Never Safe ✔︎

Chapter Eighteen

The rest of the week consists of me bugging Cade and hanging out with Ari and the other guys. Soon enough it's Friday night AKA Christmas Eve and its time for me to wrap my presents for Justin. I'm sitting on Cade's bed as I try to wrap the presents as neat as possible. I'm not wrapping them with Ari, since I don't know whose name she drew. Cade asked me to wrap his present for Carter, because of course he doesn't want to do it himself.

"What time are we going over to your parent's house tomorrow?" I ask Cade who is sitting across from me on the bed working on his laptop.

"My mom said Christmas dinner is at 6:00 P.M. so were going to leave at about 11:30 A.M."

"Why so early?"

"We always open the presents before we eat supper," he answers, looking up from his laptop.

"So, it's like a tradition? We have a lot of traditions at our house also. Me and Ari like to stay up late watching Christmas movies, we eat French toast for breakfast and lots of other traditions."

"Hmm," Cade says returning to his work.

"Are James and Just in coming also? Or do they go home to their families to celebrate?"

"Both of their families live in different states, this isn't the kind of job where you see your family all the time."

"Well, that's sad. Can we all stay up tonight and watch movies together? Please? Please? Please?" I beg, changing the subject.

"Whatever," Cade responds. I smile happily as I finish wrapping the presents while listening to Christmas music in my headphones. This is a great way to spend Christmas Eve.

"Where should I set these?" I ask Cade referring to the presents on the bed.

"Set them in the closet, Carter has a tendency to snoop for presents."

"Cade, can I take the boot off now? My ankle barely hurts anymore," I ask.

"You can either switch to a wrap with crutches or leave the boot on for another week."

"Ugh fine, I guess I'll do the wrap and crutches" I groan as I stand up off the bed. The crutches are terrible, but the boot is too bulky to walk around comfortably.

"All right, it's all in the bathroom," Cade answers as he walks towards the bathroom. I follow him into the room and push myself onto the counter.

"Hold on, let me take a shower before you wrap my foot," I answer as Cade takes my boot off. He helps me hop to the shower and I get in and close the door. Once the door is closed, he can't see me since the door is solid black. I quickly strip my clothes off and throw them over the door, all while holding the railing with my hand.

"I need a towel," I yell to Cade.

"Alright, I'll set it on the floor by your clothes for when you're done." I quickly wash my hair to minimize the amount of time I'm stuck balancing in the shower. After about ten minutes I shut the water off, wring my hair dry, and grab the towel to dry off. I dry off and wrap the towel around my body as I stay balancing with the railing.

"Cade, I need you to help me with the wrap," I slightly yell. After waiting for almost a minute, I hear Cade open the door and he walks back to me in the shower. He lets me lean on him as I make my way back to the counter. Without the boot on, its nearly impossible for me to push myself onto the counter, so Cade lifts me up and sets me on it. He opens one of the cabinets and grabs a medical wrap for my ankle. He grabs a towel from the cabinet and softly pats my leg and foot dry. Once he's done, he wraps my ankle tightly and secures it shut with several pins.