Chapter Forty Eight - Winner
Milo's P.O.V -
Everyone started quickly, people reached forward to grab decorations from the middle of the table. I sat back for a moment trying to think about how I would decorate it. I could only remember the scene on that cliff thing in the graveyard, but surely everyone else would do that too.
"The nightmare before Christmas." Lincoln mumbled. "I don't think I've ever seen it."
"Look it up." I suggested as I grabbed some black icing, maybe I should just do the basic scene.
Lincoln shook his head. "We're not allowed to."
Lincoln peered over to look at what I was doing. "I'll just copy yours."
He ended up regretting copying me when he realized that I'm awful at art and the gingerbread looked like a big blob of grey, black and orange.
"What is that supposed to be!" He exclaimed in frustration as he stared at the lopsided circle which was supposed to be the moon.
I just laughed looking over at Bella's. Hers was perfect and you could clearly identify every part, she did the same scene as me but in hers you could see the individual pumpkins and tombstones. She was currently drawing the skeleton guy on top of the hill.
"Thirty seconds." Andrew announced. He hadn't taken part instead he seemed to enjoy walking around the table and laughing at everyone's work.
"Stop." He ordered and everyone instantly put everything down.
Except Victoria who was quickly adding final details to her one, Andrew had to walk over and force her to drop the icing.
"I'll collect those now." He took Victoria's first since she tried to fix a mistake she had made, he then took everyone else's and was careful not to smudge them.
The next two rounds followed in a similar fashion but it was the Grinch and Home alone. We only had two minutes for the Grinch and I spent the entire time copying Cole's Christmas jumper.
Once the three rounds were over everyone cleared the table and the gingerbread's were laid out on the table. It was fair to say that I was definitely not winning.
Most people had drawn the same scene for each movie, the cliff in the nightmare before Christmas, the Grinch in his sleigh and the kids shocked expression in home alone. Except three stood out because they were different to everyone else's, I could tell they were by the same person because they all had the same amount of detail and skill.
They had depicted oogie boogie with Santa tied up in ropes, they had made a young Grinch throwing a Christmas tree and even included the little cuts on his face from shaving, and they had created the guy with the iron shaped burn on his face. Something about this screamed Cole, and I think he should win.
I placed all three of my votes on Cole's work while other's went for what I recognized as Bella's and some went for someone else's. Most were left without votes because it was clear that only three people were good at this.
"The nightmare before Christmas winner is..." Andrew trailed off for suspense. "Bella, congratulations."
He smiled warmly at her as did everyone else. She gave a shy smile but didn't say anything.
"It was really good." I told her.
"Not good enough enough for you to vote for it though." She teased.
"Maybe I prefer originality over detail." I joked.
She smiled and shook her head. We turned our attention back to Andrew who was watching our exchange.
"The winner of the Grinch is Cole." Andrew announced.
Cora clapped excitedly and hugged Coal who's face hadn't changed at the news.
"The winner of Home Alone is also Cole." Andrew smiled at him. "Which means you're the overall winner."
At that a small smirk spread across his face. Cora kissed him quickly and seemed a lot more excited than him.
"So Milo." I looked over to Wyatt's dad. "The winner gets to pick someone to jump into the pool."
"That's what you get for winning?" I spoke amused.
"Yeah, so who's it going to be?" Andrew asked Cole. "It can't be Milo because he can't get his cast wet."
Cole didn't even bother to look around the table and he didn't hesitate or think about his answer.
"Lincoln." Cole stared at him, his smirk got larger.
Lincoln sighed and slumped into his chair while Wyatt and I laughed at him.
"Fine." He let out a low growl and stood up.
We all got up and followed him outside where their pool was. It had started snowing two days ago and the pool was covered in a thin layer of ice. I'm glad it wasn't me.
I was careful not to dip my cast in the snow as we all approached the pool. Lincoln threw a glare at Cole before jumping into the pool.
The ice cracked instantly and he fell into the water it splashed but fortunately didn't reach us. Lincoln emerged from the water with a gasp.
"Fuck it's freezing." He yelled making everyone laugh, even Cole who I don't think I've seen laugh before.
Lincoln had to break the ice to reach the side of the pool which meant he spent a long time getting out. He jumped out and ran over to Cole spearing him into the snow.
We all watched them throw snow onto each other with the ambition of getting the other as cold as possible. It was a nice moment because usually Lincoln and Cole didn't get along.
They must have got too cold and soon returned to us shivering. I was also, from standing outside without a coat, the others didn't seem too affected by the weather. Lincoln had explained werewolves don't get as cold as humans.
"Milo." Lincoln had a glint of mischief in his eye as he walked over to me. "Do you want a hug?"
My eyes widened. "No." I told him but he continued his approach. "Don't you dare Lincoln, please don't."
He held out his arms but I pressed my crutch against his chest so he couldn't get any closer.
Lincoln laughed and gave up. "I wouldn't do that to you."
He lunged forward and wrapped his arms around me, the cold washed over me and I gasped trying to push him away.
"You dick." I grumbled still pushing at him.
"I love you." He held me tighter.
"I hate you." I mumbled giving up my attempt to get him off.
"We should go inside and warm up." Lincoln suggested when he noticed my shivering.
"Yeah." I looked up at him with a small smile. "Let's go have a shower."
Lincoln's eyes widened. "Together?"
I gave him a single node and he grinned picking me up along with my crutches. He quickly entered the house and headed towards his room suddenly very excited.
***
"Yeah I'm having a good day, it's different but still nice." I told my mum over the phone. "Doesn't quite feel like Christmas without family though."
"I know, I'm sorry Milo." My mum told me. "I miss you."
"I miss you too." I sighed. "I should probably go, everyone's waiting for me."
"What are you doing?" She asked intrigued.
It was late at night in Italy and my mum was slightly drunk from celebrating Christmas with her brothers. It was still early in the afternoon here.
"Who am I." I answered. "We're exchanging Secret Santa presents after."
"You haven't done presents yet?" She spoke surprised.
"They've given and received presents within their family but we're giving each other presents later." I explained.
"Your presents are at home, have you got them yet?" She asked me.
"Not yet, I'm going to ask Lincoln to drive me home tomorrow because I need to get some more things so I'll get them while I'm there." I said. "Yours is at home too."
"Thank you Milo, I'm sure I'll love it." I smiled at her words.
"Okay, I should really go." I told her. "Merry Christmas."
"Merry Christmas Milo, I love you." She told me.
"I love you too." I replied before hanging up.
I walked into the living room and sat down beside Lincoln. We all had to write down a person or character on a post it note then stick it on the forehead of the person to your right. Lincoln placed his sticky not on my forehead and I placed mine on Wyatt's.
We were a few rounds in and I had discovered that I was a fictional, blue female. I was deciding between Mystique, Smurfette and the girl from Avatar.
"Am I in a movie?" Lincoln asked.
We all shook our head and he sighed in annoyance. Lincoln wasn't good at this game. I smiled at his post it note which said 'Kim Kardashian'.
It was my turn but before I could ask a question my phone started to ring. I answered it without looking expecting it to be my mum again.
"Who is it?" Lincoln asked me and I shrugged.
"Skip me." I told them as I took the post it note off my head and handed it to Lincoln without looking.
Wyatt nodded asking his question.
"An inmate is attempting to contact you, if you accept the call press one." The automated voice said.
My eyes widened as I pulled the phone away from my ear.
"What?" Lincoln watched me with concern.
I couldn't bring myself to say anything to him, I shakily pressed the number on my phone.
"Milo?" A familiar voice asked quietly.
I swallowed and took a deep breath. I stood up grabbing my crutches. Lincoln stood up too confused by my actions.
"Are you there?" He asked again. "I can hear you breathing."
"Y-yeah I'm here." I finally spoke, my voice shook. "Hi Dad."
Lincoln froze and everyone in the room turned to look at me. Lincoln's eyes darkened as he stared at me.
"What?" Lincoln spoke darkly. "Your dad?"
"I'm going to go to the kitchen." I told him. "Stay here Lincoln, continue the game."
I left before he could say anything and entered the kitchen. I leant against the counter to steady my shaking leg.
"Milo?" My dad asked through the phone. "Did you go?"
"I went somewhere private, so people wouldn't over hear us." I explained.
This was weird. I had completely forgotten about my dad, I hadn't dwelled on wondering what was happening to him.
"Did I hear that you were with Lincoln?" I tired to decipher his tone before I answered but there was no emotion in his voice.
"I'm living with him temporarily." I answered, if he wasn't locked away I probably would've lied but there was nothing he could do to harm me now.
"Where's your mother?" He didn't sound angry, instead he was just confused.
"Nonno is dying so she has gone to live with them." I explained.
Was he not going to bring up that he shot me? Were we just going to ignore it?
"Milo." He broke the silence. "I need to apologize to you, I need to explain but I don't want to do this other the phone."
I sighed. "You want me to visit you?"
"I do." He replied. "I've already added you to my list of visitors."
I remained silent for a few moments. "Okay."
"Thank you." He sounded relieved.
"I'm bringing Lincoln so add him too." I stated without room for argument.
"That's fine, I'll do that tomorrow." He explained. "I really am sorry Milo."
"I should be getting back to Lincoln and his family." I told him.
"Okay." He said. "Merry Christmas Milo."
I closed my eyes and my hand tightened around the phone. "Merry Christmas dad."
I hung up the phone and tossed it onto the counter before turning and leaning against the counter with my head in my hands. I took slow steady breaths in an attempt to calm myself. I stayed here for a few minutes before grabbing my phone and returning to the living room.
Everyone looked over at me but turned back to the game when Cora asked her question. Lincoln's eyes remained locked on me as I sat back down beside him. I leaned against him and rested my head against his shoulder. He wrapped his arms around me and kissed the top of my head.
"Are you okay?" He whispered so that only I could hear him.
"Yeah I'm fine." I replied. "I'll tell you about it later."
"Okay." Lincoln mumbled as he pressed a post it note to my head.
I pulled away and smiled at him and secured the post it note.
"Lincoln." Cora told him. "It's your turn."