Christmas in the City

Chapter Ten

IT'S A BEAUTIFUL Christmas morning. Soft snow falls down in a dream like manner and the quiet sound of Christmas music plays in the background of our hotel room.

New York looks so bright and lovely this morning. Someone needs to capture the view and turn it into a Christmas card.

I slip on my fuzzy slippers and head to the living room. My mom is on the couch with a cup of coffee in her hand while watching the Christmas parade. Our small Christmas tree is lit and it creates a nice glow in the room. Presents that weren't there last night surround the tree. My brother and I  have always come downstairs on Christmas morning to presents under the tree that's from Santa.

"Morning," I chirp and take a seat by her on the couch. I lay my head on her shoulder and sigh. "I can't believe it's Christmas."

"I know. It all went by so fast," she agrees.

It takes forever for Christmas to get here, but once it does it goes by so fast.

My mom and I sit on the couch for a while before my dad and brother wake up.

The Matthews' come over at the same time our room service arrives. The smell of bacon and maple syrup filter the air while everyone greets each other.

The kitchen staff really outdid themselves for breakfast. There's blueberry and regular pancakes that are in the shape of snowflake, bacon, and a fruit basket. They even gave us a Christmas card.

The hotel staff has begun to feel like family to us, and I think we're all sad that we're going to have to say goodbye to them in a week.

I fill my plate with food and take a seat beside Brandon. Not because it's the only seat available, but because I want to.

I remember when we were on the plane to come here, and I was mad that I had to share a row with him. Look at me now. Do you see how much a trip can change you?

After eating our delicious breakfast, I have to stop myself from taking a cat nap.

"It's time for presents!" My mom claps her hands in excitement.

We all move over to by the Christmas tree. It's a rule that the oldies all go first.

My mom and Ms. Matthew take their sweet time opening gifts. The excitement on their face when they open my gifts makes me feel accomplished.

Seeing someone get happy over a gift you give them makes you happy. It's one of the reasons why giving is better than receiving.

It's finally my turn. I open my brother's present first. It's a blue beanie with a white puff on the top.

"Who knew you had good taste?" I joke and he rolls his eyes.

My parents outshine themselves again with the gifts.

"You guys shouldn't have," I say. "This trip was more than enough."

Brandon surprises me when he hands me a gift. I was not expecting him to give me anything.

There's a lot of things that it could be. I'm thinking it's a gag gift of some sorts like what I gave him.

I tear the wrapping off in a rush to get to the gift. My mouth drops once I see what's inside.

"What is it?" My mom asks.

Brandon simply smirks at me.

I pull out the snow globe that I saw at the market. The one that I was crying over to get, but I stopped myself. He got it for me.

I can feel small tears forming in the corner of my eyes. I think this is the sweetest gift someone has ever gotten me.

"It's the one thing that I wanted," I tell everyone and hold out the snow globe to show them.

"Good job, B." His sister smiles.

"Well, this isn't the first time you made my sister cry." My brother pats Brandon on the shoulder.

"How did you know?" I ask him.

"I'm secretly an elf."

I roll my eyes at his stupid answer, but thank him.

There's a lot that I'm going to remember from this trip. The minute we arrived here, I knew this was going to be a trip to remember.

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It's a little later in the afternoon. After we finished gifts, we watched Christmas movies and ate lunch.

We were about to put on A Christmas Story when Brandon's mom suggested that we all take a walk through the city.

New York is truly the city that never sleeps, because it's Christmas and the streets are still crowded. There's people zooming in and out of taxis to get to restaurants for a Christmas meal or to get to department stores for very last minute shopping.

I love how you can still feel the rush and excitement here even in Christmas.

The snow is coming down more than ever. The way it's coming down reminds me of back home when we have severe thunderstorms.

Brandon and I walk side by side as we pass through Christmas displays. We stop at one that has an animated waving Santa.

Brandon and I look up to see the mistletoe at the same time.

He glances at the mistletoe then back at me. "We don't have to if you don't want to."

I stare at him for a few moments before gaining the courage to do something that I thought I would never do.

I kiss Brandon.

As cheesy as it sounds, it seems the entire city  of New York freezes.

He cups my cheeks and kisses me back.

If only someone would walk by and take a picture of us as we kiss on the streets of New York.

I'm not really sure what's going to happen between Brandon and I. We have a week until we go back home, so there's no rush.

We can just enjoy the time we have right now, because there's something magical about kissing your old enemy in New York on Christmas.

This trip hasn't gone the way I planned, but I wouldn't change a thing.

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AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Thanks for reading!

This chapter isn't heavily edited, so if you see any mistakes then please point them out nicely.

Wow. This is the last chapter. This past month has flew by so fast. Thank you to everyone who read this book and voted and commented. It means a lot.

I hope you guys have an amazing Christmas. I know it's weird not celebrating it the way we usually do, but let's make the most out of it.

Be on the lookout for a bonus chapter soon.

Merry Christmas and happy New Year.

🎄🎄

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Author