Trouble in Paris (a Romeo Beckham fanfic)

Chapter 34

"Wake up, Harper, wake up!" My little brother, Matt said as he shook me.

"I'm up, i'm up!" I said as I tried to turn away from him and fall back asleep.

"It's time to wake up!" Matt said as he continued to shake me. "We have to open our presents before the rest of our family gets here!" I turned and looked at the clock on my bedside table, it said it was five minutes past ten, in the morning.

"Is Nina up yet?" I asked as I sat up and yawned.

"Yup, you're the only one that isn't."

"Fine." I said as I got up and followed my little brother out of my bedroom and into the family room where our Christmas tree was neatly decorated, three different types of wrapping paper on the gifts stacked under the tree so we could separate our gifts.

"Merry Christmas, Harper!" My mom said as she walked into the family room from the kitchen where her and Winona were cooking Christmas lunch for my grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins.

"Merry Christmas!" I responded as I took a seat on one of the cushioned, follower-patterned chairs, across from my younger sister, Nina. We continued to tell each other 'Merry Christmas' as my dad grabbed his camera.

"Who's opening up their gift first?" My dad asked as my mother and him grinned at us.

"Me, me, me!" Matt smiled as he started to tear the paper off his first gift.

As he opened up his first gift my phone beeped, a different sound than my texts usually looked. I flipped over my phone to see what the alert was. "Who is that, Harper?" My mom asked. "It's your turn to open a gift."

"Oh sorry," I frowned as I grabbed a gift from under the tree that matched the wrapping paper that was mine for this year and started to open it. As I finished unwrapping the gift a pair of jeans and a Chanel dress were revealed in the box. "Thank you so much!" I smiled at my parents.

"Aw, anytime, Honey!" My parents said in sync as they looked at Matt who was already half-way through unwrapping his next gift before my parents could even give him the cue to.

-

"They will be here any minute, please be nice, all of you." My mom said as she gave Matt a dirty look.

"Over Halloween while you were at school, he asked Aunt Rose if she was pregnant." Nina filled me in.

"What? Matt what were you thinking? Aunt Rose is like, fifty!" I said with wide eyes.

"She is forty-four, why are you all so rude?" My mom asked as she walked past us and started to help Winona set the table. "Anyways, Aunt Rose had a little period of time where she gained a lot of weight while on vacation in the Bahamas, and your little brother was more than happy to point it out in front of everyone right after the dinner prayer."

I know that what my little brother did was awful, but I couldn't help but laugh. "So tell me the truth," Nina said as she lowered her voice to me. "Was that notification of your phone Romeo? Because that's the sound that you get when you get an email, and who else emails you?"

"It wasn't an email, it was an Instagram alert." I said giving Nina a dirty, 'you're nosy' look.

"Liar." Nina said with a straight face. "I know when you lie, your lip kind of quivers, I know you very well."

"I am not discussing any of that with you." I said as I grabbed a banana slice and shoved it in our mouth. "No mentioning Romeo, or any of the Beckham's at lunch, promise?" I said as I stuck my pinky out to her.

"Ugh, fine, I promise." Nina frowned as she linked her pinky with mine. "But you're going to owe me."

"Whatever," I rolled my eyes as I heard our front door unlock, revealing my Aunt Rose.

"Nina!" My Aunt Rose opened her arms and gave Nina a huge hug. "And hey guys look, it's our little Harper, the one who has been seen all around Paris with that young Beckham boy!"

Nina turned and looked at me, a laugh exploding out of her, my face was straight as I tried to keep my cool. "Aunt Rose, hey!"