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christmas day 2013

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IT WAS CHRISTMAS. linnea's favorite time of the year. she always looked forward to it because it was the day the bearman family would spend the evening at their house. her and her bestfriend ollie were always allowed to have sleepovers on christmas so they could open their presents together in the morning.

the six year old girl woke up and immediately realized what day it was. christmas. she bolted out of her bed almost tripping on her sheets, while singing "it's the most wonderful time of the year".

the girls mother, belle, could already hear her hobbling down the stairs at a rapid pace and chuckled to herself. she was making pancakes, like she always did on christmas eve day. her husband, richard was sipping his coffee at the kitchen island. "here she comes," he sighed. rick was definitely not a morning person.

"MOMMY DADDY, IT'S CHRISTMAS!" she yelled as soon as she entered the kitchen. "good morning to you too sweetheart." rick muttered, while belle went over to kiss little linnea's head. "we know baby, go wake up your sister for breakfast," she smiled. "it's pancakes." she added with a wiggle of her eyebrows.

linnea's eyes sparkled as she nodded, immediately sprinting out of the kitchen and back up the steps to go wake her little sister lisa.

"almost forgot how hyper she gets on christmas." richard said to his wife. "you know why." belle smiled as she turned off the stove, moving the plate of pancakes to their kitchen island. the tall barstools at the island made it serve as a perfect place to eat breakfast.

as linnea and lisa both came running down the stairs and into the kitchen, their father helped them into the tall chairs. "when are ollie and his family coming, mummy?" linnea questioned while shoving a fork full of pancake in her mouth.

"no talking while chewing young lady," she scolded first but smiled after, "and the bearmans are coming around 4pm, ollie has a karting race today so they're a bit later then normal." belle told her daughter. "whatttt? but that's so long still it's only like.." linnea started counting on her fingers for some odd reason, "it's only like 8am."

richard smiled as he pat his daughter on the head. "no lin, it's already 11am, only five more hours until they get here." he told her. "yes!" she exclaimed, again while chewing on a piece of pancake.

"what did i say about talking while chewing, linnea?" her mother asked. "no talking while chewing." linnea said with an eye roll as she went back to her pancake. richard chuckled as he looked at his wife. belle looked at him and mouthed 'this was your fault'. richard only shrugged.

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linnea had asked her mother what time it was atleast 10 times in those five hours they had waited. until finally, the doorbell rang. little linnea sprung up from the couch and raced to the front door.

she leaped into her bestfriends already open arms, like they hadn't seen each other in years (when really they saw each other two days ago). the boy was quite a bit taller then her as he was almost two years older. "happy christmas nea." he said as he let go of her, "happy christmas ollie." she smiled back at him.

the adults greeted each other with big hugs and ushered the kids inside, as it was snowing. ollie's siblings thomas and charlotte had also come along. thomas was more around linnea's age but they never clicked as well as she and ollie did.

as the oldest kid, ollie was eight right now, while linnea was six. thomas was also six, then linnea's little sister lisa had just turned five. ollie's little sister charlotte was four. lisa and charlotte were always trouble when they got together. they had also become fast friends, much like their older counterparts. it wasn't that thomas wasn't included, he just liked to do his own thing.

as everyone gathered in the living room of the evermoore home, richard put on the movie 'home alone', a christmas ritual. the bearmans would come to the house, they'd watch home alone and eat dinner. after dinner the kids had time to play for a bit until they had to go to bed around 8:30pm. and that's exactly what they did.

*.•🌷•.*

as the morning sun peeked through the curtains in linnea's room, ollie woke up to linnea shaking him violently. "wake up, you sloth." she told him. ollie groaned while stretching, "leave me alone nea." he mumbled while definitely falling back asleep.

linnea grumbled as she started shaking him again, "come ON oliver, those present won't open themselves!" she slightly raised her voice. ollie's eyes sprung open as he sat up and looked at her. she nodded with the biggest grin ever on her face.

ollie sprung up as he grabbed her hand, dragging her through the hall and down the stairs. they giggled as they raced to the beautifully decorated christmas tree in the living room. under the tree were loads of presents, obviously because there were 5 kids in the home.

as the two friends started opening their presents, the adults came down the stairs. belle and terri (ollie's mom) gave each other a knowing smile as they continued into the kitchen, going for their morning coffee. they also started making breakfast for all the childeren, and of course, themselves.

as the four adults were drinking their coffee, david, ollie's father, spoke. "richard, belle, me and terri have something to tell you guys. we didn't want to ruin the mood yesterday because of the kids but we do want to tell you." david said with a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. "go on." belle said.

"we're moving to italy in february."

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february 11th 2014

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today was the day ollie was leaving. linnea didn't want to come out of bed, as if it would postpone the inevitable. belle had to physically pick the girl out of her bed as if she were still a baby.

linnea didn't wanna see them leave. she didn't wanna see ollie leave, but she knew she had to say goodbye.

as the morning progressed, linnea was not her usual smiley self. she didn't ramble on and on about random things, in fact, she barely said a word.

belle had stayed home to watch over lisa as richard drove himself and linnea to the airport, to say goodbye to the bearman family. linnea didn't sing along to the radio like she always did. she didn't feel like it.

when they finally arrived at the airport, the bearman family met them inside. ollie didn't say anything as he pulled the little girl in for a hug. they stood there for a while. when they finally pulled away, linnea's face was tear-stained as she sniffled.

"i'm gonna miss you ollie." she whispered. he smiled as his eyes also started filling with tears, "i'm gonna miss you more nea." he said.

the family's gate got called and they left. linnea was still sniffling on the way back from the airport. as they got home, belle gave her daughter a hug. linnea was inconsolable. she cried for what felt like hours in her mothers arms, until she fell asleep.

richard carried his daughter to her bed and stroked her hair for a while, hoping that somehow it would ease his little girls pain.

but nothing could ease the pain of losing a bestfriend.

*.•🌷•.*

authors note: this was so dramatic lol anyway i'm kinda choked up after writing this🤗

also i couldn't find the name of ollie's sister so i made it up‼️‼️ i ALSO couldn't find the ages of ollie's siblings so i just did what i thought felt right 😞😞