Page 206 of How My Neighbour Stole Christmas
Confused.
Hurt.
I look over at Cole’s house and gasp. Not a single light strand is on display. Not on the roof, not on the porch, not even around the windows. It’s all gone.
And he thinks I did it.
He thinks I used him.
That I tricked him.
That these strong, intense feelings I have for him were all made up and that I was playing him the whole time.
He couldn’t be more wrong.
“What’s going on?” I hear Aunt Cindy say as she walks up to the front door. “I heard yelling.”
I sniff, my emotions getting the best of me as I turn on my heel and head back into the house, away from the cold.
When I move past Aunt Cindy, she says in a worried tone, “Storeebook, what’s happening?”
I take a seat on the stairs and bury my head in my hands as tears sting my eyes.
“Storee,” Aunt Cindy repeats as she stands in front of me, tapping her cane. “Why was there yelling?”
“There was yelling?” Taran says from the top of the stairs.
“Yes, I think it was Cole and Atlas,” Aunt Cindy says. “But I don’t know why they would be yelling at Storee. Did you two have a lovers’ quarrel?”
“Aunt Cindy, they weren’treallylovers. You know that, right?” Taran heads down the stairs and stops in front of me. “Wait, are you crying?”
I shudder, a sob coming out of me before I can stop it.
“You are.” Taran sits next to me on the stairs, removes my hands, and forces me to look at her. “Why are you crying?”
“Because,” I say, the lump in my throat making it incredibly hard to speak, “I…I think…I think I love him.”
“What?” Taran nearly shouts and shakes her head. “Storee, I know he was playing you, but you can’t possibly—”
“Playing me?” I ask as I wipe my hand over my cheek. “What are you talking about?”
She sighs, then takes my hand in hers. “I know this is going to be hard to understand given the state that you’re in, but he didn’t really like you. This whole relationship thing, it was a distraction so he could take the lead in the Kringle competition. And I don’t blame—”
“This isn’t about the stupid Kringle competition,” I say. “This is about me and Cole. We…we’ve been seeing each other.”
“Yes, I know,” Taran says.
“Wait, I’m confused,” Aunt Cindy joins in.
“It’s simple,” Taran explains. “Cole was worried that he was going to lose the competition against us, so he made Storee fall for him, and apparently she did, but it wasn’t because he liked her—”
“Yes, it was,” I insist.
Taran gives me one of those smiles that says she feels bad for me. “Storee, it was all pretend for him.”
“It wasn’t,” I say as I wipe my eyes. “It was real. Everything about it was real.”
“No, Storee, he took advantage of the crush you’ve had on him for years.”
