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Flurries of white specks fell from the void above. The frigid temperatures had teeth sharp enough to bite through the thickness of his coat and puncture his skin, while each breath produced a puff of fog. He trudged through dense snow, arms quivering while staggered streetlights pop on as the sun sinks below the horizon. His face was numb when he finally arrived at the door of Lizzie and Joel’s house, where all the Lifers had decided to gather before Christmas. They wanted to craft, help decorate, and just spend time together in the off-season, since some of them would be busy during the holiday and some were going out of town.
After a simple knock, the door swung open to a welcoming expression. Lizzie. She was dressed in a purple sweater. “BigB! You made it!” Catching his gaze on her outfit, she stretched the sweater before her. The long sleeve contained an abstract silhouette of a small person with wings. Various colored, mini pom poms were glued around it, and the whole thing was overly garnished with glitter. “What do you think? Pretty ugly right? It’s supposed to be an angel.” She stepped aside to let him in.
It did look hideous, but something about the placement of the fuzzy balls reminded BigB of flowers, and with it, past memories. “It looks more like a fairy to me.” He stepped past her, hanging his coat with the pile of others on the hooks by the door. Swinging around, he gestured to his own sweater. “What do you think of mine? Eh…? Eh…?”
His green sweater held drawn strings of multicolored lights across it and a melted cookie with a wonky face at its center. “Oh… it’s wonderful!” Lizzie exaggerated, gaining a laugh from BigB. Lizzie waved a hand. “The rest of them are in here.” She guided him through the house and into a conjoined dining and living room filled with laughter, bickering, light music, and familiar faces. The refreshing scent of pine danced in the air, along with a faint smell of cinnamon and vanilla.
“BigB!” numerous voices welcomed, then returned to their activities.
Grian, Scar, Etho, and Bdubs were circled around a board game on the living room floor. Behind them was an L-shaped couch that faced a fireplace and an empty pine tree. Cleo sat cross-legged on the couch, munching on a bowl of popcorn while watching Martyn, Ren, Scott, and Jimmy sorted through ornaments from a tote box on each side of the pine and placing them on a small table. A short step ladder also rested beside the tree for later decorating of the top. Behind them all stood a wooden dining table where Gem, Pearl, Impulse, Skizz, Tango, and Mumbo played various games, such as Jenga and Uno.
“Now if you’ll excuse me…” Lizzie began. “I must attend to the-”
“Cookies?” BigB finished with the peak of his brow.
“How’d you know?”
Tapping his nose, BigB jokingly responded, “My nose can smell cookies from miles away.”
Lizzie laughed as she exited the room, leaving BigB in the room of growing chaos. Martyn was the first to call him over, “Hey BigB! Want to help us decorate the tree?”
“Sure!”
Grian exchanged a smile with BigB as he passed the group on the floor. Scar flung Grian a side eye, while popping a small peppermint candy cane into his mouth, “Well, Grian? Make your next move, carefully.”
“This game is too long,” Grian complained, tossing a pair of dice on the Monopoly board and moving his metallic hat across its properties.
Scar smiled all too brightly, leaning towards him with a wink, “But we can finally have a monopoly.”
“What makes you think this will turn out any different than our previous attempts?” Grian shot back.
Lizzie re-entered the room with a large plate of cookies. She crossed the loud space, placing the dish on a small table that sat on the border of both rooms. “Excuse me everyone!” Lizzie attempted through the cacophony of voices. “Excuse me!” She waited till all heads turned to her, most of them did. “Do not eat the cookies until I get back!”
“You got it!” Martyn shouted from beside the tree. She nodded towards him and escaped the room.
On the floor, Scar was next to move his pawn across the Monopoly board when he landed on a sensitive space: Liverpool St. Station. “I think I’ll purchase this railroad,” he announced, placing his money in the bank.
“NO!” Bdubs screamed. “YOU CAN’T HAVE THAT TRAIN! THAT’S MINE!”
“Now Bdubs, that’s not how business works,” Scar crossed his arms with the shake of his head.
“HOW COULD YOU! THAT WAS MY ONLY PURPOSE IN THIS GAME! I WANTED ALL THE TRAINS!”
“So how about,” Etho interjected. “I make you a deal, Scar.”
Scar’s brows raised at the word “deal” as he scooted a little closer. “I’m listening…”
Grian perked up, “No, Etho. Don’t make a deal with him. He’ll find some way to scam you.”
Scar sifted through his property cards. “Now Grian, Etho wants to make a deal. Let the man speak.”
“I’ll trade you Vine Street if you give Bdubs his last railroad,” Etho proposed.
“Well, you see, Liverpool St. Station costs more than Vine Street. However, if you throw in Marlborough Street, we have a deal.”
“Then you’ll have all three orange properties.”
“Those are my terms.” Scar shrugged with a crafty smile.
“Alright, give Bdubs Liverpool St. Station, give me The Angel Islington, and I’ll give you both Vine Street and Marlborough Street.” Etho finalized.
Scar scratched his chin before extending his palm towards Etho. “Deal.” They shook hands, then exchanged cards.
Upon receiving his, Bdubs illuminated, almost bouncing as his grin widened. “THANK YOU ETHO!” He threw his arms around the man. “ISN’T HE JUST THE BEST!” Etho glanced away, offering no change in expression.
Joel entered the room and passed them with a tray of steaming mugs and a bag of marshmallows. Bdubs perked up, like a dog at the sound of his favorite toy. “IS THAT HOT CHOCOLATE!” His head snapped to Etho, locking gaze. “ETHO, YOU WANT ONE?” Etho shrugged. “I’LL TAKE THAT AS A YES!” Bdubs jumped to his feet and raced after the hot chocolate.
Joel set the tray on the dining table and called out for the room to hear, “Hot chocolate has arrived!”
Gem sprang to her feet, abandoning her Uno match with Pearl. As she did so, her knee knocked into the table, collapsing the intense game of Jenga beside her and causing an eruption of complaints. “Sorry guys,” she shrugged. “Hot chocolate.” Skizz stood next, followed by Tango. Skizz grabbed a second mug for Impulse while Tango got one for Mumbo.
“Hey Joel!” Ren called from across the room, positioned beside the tree.
“Yea?” Joel swung around to face him.
“We got the lights on, but do you have a piece for the top?”
Joel put a finger to his chin. “No, I don’t believe so.”
From the floor, Grian stood, puffing out his chest confidently. “Make way everyone, for I am the star!”
A handful of chuckles emitted from multiple people, while Martyn playfully responded, “Oh yeah? Then what are you doing on the floor? You’re supposed to be in the tree!”
“You’re not shiny either,” Jimmy added.
“Just watch, I’ll show off my brilliance!” Grain said, walking to a box by the pine, pulling out a strand of lights, and entangling himself in them.
Jimmy giggled, “What are you doing?”
Determined, Grain ignored him, hiding the step ladder behind the tree and ascending it. When his knees appeared above the tree, he threw his arms in opposite directions and widened his stance as far as the ladder allowed, assuming the shape of a star.
“Quick, someone plug him in!” Martyn shouted.
Joel raced to the back of the tree, grabbing an extension cord on the way. He took the plug dangling off Grian, connected it to his cord, and inserted it into an outlet—cueing a mixture of awes and laughter—and darted to the front.
“How do I look?” Grian asked, wrapped unevenly in dazzling white lights.
“Stunning!” Mumbo chuckled from the crowd of laughter that had gathered around the base of the tree to witness Grian’s shenanigans.
“Well, the tree is not going to decorate itself,” Grian urged light-heartedly.
A handful of people grabbed ornaments and placed them on the tree. Keeping his arms extended, Grian carefully repositioned himself, balancing on one leg and extending the other. For a split second, Jimmy thought he saw wings in Grian’s shadow, but he guessed it must have been the trick of the light. He watched as Martyn nearly placed a shiny red ornament on the tree when Grian glanced down and whispered, “Not right there…”
Martyn playfully said, “Oh why, all seeing one?”
Grian responded, “There’s too much red there, move it someplace else.”
The laughter continued until Tango emitted a loud and unsettling gasp. A cold breeze whisked through the room, snuffing out the only candle on the dining table. Everyone fell silent, turning to face Tango as the crackling fire laughed from the hearth. “The cookies are gone!”
“What!” Joel shoved his way past the crowd to find an empty plate on the small table that Lizzie had left them on. He placed his hands on his hips and faced the group. “Alright, who ate my wife’s cookies?”
Everyone glanced towards each other, but no one responded.
Grian stepped forth, clearing his throat. “Ahem, it looks like this calls for…” he fisted his hands before his chest, securing a brown trench coat around his shoulders, a Deerstalker hat on his head, and straightened the glasses on his face. Removing a magnifying glass from an inside coat pocket, he threw it into the air. “An investigation!”
Jimmy rubbed his eyes, blinking a few times. Since when did Grian get a coat? Let alone down from the tree and untangled from the lights so quickly? He glanced around, but no one questioned it except for Mumbo who giggled, “Nice magnifying glass.”
Grian smiled, stepping beside Joel. “Alright. No one leaves this room until we find the perpetrator. Now… who’s got information regarding this incident?”
“PEARL WAS CLOSEST!” Bdubs exploded.
Pearl threw her hands up in defense, “Yeah, like I ate all those cookies in one go.”
“So there’s an accomplice…” Giran thought aloud, tapping his chin. “Maybe multiple.”
“It’s probably BigB,” Ren commented.
Everyone turned around, staring at BigB in his cookie sweater. He stared back at them, narrowing his eyes. “That’s just cold.”
“Skizz is looking pretty guilty right now,” Cleo chuckled from somewhere in the group. The crowd turned to Skizz. Fidgeting his fingers, his eyes widened as he glanced at all the staring faces.
“Okay! Everyone sit on the couch!” Grian instructed. People squeezed themselves onto the large couch, some sitting on the floor while others sat on the arms of the couch. Grian pulled over a wooden chair from the dining room and placed it in front for all to see. “Pearl you’re first, come sit in the chair.”
“Uh, okay.” She rose from the floor and sat in the chair. Joel flipped the light switches, transforming the room into a void where only one ceiling light cast a ray over the chair Pearl sat in, and the wavering light from the fireplace dimly illuminated the rest of the crew gathered on the couch.
“So,” Grian began. “What were you doing when Lizzie delivered the cookies?”
“Playing Uno with Scott and Cleo.”
“And then what happened?”
“Well, Scott went back to help decorate the tree and Cleo left to refill her snack.”
“Did you see either of them take a cookie?”
“Nope. Although, I continued playing Uno with Gem, so I didn’t see them afterwards.”
“Did either of you leave the table after that?” Grian turned his back to her.
“Yea, I went to the bathroom after Joel came with hot chocolate.”
Grian whipped around, throwing a finger at her. “Ah ha!”
“Please don’t start that again,” Martyn teased from the couch.
“But I didn’t take a cookie,” Pearl defended. “I came back and sat on the couch with Cleo and Gem.”
“Hmmm…” Grian rubbed a finger under his chin. “Then I call Cleo to the chair.”
~ ~ ~
“So,” Grian stood before the chair, pushing up his glasses. “What did you do after Scott left for the tree?”
Cleo stared into his soul, her eyes the look of death. “Went to the kitchen, got myself some more popcorn, sat on the couch and watched the chaos.”
Grian nodded. “Valid. No further questions.”
“WHAT?” Jimmy’s voice rang from the couch. Cleo only laughed. “But she could have easily left something out!”
“I’ll ask the questions here.” Grian jabbed a thumb to his chest. “Plus, she had to mom Monopoly for us.”
“What does that mean?”
“Well…”
~ ~ ~
Around the Monopoly board, once more, sat Grian, Scar, Bdubs, and Etho.
“Scar, stop harboring the money!” Grian complained—an untouched hot chocolate sitting beside him. “You’re supposed to give us two hundred dollars when we pass GO.”
“Uh, uh, uh,” Scar waved his finger. “You did not remind the bank, and your turn has passed. That’s not my fault.”
“YOU’RE SCAMMING US!” Bdubs attempted to swipe the money from Scar’s hand, but Scar moved it from his reach.
“You’re a horrible banker.” Grian crossed his arms.
Scar smiled. “Actually, it’s just how business works.”
Grian stared him in the eye. “Let me be the banker.”
Scar splayed his palms over his organized money set up. “No! I chose to be the banker first!”
“And I’m regretting it. Hand over the money!”
“How do I know you won’t do the same or worse!”
Cleo pushed herself up, abandoning her bowl of popcorn on the couch, and stepped between the two bickering children. She sat, squeezing herself between them and forcing them to scoot over. “That’s it. I’m the banker now.”
“YAY!” Bdubs threw his hands into the air.
Scar griped, “Ah Cleo… please don’t!” He sent a pleading expression to the man ahead of him. “Etho, tell her-”
Etho shook his head. “I’ve got no say in this.” Cleo nodded in approval.
Scar’s head drooped as he handed the money he kept from Bdubs to Cleo. “But Grian was the Bad Boy, not me!”
~ ~ ~
“Huh,” Jimmy said from the couch. “I don’t know how I missed that whole interaction.”
Grian’s eyes narrowed towards Jimmy. “Sus. But I’ll come back to you later.” He adjusted his hat and pointed his magnifying glass at one person. “Scott! Your next to the chair.” Scott exchanged places with Cleo. He plopped in the seat, arms crossed. “So, tell me your run through of the story, starting with your match of Uno.”
Scott locked eyes with Grian, reciting his story, “I played Uno with Cleo and Pearl. Left to help untangle a strand of lights for the tree, then stayed to sort ornaments with Ren. You should know, I was by the tree and your crazy Monopoly game the whole time.”
Scott purposefully left Jimmy’s name from the story in hopes Grian would forget about him, but Grian targeted him anyway. “And Jimmy was a part of that, right?
“Yes, bu-”
“Jimmy! Come to the chair!”
Scott released a sigh of frustration, and stood—arms still crossed. “What about you, Grian? How do we know you aren’t the one to blame?”
“He has a point.” Martyn chimed in. “This could all be a set up to blame someone else.”
Grian set his magnifying glass on the table of ornaments and plopped in the chair. “Fine.”
But Jimmy saw something different. When Grian sat in the chair, he sat in his ugly sweater from before his wardrobe change. No long coat, no hat, just his red sweater wrapped in a green tinsel garland. Jimmy blinked a few times. “How did yo-”
“So Grian!” Martyn stood, allowing Scott to take his place on the couch next to Jimmy. “What were you doing during the cookie incident?”
“Playing Monopoly, until I became a star.”
Martyn studied him when Impulse called from the couch, “He came to get hot chocolate.”
“Yea, he did,” Tango confirmed.
“So,” Martyn stroked his chin. “Leaving something out of the story, are we?”
Grian sighed. “I wasn’t gone that long. I chatted with BigB briefly, got hot chocolate, then went back to Monopoly.”
From the couch, Scar narrowed his eyes; his heart chipped once more. Grian’s words confirmed his suspicion. Grian had met with BigB in secret, again.
Martyn swung around to spot BigB sitting on the floor. “Can you affirm his alibi?”
BigB nodded. “We talked about which ornaments would look best on the tree.”
Scar sighed with relief. He remembered it was nearly Christmas. His mind was still stuck in the games that he forgot BigB was no longer a threat, he was a friend.
Martyn shrugged. “Seems clean to me.” He sat on the floor in front of Scott and Jimmy as Grian rose from the chair.
“Alright, back to business.” Grian adjusted the coat on his shoulders, leaving Jimmy to wonder if he was imagining all of this. Grian picked up his magnifying glass from the table and swung around, tipping the brim of his hat to face Jimmy. “Now back to Tim!” Beside Jimmy, Scott rolled his eyes—his distraction had failed. What did he expect, Grian never cut Jimmy any slack.
~ ~ ~
Jimmy shifted in the chair awkwardly, and Grian leaned towards him, magnifying glass over his eye. “What are you hiding Timmy?”
“This is just an uncomfortable chair,” Jimmy laughed nervously.
With the magnifying glass, Grian moved to the side of Jimmy’s face, less than an inch away, analyzing any change in his facial features. He noted a single bead of sweat dripping from the suspect’s temple.
“OKAY! OKAY! It was Scott!” Jimmy finally burst.
“JIMMY!” Scott shot to his feet, throwing him a look of betrayal. One Jimmy has seen before, so he knew this one was more playful than previous.
“Go on Tim,” Grian pushed, still looking at him through the glass. Jimmy had to pull his head back to avoid being touched by the thing.
“When Scott came over to help me untangle a strand of lights, he brought each of us a cookie, so we ate them.”
Scott said, “Yeah, but they were the only ones I took. The rest of the cookies were still there!”
Grian tapped the magnifying glass in the palm of his other hand. “So, there are more cookie thieves.” He scanned the couch, studying each face, eyes landing on a familiar anxious expression. “Mumbo.”
Mumbo nearly jolted. “Uh, yea?”
“To the chair!” Grian directed him with the point of his finger. “You know something.”
“Uh, I highly doubt that.”
“Mhm,” Grian pursed his lips, nodding. Mumbo sat neatly in the chair. “Now tell Mumbo, what were you doing during this crime?”
“Well, uh, after Gem knocked over our, uh, Jenga match, we played Clue an-”
“Ironic… who did it?”
“What does that hav-”
“Who did it, Mumbo?” Grian leaned closer, magnifying glass nearing Mumbo’s face.
“Um… Colonel Mustard.”
“And who was that?”
“I don’t really see how…” Mumbo trailed off as Grian came uncomfortably closer, removing the magnifying glass between them, narrowing his eyes in a fixed gaze. Mumbo’s eyes darted around the room until he cracked. “Skizz. It was Skizz.”
Grian whipped around. “Skizz! You’re next!”
~ ~ ~
“Now what’s your story?” Grian stood before the chair, crossing his arms with a skeptical glare.
“The same as Mumbo’s. I was playing Jenga, then Clue.”
Grian noticed the way Skizz’s eyes looked past him for a split second. “And your group involved Tango, Mumbo, and Impulse, correct?”
“Correct,” Skizz nodded.
“Then, am I safe to assume your whole group took a cookie?”
“What?” Skizz rubbed his arm, and avoided eye contact. “Why would you say that?”
Grian paced before Skizz. “According to Pearl, she and Gem left the dining table to join Cleo on the couch. And while I was busy shining for everyone at the top of the tree, Joel was the first to join us from the table while the rest of you straggled your way over.” Skizz glanced towards Tango who looked away, Mumbo who scratched the back of his head, and Impulse who just shrugged. “So…” Grian ceased his strides, turning to Skizz. He grabbed the arms of the chair with a glare. “I’ll ask one more time, did your group take the cookies, Skizz?”
Skizz whipped his head away from Grian’s expression. “YES! Yes we did! We, we saw the cookies on the table, and, and Impulse said, ‘Why not,’ so we each took one and ate them!” Grian straightened, brushing his hands with a “job-well-done” and a smile on his face. Skizz released a large breath, “Oh, that felt good.” And for a moment, Impulse swore he saw a halo appear above Skizz, but it must have been a trick of the single light cast above him.
Joel stood, hands on his hips, and switched his gaze between the group of known cookie thieves. “I can’t believe you all ate them!”
Tango raised his hands in defense. “Now hang on here. We didn’t eat them all either. There were two cookies left. Someone ate those too!”
Martyn raised his hand, rising from the floor, “That would be me. I ate one and took the last to Ren while Grian was busy being a star on the tree. I only saw two and assumed everyone had been eating them, so might as well finish the job, right?”
Cleo added, “Yeah, I ate one when I returned from the kitchen.”
“Me too,” Pearl admitted. “I took one on my way to the bathroom.”
“And I took one after Pearl left,” Gem stood. “They just looked so good! And you can’t have hot chocolate without a cookie.”
Bdubs sprung up from the floor. “I AGREE. I TOOK ONE FOR ME AND ONE FOR ETHO WITH OUR HOT CHOCOLATES! GRIAN HELPED.”
“Yea, actually…” Grian faced everyone who was now standing. “I took two, one for me and BigB, then took a third to Scar.”
Joel confidently raised his voice. “I also ate one—two actually.”
Gem threw him a curious look. “Joel, you ate them too?”
“Of course!” He rubbed his stomach with both hands. “My wife makes delicious cookies.”
Silence encompassed the room as they all stared at one another…
Until Mumbo spoke. “So… we all ate them…”
“Yup.” Martyn nodded.
“What are we going to do!” Skizz erupted. “Lizzie told us not to eat them yet. We’re greedy, horrible people!”
Impulse gently pat him on the back, offering his support.
Tango turned to Skizz. “Whoa, chill out man. We’ll make up for it. No point in dwelling on the past.”
“Tango’s right,” Etho said. “We have to tell Lizzie when she gets back. It’s the right thing to do.”
An upbeat melody came from the hall. Lizzie’s hum. Everyone faced the open entryway awaiting her arrival. Their heads dropped, holding a guilty posture. Lizzie’s hum ceased not too far from them, and BigB was the first to speak. “Sorry, Lizzie, but… we ate your cooki-” When BigB’s voice cut off, the rest of the group looked up to find Lizzie with a tray of freshly baked cookies in her hands.
She burst into laughter. “I knew you’d all eat them. I was just curious how long it’d take! I made more.” She nodded towards the tray. “And there’s a third batch in the oven now!”
The lights of the dim atmosphere snapped on, encompassing the room with warmth and comfort yet again. Colorful strands of lights illuminated the hearth where a soft fire clapped, and gentle Christmas music played in the background. Was it always playing? Jimmy wasn’t sure, nor did he know who turned on the lights because he didn’t think anyone moved.
“Oh, thank goodness,” Gem exhaled a breath of relief. “I was really worried there for a second.”
Smiles stretched along everyone’s faces as they raced to the tray of cookies, thanking the baker as they each grabbed a warm cookie. When Jimmy arrived at the tray and snatched a cookie, he glanced towards Grian who was dressed in his ugly sweater once again. The mysterious man smiled at him, and Jimmy began, “How did yo-” But Grian put a finger over his lips, taking a cookie and departing from the crowd.
“There’s plenty to go around.” Lizzie beamed as she watched their faces brighten upon each bite of her cookies. “Sharing is what Christmas is all about! Now who is ready to start karaoke?”
~ ~ ~
When Scar finished his solo, he exited the designated stage area—which was in front of the couch—and returned to a spot beside the couch, beside Grian. The crowd clapped at his performance. Sweat dripped from Scar’s forehead. He wiped it with his sleeve and attempted to fan himself, but when that wasn’t enough, he removed his ugly sweater. Grian caught this movement from the corner of his eye and yelled from instinct, “SCAR PUT YOUR CLOTHES BACK ON!” He noticed the white T-shirt Scar had on underneath and smiled. They both burst into laughter, reminiscing old times.
Lizzie stood before the crowd—the tree still unlit behind her, but fully decorated—and picked up the microphone. “Alright, who’s next?”
“That’s us, G.” Joel and Jimmy rose from the couch, each placing on a pair of shades.
Grian nodded towards Scar, who smiled back, and joined his karaoke group. He, too, took out a pair of sunglasses and rested them on his head. The performance began as they attempted to sing “Jingle Bell Rock.” Each of them sang good at first, but they drastically got worse. Their voices fluctuated and cracked on purpose, attempting to reach notes they knew they couldn’t. At the end of the song, they crossed their arms with Jimmy and Joel leaning their backs against Grian who stood in the middle and said, “Bad Boys out,” before dropping the mic.
“Oh, that was great,” Cleo teased.
Martyn clapped. “It was horrendously good.”
Jimmy smiled. “We’re the only awesome band around.”
“OH YEA?” Bdubs shot to his feet. “WELL, I’VE GOT A BAND OF MY OWN!”
Joel said, “Uh huh, And what’s it called?”
“B.E.S.T.! IT STANDS FOR ME, ETHO,” he glanced around the room, laying eyes on two other people. “UH, SKIZZ, AND TANGO!” He got up, beckoning them to join him in the stage area. “COME ON GUYS.”
“Have at it.” The Bad Boys took off their shades, exiting the stage area. Grian whacked Jimmy on the back. When Jimmy looked at him, Grian gave him a smile and nod of approval as the three Bad Boys returned to the couch.
Etho, Skizz, and Tango stepped forward, discussing with Bdubs which song they should do when Bdubs raced off. He shortly returned with pointy elf ears over his own, and shoved a Santa hat on Etho. “SAY IT! SAY IT!”
Etho rolled his eyes. “Alright, just for you.” He cleared his throat, and emitted his deep voice, “Ho, Ho, Ho!”
“THAT WAS PERFECT!” Bdubs pointed towards Lizzie. “NOW CUE THE MUSIC!”
They all began the song “All I Want for Christmas Is You” by Mariah Carey with the crack of their voices, “Ahh~”
Mixed reactions waved through the crowd. Some “Boos,” some “Oh no’s,” and some closed their ears while others laughed and cheered them on.
When their song ended, Lizzie and Joel had everyone gather around the tree to finally light it for the first time. Everyone counted down, “3…2…1!”
Beautiful white lights illuminated across the pine, highlighting the fun ornaments that garnished it. Jimmy glanced at Scott, finding the multitudes of lights reflected in his eyes—sparkling like stars in a vast night sky—reminding him of some distant memory he couldn’t pinpoint.
People went back to games, karaoke, and cookie eating while Jimmy and Scott stayed by the beautiful tree. Behind them, Grian horribly sang “I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas,” while a group composed of Tango, Bdubs, Scar, and Impulse sounded like they were gambling over Lizzie’s cookies. His friends were wild, dramatic, and rambunctious, but it was what he loved about them.