Chapter 39

We all piled into the car and it did not take too long before we were pulling up in front of the house where the Christmas party is being held at. I really need to find a name to call this house. I could call it Aurelia's house, but she is not the only person living here. My mother and my younger sisters are the first ones to exit the car, meeting my stressed out mom near the door. Bailey and Faith are the next to exit the car. "You look nervous" Aurelia states as I stare out the window of the vehicle I turn to face the black haired girl, smiling when my hazel eyes land on her worried grey ones. "Says the one turning sixteen in an hour," I state since it is eleven at night We were supposed to get here at eight. "You do realize that you're the oldest one out of our whole friend group, right?" I state matter of factly as she stands up and makes her way out of the car She hops out of the car with a low laugh. "Isn't your birthday in February?" She retorts with a knowing smirk What the- "How do you know that?" I question as I carefully make my way out of the car She holds her hand out for me, which I grab, as I carefully step down from the high vehicle with my heels. I raise a curious eyebrow at the grey eyed girl when she doesn't immediately answer my question, closing the car door behind me. "Bailey told me," she replies with a shrug making me groan Traitor. She is supposed to be on my side. "Can I hold your hand?" She asks cutely I smile up at her as she holds her hand out for me to grab. I do not respond as I gently place my hand in hers instantly bringing a smile to her cute face. "You're such a dork" I laugh out I begin to walk up to the door where my parents are watching us with curious facial expressions on their faces. Ugh. I hope that they do not ask any questions. I probably would not even know how to answer them. "I'm your dork" she teases I laugh at her statement so that she does not notice the blush beginning to crawl its way up my face. "Last time I checked, we were just friends" I state matter of factly as we begin to climb the cement steps leading up towards the porch She chuckles lowly at my answer making me bite my bottom lip so that I can hide my upcoming smile. "Not for long" I hear her whisper making me furrow my brows What did she just say? "What?" I ask her as we approach my parents She ignores my question, smiling at my parents. Wow. I guess my parents are more important than me, aka the girl you are currently holding hands with. "Hi, Mrs. and Mrs. Wilder" Aurelia greets politely They smile at her with an amused facial expression making me furrow my brows at them. They know something. What do they know? "Everyone is in the living room conversing and dancing, there's food on the kitchen counter, take what you would like" my mom tell us with a smile Finally. She is back to normal. My mother whispers something to Aurelia which I do not catch. Aurelia nods to my mother with a hopeful smile before gently pulling my hand as a signal that she is about to walk into the house. I give both of my parents a suspicious look as I follow the black haired girl into the ginormous Christmas themed house. Wow. I guess our hard work really payed off judging by how good the decorations look. "Come on, I haven't eaten in hours" Aurelia says I roll my eyes at the girl but ultimately follow her. "You were in the kitchen for hours, did you not eat anything there?" I question as we enter the kitchen Ooh. The different types of food in this kitchen are insane. My eyes eagerly scan over all of the random trays of food. I hear someone laugh from behind me making my body tense as I turn around only for my eyes to land on an older woman with black hair and space grey eyes. "You're drooling" she tells me when I continue to give her a confused facial expression My eyes widen and I reach my hand up to quickly wipe the sides of my mouth. Oh god. This is embarrassing. "Maddie! Mad-" my aunt Carolina says only to pause when her eyes land on me She looks me over and nods her head approvingly. "Good choice, but I would've gone with silver jewelry" she critiques making me roll my eyes at her Since when is she a fashion critic? "I'll remember that for next time" I reply sarcastically making the mystery woman laugh Wait- Is this my aunt Maddie? "Maddie, Skylar is looking for you" my aunt tells the black haired woman This Maddie chick turns around to face my aunt Carolina. "Tell her I'll be there in a second" she replies My aunt Carolina nods her head before exiting the kitchen and walking into the living room. The black haired woman turns back to me with a smile on her face. "You're Hanna Wilder, right?" She questions I silently nod my head at the woman making her face brighten. "I'm your aunt Maddie," she greets as she holds her hand out for me to shake I hesitantly do so, not immediately trusting the woman. "It's okay if you don't believe me, I probably wouldn't either" she adds, respectfully backing up from me I am about to say something to her only to be cut off by my mom. "Maddie?" She questions with obvious shock The black haired woman turns towards her only for her smile to widen. "Aspen, you look amazing" she comments with a wink My mom laughs at her before giving her a side hug. "I haven't seen you in years, is Ocean here too?" My Mom questions curiously Who is Ocean? "Yeah, but she goes by 'Skylar' a hundred percent of the time now" Maddie answers I decide to walk away from the two adults since I have no clue what they are talking about. I walk up to the kitchen island and grab a slider. I am mid bite when I feel a pair of strong arms wrap around my waist from behind. I instantly relax into their touch when I smell Aurelia's vanilla scent. She also has a slight fruity scent since she used my tropical smelling shampoo when we took a shower together. "You scared me" I whisper out since her chin is resting on my shoulder She lightly chuckles at me, allowing the pads of her thumbs to gently caress my fabric clad sides. "Oh no, do I have to call an ambulance?" She jokes against my shoulder I roll my eyes as I take another bite of my slider. I finish chewing and swallowing it before responding. "I haven't beat your ass yet, Kingsbury" I state making her raise a brow at me She carefully walks in front of me, her hands never completely detaching themselves from my waist. "You, beat my ass?" She questions making sure that she heard me right I nod my head causing her to calmly laugh at me, her eyes looking me up and down with a dark look in them. "You couldn't even top me if you wanted to," she states confidently I raise an eyebrow at her. "So the chances of you beating my ass are slim to none" She states matter of factly I carefully take a step closer to her, making sure that I have a quick escape route. "Who said that I couldn't top you?" I question teasingly as I never break eye contact with her "Hanna, I love you, but you couldn't top me if you tried" Aurelia tells me with a fake sympathetic tone of voice I roll my eyes at her. I could so top her if I wanted to. "You do realize that I am going to prove your wrong, right?" I rhetorically ask her She chuckles lowly at me. Fuck, that made me wet. "I can't wait" she replies with a knowing tone of voice Ugh. I groan before walking away from her, hoping to find Bailey or Faith. She seriously thinks that I cannot top her. She thinks that she is such a top that she cannot possibly be a bottom! Okay. Maybe that one is a reach. But I can totally top her. - "What are you doing out here?" Someone asks curiously from behind me I turn around only for my eyes to land on my aunt Carolina. I smile at the woman as I wrap my arms tighter around my cold body. "I just needed some air" I reply, a cloud of air exiting my mouth She slowly makes her way over to my shivering body. "Well, I just came out here to tell you that they're about to bring out the cake" she tells me I turn to face her with a confused facial expression. "It's Christmas already?" I question her I feel like we just got here. I guess time just goes by fast. "Yeah, you've been out here for twenty minutes" she says Oh. "I'll meet you inside" I decide to tell her She nods her head with an understanding facial expression before turning around and walking towards the door. I take a long inhale of cold air through my nose before slowly blowing it out through my mouth. Okay. Lets do this. I turn around and begin to make my way towards the door, entering the chaotic house and closing the door behind me. I slowly walk into the kitchen where everyone is gathered around the counter. I look over to Bailey who is motioning me over to her. I quickly make my way over towards her as the rest of the guests begin to collectively sing happy birthday. I successfully squeeze myself in between my mother and Faith before I join in on the song. "Happy birthday, dear Aurelia, Happy birthday to you" we all finish off Aurelia's mischievous grey eyes quickly scan through the crowd of people only to smirk when they land on me. My breath hitches when she slyly winks at me before blowing out her candles. Everyone claps and cheers for her breaking me out of my starstruck state. I smile and begin to clap as well. "Are you okay?" Faith asks me curiously as the crowd starts to fizzle out I turn to around to face her and Bailey who are both giving me worried facial expressions. "Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" I ask with furrowed brows Why is everyone asking me if I am okay? Do I not look okay? "You're shivering" Bailey points out Oh, right. I forgot about that. "I don't have a jacket" I state "Here, borrow mine" Bailey says as she begins to take off her cropped leather jacket I instantly shake my head at the brunette. "No, I can't-" I start to refuse Faith holds her hand out which cuts me off. "Accept it, we don't want you to turn into frosty the snowman" she tells me "Or snowwoman in this case" Bailey adds on as she hands me the jacket I thank her as I take the jacket from her hands and immediately put it on. Wow. This feels so much better. "Now, lets go dance, it is Christmas after all" Faith says She grabs my arm and starts to drag me into the living room which causes me to laugh at her eagerness. "Wait, I have to take off my shoes" I tell them as I motion towards my heels She respectfully releases my wrist and drags an already barefoot Bailey into the living room where everyone is doing the cupid shuffle. I laugh at the sight in front of me. Oh my goodness. This is super fun and chaotic. I love it. - "Aurelia?" I call as I carefully walk through the house with no shoes on It has been a while since I have seen the grey eyed girl. I used the excuse that I was going to the bathroom to get out of the huge group of people dancing in the living room. I checked upstairs but you could tell that no one has been up there all night. I checked the kitchen only to notice that some of the adults were either putting up the food that has not been eaten or throwing away empty packaging. Heck, I even tried looking for Aurelia's mom but to no avail. Where the hell are they?! "Hanna, come quick!" Bailey yells to me from the end of the hall with a worried tone of voice What the hell? Did something happen? Oh god. "Why? Did something happen?" I ask with a panicked tone as I run towards the brunette She nods her head as she drags me through the now empty living room. What the hell? There was just a crazy bunch of adults dancing there a few minutes ago! "It's Aurelia, something happened" she vaguely says She sounds like she is about to cry. Oh no. What happened to her?! "I swear to god if someone laid a hand on her I will-" I begin to threaten angrily only to pause when Bailey opens the door and quickly pushes me out The first thing my eyes land on is all of the adults who were just dancing in the living room a few minutes ago. They are all holding white candles and standing in the front yard. What the hell? "Uh, Bailey" I awkwardly mutter out since they're all staring at me with big smiles Am I going to die or something?! Bailey grabs a candle from literally nowhere and runs down the porch stairs to join the large group of people. Okay. What is actually going on right now? I look over to my mother who just tilts her head to the left, which is technically my right. I slowly turn in the direction that my mother told me to. Please don't be a serial killer. I open my eyes only to be met with the sight of Aurelia standing there with a guitar. Since when can she play the guitar?! "Kingsbury, what the hell is going on?" I question with a terrified facial expression Isn't this how those girls in the movies die? My life most definitely is not a movie. "I know that you forgave me for the whole cheating situation but I still feel bad about not knowing about it and telling you my side sooner, so I wrote you a song" she tells me I furrow my eyebrows at the black haired girl. So, is she going to kill me or not? She holds her hand out for me to grab, which I do. She instantly leads me towards a chair which I take a seat in. She gives me an awkward, nervous smile before positioning her fingers on the strings and strumming a slow tune. "Tear drops in your hazel eyes, I can't believe I made you cry," she begins to sing thoroughly shocking me to my core She can fucking sing?! Damn. What else can this girl do? "It feels so long since we went wrong, but you're still on my mind," she continues making my heart speed up "Never meant to break your heart, sometimes things just fall apart," she sings with a sour smile making me release a small laugh as I feel tears build up in my eyes "So heres one night to make it right, before we say goodbye," she briefly looks up to meet my eyes before looking back down at her guitar "So wait up, wait up, give me one more chance," I blink causing a tear to quickly fall down my cheek "To make up, make up, I just need one last dance," She breathily sings with a small smile Fuck. I am going to cry. "Na na na na oh-oh, Na na na na oh-oh," She expertly vocalizes "I heard you're heading east, so lets just make our peace," I bring my hands up to cover half of my face since my tears start to steadily fall down my face "So when you think of me, you'll smile, and I'll smile," she sings gently with a smile as she briefly meets my eyes again "So wait up, wait up, give me one more chance," she repeats again "To make up, make up, I just need one last dance," she starts to slow down slightly "So wait up, wait up, give me one more chance," I am full on sobbing Like full on ugly crying. I feel bad that a whole group of people are practically witnessing me ugly crying. "Just one song, then I'll move on, give me one last dance," she sings taking a slow step towards me "I just need one last dance with you," she finishes breathily I continue to stare at her through blurry tear stained eyes. She coos at me, carefully placing her guitar on a bench before kneeling in front of me. The grey eyed girl gently takes my face in her hands and uses the pads of her thumbs to gently wipe my tears away. "Hanna Rose Wilder, I have liked you for months now, practically since I laid eyes on you," she says making me choke out a sob "During these past few weeks I have constantly been thinking about how we never really made our relationship official," she continues, her hands never leaving my face "Hanna, whenever I'm around you my day is instantly better," she tells me with a truthful look in her grey eyes making a whole new round of tears fall down my face Fuck. "From your constant remarks to your kind heart there is never a dull moment when I'm with you," she continues "I guess what I'm trying to say is that it would mean the world to me if you would exclusively become my princess?" She finishes with a nervous lip bite.