one last time, multiship

no not william :((

˗ˏˋ"i told you not to eat it!!!" 'ˎ˗

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the group walked in to a semi-lit room, filled with sparkly tinsels, shimmery decorations everywhere, breathless, and hearts racing. they had only been in the escape room for just over two hours, and yet so many things had happened already. but nevertheless, everyone was still having a lot of fun. after all, it was the first time they had all gone out in over nine months, due to the pandemic.

trust me, everyone hated the coronavirus, and they all wanted it to end. i mean, some kids broke the rules, but the more responsible ones didn't. it'd been way too long since everyone had seen each other. i mean yeah, some of them met when they had to do a stupid group project in the first year of highschool, and the others met at a weird summer camp john and lauren went to. the two groups met last year and became one big group, when they were in their second year of highschool.

"thank the lord we made it out in time, that was so freaking close" mackenzie breathed, reveling in the warmth of the electronic fireplace at one corner of the room. she slid down to sit against the wall right inside the door, while jaeden, lauren and tate walked around, getting a glimpse of all the decorations, feeling very festive. the room smelled strongly of christmas cookies and christmas candles.

"hey lily, maybe you shouldn't go too close to the fireplace. your asthma might start acting up with all the smells" aidan, a little worried now, and not wanting to lose anyone else in their group, spoke up.

lily coughed, turning her head back to look at aidan. "thanks for the concern! i think i'll be fine though, my asthma only acts up when i'm exercising or when there's vaping smoke or cigarette smoke." taking in a deep whiff, she let out a soft "mmmm", before mumbling about how good the christmas candles smelt.

"oh em gee guys look there's a cute little electronic fireplace and some stuff on it! gosh it's stockings with our names on them! let's go see" lauren, being the one that always loved christmas the most, jumped up and down, making the brunette next to her chuckle, and hug her from behind.

"aw jaeden's going soft for lolo" tate teased, patting him on the head before embracing him in a hug.

"hi! nice to meet you. i'm john, your future brother in law!" john stuck out his hand to jaeden, shaking it heartily, before picking up a blonde, twangy acoustic guitar lying on the couch in the room. he sat down, and started singing a slow, but engergetic rendition of "have yourself a merry little christmas".

seconds later found lily taking out the torch from her bag, swinging it slowly like a concert lighter, while kenzie harmonised in the background with john.

"that sounds beautiful guys, but we sorta have to finish this escape room. after we get out you guys can sing as much as you want, heck, i'll even let john borrow my mic set to record it" jules replied, still looking around the room. this was the first room where they hadn't had a voice-over telling them what to do, and they were still looking for the first clue.

everyone left their bags on the floor, as they started emptying their stockings. lip balms, lipsticks, eyeliners and other makeup accouterments were in the girls' stockings, and for the guys, hair gel, breath mints and other weird items. everyone got chocolate and other snacks, as well as a bottle of water except william and jaeden. jaeden was lactose intolerant, and william, well, he was severely allergic to dairy. jaeden got a few packets of dairy-free coffee, with a note that said "for drinking later!" written on it, and william got nothing, except a little notebook that said "i'm a model" printed on it, and a pen to go with it.