𝐚𝐭𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐜 • 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐛𝐲 𝐛𝐫𝐨𝐜𝐤

forty-two

"God, this is not going to end well," I snickered as I looked around the mess Colby and I had made in the kitchen. We had been trying to prepare the food for our Christmas dinner, but I quickly learnt he wasn't the best chef in town.

"Y'know, instead of laughing at me, you could also help me out a little? Just a thought, though," he laughed back, flinging a handful of flower in my direction.

I chuckled, shaking my head, as I walked over to where he was trying to create some kind of dessert. "How about we follow a recipe from an actual cookbook, for once?"

He shrugged as he smiled down at his burnt whatever-it-was-supposed-to-be. "Might be the safer option if we don't want food poisoning tomorrow."

I nodded. "That's what I was thinking. If you look for a nice recipe, I'll handle the aperitif and snacks."

"Okay," he agreed. "I can do that."

After a couple hours, we had finally managed to prepare a decent meal for the four of us, and Colby and I continues onto the decorations.

"Why didn't we do this yesterday?" the boy next to me huffed as he dropped the box onto the floor.

I shrugged as I squatted down to open it, looking at all the lights and sparkly objects. "I had no idea preparing the food would take that long."

Colby chuckled, also bending down to look through the stuff. "Me neither."

"Hey," I smirked as I pulled a small snowman statue from the box. "This looks like you."

He raised his eyebrows at me, a blank expression across his face. "You think so?"

"Mhm," I agreed, innocently batting my eyelashes at him. "I do."

With a swift push from Colby, the box had now moved from in between us, and was off to the side. He gave me a slight push against the shoulder, causing me to lose balance and fall over.

I let out a groan as I laid there on my back, staring up at the ceiling. The snowman had rolled out of my hand and was now laying near my feet. "What was that for?"

Colby shrugged as he picked up the snowman and studied it. "Turned out you're more of a snowman than I am, one push and you're down."

I huffed. "I was seated in a position that did not leave any room for excess balance, really."

He chuckled and chucked the snowman back into the box, before plopping down onto the floor next to me. "Now you're just making excuses."

"And you're just trying to get on my nerves. Don't think I don't see right through what you're trying to do here," I said as I turned my head so I could look at him.

"Aw," he smiled. "Is it not working?"

I looked away in thought for a second, before letting my vision find his eyes again. "Maybe just a little bit."

"Mission accomplished then, is it not? Also, we should get to decorating because we don't really have time for this."

"You're right," I nodded and sat back up, looking around. "I'll handle the Christmas tree. Can you do the other decorations?"

He nodded and sat up as well, looking around. "If you don't mind it looking shitty, sure."

"Great," I chuckled and patted his leg. "Go for it."

He laughed shortly before digging into the box, after which I pulled out the Christmas lights that belonged in the tree that Colby and I had gotten the day before. It wasn't a big tree but it was better than nothing.

After the lights, I continued onto the rest of the tree and afterwards, moved on to the outside of the house. Once I was finished, Colby was finally wrapping up his decorating. He looked around at his work. "Who knew I would actually turn out to kinda have an eye for this?"

I let out a snort. "Yeah, who knew? You don't even know how to properly organize your backpack."

"Hey, now, don't be rude," he laughed and walked over to where I was standing, wrapping his arms around my waist.

"Or what?" I asked, tilting my head a little.

He shrugged. "Or I'm gonna have to have my mom call your mom."

"Ooh shit," I said as I put my hands up in defense. "That's harsh."

He smiled and leaned down to kiss me, but then the doorbell rang. I groaned in frustration and went to pull away, but Colby pulled me back. "They'll have to wait a minute."

He leaned in and connected our lips for a brief moment, before letting me go. "If you let them in before they freeze their asses off, I'll prepare the snacks."

I nodded. "Deal."

As we parted ways, I set course for the front door. "Hi guys," I greeted Sam and Kat as I opened the door.

"Hi Ara! Gee, it's cold outside," Kat shivered, tugging her coat tighter to her body.

"Hi," Sam also greeted me. "And she's not wrong."

I laughed and stepped aside. "Please come in before you turn into icicles."

"Thanks," Kat smiled and stepped inside, Sam closely behind her.

I closed the door as soon as they were both well inside the hallway. "I suggest you leave your wet shoes and coats here so they can dry."

Sam nodded, already pulling on his shoelaces. "Yeah, the snow fall has been pretty bad today."

"Definitely," Kat pouted as she took off her coat. "This coat is not as waterproof as it looks."

"How come you've walked in the snow for long enough to for it to have seeped through to your clothes?" I asked Kat, also directing my question to Sam.

The boy replied as Kat took off her shoes. "For some reason the gates didn't open for the car so we walked all the way from there to your house."

"Oh no! Why didn't you call us?" I asked, leading them to the living room.

"It wasn't that far, it's fine," Kat chuckled.

"Yeah!" Sam cheered as he saw the decorations and the food Colby had prepared on the coffee table in the living room. "Let's get this party started!"