CHAPTER TWO
·.¸¸.·♩♪♫ come in with the rain ♫♪♩·.¸¸.·

WHEN REECE WAS A LITTLE GIRL she'd count down the days to Christmas from the second the year started. It was her favourite holiday, and over the course of her life it had never changed.

Reece has been looking forward to Christmas all year long but by the time it came around she'd wished it hadn't. The Hastings girl had many traditions during the Christmas holiday, all of which she was unable to do.

Firstly, throughout the week leading into Christmas, she, Josie, Anne and their mothers would have a movie marathon, watching all the classics, like Elf or The Santa Clause. They'd drink hot coco and stay up late eating all kinds of different foods. It was a tradition Scarlett and Regina had started in collage, and later passed down to their daughters.

Secondly, on Christmas Eve, the three young girls would go outside and play outside in the snow. They'd build snowmen, have snowball fights, make snow angels, and catch snowflakes on their tongues. The girls would stay out so long they'd grow numb to the cold and the adults had to drag them inside or else they'd never go back.

Thirdly, when the Sinclair's left, Anne would sneak into Reece's room to sleep. Though as they grew older, there was a lot less sleeping and a lot more giggling. But they'd fall asleep eventually, only to continue their nonsensical chatter in the morning. It was a simple tradition Reece looked forward to.

Lastly, on Christmas Day, the Hastings and Sinclair family would go over to each other's houses to open gifts. Though, that wasn't the important part of the morning, because when everyone left to do their own thing Reece and Josie would give each other their gifts. They weren't sure why they never opened them with the others, but they liked having it be their own little thing.

But, none of that could be down this year, at least not to the fullest. Josie and her father moved to Calgary, while Regina stayed in Salt Lake, Scarlett was in the hospital, Victor was hardly home trying to earn more pay to help his family, and Anne was usually with Ashlyn and Gina trying to forget about all the pain in her life. Which left Reece alone, in the cold empty house.

She had no one to have a movie marathon with, or to decorate the tree. The only tradition that would stay the same was Anne sleeping in Reece's room, but it wouldn't be the same.

It was a week before Christmas and the Hastings home wasn't filled with its usual holiday spirit. There were no snowmen on the snow covered lawn, or candy cane lights stuck to the side of the house. The colourful Christmas lights were still tangled up in their box in the attic, along with the beaten up Christmas tree and it's beautiful ornaments. All the Christmas decorations were no where to be seen.

A knock at the front door startled Reece.

Tightening her low ponytail she made her way to open the door. As it opened she was face to face with a shivering EJ Caswell. "What're you doing here?" She asked.

EJ shrugged, "I could lie and say I was in the neighbourhood, saw no Christmas lights and got worried so I wanted to check in. And technically if I said that it wouldn't be a complete lie because I was worried and did want to check in."

Reece gave him a light laugh, but that was enough for EJ to push past the redhead dragging a tree, which was around the same size has EJ (roughly 5 inches taller than Reece).

"W-what are you doing?" She stuttered. But he didn't respond. Instead he continued to drag the pine tree to the corner of the living room, exactly the spot he remembered it being last Christmas. Reece quickly shit her door and followed him.

"I," he grunted as he placed the tree into its stand. "am here to get you into the Christmas spirit, or at least to cheer you up."

Reece crossed her arms as she leaned against the wall, "I'm fine, EJ, really."

EJ mimicked her demeanor, only he gave her a look saying 'I know you're lying, and it's time to stop acting like you're okay.'

Reece sighed in defeat, "Fine. Come help me get the decorations in the attic."

♪♫ ♫♪

After several hours of decorating they were finally finished. All that was left was the tree topper. Usually this was completed with the whole family but they'd already decorated the small tree in Scarlett Hastings hospital room.

Reece held the ceramic angel in her hands. Carefully she stood on multiple stacked boxes, as she placed the angel on the tree she stopped to admire it. The small memories of past Christmas' flashed through her mind. The memory of her first Christmas with her sister, merged into Christmas without her dad, which flashed into last years Christmas. That was her favourite.

She remembered it so vividly. It was the Christmas of firsts.

It was the first Christmas for the newly engaged Scarlett Hastings and Victor Di Luca. It was the first Christmas Josie and Anne weren't at each other's throats. It was the first Christmas Reece had a boyfriend, and said boyfriend would be spending the holidays with them.

But despite it being the Christmas of firsts, it was also the Christmas of lasts.

It was the last Christmas Scarlett would be with them, unless by some miracle she got better. It would be the last Christmas the Sinclair's would celebrate with the Hastings. It would be the last Christmas Reece was ever truly happy.

EJ walked into the living room, clearing his throat. Reece quickly wiped away the tear that had fallen, and climbed down the boxes. The boy handed her a steaming mug of hot chocolate with a few, almost, melted marshmallows. "It looks amazing."

Reece smiled sadly, "Yeah, it does."

The brunette sighed, "There's one more thing we need to do before we watch the annual Christmas movie."

Reece furrowed her eyebrows, what else could they possibly be missing? As he lead her outside it finally clicked. But before she could react to anything she felt a cold sensation on the back of her head.

She gasped, "EJ Caswell, you did not."

The boy laughed at her and responded, "Oh, I think I did."

"We don't even have our coats on!"

"Who cares!"

Before anyone could say anything else Reece picked up a pile of snow and through it at the boy in front of her. But her laughter was quickly cut off once more by snow.

It quickly became an act of war, the two ran around in the snow not caring they'd potentially get frostbite by the end of the night, not caring about any of the worrisome things they had going on in their lives. At that moment, it was just them, just Reece Hastings and EJ Caswell throwing snow at each other and making little snowmen.

♪♫ ♫♪

Despite only being outside for 30 minutes the two were freezing. They couldn't feel anything from their toes to the tip of their nose.

As EJ warmed up inside by the fireplace Reece rummaged through her collection of DVD's. "I have Elf, The Santa Clause: 1 to 3, Home Alone, The Holiday or Christmas with the Kranks." She read aloud.

EJ thought for a moment before saying, "I've never watched Christmas with the Kranks so let's do that."

Reece gasped, "How have you never watched it?! Easily my favourite holiday movie, besides The Holiday."

"Haven't watched that either."

"You are so uncultured it hurts, we're watching both." Reece placed the disc into the player and sat down next to the boy on the couch. Well, not directly beside him, there was a good half a meter worth of distance between the two. The shared buttered popcorn just within arms reach of the two.

As the movie went on, the two inched closer and closer together until they were almost touching, the only thing blocking them was the half emptied bowl.

Reece, unknowingly, began to shiver. EJ noticed this and began taking off his sweatshirt. "Here," he handed her, "I'm not cold anymore." He knew if she were cold she could've just went upstairs to get her own, but he liked the idea of her wearing his clothes again. It brought him a sense of comfort, and he couldn't understand why.

"Thanks," she whispered, with a soft smile. Before returning back to silence as they watched the movie.

That was how they spent the rest of the night. In silence, the popcorn bowl no longer creating a space between them leaving Reece to rest her head on his shoulder, their hands barely touching as they slept.

Today was a good day for Reece Hastings and EJ Caswell because they were together, no worries about the outside world that would eventually come crumbling down. It was just a good day.

INEZ SPEAKS

God, this took much longer then it was supposed to but I was on vacation so I have a good excuse. I hoped you enjoyed this fun little chapter! I love my babies so much and I'm loving season 3 rn.

This'll be edited soon, and I may add a few more things but I really wanted to get this out. I'm going to try and update every other week so I can catch up to season 3 as quickly as possible.