Chapter 81

I lie down on the sofa with Conor, with the mug of hot chocolate that Angela made me, in my hands. We all agree on watching ‘How the Grinch Stole Christmas’ that was just starting on TV. Angela was on the laptop showing Eleanor something, Jack was lying on a sofa, Anna was sat in front of the fire, staring at the TV and me and Conor we’re on the other sofa.

I don’t even get fifteen minutes into the film before I feel myself drifting off. Considering we went to sleep so late last night and I woke up at 9am, went into town, went sledging and built a 6ft something tall snowman, you could say I’m pretty worn out. The thought of me and El having to go home soon to wrap everyone’s presents is killing me.

“Lucy?” Conor nudges me slightly, snapping me out of my trance. He chuckles lightly before returning his attention back to the TV. I finish my hot chocolate and hand my mug to Conor so he can put it on the table that’s way out of my reach. I get back into the position I was in before I moved and start to drift off again. “Lucy?” Conor moans again, poking my cheek. “Don’t go to sleep”

“Why?” I groan.

“I don’t want you to” he whispers, trying not to annoy anyone watching the film intently.

“I’m tired” I sigh, frowning slightly and readjusting my position on Conor.

“I know baby” he kisses my forehead. “But you won’t be able to sleep tonight if you go to sleep now. And there’s nothing worse than staying up all night on Christmas Eve”

I chuckle slightly and let out a small moan, “Fine”

“Good girl” he winks and I roll my eyes. “Do you want to do anything instead of watch this?”

“I don’t mind” I shrug.

“We could try making that igloo” he suggests, smirking slightly.

“Alright” I nod, laughing afterwards with him. We both sit up as my phone starts to ring in my pocket. “One second” I hold up my index finger to Conor as I answer the phone to my Mum.

“Hey” I answer, walking out of Conor’s living room and pacing around his hallway.

“Hey. We’re all thinking of going out for a meal at around six ish, so do you and Eleanor fancy coming?” Mum asks.

“Yeah, sounds good” I shrug, although she can’t see me.

“Great, I was thinking that Conor and his family could come along too so why don’t you ask them?”

“Ooo, okay” I smile, sounding a bit more excited than I actually am. Although it’ll be nice for all our families to be together for Christmas Eve.

“Okay, well we’re going at six so come home soon to get ready” she tells me.

“Will do, see you later”

“Bye” she says cheerfully and I end the call. I put the phone back into my pocket and walk into the living room.

“Mum was just saying that we’re going out for a meal at six and she asked if you want to come” I tell Angela as I sit down on the sofa. “Conor, Jack and Anna too”

“Yeah sure!” she smiles genuinely.

“Eleanor, we need to go soon to get ready” I tell her and she nods. “But I’ll ask my Mum the details when I get in and text them Conor or Jack” I turn to Angela.

“Yeah, that’s fine” she smiles again.

“Text me” Conor demands.

“Alright, I’ll text Conor the details” I rephrase my sentence, followed by my famous eye roll, causing Angela to laugh.

Conor and I scrap the idea of building an igloo because we can’t be bothered and I’ll be going home in about an hour to get ready for tonight, so instead, we finish watching the Christmas film on TV.

When the film ends, me and Eleanor start getting ready to go home.

“See you later” Conor pulls me in for a hug and kisses my forehead.

“Bye” I smile up at him as we pull away. I already said bye to everyone in the living room so I walk outside the front door and wave to Conor as I walk away.

We get home at around four o’clock and talk to our parents about the plans for tonight. Conor’s family are coming at 5:30pm to stay at ours for a bit then we’ll go at 6pm. Once we’ve texted each other the plans, I start getting ready.

I called dibs on the shower first, so I get in and have a long shower just to piss Eleanor off. I walk back into my room in just my towel and Eleanor makes a frustrated moan before storming into the bathroom. I route through my wardrobe and pull out my black disco pants and a white cropped tee. I pair them with my white converse and plan on wearing my leather jacket, but I’ll put that on later.

I sit in front on the mirror and start to blow dry my hair which takes forever. By the time Eleanor’s had her shower and changed into a red skater dress, I finally finish drying my hair and begin to curl it.

“Are you wearing your converse?” Eleanor frowns, looking at me through the mirror.

“Yeah, why?”

“They turned out alright in the wash then” she chuckles.

“Well, they’re not exactly white again but at least they didn’t shred!” I shrug and she starts laughing. They’re just a bit of an off-white colour.

“Why don’t you wear heels instead?” she frowns.

“Because, Eleanor, my converse are much comfier and we’re only going out for a meal so I’ll probably be uncomfortable in them anyway” I roll my eyes and she just shrugs, continuing to style her hair.

“What time is it?” she changes the subject so I quickly press a button on my phone while curling a piece of hair.

“Ten past five”

“Time flies when you’re having fun” she says enthusiastically. Freak...

When I eventually finish curling my hair, I start to apply my make-up, taking time to do it because I have ages.

“Heeey” Conor walks into my room, drawing out his word.

“Hey” I say, a little startled that he’s here. “What time is it?”

“Twenty to six” he chuckles and lies down on my bed.

“I’m going downstairs” Eleanor stands up from the floor and takes one final look in the mirror before leaving. I turn around to Conor and smile.

“Comfortable?” I smirk, walking over to him.

“Yeah” he shrugs, putting his arms above his head. “This bed is the shit”

“What?” I frown.

“It’s comfy” he chuckles.

“Oh” I laugh slightly before sitting on his stomach.

“Ow, get off” he moans, pushing me off. I start laughing and he smirks. “Fatty”

“Yeah, I’m huge” I roll my eyes and he laughs.

“Come here” he sits up slightly and rests on his elbows. I sit on the edge of the bed and he grabs my waist and pulls me on top of him so I’m straddling him. “You look beautiful”

“Thank you” I smile, looking down at his chest and fiddling with the hem of his shirt shyly. He smirks at me but stays silent, lifting up my chin and leaning towards me. I lean forward to kiss him and lie on top of him, still in my straddling position. “I love you” I smirk when we pull away.

“And I love you” he chuckles. I roll off him and walk over to my mirror so I can finish my make-up. I start to apply my Baby Lips lip balm until I see Conor staring at me through the mirror.

“What?” I laugh, applying it to my lips.

“Nothing” he smirks, shaking his head.

“Want some?” I hold up my lip balm to him. He frowns and rolls off the bed, and starts walking towards me.

“No” he stares at me like I have 3 heads.

“You should”

“Why?” he frowns.

“Moisturises them” I shrug, putting the lip balm back in my make-up bag. I pull out some Vaseline and open the small tin. “Put this on instead”

“No way”

“Why not? They’ll be all dry from the cold weather” I shudder.

“I’ll just lick them” he shrugs.

“It doesn’t work like that” I start to laugh.

“Well men don’t wear that shit” he shakes his head.

“Oh god” I roll my eyes. “I bet they do. Just try it and if you don’t like it, I can take it off”

“Does it taste nice?”

“Don’t know” I shrug. “Try it”

“You put it on me” he smirks. I glide my finger across the Vaseline and reach up, rolling it across his soft lips.

“There” I smile. He sticks his tongue out and licks his lips.

“I don’t like it” he cringes and I start laughing. He looks like he’s sucked a lemon.

“Come here” I chuckle and get a tissue out of my tissue box. I wrap it around my finger and glide it along his lips, removing the slimy substance. When I’m finished, he licks his lips and lets out a sigh of relief.

“That was horrible” he sighs.

“You’re not supposed to lick it off, that’s why” I roll my eyes and he stays silent.

“I’m thinking of doing another YouTube cover” he changes the subject and I gasp.

“Go for it! What were you thinking of doing?”

“Something special by Usher” he shrugs and sits back down on my bed. I frown in confusion and sit next to him. He rolls his eyes, “I think we've got something special. Girl, you and me together we'll take over the world. You know I love you, I need you so. So happy, I just want to let everybody know” he sings and I gasp and nod, showing that I understand what song he’s talking about.

“That was so good” I smile.

“Thanks” he laughs. “It reminds me of you... Us” he says after a few moments silence and looks to the floor.

“What does?”

“The song. That’s why I want to sing it”

“Conor, that’s so cute” I smile slightly. I’m so lucky to have him. He looks up at me and smiles so I take the opportunity to kiss him passionately, climbing on top of him while smiling into the kiss.

“You look so fucking hot in those pants” he breathes during the kiss. I moan in response and chuckle slightly. “They’re the shit” he smiles and I start to laugh.

“I love you” I pull away from the kiss and bite my lip.

“I love you too, Luce” he smiles genuinely.

“Are you two ready yet? We’re all waiting” Eleanor sighs, storming into the room. I jump off Conor and sit up awkwardly on the bed. “Um, I’m going to pretend I didn’t see anything” she backs away, keeping her wide eyes locked onto us and eventually leaving the room. I look at Conor and burst out laughing.

“Come on” he laughs, standing up and putting his hand out to me. I take his hand and let him pull me up from the bed. We walk downstairs and meet everyone in the living room.

“Finally” Lauren cheers making everyone laugh.

“Sorry, I was um...” I trail off, thinking I could think of an excuse but I clearly can’t.

“We were just talking about Sweden” Conor thankfully interrupts me.

“Of course you were. Now let’s go” she rises from the sofa, clearly not believing us.

“Liars” Eleanor coughs as she walks past us. I roll my eyes and Jack starts laughing. I slip on my white ish converse and put on my leather jacket.

“Where are we even going?” I ask Jack, frowning slightly while we walk to our cars outside.

“There’s this restaurant in town” he shrugs and I nod. The plan was for Me, Eleanor and our parents to follow Angela, Conor, Jack and Anna to the restaurant because we obviously don’t know the way, so me and Jack both get into separate cars. I pull out my phone to distract me from the boring journey.

We follow Angela the whole way there while me and Eleanor just talk in the back of the car about boys and shit... The usual.

“So what’s the situation with you and Alex then?” I ask while we’re on the subject. She never mentions him anymore and I’m kind of worried. I feel bad for her.

“Well he apologised on the phone and we do talk a bit but I don’t think we’re going to go back to how we used to be. Not just because of what happened but because I live in Cheshire and I never ever see him. I don’t want to start getting feelings for him if I live two hundred and fifty miles away” she chuckles.

“Long distance relationships can work” I shrug. I probably couldn’t have one myself but hey, everyone’s different.

“No they don’t, Lucy” she frowns and I start laughing. “No, I’m good with being ‘just friends’” she uses air quotes.

“Aren’t you going to miss him?”

“Maybe,” she shrugs “but we can still spend time together and stuff. I’m not saying that we won’t ever ‘get together’ anymore. Just, whatever happens, happens. I’m not too bothered”

“Aw” I coo. “Will it be awkward when you’re together?”

“No, we sometimes call each other and we still text. Nothing’s changed but we’re just gonna try and stay friends” she shrugs. She’s so brave. I don’t think could move on from what they had so quickly.

“Does he feel the same way?”

“Yeah but he feels like what he did the other night has made me think all of this but I’ve been thinking it for a while now. Like, we barely text when I go back to Cheshire and I’m hardly going to see him again after this. Why should I stick with him when I can actually try and have a normal relationship? You know what I mean?” she sighs.

“Yeah” I nod, frowning slightly. “Well if that’s what you think is best then do it”

The car comes to a stop and everyone begins to climb out of the car. Me and Eleanor realise we’re at the fancy restaurant and jump out of the car, me having to give her a hand because she’s in heels.

“Lucy, my feet are getting wet” she moans, pulling her feet out of the snow whenever they slip in.

“Get on my back” I laugh and turn my back to her. She puts her hands on my shoulders and jumps onto my back, and I start to walk towards the restaurant when Conor and Jack get out of their car.

As soon as we get into the restaurant, Eleanor jumps off my back and we all walk towards our reserved table for 10 at the back. At one side of the table is Conor, Me, Anna, Mum and Dad, and at the other side of the table is Jack, Eleanor, Angela, Lauren and Matt in that order.

We get given our menus and we all talk amongst ourselves while deciding what to eat.

“Have you ever been here before?” I ask Conor.

“Yeah” he nods.

“What should I get?”

“Pizza” he says immediately as if he’s positive of his answer.

I laugh, “Alright”

“It’s so good”

“Is it the shit?” I smirk and he rolls his head back in laughter, bringing attention to us.

“Yeah, it is” he nods, laughing quietly. A few minutes later, the waiter comes over to take our orders and Eleanor kicks me from under the table.

“Ow” I screech and her eyes go wide. She looks up to the waiter and back to me. I turn to look at him and laugh slightly. He’s kind of hot, not gonna lie. Nothing compared to Conor though. I turn back to Eleanor and smirk, slouching in my seat a bit. He goes around the table asking for our orders and when it comes to El, she doesn’t talk. “Eleanor” I snap her out of her trace.

“Oh, um. I’ll have the um-“

“She’d like the lasagne please” Jack finishes her sentence and it takes everything in me to hold in my laughter. She obviously told Jack what she wanted before the 'hot waiter' came over.

“And what would you like?” he smiles at me.

“Um-“

“She wants cheese and tomato pizza” Conor snaps and I turn to look at him and frown.

“Please” I finish his sentence and look up at the waiter.

“Okay” he chuckles and writes down my order. “Any drinks?”

“She’ll have a coke” Conor orders for me again.

“Conor” I moan and sigh. “Sorry” I apologise to the waiter and he shakes his head understandingly. He takes everyone else’s drinks order and walks back to wherever he came from.

“Playing it cool, Eleanor” Lauren breaks the silence making the whole table laugh, except Conor.

“He was gorgeous” she drags her words and I roll my eyes.

“I’m just glad you told Jack your order before he came. The conversation just got more and more awkward” I laugh and she moans.

“I messed up” she sighs.

I shrug, “You’ll never see him again”

“True” she giggles. She looks at Conor then back to me and I roll my eyes.

“Conor?” I say quietly when everyone goes back to their own conversation.

“What?” he snaps.

“Are you okay?”

“Fucking fine” he sighs. “You know, Lucy, if I did something like that you’d go mental”

“Don’t start” I moan. I know I’m in the wrong here and he has every right to be mad at me but we’re at the table with all our family. That’s not cool. “Not here” I sigh and he immediately stands up and walks away from the table.

“Shiiiiiit” Jack drags his word out and I laugh slightly.

“See what you’ve done, Eleanor?” I tease, laughing slightly and standing from my chair.

“You’re the one drooling over the waiter, jheeze” she rolls her eyes and I start laughing. I didn't even do anything... Seeing as nobody’s noticed Conor’s disappearance, I leave the table without saying a word and walk around the restaurant to try and find Conor. Through the glass doors, I notice Conor sat on a bench outside on his phone. I sigh and walk out of the restaurant and sit on the bench with him.

“Conor, it was just a joke” I sigh but he stays silent and continues doing whatever he’s doing on his phone. “Conor, look at me” I moan and he rolls his eyes before looking up from his phone. “I only acted like that because of Eleanor. I’m sorry”

“You just acted like I wasn’t there” he frowns.

“I know and I’m sorry. You know I don’t want anything to do with him. I was just laughing because of Eleanor and it destracted me”

“Yeah” he scoffs.

“Conor, you know I don't want anything to do with him so I don't know why you're acting like this. I'm in a relationship with you. I'm the luckiest girl in the world so why would I give that up for some stupid waitor that's like, twice my age? That's paedophillia" I frown. "Conor, I love everything about you. I love how angry and defensive you get when you see me looking at other boys” I smile and he smirks slightly.

“I’m not angry”

“Yeah, yeah” I roll my eyes. “I’m sorry” I open my arms and pull him into me. We stay like that for ages until I realise how cold it is out here. It’s snowing and I’ve left my jacket inside. I’m going to get hypothermia. “But can we go inside now? I can’t feel my toes”

He laughs, “Yeah”

“Love you” I kiss his lips.

“Love you too” he smirks, taking hold of my hand and leading me inside. We sit down at the table again receiving a few weird looks from everyone.

Our food eventually comes and I have to say that this is the best pizza I’ve ever had in my life, and the take away we always get takes some beating.

“You like it?” Conor smirks and I nod with my eyes wide.

“So what are your plans for Christmas?” Mum asks Angela.

She shrugs. “I don’t really have any. I’ll just spend it with the boys and this one” she nods towards Anna making her smile shyly.

“You should come over for a drink or something at night” Mum suggests and Angela nods.

“Yeah that’ll be great” she smiles widely and I turn to Conor and Jack with wide eyes. They mirror my expression and I high five them both. I turn to Anna and give her a little high five making her laugh.

“I have a present for you too” I smile at her and she gasps.

“What is it?”

“You’ll find out tomorrow” I shrug and she nods, smiling widely. When we finish our meal, we sit around for a bit and talk while eating our deserts. Eleanor said that she wants to move to Australia when she’s older so we’re all having a massive debate about it.

“You do know how many spiders and snakes and stuff are in Australia?” Lauren cringes and Eleanor gasps.

“My grandma used to live there and she said that she once woke up with a crocodile on her bed” Angela explains and I nearly choke on my cake.

“Oh my god! What did she do!?” I gasp.

“My uncle was living with her for a few days so she just told him, and he managed to get it out of the house” she shrugs.

“How did it get in?” Mum asks.

“I have no idea. She must have left a door or a window open or something”

“Yeah my friend from work once went to Australia for a few months when he was travelling and he went to the toilet and there was a massive spider covering the whole seat. He said it was nearly the same size as the seat” Dad says. My eyes nearly pop out of my head and my whole plans of living in Australia have changed completely. Maybe I’ll just go there for a holiday... Maybe.

“Imagine flushing that down the toilet” Conor starts laughing and I hold my mouth in disgust. Disgusted noises echo around the table followed by laughter.

“I once went for a collage trip and I always saw massive snakes and lizards in my garden” Mum laughs. “The country is so nice but the snakes put me off. I can’t cope with little animals like that,” she cringes “but the lizards were cute”

“So do you still want to live there Eleanor?” Matt laughs and she shakes her head violently. She looks terrified. She’s worse than Conor when it comes to spiders. We all continue to talk for a bit until we decide to call it a night. We all walk outside – Eleanor on Jack’s back – and talk for a bit longer, wishing each other a Merry Christmas and stuff.

“I’ll text you about tomorrow then, yeah?” Mum smiles at Angela. I’m so glad with how well they get along with each other now. Considering they didn’t know each other until this morning and now they’re spending Christmas night with us. I love it!

“Definitely! Give me your number” Angela pulls out her phone at the same time my Mum does and they both exchange numbers.

“I’m going to miss you” Conor picks me up from behind and spins me around in the air to look at him. I laugh and put my arms around his neck. He wraps his around my waist and we stay like that for a while.

“I’ll miss you too” I mumble into his chest. We pull away from each other and I just look into his sapphire eyes. I never ever get bored of them. Anna snaps us out of our trance when she opens the car boot that we happen to be standing right next to. I jump slightly and turn to look at her stood with Jack. He picks her up and lays her down in the boot.

“Let’s see how many we can fit in” he gasps. “Lucy, get in”

“No, I’ll probably break it!” I laugh, looking at Anna lying straight.

“Will you heck. Get in!” he pushes me slightly so I shrug and climb into it, laughing with Anna as soon as I’m lying down. It’s seriously cramped in here but it’s hilarious. Eleanor walks over to us in fits of laughter, and Conor picks her up bridal style and places her inside the boot with us. She’s practically led on top of me and I’m struggling to breathe considering I’m laughing too.

“Close it” Conor laughs and I gasp.

“No don’t!” I panic. We’re so squashed in this little space that I’m getting really hot and clammy, but before I can convince Jack not to close the boot, he quickly slams it shut leaving us squashed in pitch black. “Eleanor, move!” I burst out laughing, pushing her off me so she’s not sat on my stomach. She sits on my legs, giving me cramp. “Oh my god, get off!” I shout in pain. She bursts out laughing and rolls off them. I can’t work out where she is right now but I’m comfy.

“Anna, are you alright?” Eleanor whispers. I don’t know why she’s whispering but I guess it’s just one of those situations. I can hear the boys laughing from outside the boot and my Mum’s arguing with Jack about it. Jack gets away with murder with my Mum so I know he’ll be laughing at her ranting.

“They’re fine! Listen. Guys, are you alright in there?” Jack asks us, trying to prove to my Mum that we’re fine.

“Don’t talk” I whisper, shutting the girls up before they can respond to him.

“Lucy?” Conor speaks.

“Anna? Eleanor? Lucy?” Jack beings to panic and we all start sniggering. He quickly opens up the car boot and Eleanor immediately rolls out, laughing her head off. Anna and I do the same and we receive evil glares from the boys. Mum walks away in satisfaction so the five of us sit in the boot with our legs hanging over the edge and Jack has Anna on his knee so we fit easily.

“Right, come on girls, we’re going” Lauren walks over to us, smiling. I sigh heavily and stand up, looking at everyone sat comfortably in the car boot.

“Wait, can you take a picture?” I gasp, pulling out my phone and handing it to Lauren before she can respond. I sit back in the car boot and everyone pulls a face while she takes the picture. I laugh and stand up with Eleanor to receive my phone. I show them all the picture and we all laugh at the outcome.

“I’ll see you tomorrow” Conor pulls me in for a hug and kisses me slowly.

“Bye” I smile once we pull away and go over to Jack to give him a hug.

“Bye smell” Jack mumbles during the hug.

“Bye weirdo” I smile as I pull away and he winks at me. I pick up Anna and spin her in the air before giving her a tight hug. “See you tomorrow” I say once I pull away from the hug.

“Bye Lucy” she smiles and I kiss her cheek making her laugh. Once Eleanor’s hugged Conor and Anna, we both make our way to the car and drive back home, pulling faces at Conor’s car the whole way. I upload the picture of us all in the boot to Instagram too.

“Told you, you shouldn’t have worn heels” I tut at Eleanor.

“No you didn’t” she frowns.

“Well I meant to” I roll my eyes and she looks at me like I’m a freak. As soon as we both take off our shoes and coats, I grab her hand and drag her upstairs.

“Lucy, what the-“

“We need to wrap these presents” I say in an obvious tone.

“Oooh!” she nods, picking up all her bags of presents from the side of my bed.

“Go and get wrapping paper and sellotape while I do this” I demand and she moans before running downstairs. I’m older than her so I’m allowed to say this. I hide her presents at the top of my wardrobe and turn on the TV to try and find a Christmas film that’ll keep us entertained while we wrap our presents. I decide on ‘The Polar Express’ and start to get changed into my pyjama shorts and oversized jumper I was wearing earlier.

“Got them” Eleanor slumps into my room. I start wrapping all my presents while Eleanor gets dressed and shit. “What have you got Conor?”

“I got him and Jack these fat ass cars they were on about that crash into each other or something. And I got him these shoes,” I hold them up to her “because Jack said he’d love them and some doughnuts”

“Why doughnuts?” she frowns.

“Because ages ago I stole them and, it’s a long story” I wrap up the story because she’ll probably hear the whole thing tomorrow when I give Conor his presents.

“Oh right, cool” she laughs.

“Well what have you got for everyone then?” I smile and she starts telling me everything and shows me a few things, keeping the bag I expect is full of my present’s, way out of view. “They’ll love them!” I gasp once she’s finished telling me everything.

“I hope so, it cost me enough” she rolls her eyes.

“Eleanor, Christmas is about giving, not receiving” I frown teasingly.

“Doesn’t mean I like it!” she laughs and I do the same.

Three hours later, we finally finish wrapping all the presents. I lie on my bed and let out a huge sigh of relief.

“I never want to do that again” Eleanor mumbles into my pillow, breaking the silence.

“Shotgun having a shower first” I raise my hand and roll off my bed.

“Feel free, wake me up when you’re out” El practically whispers and starts to get tucked up in bed. I’m only having a shower now because it’s Christmas Eve and it’s practically a rule to have a shower the night before Christmas. Plus, me and Eleanor took the piss and bought matching onesie’s to wear for tonight, and Mum’s cleaned my bed and my room’s spotless so I should make effort... I guess. And I know I just washed my hair like 4 hours ago, but it's full of hairspray and it just genuinelly doesn't feel nice.

The shower wakes me up a lot and I don’t feel near as tired as I did before. I don’t know if that’s a good or a bad thing considering it’s already 10:30pm. I get out of the shower and trod into my room, changing into my new snowflake onesie ((picture at the side)).

“El, get the fuck up” I jump onto the bed.

“I’m up” she jumps, sitting up immediately with wide eyes.

“You look high” I raise an eyebrow. “Come on, have a shower and you’ll be wide awake”

“Alright” she sighs, sitting up. “You look nice” she teases, looking at my onesie. I laugh and shoo her into the bathroom. I sit in front of the mirror and blow dry my hair. By the time it’s dry, Eleanor is out of the bathroom and is taking over the hairdryer. I put my hair into four plaits and straighten over them so I get nice waves in the morning. I leave it in the plaits and go to the bathroom to do my skin routine and brush my teeth. I’ve never put this much effort into going to bed in my life.

I go back into my bedroom so Eleanor can use the bathroom and I start to text Conor for a bit until she comes back.

To - Conor: miss you already

From - Conor: why are you so obsessed with me?

To - Conor: because you’re perfect, you’re my inspiration

From - Conor: I get that a lot

To - Conor: Of course you do baby

From - Conor: I miss you too;) I’ve just wrapped your present, you’re gonna love it x

To - Conor: I can’t wait!! And you wrapped a present!? x

From - Conor: of course I did x

To - Conor: I don’t believe you x

From - Conor: well I got a bit of help from my Mum... just a little bit ;)x

To - Conor: liar x

Before I can wait for a reply, Eleanor comes into the room and throws herself on me.

“You’ve woken up then” I laugh when I push her off me.

“A little” she shrugs and I roll my eyes. We carry our presents downstairs and into the living room to put them under the tree until I realise how much stuff is already under there.

“Oh my god” I gasp at the tree. The amount of presents under it is unreal.

“Fuck me” Eleanor mumbles. We spread the presents we have for our parents along the bottom of the tree and join our parents in the kitchen. While Eleanor makes conversation with them, I get out my phone and decide to continue mine and Conor’s texting where it left off.

From - Conor: shh;) you’ll be glad I didn’t wrap them, Eleanor’s didn’t turn out too well... x

To - Conor: oh shit, she’ll be devastated x

From - Conor: like I care x

To - Conor: don’t be so mean, nobody likes a bad boy x

From - Conor: you do x

To - Conor: omg how did you know?x

From - Conor: I know everything x

To - Conor: well don't tell anyone x

From - Conor: or what?x

To - Conor: or you’ll get it tomorrow x

From - Conor: omg stop sexting me;) x

To - Conor: you’re so dirty minded omg x

From - Conor: you said I’m going to ‘get it’. How do you expect me to take it?;)x

To - Conor: shut up... x

From - Conor: I win x

“Who the hell are you texting at this time, Lucy?” Mum frowns, snapping me out of my conversation.

“She’s smiling like a mad woman at her phone so take a wild guess” Eleanor rolls her eyes and takes a sip of her glass of water she suddenly has.

“Conor” Mum and Lauren say at the same time and I giggle slightly.

“You two are so cute” Lauren coos, squeezing my cheeks. I pull away and roll my eyes making my Mum and Eleanor laugh.

“You’re drunk” I tell Lauren.

“I’m not drunk!” she gasps over dramatically and puts her hand over her heart.

“Of course you’re not” I put my hand on her shoulder and she starts laughing. I’m interrupted by my phone ringing and I look down to see it’s Conor. “Gotta go” I stand up from my seat and answer the call outside the living room. “What do you want?”

“Oh, hello to you too!”

“I’m kidding, hey babe” I smile although he can’t see me. While I’m on the phone to him just talking about nothing, I’ve managed to climb onto every sofa and chair in the house, find out things in the house that I’ve never seen before and have probably lost about 3 stone. I can’t stay still on the phone...

“Lucy, we have to go to bed” Eleanor rolls her eyes, walking over to me.

“Who said?”

“Our Mum’s. Believe me, I tried getting out of it but ‘Santa’s coming’” she uses air quotes and shrugs.

“I’ll talk to them” I flick my hair over my shoulder and walk into the loud kitchen, still on the phone to Conor.

“Mum, me and Eleanor are fifteen now. We should be allowed to stay up till whenever in the holidays” I put my hand on her shoulder. I probably look so patronising but she’s drunk and will probably forget about this in the morning.

“Come on, Lucy. Off to bed now. Santa will be here soon!” Lauren slurs.

“Ten more minutes!” I beg.

“Nope, off to bed” Mum points towards the stairs. I sigh and lower my head, walking out of the kitchen and over to Eleanor.

“Well? Did it work?” she asks, full of hope.

“No” I sigh and I hear Conor laughing through the phone. “Night!” I shout to everyone in the kitchen and they all respond with the same thing. Me and Eleanor go back up to my room and lie in bed.

“So what are you doing?” I whisper to Conor, knowing that Eleanor’s trying to sleep and will be so grumpy in the morning if she doesn’t get her ‘beauty sleep’.

“I’m on the recording studio” he chuckles.

“Really? What are you doing?”

“I recorded the song earlier so I’m just editing it. I’ll probably upload it on Boxing Day” he mumbles.

“I can’t wait to hear it. How many views do you have on the other one?”

“Five hundred I think” he says. I can tell he’s really concentrating at the moment just by the way he’s talking.

“That’s amazing” I gasp.

“Lucy, shut the fuck up” Eleanor moans into the pillow.

“Sorry” I whisper.

“Right, I’m done” he sighs.

“Done editing?”

“Yep” he chuckles. “You need to listen to it before I put it on. I need your confirmation and the song is for you”

“Aw that’s so cute” I squeal and he starts laughing. I hear him shuffling around and I can tell he’s getting into bed.

“I’m adorable”

“You won’t be if your head grows any bigger” I tease.

“Shut up” he laughs.

“Make me”

“Lucy, shut the fuck up!” Eleanor repeats in a more aggressive tone. Told you she’s gets grumpy.

“Ugh, Conor I’ll have to go. Eleanor’s moaning” I sigh.

“Aw” he moans and I can practically feel his pout through the phone.

“I know” I sigh again. “But Santa will be here soon and you know what happens when he finds out you’re awake?”

“No, Lucy. What happens?” he asks sarcastically.

“You get coal”

“Shit!” he gasps. “Lucy, you have to go to sleep”

“I know, baby”

“Okay, night. I love you” he whispers. His voice sounds like his morning voice so I can tell he’s tired. His voice is heavenly.

“I love you, night” I smile, ending the call.

“Finally” Eleanor whispers.

“Shut up” I roll my eyes. She doesn’t even respond with a comeback. Wow, she’s tired.

From - Conor: Lucy, it’s Christmas x

I look at the time on my phone and see that it’s already 12:47am. I must’ve been on the phone to Conor for hours but oh my god...

It’s Christmas!