"And when I'm feeling alone you remind me of home, Oh, baby, baby, Merry Christmas." 

Noah.

Much to my dismay, Jameson had asked Maja about spending Christmas at Hawthorne House and she had somehow said yes.

So here we are. Maja knocking on the door with me helping Grams with my arm in hers.

"So this is your girlfriend?" Grams confirms, "Yeah, but don't tell Dad." I beg. "That's fine. But why was your sister blushing on the phone when she got invited?" She says suspiciously.

"I couldn't tell you." I hum in confusion.

"Hmm.. I hope they have green beans." Grams growls with excitement. "I'm sure they will. I told Spence they were your favourite." I wink at her, helping her up the stairs of the large porch and entering the front doors. 

Being greeted by Xander I let him link his arm with Grams, flirting that playful way he always does. She swots his arm scolding, he just laughs and leads her to the closet to deposit her jacket.

"Merry Christmas." I watch Jameson grin as he tells Maja, hugging her tight. Just as Grams had pointed out, Maja's cheeks are glowing a bright red.

"Thatcher." Nash nods firmly, still wary around me after the whole fucked-his-sister thing.

"Merry Christmas." I reply, shaking his hand. I'm immediately a little more comfortable when he pulls me in for a quick hug, showing he doesn't actually hold any grudges.

"Merry Christmas, Noah." Avery smiles sweetly, giving me a friendly hug and introducing me to her sister, who has bright blue hair. 

Everyone's here except Grayson and Spencer.

A lot of pleasantries are passed around us all. Everyone wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and catching up.

I hear her before I see her. The sound of her chirpy voice and thick heels echoing down the halls before she even enters the foyer. But the second she does my whole body warms.

Wearing a perfectly fitted champagne sequinned dress. Her brown hair is curled as apposed to her usual straightened hair. Her makeup is glowing, nothing particularly unique or dazzling, but it's beyond anything else because it's her.

Her heels don't quite make her as tall as Grayson as they strut in together, busy talking about who knows what. 

"Noah!" She smiles happily. "Spence." I grin in awe.

She walks towards me, ditching her brother to come to my side, not that he cares, greeting Maja kindly.

"Merry Christmas." I plant a kiss on her cheek, careful not to ruin her makeup.

"Merry Christmas." Spencer replies.

"Looking gorgeous, Pumpkin." Grams re-approaches, having deposited her jacket with Xander. Spencer blushes under her light makeup. "So are you, it's good to see you again." Spencer smiles, hugging Grams and earning a pinch on the cheek.

"And who is this handsome fella?" Grams looks at Nash and smiles coyly. "Careful, you're his type." Jameson says with dead seriousness.

"I'm Nash, Ma'am." He says pleasantly. 

"Don't even think about it." I warn, he raises his hands in surrender.

"Noah, I've got your present. It's in my room." Spencer smirks, winking to me subtly. "Nice try. Dinner's almost ready." Nash scoffs.

"After." My girlfriend whispers cheekily. 

"Do tell me, is your Mother here?" Grams asks Spencer carefully. "My Mother is as absent as the day her first child was born." Spencer scoffs in response.

"Forgive me for saying this, but I never did like that girl." Grams snarls. "Grams!" Maja scolds.

"I like her already." Jameson interjects with a smirk.

Spencer interlocks our hands then dictates that's not enough for her, placing my hand on her back and sliding hers into my back pocket. We begin walking to the long extended table of Hawthorne House, set out particularly fancy with holly and candles.

"Excuse me?" Spencer coughs loudly to grab the attention of the rest of her family. 

"This is Maja; my friend." Spencer introduces my sister, earning a slight raise of the brow from my twin who clearly does not agree with that statement.

"And Noah; my.. boyfriend." She hesitates, giving my ass a little squeeze to boost not just my confidence but hers too.

"And this is their Grandmother." Spencer introduces.

My girlfriend suggests that Grams and her Nan sit together, which neither of them give much mind to, sitting down and conversing in no time.

Maja ends up wedged between Jameson and Avery. I sit between Xander and Spencer.

I have dinner here a lot to avoid the wrath of my Father, and most times when I do, the kids are at the 'kids table'. Which is rather humorous considering Nash sits there too. But for holidays everyone is sitting together.

"So, Noah, was it?" Spencer's Aunt Zara speaks up politely, trying to make conversation.

"Yes." I smile in response. "Do you have any interests?" She offers as a conversation.

"Yeah, a few.." I trail off, desperate not to be made to whip out the whole 20 minute list of all the shit I do.

She nods for me to go on. "I enjoy music, I play piano, violin, guitar, saxophone, and sometimes drums." I list.

"Quite gifted then?" She ventures. "I suppose so." I laugh gently. "Anything else?" She presses her wine glass up to her perfectly painted maroon lips.

"I enjoy stem, particularly engineering, mechanics, physics, chemistry, all sorts of math.. that kind of stuff." I explain, realizing I sound like a total nerd right now.

"Thats interesting, do you plan on pursuing that following your graduation?" Zara questions, sounding genuinely interested.

"I've not really.. I'm not sure." I trail off, realizing I'm yet to picture a life past 18. Living is always my biggest dream, never mind a job.

"6 months, better get thinking." The ladies husband mocks, having one of those 'I'm better than you' tones.  

"Noah and Maja are the year below Jameson and I. They're Avery, Xander and Rebecca's age." Spencer interjects firmly, very clearly furious with him for other reasons except this minor misunderstanding. I'm guessing, based off first impressions, he is a major ass hole gold digger. 

"Tell us more about your interests Noah." Zara interrupts, not looking to start fights.

"Well I sometimes enjoy robotics, astronomy, reading." I rhyme off, looking around as if to check for my Father despite knowing he isn't here, "Also soccer." I add, being grateful that I finally get to talk about it without the opportunity to get beat.

"And by 'i sometimes enjoy' he means he's captain of the robotics club, vice captain of the astronomy club, the only person keeping the schools bookstore in business, and the captain of the local under 20's soccer team and captain of the schools team." Xander interrupts boastfully as if he's promoting himself rather than me.

"Quite a resume you're gonna have there." Zara smiles gently.

"Remind me again what you've got going for you Spencer?" Constantine turns to my girlfriend.

"You're right, the stripper pole is literally calling my name." She sneers sarcastically.

"She's got plenty going for her. And even if things don't work out at least she's got a personality to fall back on, unlike yourself." I say plainly, a small smirk on my face as I squeeze Spencer's thigh under the table. Even under her makeup her blush is pink.

"Aren't you just a ray of sunshine." Her uncles coy smirk drops to anger. "He is, and you're an annoying as fuck dark cloud. So please do feel free to drive your car off a cliff." Spencer yells, clearly hating this man.

"Settle down." Zara urges politely. 

From what Xander's told me over the years, Hawthorne Christmas dinners are excessive. A 6 course meal. Appetiser, soup, salad, main course, dessert, and finally cheese. I don't know where these people put it all but I know I'm excited to eat a meal on Christmas that wasn't cooked via a microwave. But I am worried about the girl beside me who's been growing increasingly more conscious of her weight for the past few weeks now.

We get to the salad when she starts to lose the battle against her own mind. She leaves half of it, but nobody really notices. 

When the main course comes out I have to stop myself groaning with enjoyment. Food at the Hawthorne House is always incredible, maybe my standards are low because I've spent my whole life cooking my own dinner because my Dad specifically ordered the chef to not make enough for my sister and I. 

Spencer's trying her best, and it kills me that she has to try hard to eat.

"It's cool your chefs can make such a good turkey that literally has like no calories in it." I whisper to Spencer. I know lying is wrong, but the twinkle in her eyes when I said it makes me regret nothing. "Yeah." She agrees, suddenly seeming a lot more comfortable eating the turkey on her plate.

Jameson heard that from across the table and gives me a subtle nod of appreciation, happy to see his sister eating.

She finishes most of it, having eaten all the vegetables and left nothing but the stuffing, mashed potato, and a couple potatoes.

"You like sprouts?" I ask her quietly, she nods a little. "Gross." I laugh. "What?" She replies with a smile. "They taste like dirt." I say honestly.

"But they're so good." She says defensively. 

"You want mine?" I offer, practically thrusting my empty plate with nothing but sprouts on it. She willingly takes all three of them and eats them without shame.

"How can you put something so gross in your mouth." I cringe at the thought. "I've had grosser things in my mouth." Spencer snorts.

Her laugh alone makes me grin widely, squeezing her thigh a little beneath the table.

Once the table is cleared, it leaves room for even more awkward conversation. 

"I'm so sorry, it's been bothering me all evening. You look achingly familiar, would I know your parents?" Zara speaks up, damming the crooks of her lips with her napkin.

"Uh.." I trail off, looking towards Grams who suddenly looks a little more anticipant of something.

"I think you guys went to school together if I'm not mistaken. Our Father is Reginald Thatcher and our Mother would have been Marissa Boyles back then." I answer truthfully.

Zara tries to hide her physical reaction to that statement.

"You poor kids." She mutters, shaking her head and sipping her wine gracefully.

"What?" Maja questions curiously. "That poor girl Marissa. She was younger than him and she got knocked up. Rumours were.. Never mind. Sorry I forget my age, I'm too old to be gossiping." Zara smiles.

"It's okay, you can say." I urge, desperate to know why my parents and Spencer's don't get along well. "No, no. Nothing important. Dessert will be here momentarily anyway." She dismisses, and right on cue it's out. 

Spencer and I both leave most of our desserts and neither of us even make a start on the cheese.

"Can we be excused?" Spencer asks upon the realization that we're both uncomfortable.

We head up to her room in silence, only when we arrive do we talk again.

"You spending the night?" She asks casually, riffling through some pj's for herself.

"If that's okay?" I request. "Absolutely." She grins cheekily.

She tosses me pajamas to wear. "Did you.. buy these?" I smirk up at her. "Just so you stopped stretching mine." She shrugs uncaringly, trying to pretend it's nothing.

"Thanks." I reply. "Don't mention it." She winks, tearing out off from under dress and sighing with relief. 

I swallow try to avert my eyes from her black bra dangling from her hand as she tries to take her shoes off.

"Want to watch a movie or something?" She offers, hopping around as she attempts to unbuckle her heels with one hand.

I hurry over and start unbuckling them for her. My face right next to thighs is torture. I make sure to unbuckle them slowly so I can stay here forever.

"Something." I answer, looking up at her.

The look on her face tells me she too is feeling exactly how I am.

"Like what?" She whispers, I don't think she even means to sound so seductive which is what makes the feeling in my stomach flutter down to my dick.

"I can think of a few things." I murmur, pressing my lips against her warm thighs. She gasps in a breath of air and lets go of it shakily as I travel up her thighs.

"You're so pretty." I tell her as I leave a hickey on her upper thigh.

"Noah." She warns sternly. "Mmm?" I reply as much as I can as I place delicate kisses over her underwear.

"We.. we should stop." She says shakily.

"That what you want?" I say, separating my face from her to look up and meanwhile looping my finger with the hem of her underwear.

"Stand up." She orders firmly. I'm taken aback by her tone a little. Recognising she clearly doesn't want this I snap up to my feet and step back from her. "Sorry, you okay?" I try to comfort.

Before she even answers, she falls to her knees and takes my pants with her. Being left in just my underwear I blink with shock.

Jesus. 

The erection I've been wearing for at least 5 minutes reaches its peak and I feel like if I don't feel her touch now I'll explode.

Her warm breath tickles my thighs, which are now shaking. She kisses my thighs just like I did her, she even leaves hickeys.

Dear lord.

"Spence?" I call out, desperate for her. "Mhmm?" She mutters against my thigh.

"I need you to do something or stop." I beg. She immediately stops and I realize not doing anything at all is worse than teasing me.

She gracefully floats up to her feet, just grinning at me. "What do you want me to do?" She asks innocently, tilting her head.

"Stop looking at me like that?" I plead. "Like what." She whispers seductively, placing her small hands on my neck and slowly sliding down, unbuttoning every button on my shirt.

She slips the shirt off and watches it fall to the floor.

"Like you don't know exactly what you're doing." I answer.

"I have.." she slides my underwear off completely. "No clue.." she continues. Running a hand over my dick she adds, "what you're talking about." 

The gasp I let out when her lips touch my dick.

Running her tongue all over me I suddenly understand very clearly what Tristan meant when he said Spencer gave the best head. Not that I have any reference material, but I can say for sure she's gonna be the best I ever have.

As she takes all of me in her mouth her eyes water up and she gags. I nestle my hand in her hair, needing to be as close to her as much as I can all the time.

It doesn't take long for that feeling to rise in my chest. "Spence.. fuck!" I groan, "I'm almost.." I inform her, not able to produce any more noise other than moans.

I meet her eyes, silently telling her I'm holding on just so she can remove her mouth. She nods for me to let go, and the second I do she welcomes it into her mouth and swallows in less than a few seconds. I moan shamelessly loud when I come. 

Taking a shaky breath I pull on my underwear again. My girlfriend gets to her feet now too and smiles sweetly.

"Holiday head." She chimes cutely. The adorable look on her face makes the vulgar words sound almost innocent.

I laugh at her and ruffle her hair.

"Where were we before you rudely interrupted." I tell her, slipping my hand up her dress and teasing my fingers over her underwear.

"But we were finally even." She frowns sadly.

"You don't want something in return?" I raise a brow. "No I really want that." She urges. 

Pinning her against the wall she looks at me like I'm a whole different person. 

Spencer.

Seeing Noah pinning me against a wall is something I didn't know I needed until now. My lipstick smeared over his cheeks and my hickeys trailing all over his thighs.

He rolls my dress up and my underwear down, getting to work and making me cry out with pleasure.

It should be noted for future reference, having a guy eating you out with your hands in his hair and your leg wrapped around his shoulder is never something you want people to see unless you're in a porno. 

I really need to start blocking the passageways into my room.

"Fuck!" I groan out as I release myself all over his face. 

Next thing I hear is a high pitched little girl scream. Forcing my eyes open with horror I find Xander gaping in shock from behind the large mirror on my wall. 

With Jameson and Maja behind him, both gaping in disgust, Xander shrieks like a child.

Noah immediately jumps to his feet, his hair in all different directions, mauve lipstick all over his cheeks, hickeys all over his thighs, bright red cheeks, his glasses falling down his nose, and most regrettably, my orgasm all over his mouth. 

I however am not much better. My mascara dripping down my cheeks a little from when I had him in my mouth, lipstick smeared, underwear on the floor, hair tossed all over my shoulders, cheeks glowing red and my dress halfway up my stomach. 

Thankfully with where Noah is standing he's blocking me from the three intruders.

I slide my dress down and compose myself, spinning Noah around to face them and stepping in front of him. His arms fall over my shoulders and he holds me close to cover his pretty close to naked body.

"I'm dead." My boyfriend whispers with fear of my two brothers.

"Oh my god! I did not need to see that!" Maja screams, covering her eyes and sighing with disgust.

"I was just.. making sure she was okay?" Noah improvises. "She seemed just fine with your tongue inside her." Jameson comments with a raised brow and folded arms.

"Gross!" Maja squeals, pushing my brother with anger, this just makes him giggle a little.

"Noah!" Xander yells angrily. "Sorry man.." he apologises sympathetically.

"I was bring Maja in here to spend the night, and I was gonna come and get you. But I guess you'll be spending the night inside of each other." Xander tantrums.

"Can we just pretend that never happened?" I beg.

"Can you guys just break up already?" Xander pleads. "I'm in too deep now." Noah shrugs with a sweet grin.

"He sure is." I can't help but smirk immaturely.

"I hate you guys." Maja gags.

"You need to promise you'll never have sex again?" Xander insists. "If you want me to lie I will but you know I could never give up sex." I tease.

"Okay, jokes aside, if you even think about touching my little sister one more time I'll actually slaughter you. And if that doesn't scare you, I'll tell Nash." Jameson warns with dead seriousness. Noah immediately nods fearfully.

"Put on your pants and get the fuck out my baby sister's bedroom." He adds, not particularly aggressive just firm.

"Maja's sleeping in here. Noah's sleeping in Xander's room. Your Grandma's sleeping in one of the guest rooms. And if either of you sneak out you're dead." He finalises.

Once Noah's dressed, Jameson nods for him to follow. 

Noah turns around and plants one passionate kiss on my lips with a hand cushioning the back of my head. 

"5 seconds max." Xander inserts, counting down from 5 and then clapping his hands to make us stop kissing.

"See ya." Noah winks, walking out the passageway behind my mirror. That passageway is probably the best, it doesn't connect to any other rooms except the five of our bedrooms, and the entrance to it for all of us is behind our mirror. 

My brothers always enter my room through passages because nobody actually knows the combo to my room.

Leaving Maja and I alone she just shakes her head with disgust and gets into my bed. I settle for showering first and head to the bathroom.

By the time I'm out of the shower, Maja is gone. Fuck knows where she is but I find myself texting Noah.

Me: hey 

Noah: Hi

Me: whatchadoin? 

Noah: Watching tiktok cause your brother won't stop snoring.

Me: midnight snack?

Noah: Be outside your room in 5.

I immediately bounce to my feet and wait for his arrival. 

Noah and I walk down to the kitchen together in fits of laughter about god knows what. We don't even end up eating anything, we just wanted an excuse to meet up.

It's only when I'm falling asleep on the counter that Noah lifts me down and walks me back to bed. 

When I arrive I find Maja sneaking in at the exact same time from behind the mirror.

"Night baby." Noah kisses my forehead. And I choose not to acknowledge Maja until he's gone so I don't snitch on her.

"And where exactly were you?" I ask flipping the lights on. 

She doesn't give in, not even a glance my way to show fear.

"Where were you?" She fires back. "Nunya." I fire back. "Right back at you." She smiles smugly and tucks herself under the covers of my bed.

"Good night." I say. "Night." She replies rather begrudgingly.

And I switch the light off, falling asleep in pretty much an instant.

Third person - Jameson and Maja.

Hearing that familiar creek of his mirror passage door falling open, Jameson jolted awake from a nightmare. It wasn't unusual for the troubled boy to see flashes of his ex girlfriend's death on that fatal night.

Having lived it every night for the past year every time he closed his eyes, he couldn't say it was a surprising thing anymore, still haunting and terrifying, but eerily familiar.

In sweats his eyes darted towards the mirror to decipher the silhouette of a girl.

"Emily?" His voice is hoarse and his eyes tired. 

"Maja." The familiar girl corrects, approaching his bedside and watching him intensely. 

The sigh of relief that came from him was deep and grateful. 

"What was that?" The brown haired girl challenges curiously. 

"What?" Jameson challenges, attempting and failing to play it off as nothing.

"You looked terrified. You're sweating. And you said Emily." Maja reminds him, speaking slowly and matter of factually.

"Just a nightmare." He dismisses, pushing to his feet and sauntering into the bathroom.

"You get them a lot?" She questions, following behind him into the bathroom. "No." He fires back firmly. "What was it about?" She asks, leaning against the doorframe and watching him rinse his hands with cold water and then touch his face to cool himself off. "Nothing." Jameson deadpans.

"Was it about Emily?" Maja offers. "I said it was about nothing." Jameson raises his voice.

"What does she do in your nightmares?" Maja continues pressing. 

"Do you have an off switch?" He snaps. "You sound like my dad." She hums, watching him dry his face.

That statement makes him freeze and look at her, features softening as he completely drops the sternness.

"Sorry."  Jameson replies, suddenly realising how harsh his tone was on the girl he thinks so fondly of.

"It's fine. I get defensive too, it's a coping mechanism." Maja replies. "What have I got to cope?" He raises a brow unconvinced. 

"I'm not sure, maybe that time you broke up with your girlfriend and that night she fucked your brother, jumped off a cliff and died?" She shrugs.

"You really have no filter do you?" Jameson scoffs, pressing his face against the towel again to dry his face, but more so to hide his smirk.

"I guess not." She shrugs unbothered. 

"Hey, can I ask you something?" Jameson asks gently, turning the light in the bathroom off and replacing the light it provided with a lamp, which floods half the room in a gentle yellow glow.

The middle Hawthorne boy sits on his bed and gestures for the girl to sit in front of him.

"Mhm?" Maja replies, sitting down and pulling her legs into her chest.

"Your.. your back." Jameson begins, not looking at her in fear of her reaction. "I saw Noah's earlier when he was with Spencer and.. he had told me before that your Father.. burns him." He continues sympathetically.

The girl in front of him tenses up immediately and squeezes tighter onto her legs.

"Does he do that to you?" He asks with sympathy.

"Jamie.." Maja sighs, "I don't need to see.. I just want to know." He says, taking her hand in his and stroking the pad of his thumb over her bruised knuckles from the last time she had tried to get a hit on her Father.

She doesn't reply. Instead, the brunette just draws her shirt over her head sheepishly.

Watching the girl in just a bra, Jameson blinks rapidly, ignoring how good she looks and focusing on the bruises scattered around her stomach. 

She pushes herself up a little and twists around so her back is facing the boy.

The boy that rarely shows emotions is blinking back tears as he inspects the red and blistered burn on the girls lower back.

Taking in a sobering breath, the boy runs his fingers across the burn. Maja hisses in pain and cowers away from him.

"Sorry.." He immediately apologises. "It's fine. It's healed up.. it just stings a little." She shrugs off.

"Maj.. I've got to get you out of there." Jameson tells her firmly. 

"Hawthorne if you spent one day in that house you'd understand exactly why you can't tell anyone." She turns back around, meeting his eyes.

"Then I won't tell anyone. You'll live here." He settles.

"And Noah? He'd get it even worse if our Father only got to hit one kid. I mean he already gets it worse than I do. I can't do that to him. If we get out it's because we're running away together." The girl grits firmly.

"We'll break him out too. You guys can just live here forever." He pleads.

"And once our Father realizes we're gone he'll just come find us and kill us. The first place Noah'll go is his best friend and girlfriend's house." She reminds him.

"Then we'll get you both out and then call the cops." He continues.

"You don't understand. Other than your heiress, he's one of the richest guys in the state. Best-case scenario, he gets arrested, we're finally free, he pays his way out with the best lawyers money can buy, and he's free, we're dead." She explains.

"Worst-case scenario, he doesn't even get arrested because nobody believes such a well respected guy could do it." Maja adds.

"I can't just not try." He demands. "You know it Jameson. This doesn't end until he's dead or we've fled the country." She settles.

"Then we need to flee quicker." Jameson says sincerely. 

"Who is we?" She repeats. "We're running away together." He decides.

"Yeah, okay Romeo." She scoffs. "Well we know how they ended." The boy hums, unimpressed with the comparison.

"How about how they started." Maja whispers, suddenly stifling his breath in a heart beat by bringing their faces closer.

Upon seeing no uncomfortableness, and only a strong longing, she connects their lips. For a moment the kiss is intense and fiery. But then it's over.

Jameson pushes the girl away, gentle but assertive. He immediately looks flustered as he runs his hand through his hair.

Maja doesn't back down to insecurity, knowing by the hungry look on his face that he wanted the kiss. 

"I umm.." He trails off, searching for the words, Maja sits patiently waiting.

"I kissed Avery.. a couple weeks back." He scratches his neck uncomfortably.

Maja just nods in understanding.

"You like her?" Maja asks curiously. "I don't know." He replies truthfully. "I feel something around her. But I don't know if I like her or if I'm just fascinated by her. But regardless, I don't want to make things any more complicated for myself." Jameson answers, being more open with this girl than he's ever been with anyone.

"You like me?" Maja wets her lips curiously. His eyes finally find her again, scanning up and down her entire body, raking in every detail of her shirtless body.

"Don't ask me that." He replies with a clenched jaw. "Why?" She murmurs slowly. 

"Because you already know the answer." He whispers, calamitous forbidding and longing angst blending to create an intense thirst. 

This time he's the one to reach down to the significantly shorter girl and cup her cheek. 

Their lips connect in a sweet and innocent kiss, his hand cushioning her neck and their hands still intertwined. 

"I should go. Spencer went in the shower and if she gets out she'll realize I'm gone." The girl replies upon the kiss breaking.

"Spencer takes hour long showers. I'm surprised she didn't run the old man dry with her water bills." The boy jokes, desperate for her to stay.

"Sounds like you want to make things more complicated for yourself." The girl teases his words from mere minutes prior.

"C'mere." He laughs, urging her to come closer, to which she doesn't argue and immediately falls into his arms. Her hands cushion his cheeks as she lays atop him and makes out with him.

Both rekindling the relationship they both had believed to be long gone. Neither knows what the relationship would be if anything, but both willing to ride it out and find out along the way.

That night, they both fell asleep in the boys bed, him being freed of his nightmares for just one night. Maja eventually crept back through the mirror passage after placing one affectionate kiss on Jameson's sleeping head, whispering a quiet 'merry christmas' and leaving him to dream in peace.