“Me too.”
Captions are on and we watch silently for a few minutes before he turns to me. “What’s your favorite holiday movie?”
“That is an impossible question.”
A silent laugh shakes his chest. “Top three?”
“Elf,” I start. “Christmas Vacation, and Home Alone.”
He nods along. “All great choices.”
“But then there’s The Grinch, Bad Santa, Love Actually, A Christmas Story . . . there are so many good ones.”
“Die Hard,” he adds and then tilts his head to study me. “You aren’t one of those people who claim it isn’t a Christmas movie, are you?”
“Definitely not. It’s so a Christmas movie.”
He leans into me. “I knew I liked you.”
His shoulder rests against mine and that winter-wonderland scent envelops me as he stares down at me with gray eyes. My body warms from his touch and his words. I’m suddenly unable to come up with anything to say back to him and an awkward beat passes between us while neither of us moves.
This might be the longest conversation I’ve ever had with Teddy. And the first one we’ve ever had alone like this. Sure, we’ve had one-on-one conversations before, but there were always other people around, aiding as a nice distraction in case I said something embarrassing.
Noise outside catches my attention, breaking the nice moment between us and reminding me we aren’t really alone.
Teddy takes a step away. “Ready?”
I let out a shaky breath and nod.
Felix and two more of his teammates, Emmett and Lucas, are standing next to the door outside with girls I don’t recognize.
My brother introduces me to Tricia and Anna. The girls wave around their red Solo cups. A couple of guys join us, and Felix introduces them to me as Brian and Kevin. He doesn’t specify which is which, so I just nod and smile.
“We went to high school together. They go to NAU,” Felix says, and then hangs his arm around my shoulders. “And this is one of my sisters.”
One of the guys steps forward and extends a hand. “Nice to meet you. What’s your name?”
Felix’s voice turns protective. “Hey, hey. Don’t get any ideas. My sisters are too good for any of you. This is—”
“Wait, let me guess which one.” Emmett stares at me closely, then his gaze darts over to where Stella is standing on the opposite side of the porch. “You’re Stella.”
“Yep.” Lucas nods his agreement. “Definitely Stella.”
“It’s Holly, you idiots,” Teddy says.
“Really?” Emmett’s gaze narrows.
I nod.
“How do you always get it wrong?” Felix asks with a shake of his head.
“They’re identical twins,” Emmett whines. “They look identical.”
Felix just laughs, but Teddy stares right at me as he says, “No, they don’t. It’s easy to tell them apart. You’re just not looking close enough.”
I’m on cloud nine until he adds, “Her name is right there on her necklace.”
Stella throws her head back and laughs after I tell her about my interaction with Teddy. The party died out and everyone who isn’t staying here went home, leaving me and Stella alone with Felix and his teammates.
She glances over to where Teddy and the guys are tossing a football in the front yard. “I think it’s great he’s here. You will have a chance to hang out with him more.”
“Oh, yeah. Another chance for him to not notice me.” I don’t even try to hide the defeat that spills out with my words. I have had a crush on Teddy since the moment I met him.
Felix is fifteen months older than me and Stella. He went off to Valley U while we were still in high school. I’ll never forget the first time Felix introduced Teddy to us. It was after a home game. We’d all come down to watch Felix play.
It wasn’t anything Teddy said or did. It was in all the things he didn’t say or do. He is quieter and sweeter than the rest of Felix’s friends. He smiled with those dimples, looked me in the eye and repeated my name like he was committing it to memory. That was all it took. I was smitten.
And every interaction, everything I’ve learned about him since, just makes me fall harder.
“Oh please, he totally notices you. How else did he see that necklace?” She lifts her chin and drops her gaze to it.
“He notices me, of course he does, I’m his best friend’s sister, but he doesn’t notice me. There’s a difference.”
“He was checking you out.”
“I don’t think that’s what he was doing.” My face heats.
“He’s a straight, very hot-blooded college guy. He checked you out. He probably just thinks you’re not interested because your default mode around him is to hide or barely say two words back to him.”
It’s true. I tend to freeze up around him. Teddy makes me nervous. When he talks to me, or anyone really, he gives his undivided attention. And all that attentiveness from a guy that already makes my insides feel like goo is overwhelming.
And okay, it isn’t fair to say he doesn’t notice me; Teddy is always friendly, but he doesn’t see me the way I see him. I know, because he treats Stella the same way, like he’s looking out for us because it’s his obligation as Felix’s best friend.
“Felix and Teddy are staying until the twenty-third.”
Three nights longer than Stella and I planned.
“You want to stay?”
“Don’t you? Teddy is here!”
I shush her, but my face remains hot.
“He isn’t listening,” she says with a small laugh.
“What about all our plans? We were going to do holiday stuff, like bake cookies and watch Home Alone.”
“I know.” She turns, so her body is angled toward me, her eyes pleading with me. “But if we stay, we can do all that and ski and hang out with Felix. What are we going to do at home by ourselves that we can’t do here?”
I hesitate. The answer is nothing, but I’m still torn.
“Please?”
“Okay,” I relent.
She squeals and her smile gets bigger.
“But we’re getting a tree for the cabin, and you have to go with me on the bunny hill.”
“Whatever you want,” she says and hugs me. “This is going to be so much fun!”
Her phone pings, and she pulls back quickly to look at the screen. A goofy grin lights up her face. The kind of grin that can only mean a text from one person.
“Is he done for the semester too?”
“Yeah. He finished yesterday and flew home today.”
Stella met a guy last month at the airport. She’s a diver and was traveling with the Valley U Swim and Dive Team. Serendipitously, she ended up sitting next to Beau at the gate before her flight. He goes to college out of state, but is originally from the Phoenix area like us. Even so, I didn’t really think anything would come of their happenstance meeting, but they’ve been talking all day, every day ever since.
“When do I get to meet this guy?”
“I don’t know,” she says. “He’s only home for two weeks, and he has plans with his family.”