The Bet

Chapter 73

James's POV

"I'm so bored!" Jacob whines beside me. We were both caught up in the mix of our mother's annual Christmas Eve party. According to our mother, we had to dress up in our good clothes, dress pants, shirt, shoes and tie, and sit still the whole night.

"Yeah, I am too." I mumble.

"Is there anything we can do?" He asks.

"Hey, how about we escape this and go to Riley's?" I whisper.

"Yes!" He squeals.

"Alright, let's go!" I say. We make our sneaky escape and head off to Riley's.

~~~~~

Riley's POV

I sat in front of the old fireplace of our living room. My dad sat across from me reading a newspaper while I read my book. It was our usual peaceful Christmas Eve.

"Riley, I don't want you to be disappointed tomorrow morning, but I'm letting you know that there won't be very much for you." My dad says. I nod and smile weakly.

"I know." I say quietly. I look down at my book, just as a loud knock sounds on the door.

"Who in the world..." I mutter, walking to the door. I open it up, and to my surprise, stood James and Jacob.

"Ho, ho, ho." James jokes.

"What are you two doing here?" I ask, giving James a small hug and letting them in.

"Well, my mom's Christmas party was driving us insane, so we were wondering if we could hang out here for a bit." James states.

"Yeah, sure, of course." I reply and lead them to the living room. My dad looks up from his paper.

"Good evening sir." James says.

"Good evening James. And Merry Christmas." Dad says.

"Yes, and the same to you." James replies. "Oh, and this is my little brother Jacob."

"Hi Jacob." Dad says, smiling at the small child.

"Hi." Jacob says shyly.

"Well, I'll leave you alone." Dad says, standing up. "Keep an eye on them for me, won't you Jacob?"

"Yes sir." Jacob replies. I smile down at him as my dad leaves.

"Oh, here's your gift." James says, pulling out a gift from his coat pocket.

"Thank you. Oh, and here's yours and Jacob's." I say, fetching the gifts from behind the tree.

"Riles, I told you that you didn't have too. And especially for Jacob." James interjects.

"Nonsense." I say, and hand them the gifts. "Now, you can't open them till tomorrow."

"Same goes for you." James reminds me. I smile and place the gift under the tree.

"Did you decorate the tree?" Jacob asks me.

"Yeah. Well, me and James did." I reply. James hugs me from behind and kisses my temple.

"Too bad there was no mistletoe." Jacob jokes, smirking at us.

"Yeah, too bad." James says, a smirk on his face too. He leans in to kiss me anyways, but Jacob stops us.

"Wait!" He says. He pulls out his phone, types something in, and than shows us. It was a picture of a mistletoe.

"Here." He says, handing James the phone. James smirks, taking the phone and holding it above our heads.

"You gonna kiss me?" He asks. I giggle and lean in to kiss him.