CHAPTER TWENTY

CHRISTMAS LOVE — JUSTIN BIEBER
Like a beautiful tree, you can light up the room
But your kind of a star can't be removed

OLIVIA WAS CONVINCED that the next time she went to a grocery store with the boys, they would be better behaved. Third time's the charm, right? Apparently not.

Two days before Christmas, the band decided hang out in celebration of the holidays. This lead them to their local Target where the boys caused havoc, running amok and accidentally ruining a gingerbread house display. It got to the point that Olivia had to ditch them completely so she wouldn't get kicked out alongside them. By some miracle, she managed to buy all the snacks for their Christmas celebration and she was not the least bit surprised to see the group pouting in front of Bobby's car with a security guard watching them from a distance.

They spent the day in their pyjamas, munching on Sylvia's left over desserts and the junk food Olivia had gotten. Christmas movies played on the TV in the Montez's living room and it was a relaxing day for a bunch of people who were used to living life at a hundred miles per hour.

By the end of their second movie, Olivia retreated to her room, only to return with four red envelopes. The boys eyed them curiously. The group had agreed not to get each other gifts since they were all, more or less, broke high school students. They should've known Olivia was going to ignore this.

One by one they opened their envelopes. Each of them had gotten a hand written card and a friendship bracelet made with the colours of the sunset. Olivia proudly showed off her own as it was tied to her wrist and made sure to show them the one she tied to Solo's collar. She helped each of them put theirs on as the opening credits to their next movie played.

By the time Sylvia and Mikey came back from their trip to the grocery store, the five teens were knocked out on the couch with Die Hard playing in the background. (Bobby insisted that Die Hard was a Christmas movie and demanded that they watch it, even bringing his own VHS tape from home.)

The Montez woman let them sleep, finding the scene too heartwarming to disturb. In fact, she told Mikey to grab his Polaroid camera so they could capture the moment. The drool on Luke's shoulder, Olivia's bird nest of hair, and Reggie's wide open mouth would forever be immortalized in the picture they took. It was a shame that Alex's snoring couldn't be heard through the picture once it developed.

Hours passed and the teens woke up to the sound of Sylvia cooking dinner. None of them realized how late it had gotten and rushed to get home before their parents got even more mad at them for staying out the day before Christmas Eve.

They said their goodbyes to the Montez family, patted Solo on the head, and practically ran to Bobby's car.

Luke stayed behind for a moment to collect the sweets Sylvia wanted him to bring home to his parents, and he probably would've stayed longer if the boys weren't yelling at him from the inside of the car. With a laugh, Luke leaned in and kissed Olivia's cheek as a parting gift, completely unaware of what he had done until the boys pointed it out to him in the car.

Olivia's eyes widened as the door shut behind him and she spent the rest of the night as the victim to Mikey's incessant teasing.

The next day, Olivia's extended family arrived in the late afternoon. All of her little cousins swarmed her, asking her about Jason, the band, and the boys she was friends with. It seemed that her mom had let it slip to her Tía Elaine what she'd been up to in the past few months, which naturally, meant that the rest of the family knew as well.

If it weren't for Rose and Victoria showing up, Olivia would've been stuck in an endless cycle of gossip until the new year.

Rose and Victoria were the main reason Olivia was able to survive family gatherings. Don't get her wrong, she loved her family, but the majority of them had larger than life personalities that she needed a break from every few hours. Rose and Victoria, while the latter was a little less so, were relatively calm and they got along well, acting more like sisters than anything else.

They were both a few years older than her, Victoria just turned twenty while Rose was eighteen. Growing up as the oldest cousins and the oldest girls in a predominantly male family was tough. Their tíos were overprotective and their little cousins liked to mirror their behaviour. But they had each other.

The three girls retreated to Olivia's bedroom, narrowly missing their abuela who liked to lurk in the living room next to the stairs.

"So..." Victoria pried, getting comfortable on Olivia's bed. She gave the girl a knowing look. "Tell us about him."

Olivia gave her a look of confusion, glancing over Rose who was looking around the room. The older girl gave her a shrug. "About who?"

Victoria rolled her eyes. "About this new boy!" she exclaimed. Upon seeing Olivia's furrowed brows, she sighed and elaborated. "Tía Elaine told our mom that your mom said you and Jason broke up—"

"Which you're going to tell us more about," Rose interjected with a pointed finger.

Victoria nodded. "And that you're in a band with these guys—"

"Which is very cool, by the way," Rose interrupted again. "Your mom sent us your CD from that one dance you guys played and it was really good."

Olivia was shocked. CJ had given the band a bunch of extra CDs and each of them had a small stack that they could do anything with. Over the past few weeks, her pile had decreased significantly. She had no idea it was her mom who was taking them. She thought it was Mikey trying to make a buck by selling them at school.

Victoria groaned at the second interruption and glared at her sister before turning to Olivia. "As I was saying, your mom said that you and one of these guys might be a little more than bandmates?"

Olivia's mind immediately went to Luke.

"What? No." Olivia tried to act like she had no idea what Victoria was talking about, but the more she thought about Luke, the harder it became. "There's no one."

Rose watched her fail miserably and gave her a look that screamed 'really?'. She moved to sit next to Victoria while Olivia paced in front of them. "You're a shit liar."

Olivia caved, the only image in her mind was Luke's face and the stupid green sparkles he had in his eyes. "Okay, fine," she admitted. It would be good for her to talk to a girl her age about this. "His name is Luke and he's the lead guitarist."

"It's always the guitarist, isn't is?" Rose whispered to her sister.

Victoria hit her arm and turned to Olivia. "Tell us about him," she requested with a small smile.

"He's the best," Olivia confessed, letting go of anything that might've been holding her back. "And it's weird because he used to be friends with Jason and I never gave him much thought, but then we became friends and it's like wow, I was missing out on so much." She let out a small laugh. "And he's so incredibly talented, like you should read the songs we've written together, it's insane! It's like we're on the same wavelength. And he's really sweet and funny, and I know you'd love him."

The older girls shared a knowing look, discreetly glanced over at the window, then smirked at the girl in front of them.

"I don't like him though," Olivia stated, not sure if she was trying to convince herself or her cousins. "If I did, it would mess up the whole band dynamic and that can't happen. We're just friends."

"Friends who keep pictures of each other on their bedside table?" Rose leaned over and picked up the polaroid picture she saw earlier. It was the one Sylvia had taken a day before as the band slept. The band was slumped over in their respective seats, but Olivia was curled up into Luke's side with his arm around her shoulders, pulling her closer. "And cuddle?"

Olivia tried to fight a smile. "Shut up," she said, stepping forward to snatch the picture out of Rose's hands.

The girl laughed and pointed at the window behind her. "And scale each other's houses?"

"Huh?" Olivia tilted her head in confusion. A second later, her eyes widened and she spun around on her heel. Lo and behold, Luke was sitting outside her bedroom window with a grin on his face, his chin resting in the palm of his hand. There was no telling what he had been able to hear through the glass.

"Luke?" Olivia pushed the window open, ignoring the snickering girls on her bed. "What are you doing here? If any of my tíos see you up here, you're dead."

The boy waved at the girls behind her, then shook his head. "Nah, Mikey's got me covered." He pulled a small box from behind his back and placed it on the windowsill. "I would've taken the chimney, but it was occupied by some old bearded guy in a red and white suit. I think you might be getting robbed."

She took the small, poorly wrapped, gift into her hands and gave him a look. "I thought we agreed on no gifts."

Luke nodded. "I thought so too, but then you pulled a fast one on us yesterday." At her unimpressed expression, he chuckled. "I'm kidding, I got it for you a while ago. Open it."

Olivia slowly undid the bow, choosing not to say anything about the wrapping job, and pulled the paper away to reveal a velvet box. She raised her eyebrow at him, but he urged her to continue.

Inside the box was a necklace with two small charms on it: a sun and music note.

Luke nervously watched her reaction. Earlier that month he was shopping with his mom at the mall and she pointed the necklace out to him. When he saw the golden sun on it, he immediately thought of Olivia. He had no reservations about spending the money he had saved for a new guitar pedal on the necklace and even added the music note to it so it was even more customized to Olivia. He really hoped that she liked it.

He watched as the corners of her lips pulled into a small smile. "I know I always call you a star, but you shine like the sun," he said, feeling his heart hammer against his rib cage. She wasn't just any star. She was the sun, bringing light and life wherever she went.

"I love it," Olivia replied softly. Her eyes scanned his face and even under the light of her bedroom, she could still see the green in his eyes. "Thank you."

"You deserve it."

Olivia didn't know what she did to deserve the boy in front of her, but she was glad that she did whatever it was because no one has ever made her feel the way he does. No one has ever made her feel like the space between stars, patiently waiting to be consumed by a nebula, patiently waiting to reach her full potential. She had never felt like a flower on a spring morning, ready to bloom, or the silence before a thunderclap. He made her realize that she wasn't born to sit on the sidelines. That she wanted to be great or nothing.

The truth is that she had spent so long belittling herself so others could shine that she had forgotten what it was like to take up space—to be seen. She spent so long feeling like she was nothing that she forgot what it was like to be someone.

But she wasn't insignificant. She was important and she mattered.

So with Luke sitting in front of her, having gone out of his way to see to her, having thought of her at all, made her feel like she was more than what she thought she was. And she genuinely believed it.

He pushed her to be great, he gave her the butterflies Jason never could, and he never made her feel insignificant.

On top of that, he made her feel like a liar because she just told her cousins she didn't like him when she did.

Their bubble of peace popped as the door to Olivia's bedroom flew open. Rose and Victoria tried to act nonchalant and like they weren't just swooning over Olivia and Luke, and Olivia spun on her heel to block the window with her body. Everyone in the room calmed down when they saw that it was just Mikey.

The twelve year old shut the door behind him and Olivia stepped away from the window, much to Luke's dismay.

"Luke," Mikey panted, having just run up the stairs, "you gotta hurry up, bro. Tío Mateo and Tío Val want to come up to ask Livy about Jason and I can't hold them off much longer."

Luke chuckled and turned to Olivia. "Looks like that's my cue to go, trouble." He gave the younger boy a salute. "Thanks, buddy."

He waved goodbye to Rose and Victoria and turned to leave. Just as he was about to grab the trellis on the side of the house, he turned back to the open window. "Hey, Liv?"

She turned to him, her eyes frantic because she could hear her uncles walking up the steps.

"You look really pretty."

Her cheeks flushed and she shook her head. "You too," she chuckled, "but you won't be for much longer if my tíos catch you up here. Go!"

Luke laughed as he climbed down the side of the house. From the ground, he could see Olivia spin around, talking to someone who had just entered her room. He smiled to himself and looked down at the bracelet she had given him the day before. She hadn't seen it, but he added two pendents to it to match her necklace. With one last look at Olivia's window, he started his trek home.

By the time Olivia finished explaining what had happened with Jason, she was very drained. The second her tíos found out Jason cheated on her, they were ready to gather the rest of the family and storm the Cummings house. They calmed down once Olivia told them she already exacted her revenge by egging his house with her friends.

When they left her room, Rose and Victoria were looking at her with shit-eating grins.

"What?" Olivia questioned with a slight laugh.

"You're such a liar!" Rose exclaimed. "You and your guitarist are totally not just friends!"

"I agree," Victoria nodded. "You so like him and he obviously likes you back."

"As if!"

Olivia couldn't even deny it anymore. She liked Luke and whether or not that was a good thing had yet to be determined.

Victoria turned to her sister. "I couldn't really see him over Livy's big head, but he sounded cute. Was he cute?"

"He was really cute," Rose confirmed. She turned to Olivia. "You did a good job, Livy."

Olivia grabbed a pillow from her bed and threw it at the pair.

RAE SPEAKS !
luke climbing up to olivia's window and saying "you shine like the sun" got me like:

also yes, olivia's cousins, rose and victoria, are in fact julie's mom and aunt *gasp* the plot thickens!