Why was she thanking me? I didn’t do anything. I looked over at Morgan, and she winked at me. She must have signed my name to the card, too.
Thank you, I mouthed to her. “Oh, I almost forgot. Happy Hanukkah! Did you guys have fun?”
“Yeah,” Morgan said, “it was really great. But I ate so much, I am stuffed.”
“Well, I hope you have room for a little more,” Mr. Ortiz said. “We have Christmas cookies and buñuelos.”
“What is that?” Morgan asked.
“It’s like a fried dough ball. We cover it in powdered sugar.” That sounded like my kind of dessert. Morgan’s, too.
“I think I can make some room,” she said.
“Great,” Mr. Ortiz said. “And how about hot chocolate?” The Ortizes really were wonderful hosts, and they definitely knew how to create that Christmas feeling.
“I can never say no to that,” Morgan said.
“Any other takers?” Mr. Ortiz asked.
Everyone said yes except me.
“Wait, you don’t like hot chocolate?” J.D. asked. “First poinsettias, now this?”
“I prefer to eat my chocolate, not drink it,” I answered. “But I like the little marshmallows.”
“Next thing you’re going to tell us is that you don’t like Santa or sleigh bells or mistletoe.”
I did not want to talk about mistletoe with him. Teo, on the other hand, was a whole other story.
“I like all Christmas traditions,” I said, avoiding specifics.
“Does that mean you’re joining the boys to go caroling on Thursday?” Mrs. Ortiz asked.
I turned to J.D. and Teo. “Wait, you guys go caroling?” I so wanted in on this.
“There’s nothing wrong with caroling,” Teo said, grabbing a piece of Morgan’s peppermint bark, his posture tensing. “Besides, I like to sing.”
“I didn’t say there was anything wrong with it.” I hoped I hadn’t offended him. “I just didn’t picture you guys out there.”
“J.D., me, and a bunch of people from my church are going.”
“Don’t misunderstand,” I said. “I think it’s awesome. I’m just jealous. I’ve always wanted to do that.”
“Yeah?” he said, loosening back up.
“Yeah.”
“Then you should come.” He gave me one of his killer smiles, and I couldn’t help but return it with one of my own.
“I think I will.”
“Good.”
Mr. Ortiz brought out a tray filled with mugs of hot chocolate. Teo took a marshmallow off the top of his and handed it to me.
It might not have been much, just a small gesture, but it was from Teo. To me. And it was absolutely perfect.
Twenty
My Christmas was looking up, and so were my chances of going to Noelle’s with Teo. Sure it was just a little flirting, but it was definitely a step in the right direction. I couldn’t stop thinking about it, not even a couple of days later. I was still practically floating on Thursday, and then I walked into history class. And my whole WEEK got better. Mr. Magocsi handed me a little box. “Someone left this for you,” he said.
For me? Here? It had to be Teo. I was getting those excited, nervous chills, not so different from the ones on Christmas morning, but maybe a little better since this gift was from a boy and not my mom. I took my seat, pulled the red ribbon off, and looked inside. I couldn’t help but let out an awww! Teo gave me marshmallows, but not just any marshmallows. They were in the shape of kittens. There were not too many things that made me giddy (besides maybe Teo and winning a competition), but kittens always turned me to mush. And little marshmallow ones that came from the boy I’d been dreaming about? Come on! The adorable factor was off the charts. How was it possible that I wasn’t already a puddle on the ground?
J.D. walked into class and took his seat. He was diagonally behind me. “What are you smiling about?”
I was so happy, I didn’t even give some snarky response. And I guess—credit where credit was due—J.D. did help make this a reality. I held up the box. “This. And your cousin. I mean, I thought what happened at your house was great, but this…”
“What happened at my house?” he asked, leaning forward in his chair.
“We had a moment. A really good moment. And now there’s this.” I pulled the box closer. I hadn’t even noticed there was a tiny card tucked inside.
I tore it out of the envelope. Maybe this will make you like hot chocolate a little better. They’re almost as cute as you.
I put the card down and just stared at it. How was this real? Teo Ortiz went so above and beyond. He not only remembered me talking about marshmallows, but he also remembered I mentioned that I liked cats at the diner. Then he went out and got me the perfect gift. “I swear, he is the sweetest, nicest, most adorable guy ever.”
J.D. pulled out a pen and a notebook. “Are we still talking about Teo?”
“Very funny.”
“Hey,” he said, drawing something on one of the blank pages. “I love the guy. But adorable? Come on. Besides, I would bet he prefers hot. And sweet? I’d go with smooth. Or maybe charismatic. Or player-ish.”
I shot him a glare. “Don’t do that. He’s not. Or maybe he was before, what do I know, but this is different. Players don’t go out of their way like this. They don’t have to.”
“Don’t you think you and Teo are maybe a little different?” he asked.
I let out a little snort. Why did he have to try to bring me down? “Because he’s popular and I’m not? Who cares? We’re both smart, we’re both at the top of our classes, we both have more awards and trophies than we know what to do with. Maybe he wants someone who can keep up with him.”
“I’m just trying to say that he’s just … um.”
I could feel my face getting hot. “Better-looking? Is that what you’re getting at?”
“No, you’re—”
“Just stop. I don’t care what you think about my appearance. I look fine, and”—I waved the card in my hand—“apparently Teo thinks so, too.”
“Charlie—”
“I don’t want to hear it.” I turned back and faced the front of the room.
I tried not to think about what had just happened, but the conversation kept playing in my head. Was Teo out of my league? Don’t, I told myself. Confidence was everything, and I had more than my fair share of it. I was not about to let J.D. squash it to pieces. But what if Teo felt the same way? Charlie! Stop. If he does, then he isn’t the guy for you. Yet I was still getting worked up. Over J.D.?! Who cared what he thought? Teo was clearly into me. Teo thought I was attractive. Teo was going out of his way to impress me.
“Charlie.” J.D. had moved to the seat behind me.
“What?” I snapped.
“You took that totally the wrong way. I wasn’t talking about appearances. You’re one of the best-looking girls in school.”
I turned around and raised an eyebrow at him. Now he was laying it on way too thick.
“Seriously. That’s not what I was saying. At all.”
Maybe I had jumped to conclusions, but for some unknown reason, it bothered me that J.D. thought that about me.
“Then what are you trying to say?”
“Well, first to clarify. You really are pretty. You are also really stubborn, orderly, rules oriented, and—”
“Great apology you have going on here, J.D.”
He laughed. “I’m just saying that yes, both you and Teo are very smart and successful and attractive…” I rolled my eyes at him. “But you’re also really different. It’s just, he has a lot going on, he likes to have fun, and he might tend to focus more on himself.”
“So you’re saying he’s self-absorbed.” J.D. might not have been able to be blunt, but I had no problem doing it.
“He’s my cousin, so I’m not going to put it that way, but…”
“Well, then he and I should be a perfect match, huh? Didn’t you say I was all about myself?”
“
I was just giving you a hard time. It’s kind of fun pushing your buttons.”
“Yeah, tons of fun.” At least he’d found something he excelled at. “But you don’t have to worry. I can handle myself.” I put my hands around the box Teo gave me. “Besides, a selfish guy does not go out and find kitten marshmallows for someone else.”
“Okay.” He held up his hands in defeat. “You’re right. I was just trying to help.”
He looked upset, and I realized I had to let him off the hook. My reaction had been way overboard. He had just gotten to me. “I know, thank you. And you are helping me, and you can’t stop. I have no idea what else to get Teo.”
“I’ll come up with something,” he said as he moved back to his own seat.
“Perfect,” I said, because Teo and I were on a roll, and there was no way I was letting it slow down.
If anything, it was time to up my game. And I was going to start right after class.
Twenty-One
“Teo,” I called out as soon as I spotted him.
He walked over and leaned against the wall with one knee bent. He seriously looked like he could be in an ad for jeans or cologne. “Hey,” he said.
Confidence, I reminded myself. Nerves of steel. I just needed to pretend I was in a flirting competition, because if there was one thing about me, I did not play to lose. I could do this. “Guess what my Secret Santa brought me?” I said.
“Hmm,” he said. “Do I get a clue?”
“It’s just the cutest gift in the whole world,” I answered and opened the box. “I think my Secret Santa has pretty amazing taste.”
“That he does.”
Okay, he wanted to be cocky. Bring it on. Two could play that game. “Well, he does have someone pretty stupendous to shop for.”
“True,” he said, and I’m pretty sure my whole face lit up. He looked like he was about to say something else, but then his focus shifted to something behind me. I turned. It wasn’t a something. It was a someone.
J.D.
Teo pointed to my present. “Did you see this?” Teo asked J.D. as he exited the classroom. “Santa is totally nailing it.”
“Well, that is his job,” J.D. said.
“Which he is excelling at,” I said, trying to redirect the conversation back to me. I held the box out to Teo. “Want one?”
He picked one out and bit into it, and I never really thought of eating as sexy, but watching Teo, I was beginning to change my mind. He had the nicest lips I’d ever seen. I wanted to reach out and touch them. I wondered what they would be like to kiss.
“So,” Teo said, which reminded me to look at his eyes, not his mouth, “getting a gift like this—does it mean you’ve been naughty or nice?”
“It’s marshmallows, not coal,” J.D. answered for me, despite my glare in his direction, “so I’d say nice.”
“Well, it’s always the nice ones you have to watch out for, don’t you?” Teo said, while J.D. groaned.
Teo was trying to get a reaction out of me. Well, it was my turn to get one out of him. I was serious about playing to win. “I guess you’ll just have to wait and see,” I said. Then I gave Teo a wink and turned and walked away.
Did I really just say that? Did I really just do that? Oh my God. I did. Okay, just roll with it. Play it cool. Do not turn back around. Stand straight. Head high. Make him watch you walk away. After I made it to the end of the hall and turned into the next corridor, I paused to catch my breath. Seconds later, a hand touched my shoulder.
No way! Teo had come after me. Yes!
“Following me?” I said, making my voice as sultry as possible.
“Actually…”
I turned around. “Oh.” I dropped the fake voice. “It’s you.” It wasn’t Teo. It was J.D.
“Well, hello to you, too,” he said, and adjusted his bag on his arm.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it like that. I just thought it was … It doesn’t matter.”
“I just want to make sure you had all the details for tonight,” J.D. said.
“Meet at Teo’s at seven. That’s what you said earlier, right?”
“Yeah,” he said, and started walking down the hall. “And Teo told you about the dressing up?”
“The what?” I ran to catch him.
“The dressing up. You know, like Santa, a snowman, reindeer, elves, that kind of thing.”
“No, no, no,” I said, matching his pace. “You have to be kidding.” I was not a dress-up type of person. Halloween was one of my least favorite holidays. I only dressed up as a kid because I knew it was the way to get candy, but even then I hated it and went as something real like a doctor or a lab tech or Albert Einstein.
“Nope, every year. Teo loves this kind of thing. He gets super into it.”
“Seriously? Why?”
“Why does he do anything? You’re asking this about a guy who loves the eighties? I can’t figure him out, either. I just know if you want to impress him, you should dress up.”
This was horrible. I wanted to wear something cute and flirty, not something reminiscent of Frosty the Snowman. “I don’t have a costume.”
He stopped in front of his classroom. “I’ll tell you what, come by my place beforehand. I’ll help you, and I’ll show you what I have in mind for your next Teo gift.”
“I don’t know.”
“Do you want to impress Teo or not?” he asked.
I did, and I guess it didn’t matter what I wore if it brought me closer to him. “Fine, I’ll be there at six.”
I just hoped this wasn’t a huge mistake.
Twenty-Two
“Ho! Ho! Ho!” J.D. said while holding his stomach when I showed up at his house. He was wearing a Santa suit. “Ready to get decked out?” he asked.
No, no I was not. He looked ridiculous, and pretty soon so would I. I shook my head at him. “You look…”
“Dashingly handsome?”
“Not the words I was going for.”
“Festive?” he tried.
“More like goofy.”
He put his hands on his hips and feigned indignation in what had to be the worst Santa voice I’d ever heard. “Where’s your Christmas spirit?” he asked. “Ho! Ho! Ho!”
I held back a laugh. If I didn’t, I’d be hearing that horrible impression all night long. “Over at Teo’s,” I said, reminding him and myself why I was doing this. “Where are your parents?”
“They left for Boston this afternoon to go pick up my sister. They decided to make a whole long weekend out of it. Won’t be back till Sunday.”
“They trusted you with the house to yourself?”
“Why wouldn’t they?” he asked.
I raised an eyebrow. I wasn’t about to give him another one of my lists, this one detailing how he did not seem like the responsible type, not when he was helping me, but he knew what I was thinking.
“You really think highly of me, don’t you?” he asked, bringing over a large bag.
“I think you’re fine.” Not that I’d admit it to him, but the truth was, J.D. was growing on me.
“Well, isn’t that glowing praise,” he said. “Especially when I have this for you.” He took a piece of paper out of his big old Santa pocket. “It’s just a mock-up, but I can make up a real one if you like it.”
I took the paper. It was a baseball card, only Teo was the player featured on it.
“It’s a picture from last season. I figured he’d like seeing himself as one of the pros.”
“J.D., this is a really great idea, thank you.”
He shrugged. “I’ll print it out on card stock, make it more like the real thing.”
“You really are like Santa.” I studied the card. “Teo is going to love this. Should I make this the grand finale present?”
“Nah, I have something better in mind for that.”
“What?” I asked.
“Santa can’t give away his secrets,” he said in his horrible Santa voice again, and then he took his hands and shoo
k his belly.
“Please,” I said, half laughing, half cringing, “do yourself—and me—a favor and never do that voice again.”
“What voice? This is how I speak.”
This was going to be a long, long night. “Okay, Santa, just tell me, when do I get to find out Teo’s final gift?”
“Next Wednesday after the Sentinel meeting—”
“There is no Sentinel meeting since the paper is coming out that Friday and we’re having the party. Which, FYI, you would have known if you had shown up on time yesterday.”
“This is how you talk to Santa?” he said in mock disgust as he rummaged through the mystery bag he had in front of him. “At this rate, you, not to mention poor Teo, may wind up with a sack of coal.”
“You’re right, you’re right,” I conceded. “I’m sorry. What were you saying?”
“That Wednesday after school, you and I are going to go on a little adventure.”
“I don’t do adventures. I hate them.”
“You’ll like this one,” he assured me. “It’s to get Teo’s final gift.” He was back to his normal voice. “And trust me, he will go nuts over it.”
“Can you at least give me an idea where we’re going? I like to plan.”
“You?” he asked. “I wouldn’t have known. All I’ll say is just be prepared for a long night.”
Great, a long night going on some unknown adventure to places unknown. This had better be the best gift in the history of gifts, because getting it sounded like a Christmas nightmare.
“It’ll be fun, I promise.”
He had come through for me so far. “Okay, I will trust you. Don’t make me regret it.”
“Yes, ma’am,” he said and saluted.
I shook my head at him again and then glanced at the time. “We need to hurry up, I don’t want to be late for Teo’s.”
“We’re fine.”
Maybe I trusted him with picking out presents, but definitely not with time. Fine to J.D. meant showing up whenever it suited him. Fine to me was punctuality.
“So what do you want to be?” he asked, still fishing through the bag.
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