The Naturals Trilogy

by Madeline Freeman

  Lia snorted. “It’s not like he’s some kind of mutant with five eyes or something.”

  “It’s only natural,” Joss added. “It’s been a couple weeks since you and Corbin…” She pulled a face, dragging her forefinger across her neck. “You’re on the prowl.”

  “Um, I am not prowling—”

  “It’s biological,” Joss continued, talking over Morgan. “It’s an imperative or something. Having your first boyfriend, like, activated you or something. And now we’re stuck here in this cabin and, let’s face it, there aren’t a bunch of fish in this sea—”

  Morgan buried her face in her hands. “Can we please forget I ever said anything? Can we forget this ever happened and stop having this conversation?”

  “You don’t have to be so dramatic.”

  Lia lighted a hand on Morgan’s shoulder. “Morgan, think about it. Why is it such a big deal?”

  Removing her hands from her face, Morgan opened her mouth to reply but no sound came out. She pressed her lips together for a moment before trying again.

  When no sound emerged this time, Joss took it upon herself to speak. “Let’s look at it logically. Think about what just happened. Now imagine someone else in Lucas’s role. If you said the same things to, say, Greg or Wen, would you be having this same level of freak out?”

  Morgan attempted to form these mental images. After consideration, she shook her head. “That’s ridiculous—I wouldn’t flirt with Greg or Wen.”

  “Well, there’s your answer then,” Joss said.

  Morgan looked at Lia for translation.

  A smile flitted across Lia’s lips. “I think she’s implying that you’re having this reaction because there’s potential between you and Lucas. If you said the same kinds of things to Greg or Wen, you’d probably just consider it teasing, not flirting. But that’s not the case here.”

  “Wow, Lia, I’m impressed,” Morgan said. In response to Lia’s puzzled expression, she added, “You just called Greg by his first name—you didn’t say Mr. K.”

  Another smile tugged at the corners of Lia’s mouth and she glanced down at her hands. “It’s easier when he’s not around.”

  “I don’t know why you think it’s so hard,” Joss said, Moving a pair of worn socks from their location on the floor over to the laundry basket in the far corner of the room. “I’ll call anybody anything they want me to. Like, if one of you told me to start calling you Persephone, I would. No problem.”

  Morgan and Lia exchanged glances but said nothing.

  Joss’s dresser drawer creaked open and a hoodie and a pair of wool socks zoomed across the room and into her hands. “So, what were you and Lucas doing during the alleged flirting?”

  “He was making me cocoa.”

  “Oh, is that what the kids are calling it nowadays?” Joss waggled her eyebrows suggestively.

  Lia couldn’t quite press the smile from her lips. “Jocelyn!”

  Joss shrugged, unabashed. She turned her attention back to Morgan. “So, what? He woke up and immediately made you cocoa?”

  Morgan shook her head, taken aback by her own forgetfulness. “No. Actually, when I woke up, I saw Corbin and Kellen sitting at the kitchen table.”

  Joss and Lia both leaned forward at this.

  “Were they threatening each other with knives?” Joss asked.

  “That’s the thing—they were talking. And when I showed up, they went to the library to keep talking.”

  “That’s curious.” A crease formed between Lia’s eyebrows.

  “Legit,” Joss agreed. “But I guess it makes sense, right? Greg told Corbin to knock it off. Maybe Corbin’s just trying to… follow directions?”

  “I have no idea. But Lucas and I told Greg it was happening, so there’s that.”

  Lia chewed on her lower lip. “Morgan, can I ask you something?”

  “It makes me nervous when people preface questions like that,” Morgan said, exchanging a glance with her cousin. “But sure.”

  “It’s just… Do you trust Kellen?”

  Morgan sighed. “This question again?”

  Lia shook her head. “I don’t mean… It’s just…” She took in a breath. “He spends a lot of time in the library. A lot. And we’ve had a couple conversations since he got here…”

  Joss leaned forward. “You trust him, don’t you?”

  Lia considered the assertion. “I might.”

  Morgan nodded. “I might, too.”

  Chapter Eleven

  Morgan’s eyes snapped open. She didn’t wait until she was adjusted to the darkness before sitting up and swinging her legs over the side of her mattress.

  Thanksgiving may have snuck up on her, but Christmas hadn’t.

  She went to the chair at her bedside and located the hoodie she’d placed there the night before. She pulled it on and picked up the other object she’d put there: a pillowcase stuffed with an assortment of handmade gifts for the cabin’s residents.

  Her eyes more adjusted to the dimness, she made her way to Joss’s bed and gently shook her cousin. Joss mumbled incoherently and shifted away from Morgan’s touch. Morgan tried again, her pressure firmer. In response, Joss’s arm flailed wildly, almost colliding with Morgan’s face.

  “Okay,” Morgan murmured, moving toward the bedroom door. “At least I tried.”

  Morgan opened the door and was surprised to see Lucas in the hallway. She shifted, her mind going to the conversation she’d had with Joss and Lia the previous day, feeling suddenly awkward in his presence.

  If Lucas noticed anything off, he didn’t show it. He smiled at her. “Merry Christmas, Santa.”

  She released a breath, realizing how silly she was being. There was no need for awkwardness—this was Lucas, her friend. She grinned. “No one was supposed to be up yet. No one’s ever up this early.”

  He shrugged. “I’m always up early on Christmas. It’s, like, a biological imperative or something.”

  Morgan choked a bit, remembering what Joss had said about her being on the prowl for a relationship. Attempting to pass the reaction off as a laugh, she started down the hall. He joined her.

  “What’s that smell?” Lucas asked as they approached the end of the hall.

  Morgan sniffed the air. “Dunno. But it smells delicious.”

  When they got to the kitchen, Morgan’s eyes landed on Corbin, still in his pajamas and covered in a light dusting of flour. His back was to them, and when he turned, a closed expression fell onto his face at the sight of Morgan and Lucas standing there together. Morgan’s mouth opened, but she quickly closed it, pressing her lips into a smile instead.

  Lucas didn’t miss a beat. “Morning, man. Merry Christmas.”

  Corbin nodded, the clouds in his expression lifting. “Yeah. Merry Christmas.”

  “What’cha making?”

  Corbin looked around as though he’d forgotten where he was. “Molasses cookies,” he said finally. “Family tradition. I asked Greg if we could get the ingredients a month ago.” The corners of his mouth upturned slightly. “Still almost didn’t get here on time.”

  Lucas nodded. “I’ll leave you to it, then.” He touched Morgan’s upper arm as he started toward the couches. She followed. Lucas flopped onto the brown couch he usually occupied and patted the cushion next to him. After a moment’s hesitation, Morgan sat down, but not directly beside Lucas.

  “So,” Lucas said conversationally, “what’s in the pillowcase?”

  Morgan looked down. She’d almost forgotten she was holding something. She took in a breath, tamping down the unaccustomed hyper-awareness of Lucas’s position on the couch in relations to hers, of whether or not Corbin was watching them together. Convincing herself that there was no difference between today and the days that had preceded it, she smiled. “I’ll give you a hint: not a pillow.”

  Lucas snapped his fingers. “Well, there goes my first guess.”

  Morgan shook her head. “It’s silly. I just… I mean, we’re all stuck here, an
d it’s Christmas… I wanted to make sure everyone got a present.” She looked away. “I know, it’s silly.”

  “Yeah, ridiculous,” Lucas agreed. He laughed softly, and Morgan looked at him. “I think it’s a very nice idea. In fact…”

  “You did it, too?”

  He shrugged. “I may or may not have gotten presents for everyone.”

  “I may or may not have gotten something for you,” she teased, pushing his shoulder gently.

  “I may or may not know what you got me already.”

  Morgan scrutinized him closely. Then she smiled. “You don’t know.”

  He grinned. “Ha! So you did get something for me.”

  She shook her head. “Nope. I got something for everyone except you.”

  “Ooh, did Lucas do presents, too?”

  Morgan turned to see Joss heading toward the couches. She sat on the one adjacent to Morgan and Lucas’s. “Excellent. I was hoping it wasn’t just me and Morgan. By the way, Morgan, why didn’t you wake me when you got up?”

  “You think I didn’t try?” Morgan asked. “Waking you’s like waking the dead.”

  Joss made a face. “I’m not that bad.”

  “You tried to punch me in the face! I’m sorry, but I draw the line at physical violence.”

  Joss stifled a laugh. “Um… oops?”

  “Oops?”

  “So, Joss,” Lucas said, interrupting their conversation, “where are these alleged presents?”

  “Oh,” Joss said, sounding surprised. She put her hand into the front pocket of her hoodie and pulled out what appeared to be a stack of small, square envelopes. She smiled. “Right here.”

  Morgan looked at Lucas. “And yours?”

  Lucas just shrugged. “I will neither confirm nor deny.”

  Joss laughed. “Morgan, I assume yours are in that pillowcase?”

  Before she could answer, Morgan heard a sigh behind her and turned to see Lia approaching. She had something slung over her shoulder. “I’m glad to know I’m not the only one who used a pillowcase,” she said, joining Joss on the olive couch. As if to punctuate, she settled the bag at her feet.

  Morgan eyed it. It looked suspiciously like a pillow was shoved inside the case.

  A timer beeped and the four of them looked at Corbin, who donned oven mitts and began removing cookie sheets from the oven. They continued to watch as he used a spatula to remove the cookies from the sheets and place them onto a cooling rack.

  When he was finished with his task, Lia spoke. “So, should we go get Wen and… Greg and Ellie?”

  Morgan smiled before turning to Joss and pantomiming wiping a tear from her face. “Looks like our little girl is finally growing up.”

  Lia rolled her eyes, continuing as if Morgan hadn’t spoken. “I mean, I have presents for them, but if you guys don’t—”

  “I’ll go get them,” Joss said. “I can’t believe they’re still in bed,” she added as she started toward the far hallway. “What is it with adults? I have to drag my parents out of bed every year.”

  “I’m not allowed to wake my parents early,” Corbin said, settling on the couch across from the one Joss had just vacated. “We open presents at noon on the dot.”

  Lia made a face. “Noon? Why so late?”

  “Well, my mom doesn’t get out of bed until ten, and then she needs time to shower and get dressed and put on her makeup and drink her coffee.” Corbin shrugged. “While she’s getting ready, my dad and my brother, Declan, and me—we make the cookies.”

  “That sounds nice,” Morgan said.

  Corbin glanced at her. “It is.”

  Joss returned then, Wen, Greg, and Ellie following close behind. Once they were all seated, she cleared her throat. “So, Merry Christmas, everyone.”

  Murmurs of “Merry Christmas” sounded around the room.

  Ellie yawned and shook her head. “Anybody make coffee?”

  Joss giggled.

  Lucas got to his feet. “I got it.” He headed to the kitchen.

  No one spoke. The only sounds were those of Lucas shuffling around the kitchen.

  Morgan surveyed the room. There was one person conspicuously missing from their presence. She looked from Joss to Wen. “Where’s, um…”

  “Chained him to the radiator,” Wen said without missing a beat.

  Morgan raised an eyebrow at him.

  Wen sighed. “The meds are screwing with his sleep cycle, so he’s been popping some pretty potent sleep aids. He won’t be up for a while yet.”

  Corbin shifted ever so slightly but said nothing.

  Another silence passed. Morgan glanced at Joss, expecting for her to get things going, and was surprised to see Joss watching her intently. When Morgan just stared at her, Joss smiled and nodded encouragingly.

  “Um,” Morgan said. “I, uh, thought it’d be nice to get something for everyone, you know, since it’s Christmas. And I guess I wasn’t the only one with that idea, so… I guess it’s time to exchange gifts?”

  Joss clapped excitedly. “Okay, I’ll go first.” She stood and shuffled through her envelopes, handing one to each person as she walked by, and leaving one on Lucas’s empty seat. “Open them,” she said after reclaiming her spot on the olive couch.

  Morgan turned her attention to her envelope. It was white and her name was written across the front in flowing purple letters. When she flipped it over, she realized it was made of the paper from the craft station. Smiling at her cousin’s ingenuity, she opened the envelope and pulled a bracelet from within. It was about a third of an inch thick with alternating bands of blue and silver. She looked up at Joss and smiled: Joss used to make friendship bracelets like this when they were young. She held her wrist out to her cousin. “Tie it on?”

  Joss beamed and hurried to comply with the request.

  As she tied it on, Morgan glanced around the room and saw that everyone had gotten a bracelet in different colors. She watched as Lia and Corbin helped each other tie theirs on, and Wen and Ellie did the same. Greg, on the other hand, just held his, running his thumb over the knots.

  Joss seemed to notice it, too. After tying Morgan’s bracelet on, she sat down. “You don’t have to actually wear it, Greg,” she said, sounding slightly embarrassed. “It’s silly.”

  But Greg looked at her and smiled. “It’s not silly,” he said, his voice quiet. “It’s just… It’s been a long time since someone’s given me one of these.” An unreadable expression flicked over his face and he shook his head to clear it. He turned his attention to Ellie. “Would you…?” He held his bracelet and wrist out to her.

  Lucas returned then, three mugs held in his well-practiced hands. He set one on the end table beside Greg and two on the table between the couches Wen and Ellie sat on. He disappeared back into the kitchen and returned moments later with three more mugs. He handed them to Lia, Joss, and Corbin, and disappeared again.

  “Okay, my turn,” Lia said after taking a sip of whatever Lucas had brought her. She set her mug down and picked up her pillowcase. “I know I’ve been kind of hiding out since Thanksgiving, but it’s only because I wouldn’t’ve gotten these finished if I hadn’t.” She stood and passed her gifts out person-to-person, the same way Joss had.

  Lucas made his way to the couch before Lia reached them. He handed Morgan a cup and she glanced at the contents. “Hot cocoa?”

  “I can neither confirm nor deny.”

  Morgan stuck her tongue out at him.

  Lia arrived at their couch and handed Lucas and Morgan each something made of yarn. Morgan inspected hers closely. It was grey and, she realized, actually two pieces. After a moment, she smiled and slipped the pieces onto her hands and over her wrists. She wiggled her fingers at Lia. “Fingerless gloves? I love these things!”

  Lia smiled, looking gratified. “I thought they were your style.”

  Morgan scanned the room to see what the others had gotten. It appeared all the guys had received scarves of varying colors and the other girls now spo
rted leg warmers.

  “You made these?” Joss asked, admiring her hot pink leg warmers.

  Lia nodded. “My mom taught me how to knit and crochet.”

  Lucas wrapped a blue and gray striped scarf around his neck. “This is great! Thanks, Lia.”

  Ellie tugged at her legwarmers, studying the effect of different degrees of slouch. Looking up at Lia, she grinned. “These really are fabulous.”

  After the others had murmured their thanks, Joss looked around the room. “Who’s next?”

  Corbin held his hands up. “I made cookies.”

  “Which smell delicious,” Ellie said over her cup of coffee.

  “Agreed,” Wen said, raising his mug as if to toast.

  “I’ll go,” Morgan said. But as she pulled her pillowcase onto her lap, she felt suddenly self-conscious. What if no one liked what she made for them? All the gifts had seemed like good ideas at the time, but now…

  “Come on,” Joss whined, breaking through Morgan’s thoughts.

  Morgan smiled. It was the thought that counted, right? She stood and walked to her cousin. After digging through her bag for a moment, she found Joss’s present at the bottom: a beaded bracelet make from sparkly pink, white, and clear beads.

  Joss’s face lit up when she saw it. “It’s so pretty!” She slid it on her wrist and beamed up at Morgan. “Thanks.”

  Morgan just nodded and moved to Lia. Lia’s gift was larger and therefore easier to find. She pulled it out and paused briefly before handing it over. She’d finally finished the plaque she’d begun making on Thanksgiving. She’d created the frame by cementing several pieces of paper together and wrapping with cloth straps. Within the frame was a piece of silvery-blue paper, onto which Morgan had painstakingly written an inscription in her best impression of calligraphy.

  “Jeremiah 29:11,” Lia murmured, not looking up. “ ‘I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you—’ ”

  “—‘Plans to give you a hope and a future,’ ” Morgan finished. “I thought… I thought it might be comforting.”

  When Lia looked up at Morgan, she was surprised to see tears in her eyes. “It’s my favorite verse,” Lia whispered.