SEBASTIAN
I watched Audrey walk away from behind a statue. Wow, not suspicious at all Sebastian. After she was gone I walked to the shop that I had been eyeing since we entered the town square. I took a deep breath before entering the shop, the warm air rattling the cold out of my bones, walking up to the counters and looking at what they had.
"Hello sir, is there anything you are looking for in particular?" The shop employee looked like a kind woman, she would be able to help me.
"Yes, I was wondering if," I pulled out my phone to find the picture I saved last night, "if you had this in stock?"
"Let me get the manager for you, that looks like one of our exclusive ones, he's an absolute pro at them, knows the product code just by the picture alone."
After a while, she returned, the manager in tow. He looked at the picture and typed a code into the tablet, pulling up the picture. "This one sir?"
"Yes, do you have any left in stock?" I could feel the nerves building, like coiling in my stomach.
"What size do you need?" He checked for the size before smiling. "We do, I'll get it for you and then we can talk more."
He returned with it and when I saw it my jaw dropped. "This, of course, is beautiful as is but if you want it can be personalised."
"Do tell me more." After that, I walked out of the shop excited and feeling like I could fly. I pulled the scarf around my neck tighter and made my way to the cafe, putting the bag into my other bag.
When I arrived at the cafe I made my way to Audrey and Margo. "Where's Emma?"
"She went to the bathroom so if you want to get a drink or something you might wanna do that now," Margo answered, taking a bite of a brownie.
"Did you get what you needed?" Audrey asked, sipping her hot chocolate.
"Yeah, I love it. Alright, I'm gonna go get that drink then...and maybe a brownie, that looks good."
Margo smiled and nodded. "Oh it's so good Sebastian, I feel like I'm in heaven."
"Amazing, I'm getting it." I went up and got my order, joining the girls just in time for Emma to come out of the restroom and take her seat. We spent our time observing and talking, we may be on a mission but that doesn't mean we can't have fun ourselves.
We stayed for about an hour before leaving when Emma had another restroom break. We joined up with the rest of the family and got mini pancakes from a small stall before heading back to the cabin.
Eventually, Emma joined us and we all had dinner before gathering in the movie room to watch a cliche Christmas movie with hot drinks and a mouth-watering dessert. As we sat in this room together, Audrey in my arms, I knew that if you told eighteen-year-old me that this is what my life would become, he wouldn't have believed you and probably would've broken down in tears.
The next morning began the excitement for Christmas Eve. We spent the morning relaxing and secretly doing some last-minute wrapping when there was a knocking at the door. We had gathered in the conservatory to play a group game of charades and it was going...terribly. Up on centre stage was Matthew doing who knows what, everybody was guessing, no one was getting it right, until Audrey that is.
"Is this Nicki Minaj's Starships?"
"Yes! I knew you'd get it, Audrey you are so smart." Matthew fell back into the sofa, he wife cuddling into his arm as he placed a kiss on her head.
Audrey began her turn, she was a lot better than Matthew and everybody was shouting their guess, it was a madhouse.
"Oh, I know! It's Here I Am by Logan Lewis!" Margo shouted, it was correct. Of course she would know the charade for her boyfriend's song.
"Yes, he's here." She replied, looking to the door. I followed her gaze to see Logan standing there, a beaming smile on his face.
"What? He's-" she turned around at the speed of light, squealing and running to him, jumping onto him and hugging him tightly. "Oh my gosh, what are you doing here? I thought you couldn't come due to the recording."
"Well, I wanted to surprise you so I didn't tell you that the sessions finished yesterday." He kissed her forehead and stroked her cheek.
"Look at those lovebirds, remember when we were like that George?" My mother asked, leaning her head onto my father's chest.
"Are you saying we're not still like that?" He teased, earning a 'shut up' from my mother.
"I'm going to go spend time with Logan, okay?" My sister began to drag him out when my mother decided to kill my father's happiness.
"Okay, just use protection!" She had to hold him back, cackling like she just gave Snow White a poisoned apple.
The rest of the day was spent doing our own thing, I hung out with Audrey and we watched a movie in her room, my parents and the other parents hung out together. Jackson ended up joining us in the middle of the movie, crying because he was alone and draped himself across both mine and Audrey's legs.
After dinner, we repeated last night's events just choosing a different movie, a cornier movie. If you're going to watch a Christmas movie on Christmas Eve, you gotta either make it Elf, A Muppet's Christmas Carol or it's gotta be a B grade movie. We chose the latter and it was honestly the best decision that could have been made.
By the end of that night, Audrey and I lay on the sofa in the conservatory, the lights off, electric fire on and cuddling under what has got to be the softest blanket that has ever existed. Thanks to the glass ceiling and the location of the cabin, this was the perfect place to stargaze.
"Sebastian?" I turned my head to look at her, my breath catching, just like it does every single time.
"Yeah? Is something wrong?"
"No, nothing's wrong. I just wanted to say thank you."
Confusion ran through me. "Why are you thanking me?"
"Thank you for making me happy, and for loving me." Her cheeks flushed and she buried her head into my chest. "That was so cringy, I'm so sorry I-"
"I should be thanking you."
She looked up at me in shock, baring the confusion I bore a moment ago. "Why would you thank me."
"Because I have never felt so loved as I do when I'm with you, and I have never loved and could never love someone more than I love you." My heart began beating hard, thumping against my chest as if to prove my point.
"I love you." She turned and kissed me softly, a swift and light kiss.
"I love you more," I replied, kissing her in return.
"I love you even m-"
"Audrey don't start this game with me you know that I'll win," I warned jokingly, kissing her again.
The night was spent gazing up at the stars and talking about anything and everything, as the hours went by I knew that every time I kissed her, every time she smiled and every time I looked into her eyes, I knew I had found home.