I heard Bryce before I saw him. The house we were staying in for the summer was double the size of our actual house and my little brother was mesmerized by it. Dad was taken in by the house as well, nearly crashing into the back of Mom's car because he'd been too busy with his head out the window looking up at it.

My parents acted like a high school couple finally meeting up after weeks apart. There was far too much kissing and groping for their children to see.

"Let's go clean our eyes out with chlorinated water," I said to Bryce, ushering him into the house and leaving our parents to dry hump in the driveway.

"Hey, Bryce!" Naomi said as we cut through the kitchen to get to the pool, the only Bryce has talked about since arriving. "Taste this for me." She held out a spoon dripping with blue frosting.

He took a tentative lick of the spoon then his eyes popped open. "It tastes like chocolate!"

Naomi and I decided to go with a simple strawberry cake that year and decorate it with blue chocolate icing and tiny white chocolate hearts.

"How come I wasn't offered a taste?"

Theo's disembodied voice took me by surprise. After giving myself whiplash trying to find him, I realized his voice was coming from Naomi's phone that was on the island next to the mess of baking supplies.

"Well, if you'd get out of the pool," Naomi started, before she could even finish the sliding glass door that led to the backyard opened and Theo bound through leaving a trail of wet foot prints in his wake.

Theo had arrived about an hour ago and headed straight for the pool after wishing my mom a happy birthday. It was safe to say that he was obsessed with the water. His pruney fingers were proof of it.

He and Bryce did some weird handshake thing. Then Theo walked over to Naomi, mouth opened. She rolled her eyes but a smile spread across her face as she grabbed a different spoon, dipped it in the frosting then stuck it in his mouth.

Between them and my parents I was being rudely reminded of just how single I was.

Well, there was Stephen. We weren't official or anything, just... feeling each other out, I guessed. That reminded me that I hadn't replied back to his message after being interrupted by my dad and brother arriving.

While Naomi started pouring white chocolate into the heart molds and Bryce and Theo went out to the pool, I snuck up to my room and pulled up my messages on my phone.

We had been going back and forth about movies for a while. He wanted me to watch some movie called Sixteen Candles and I wanted to know if he knew of any movies made in the last decade.

It's a classic, was his last message to me.

Me:

So is Bridesmaids

If only your name was Stove

Stephen:

Stove?

Wth does that mean?

Me:

Have you not seen Bridesmaids?

Stephen:

Nope

Me:

We need to fix that

Stephen:

I do have the house to myself until monday 😉

Before I could shoot back a reply Naomi shouted my name from downstairs, along with the phrase "code red".

Panicked about the cake, I rushed downstairs to the kitchen, finding Naomi trying to keep Theo, Bryce and my dad away from the chocolate while my mom laughed on.

I felt myself smile as the chaos unfolded in front of me and it wasn't until then that I realized how much I missed having them all around.

• • •

As expected, Bryce crashed into a sugar coma after eating two huge slices of cake. My parents were actually thrilled when I asked if Naomi, Theo and I could go out, so getting to Stephen's car was a lot easier than expected.

What I didn't expect, however, was Santa Claus.

A large one that towarded in the center of the lawn of the house Stephen parked in front of. It wasn't until that moment that he told us the party had a theme: Christmas in July.

The house was completely decked out in red, green and fake snow. It was like a winter wonderland. There were a few people sporting Santa hats and reindeer antler headbands. Not many people dressed the theme, thankfully, so we didn't stick out too much.

Stephen led us through the house, seeming to know every person we walked by. I tried not to think about the amount of flirty greetings he got from the girls. It didn't matter, he was there with me.

Regardless of how many times I repeated that to myself it didn't satisfy the jealous monster coming to life inside me.

Theo and Naomi broke off from us to hit the dance floor because their song was playing, leaving Stephen and I alone. The realization instantly made me nervous.

"Want something to drink?" Stephen asked, leaning close to my ear so I could hear and so he could unintentionally cause me heart palpitations.

"A soda," I said and he nodded. Then his hand enclosed around mine, our fingers twining together perfectly.

It wasn't the first time we've held hands, but it was the first time I wasn't worried about consequences. It was the first time holding his hand was more than just a friendly gesture. It meant something, no matter how frivolous it might have seemed to the outside world.

"Why didn't you tell me this was a Christmas party?" I asked Stephen as he poured a can of Dr. Pepper into a cup of ice for me, then poured another for himself.

"I forgot," he answered, taking a sip of his drink. "I was more focused on us finally getting to hangout."

My face warmed and I hid my smile behind a huge gulp of Dr. Pepper. "Well, maybe we should do something to commemorate this moment."

He nodded in agreement, a thoughtful look on his face as he looked around the large kitchen. When his gaze fell back on me there was a grin in his face. "I got it."

We were holding hands again and it was quickly becoming my favorite activity. He led me through the kitchen and out the back door. People in Christmas themed bikinis and swim trunks lounged around the pool sipping drinks with candy canes in them.

"What do you think?"

I brought my attention back to Stephen. Just as I was about to ask him for clarification a jolly laugh answered me.

We were in line to meet Santa. A Black guy in a bright red suit and white beard sat on a throne, two girls dressed as sexy elves on either side of him. There were even mounds of fake snow and a decorated tree behind them.

It was so absurd I had to laugh. People were lined up, waiting to have their pictures taken and to receive a gift bag from Saint Nick himself.

"I've never been to a party that was so thorough with it's theme."

"We never half-ass our parties," he said with an amused smirk.

We joined the line just as Naomi and Theo did, the two of them now wearing Santa hats.

"This is by far the weirdest party I've ever been to," Naomi said.

Theo flung an arm around her shoulders, nodding in agreement. "But it's also the best. The gift bag came with AirPods."

I took another glance at the Christmas themed gifts bag piled up behind Santa's throne. There were easily over a hundred. And there was no telling how many the elves had handed out already. It was obvious who ever lived there was rich, but my God.

When I turned back to my friends Theo had his nose in my cup. I pulled it away, glaring at him. "It's soda."

"Just making sure." He then turned to Stephen and explained, "She can't drink. Last time she almost got herself killed."

Stephen's eyes darted to me, his expression a mix of shock and disbelief. "I can't even picture you drunk."

"Good. Look, we're next." I practically shouted. Not because I was excited about Santa, but because I wanted to get off the topic of my first and only time getting drunk.

Unfortunately, after Stephen and I took our picture—a polaroid we both looked terribly awkward in—and collected our gift bags, Stephen still had questions for my two traitor best friends.

"How she'd almost get herself killed?" He asked as we headed back inside the house.

"Well," Naomi started, flicking the pom-pom on her Santa hat out of her face for the hundredth time. "When Waverly is under the influence she tends to get a little...honest. Like, unfiltered therapist type honest. She told some girls who used to torment us how insecure they were and why they were that way. Then recommended them some books to read."

"And she told them to go fuck themselves," Theo added.

"Really?" Stephen's eyes were wide as he looked down at me.

"No!" I said quickly, then mumbled behind my almost empty cup, "I told them to go screw themselves."

The three of them laughed and despite my embarrassed state I joined in.

When we made it back inside the house, music getting louder and the space becoming more crowded, Naomi and Theo talked among themselves while Stephen and I lagged behind.

"I've heard of an emotional drunk or a happy drunk," Stephen started, glancing at me. "But a book recommending drunk?"

"Books make people more empathetic and those girls needed it."

He smiled at that. He looked like he was about to say something when Naomi and Theo turned and stopped us in our tracks.

"I forgot something outside," Naomi said in a way that was too forced to be true. "Wait here while we go find it."

I looked at Theo who seemed to be as thrown by his girlfriend's bad acting as I was. "We both need to go?"

"Yes!" She said, tugging him back the way we came.

Stephen and I parted as they walked by, disappearing back around the corner. It wasn't until then that I realized blindly following Naomi and Theo led us to an empty hallway rather than the kitchen.

"That wasn't at all suspicious," I said, looking up at Stephen. That's when I saw it. Mistletoe. "Oh."

Stephen followed my line of vision. "I think your friends set us up."

He sounded slightly amused by that while I was plotting Naomi's death. At least I tried to. Every homicidal scenario I came up with was interrupted by the thought of kissing Stephen Davis.

My heart was going two times the speed as I stared up at the plant hanging from the ceiling. To say I was nervous would be an understatement. Terrified was more like it.

"Hey," Stephen caught my attention by lightly touching my wrist. "We can always pretend we didn't see it." He said with a half hearted laugh.

"No!" Then, dialing back a bit, I added, "I mean, we can. If you want."

His hand slid from my wrist to my waist and we were suddenly a lot closer. His warmth and scent clouding my senses. His touch made my skin tingle in the best way. "You sure?"

My mind flashed back to that first day we met, that almost kiss in the fort. "Definitely."

As he started to lean down I tried to recall everything I knew about kissing which was mostly stuff I learned from books. But then it was happening.

Stephen's mouth pressed up against mine and once my brain caught up I was kissing him back, my eyes fluttering closed. The kiss was slow and hesitant, like we were testing the waters. He pulled away and I feared it was over, but then his lips brushed against my jaw, my neck.

When his mouth came back to mine, open and warm, the kiss became more passionate, hungry. Weeks of pinned up emotions spilled out in that hallway and I was happily drowning it.

Then a burst of cheering forced us a part.