tilting his head. "Well, I'm not going home to Ireland, so there's no home for me."

I roll my eyes. Neither one of us is going to the homes of our births. "You know what I meant."

Liam shrugs and twirls a tassel at the end of one of the blankets strewn across my bed between his fingers. "Do yah want my honest answer?"

I nod. "Always."

"I don't want this to end." He turns his clear eyes towards me and a shiver washes through me. Me neither.

"Th-this?" I stutter. My body leans towards him despite my better judgment. "You mean, the road trip?"

A faint glimmer of a smile appears on his lips. "Yah know exactly what I mean, Keidy."

Another shiver. He keeps his gaze on me and the smile drops from his lips. When we go back to school, all of this will probably end. He'll return to his friends and I'll return to my love for biology. We might never say anything more than hello to each other. Maybe this magic was only made for Christmas.

I don't want this to end, and so I kiss him. It's the only way I know to make this last.

I lean into him, my body forming to his, and this time I don't hold back. Maybe everything will end tomorrow when Christmas comes and we go back to school. If it does, I don't want to let my fears of getting hurt keep me from Liam. Will he hurt me? Probably. That's what people do, especially screwed up people like the two of us. We hurt each other, but maybe it's worth it. Or maybe I like him enough to risk it.