The ice that covered the sidewalk was what made me fall. My boots have no traction which probably meant that I should wear different shoes.

Groaning, I pushed myself back up and hoped Hunter never saw that. I hated being such a klutz.

Thankfully, just as I got up, Hunter drove past me with his passenger side window down so he could wave at me. He beeped the horn at me and smiled like a five-year-old that just got one of those giant lollipops. He stopped for a moment and reached to his side to grab something before dangling my bandana out the window tauntingly. Any trace of humor left my face as his grew even more amused.

We just met and I already despise him.

I watched as Hunter drove passed me in the direction that I was going. Hopefully he wouldn't see the need to stop by the diner.

That thought haunted me the entire time I walked to Danny's. Please don't be there...

I stepped inside the back door of the kitchen and started taking my jacket and backpack off as always. Grabbing my apron and tying it around my waist, I hoped that no noticed I didn't have my bandana. It was part of my work uniform. Plus, I really liked it; It was a good touch.

I pulled my hair up just out of habit and walked to the register. I almost ran into Brian on my way there and he gave me a weird look.

"Where is your bandana?" He asked. His was tied around his head like mom's do when they're cleaning house.

I smiled sheepishly. "I'm working on finding it." He chuckled and ruffled my hair.

"Hey, not cool!" I nudged his arm and grinned at him while fixing my hair again.

"Hey, Jay!" I heard my brother's voice. I instantly scowled and turned around to face him. Lilly wasn't there. She was sitting in a booth by the front window flirting with some football players from our school. That's my Lilly.

I ignored Reese since the silent treatment was the best way to handle the situation. I saw him tap his fingers on the bar impatiently, waiting for me to budge. This is what it's like with us two all the time.

"Okay, I'm sorry. But you were late." He tried to reason. I stopped what I was doing to look at him.

"Yeah, and what if something was wrong?" I challenged. Then he smiled wickedly.

"I guess we're even." He crossed his arms over his chest.

"How in the world does that make us even?!" I argued with him, my voice rising a notch. That's when our referee stepped in.

"Okay, okay! Reese, we can wait for your sister to get off work. Sorry for leaving you at the school, Jay." Lilly apologized sincerely.

"It's okay. Will your mom be mad if you get home around six?" I asked her since I knew that's when I'd get off. Leave it to Kelly to be three hours late. Probably her boyfriend troubles...

"She won't mind. Besides, I live a mile away from your house. I won't be too late." Lilly gave me a thumbs up before dragging Reese with her over to the football players that I don't associate with.

Lilly has always lived a mile from us. We're neighbors separated by a hill of trees and forest. We live back a dirt road that's only a quarter of a mile away from the highway, which was great for when we rode the bus and had to walk home.

Charlie walked in just then, looking hungry and ready to eat.

"Hey," I greeted him. He smiled his usual smile and sat down on a cushioned stool.

"The usual?" I asked and he nodded.

Once I brought his food back and sat it down for him to chow down on, he didn't start eating right away.

"What's bothering you?" He asked, sounding concerned. I stopped wiping the counter off with my wet rag and looked at him, surprised he asked.

"Just had a rough day. Boys- well, a boy at school is driving me nuts. Plus I got the other two boys at home to deal with." I gestured towards Reese goofing off with his teammates.

Charlie smiled a crooked smile at me. "What's this boy at school giving you trouble for?" He asked. I didn't mind telling Charlie since he was like my grandfather. But, I didn't want him telling my dad that I'm talking to boys or he'll try and give me the talk. I shuddered at the thought.

"He took something of mine and won't give it back. It's not a big deal. Besides, I'll get it back." I narrowed my eyes and laughed at myself. I would definitely get it back.

"This boy doesn't have to be my grandson does it? He's a trouble maker and it's hard for me to keep up with the nuisance." He shook his head disappointingly but still smiled to let me know he was joking.

"Charlie! I'm sure he's not a nuisance. What's his name?" I asked, completely oblivious to who he was talking about.

"Hunter Smith. Know him?"

I felt my face drop. Of course it was him. He is related to one of my favorite people.

"Oh, uh, no. I don't know him." I said. I had to make sure my dad didn't find out about me almost dying. He'd kill me himself.

"You probably will soon with how big his personality is..." Charlie didn't even notice my white lie. That's good.

"Yeah, well, I have to get back to work. Talk to you later, Charlie." I said quickly before disappearing to the kitchen to help out a little bit.

*****

"That kid has some guts. He obviously doesn't know me." Lilly gestured to herself. She was now seated in the passenger side while I drove us to her house. I wanted to make sure she didn't get in trouble for being late.

"Oh yeah. I'm sure he'd feel bad for messing with me after you flicked his ear a couple times." I laughed at my own lame joke and heard Reese chuckle.

"Whatever! I could take him any day." She grinned. I smiled over at her.

"Okay, I'm gonna remember that." I said as I pointed my finger at her. She just shook her head and unbuckled her seat belt since we were pulling into her house.

I got out of the car and stepped into the snow on the ground. The snow was sprinkling from the sky now and leaving a fresh layer of snow on the ground.

"You don't have to come in." Lilly told me. I knew I didn't have to, but to be honest, I just wanted some of Mrs. Bradshaw's famous Christmas cookies that she always had in her kitchen this time of year.

Lilly chuckled when she realized why I wanted to come in.

"Mom! Dad! I'm home and I brought my victim!" She shouted as she stripped her coat off. I raised an eyebrow at her, genuinely confused for a moment.

"What?" I asked her. A wicked grin crossed her face just as her mother came in to the thresh hold.

"Jasey! Hey!" She smiled happily at me. I waved and smiled back, then I batted my eyelashes.

"Oh, I know what you want. And, Lilly, hun, why is Jasey your victim?" Her mother asked her as she scurried I to the kitchen. I heard her open a container and rip a napkin off its role.

"Remember how you asked me to do some more Christmas shopping tomorrow for grandma Bennett?" Lilly asked innocently. Oh no. Her grandma Bennett was a woman that was older than the blue ridge mountains. She was also as cranky as a cat after they're thrown in water. She lives in a nursing home in Morgantown somewhere and ever year the Bradshaw's send Lilly and her older sister to get her a present and visit her. Now that Jasmine is away at college in Marshall, Lilly was expected to do it this year.

She told me about it after she figured that out and she tried to sucker me in to going. Why would I want to go see a grouchy old grandma that tells you that you look like a gorilla when you go see her?

I frowned at my best friend as she stared at me evilly.

"Jasey decided to go with you? That's great!" Mrs. Bradshaw came back into the kitchen with probably six cookies wrapped in a few napkins.

"Now I don't have to worry about Lilly being by herself. Thank you, Jasey." Mrs. Bradshaw said goodnight to me before she walked back into the living room where her husband probably was.

"You're such a bully." I joked with Lilly. She laughed and opened the door for me. The wind blew in some snow from outside making Lilly shiver.

"See you bright and early tomorrow morning." She beamed at me.

"Wait, tomorrow's already Saturday?!" I almost yelled. Lilly laughed again and closed the door behind me. I grumbled incoherent words as I made my back to the car only to find Reese sitting in the driver's seat. Instead of yanking him out, I hurried to the other side and got in so I wouldn't freeze my nose off.

"What do you think you're doing?" I demanded from him. He put the car in reverse and backed carefully out of Lilly's driveway before pulling into the main road.

"I'm driving, what's it look like?" He said sarcastically.

"C'mon," he started after seeing my disapproving look, "you and me both know I can drive perfectly fine. I just need a license to do it legally." He shrugged his shoulders.

"Okay, but please be careful. I'll even give you one of Mrs. Bradshaw's cookies." I dangled a ginger-bread man shaped one in the air and a few sparkly green sprinkles fell onto my lap.

"Oh, yum." Reese licked his lips for emphasize. He loved them as much as I do.

When we pulled into our driveway, I saw past the few branches sticking out in the road to see the front of our double-wide house. It looked so small from the outside but had three bedrooms and two bathrooms on the inside. Even a basement, too. It was plenty big enough.

My eyes lingered to the colorful string of lights that were stuck to the gutters of our house. Dad never puts up lights unless Amanda comes over to do it. She thinks that we need to get a little bit into spirit.

"We put a real Christmas tree up every year! Isn't that getting into the spirit?" My dad would argue. Amanda would always argue her side, though.

"Bo, it looks nice with the lights up. You don't even have to take them down if you don't want to." She would say as she put her hand on her hip. I actually liked Amanda. Especially since she only came over when she was needed.

But the lights weren't the thing that caught my attention. It was Amanda's red little Toyota that did. She was never at our house at this time. She always had her own home to tend to in the evenings.

Reese must have been wondering the same thing since we both bolted out if the car at the same time. Dad's work truck was pulled out of the way in its usual spot. I couldn't help but wonder: was something wrong?

"Hello? Dad?" I called through the house since I was the first one in.

I could smell a turkey being baked and the potatoes and gravy to go with it. There was loud Christmas music being played in the living room with two people's familiar laughter to go along with it. After slipping my shoes, jacket, and backpack off, I skidded to a stop by the living room to see my dad and Amanda slow dancing. They were both laughing since my dad couldn't dance to save his life. He dipped her down at pulled her back up. My eyes widened.

"Way to go dad!" Reese wolf whistled at him, a cookie from Lilly's mom in his hand.

Dad's head shot up to see us standing in the doorway, a smirk on Reese's face and a confused look on mine. Amanda bit down on her bottom lip; she suddenly looked nervous.

"Hey, Amanda. Food smells good." I told her. I couldn't get one scary thought out of my mind. One that I'm sure we were all thinking.

"Thank you!" She beamed as she wiggled out if my dad's grip and walked over to me. "I know you like turkey and you love your mashed potatoes and gravy!" She patted my shoulder and scurried in to the kitchen. Reese followed after her since he was like hound dog that caught scent of it's prey.

Amanda was right about the mashed potatoes. I love them in any form, not just mashed. Why was she bribing me? That same scary thought crossed my mind once again...

"Have a good day?" My dad asked, snapping me out of my thoughts. I looked up to see him sitting by the piano and he patted the seat in front of it. I crossed our now crowded living room thanks to the Christmas tree and sat down at the piano. It was a tradition that I played a Christmas song at least once every year. My dad practically begged me to.

"It was okay," I lied. And now it's getting worse...

"Good. I have something very important to tell you kids after dinner." My dad's smile reached all the way up to his eyes and it made them wrinkle on the edges. That was the same smile he got when he beat Reese or me up the driveway from a trip down to get the mail. That was the same smile that he had on his face when One us kids did something to make him laugh. That was his happy smile.

I wiped my sweaty palms on my jeans and put my hands on the keys of the piano, eager to get away from the conversation.

"I want to ask you something first, 'cause I know you'd want some input and I want your opinion." He talked over my playing as I played the song "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer". I glanced at him through the corner of my eyes, only catching a glimpse of him scratching his prickly jaw.

"I want to know," He started to say a little louder as I played faster and the sound went up a notch, "if you'd be okay with me marrying Amanda." He finally got out. My hands missed the wrong key and my playing faltered. I already saw it coming, so why was I so surprised? Closing my eyes and taking a deep breath, I turned to my dad and put on the most reassuring smile I could muster up.

"Of course I'd be fine with it." I told him a little too over dramatically. He stood up just as I did and I wrapped my arms around his torso, squeezing him right. This is where a I lose him.

I couldn't tell my dad that I didn't want him to marry Amanda because I wanted to still be his number one girl. I was daddy's girl, for heaven's sake. My dad seemed super happy about this and I wasn't about to ruin it. No matter how much I didn't want it to happen.

"Dinner's ready!" Amanda called. Dad kissed the top of my hair and let go of me. I stood there for a moment longer before following behind slowly into the kitchen.

We all ate our delicious food while talking about our day. I left out the part where a really annoying guy won't give me back my bandana so my dad wouldn't ask a billion questions and let everyone else talk. I was always a good listener, standing by and watching while everyone else got the spotlight was one if my specialties. I hated attention, what could I say.

My dad popped the question once we were all sitting in the living room. I was asked to play a song while everyone chatted. We even got Grant on Skype to watch the while thing. He's known Amanda for a while. Mom and dad got a divorce about five years ago and dad met Amanda about three years ago. So, Grant knew her before he left. He approved of her.

Was I the only one unhappy?

______________

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