The next few days after Christmas are pretty quiet. Cory's Gran comes over a couple more times and by the fifth time she held Erin, she stopped crying in her arms. It was also a good time to get a lot of my schoolwork done. I managed to finish the essay that I started on the train along with my work for performing arts and dance.

"What date is it today?" I ask Cory, checking the date on some of the baby food in the fridge.

"Twenty-ninth I think," he tells me, not even looking up from his work.

"We'll need to buy some more later today. There's only a couple of packets left which are in date," I tell him, not really expecting a reply. 

I feed Erin before putting her down for a nap, which she practically refuses to do. In my arms she cries, balling her fists together and screaming as loud as she can. I try pacing back and forth with her, bouncing her on my hip, even going outside but nothing seems to work. As I walk back into the kitchen, I hear a knock at the door.

"Give me Erin, I'll try and settle her down. Will you answer the door please?" he asks, closing  one of his text books and reaching his arms out.

"Do you think it's your Gran again?" I ask as I walk over to the door.

"Either her or Missy coming home from her friends early," he comments, rocking Erin back and forth. Her tears have stopped now.

Before I have even had the chance to open the door fully, I am greeted with a loud 'hello'.

"I wasn't expecting to see you Lotte," I greet the girl standing in the doorway. "Come in," I motion her forward into the house.

"Thanks. How have you been Kristen?" she asks while walking into the living room.

"I'm alright," I tell her.

"Oh god, is this her? She's adorable," Lotte practically screams when her eyes catch sight of Erin.

"And she's only just got to sleep. Nice to see you again though Lotte," Cory says, standing up to give his friend a one handed hug.

"Well I was hoping I would have seen you before now. You've been here almost a week," she says but with a laugh.

"Well we've been kept busy," Cory says. "Do you want to hold her?" he asks causing Lotte to nod her head furiously at him.

He hands the baby over to her, showing Lotte the best way to hold her.

"Where is everyone" she asks after a few minutes of holding Erin.

"Missy is at a friend's house, my parents have had to go into work for some big meeting that couldn't wait until have the holidays and-"

"- and my mum is upstairs nursing a hangover." I tell her.

"Oh, okay. Anyway, I was hoping that you would want to come shopping with me Kristen?" she frames the sentence as a question.

"I don't see why not," I tell her; unsure as to why she is inviting my when she is more Cory's friend than mine.

"Great, is it alright if we leave in half an hour?" I nod at her with little more to say.

Thirty minutes later, I have my shoes and coat on ready to leave.

"You should stay over for dinner tonight," Cory says before we leave, addressing  Lotte.

"I think I will, thanks Cory," Lotte replies then briskly pulls me out of the house.

The two of us walk in silence until we reach the underground. I follow Lotte onto one of the tube lines, not entirely sure which one, and wait for my cue to get off.

"Where are we going?" I ask her once we are above ground again.

"I don't really know. Somewhere nice though. I've had my orders to take you out shopping. Let's head to Oxford Street first." She comments, taking my hand once again.

"So you didn't really want to come out with me? You got told to?"

"Now I never said that. This should be fun. Ooh lets go in here," she drags me into a small boutique which probably has very big prices. "What size are you again Kristen?" Lotte shouts to me while searching through clothes racks.

"A ten normally,"

"Great. Sit there and I'll find you some dresses," I do as I'm told and take a seat next to the changing rooms while Lotte searches through the clothes.

Ten minutes later she comes back with three dresses in her hands, all different colours and styles.

"Try these on, they should fit."

Taking the dresses from her, I gingerly make my way into the changing room. I examine the first one in my hand, green with full length sleeves made out of lace. Holding it against my body I see that it should be about knee length, maybe slightly shorter. With a sigh, I start undressing until I'm left facing the mirror in just my bra and knickers.

The first thing I notice when I stare at myself are the stretch marks which were non-existent this time last year. I've still not lost all of my baby belly either. It's not the body that I am used to.

Hastily I take the green dress and pull it over my head. I like the lace arms but the rest of the dress just doesn't feel right. It cuts off before the knee but I didn't realise before that it had such a deep V neck. Immediately I try and take the dress off, tugging it over my head with difficulty. It takes at least five attempts before I am able to get the dress off.

I have a look at the next dress, a simple little black dress with a zipper down the back. This one also has sleeves but only three quarter length ones. Gently I unzip the back of the dress before putting it on. I attempt to pull the zipper back up but struggle as I can't see what I'm doing.

"Lotte, are you there?"

"Yeah, is everything alright?" Lotte says, poking her head through the curtain of the changing room.

"Will you fasten it up please?" I ask her.

"Sure," she begins pulling at the zip, managing to get it so far.

I feel her tugging against the dress and the zip staying where it is. "Is everything okay" I ask her after a few uncomfortable minutes.

"I don't think it is going to fit. I'll go find it in the next size," she says to me before leaving the room.

Unzipping the dress, I step out of it, leaving it a scrunched up mess on the floor. I lean back against the wall, letting my body sink lower until I am on the floor. Why did I ever agree to this in the first place? 

"Kristen, I've got the dress," I hear Lotte say before she enters. "Oh what's wrong with you?" she notices me on the ground with my knees tucked up to my chin.

"Why won't anything fit properly?" I ask her, my voice barely above the sound of a whisper.

I feel Lotte slump down next to me, her arms reaches over my shoulder.

"I don't know. Maybe this is one of those boutiques where they make everything a smaller size," she tries to joke to cheer me up but it doesn't work. "I'm sure you will get back to the size you were before. You have to give it time. Now why don't we go for a drink instead. Forget the dresses," I nod my head at her, glad that she understands where I am coming from.

A few minutes later, the two of us are walking next to the Thames with the harsh, cold winters wind blowing against our faces. The clouds are turning into a dark grey colour, full of water which is ready to fall upon us at any time.

"Quick, let's go in here before it starts raining cats and dogs," Lotte chuckles at me, pointing to what looks like a greasy spoon café.

It is exactly that. There is a mixture of families with young children and older people sitting in the café, some nursing a drink while others are eating a full English breakfast to themselves.

"What ya want?" a middle aged woman asks us with a pencil sticking out of her ear.

"I'll have a latte and bacon butty please," Lotte chirps at the waitress.

"Same please," I tell her, not really sure what else there is to order here.

"I am going to cut straight to the chase here and run the big surprise. The reason why I have taken you out is because on New Year's Eve, Cory and your other friends have planned to go watch the fireworks like you have done for the past few years. Laura – that's her name right? Well she got in touch with me and have me some money to get you a nice dress for the night. Apparently you two have had some kind of fall out recently. Anyway, I thought you needed to know that so you know that I wasn't trying to play any kind of mind games with you," she informs me, playing with strands of her hair.

"Oh, that's nice of her. And nice of you to spend the day with me. Thanks for telling me though. I was wondering what the point of this was." I tell her, taking a sip from my drink which has just arrived.

"Yeah, well just remember to act surprised when the night comes," Lotte laughs and this time, I laugh back with her.

For the rest of the afternoon, we carry on shopping but this time I take a more relaxed approach to it. By the end of the day, I have managed to get myself a nice outfit to wear without freaking out too much about the size. I still wish I was a smaller size though. I know what my New Year's resolution will be this year.

Lotte comes back to Cory's parents' house with me and stays for dinner like she said she would. Someone mentions New Year and I see her wink at me from the corner of my eye so I wink back.

She leaves just before Erin needs to go to bed so I hug her goodbye and tell her I hope to see her again soon.

***
"I can't believe how cold it is," Laura complains, her arms (and Adams) huddled around her to keep her warm.

"It's almost like it's winter or something," Maddie smirks at her.

"Oh shut up you," I watch as Laura gives Maddie a playful shrug. 

The five of us are back together, surrounded by hundreds of other people who are all waiting for the fireworks. We met up with them just before seven in the evening on Westminster Bridge, overlooking the Houses of Parliament. I faked being surprised when I saw the other three standing there. Whether anyone fell for it, I don't know. Laura liked my new outfit, a burgundy dress with some new boots. Not that you can see the dress because of the big winter coat I am wearing on top though.

"I really hope these fireworks start soon," Laura glances at her phone for the time and complains.

"My guess honey is that they will start about midnight," Adam mocks her before he kisses the top of her head.

"What is this? Pick on Laura day?" She asks.

"Don't know but that sounds fun," I pipe in, winking at Laura.

For the next half an hour, we get as many digs in that we can at Laura's expense, which she takes in good humour. A few spots of rain threaten to ruin the night before the big countdown. Luckily the rain stops before the minute countdown is projected onto the fave of Big Ben. The chants of people echo around the streets, all counting down to the big moment.

When the countdown finally reaches one, it is met with a thunderous applause and cheers as the sky becomes alive with magnificent colours. I lean towards Cory, standing on my tiptoes to give him a kiss which he returns. His lips meet mine and stay lingering on them for a couple of a minutes.

"Happy New Year Kris" he whispers into my ear, pulling me closer to him.

"Happy New Year Cory," I say in return.

We do what we normally do and watch the firework show until it ends. At times it looks as if the whole city is on fire as everywhere you look, there are fireworks going off. It's definitely a sight to see.

"I can't wait until next year where after the show we can go drinking instead of slumping straight back to the hotel." Laura complains as they walk to their hotel. Cory and I decided we would follow them as their hotel isn't that far from the underground station that we need.

"Speak for yourself Laura. Next year I'll still have a daughter to look after. No drinking for me," I say to her with a little laugh which then turns into a yawn.

"Hmm true. Oh well, more drinks for us," I hear joke as she begins to skip towards the hotel which is now in sight.

"How has she got the energy?" I ask Cory is disbelief as Laura continues skipping.

"She probably wasn't up in the middle of the night with a baby," he says to me, giving my hand a squeeze. "Come on, let's go inside," he says, directing me towards the hotel.

"But don't we need to go back to your parents?"

"Nope. Surprise! I booked us a room," he tells me, walking towards the check in desk.

I follow him to the desk, not really believing him, even when he has the room key in his hand and we are walking towards the room.

It's a simple hotel room with a bed and a bathroom, not much else but I like the though of a full nights sleep.

"Both our mums are fine with this. They're happy to look after Erin tonight just as long we're not out all day tomorrow," Cory tells me once we are both in the room, pulling me down on the bed.

"That sounds fine with me," I say, leaning in to kiss him again.

It feels nice to spend the night not having to worry about someone else. Instead we can just enjoy each other's company.

It doesn't take long to fall asleep and when I do finally wake up, the sun is high in the sky. The first sun of the new year.

A/N: ahhhh I mean upload these chapters yesterday and completely forgot! It's been a busy couple of days!

I hope everyone who celebrates Christmas has a good time and for those who don't, I also hope you have a good time!!