Walk Away (Maybe)

"Where are the presents?" Taylor asked, cocking an eyebrow.

"Oh, right. We should get them." Joe said as I gasped for breath after being crushed in the dogpile. I glared as he stood. He grinned, skipping out the door with Nick and Kevin in toe. They came back in, colorful boxes in their arms, some big and some small. They dumped them under the tree. "We're opening them now, right?" Joe asked.

"No. Tomorrow." Nick answered sitting beside Bri.

"Aww." Joe whined. "I don't wanna wait!"

"Too bad." Kevin said. "Now go to bed. None of these better be touched before tomorrow." Joe stomped his foot, crossing his arms.

"Fine. But I'm sharing with Tori!" He grabbed my arm.

"Huh? I thought I was sharing with Taylor?" I blinked. "And you were with Kev?"

"Dude, I can't share with Taylor." Kevin said. "That'd be weird." His nose crinkled.

"But I wanna share with Tori." He pouted. "We can stay up all night and share secrets."

"You're such a girl." I laughed.

"You could crash on the couches." Nick suggested, referring to the ones he and Bri and Taylor and Kevin were on. Joe's eyes lit up and he looked to me in hope. I rolled my eyes.

"Sure."

"Yes!" He exclaimed, flinging himself on me. I fell over.

"Oof!"

"Don't touch the presents." Kevin warned. Joe nodded, now at my side, grinning.

"I'll make sure he doesn't." I said. They dispersed, Bri and Nick to their bed area, Taylor to hers, now alone, and Kevin to his, also getting his own.

****

"Tori." A hushed voice called.

"What?" I turned over, looking to Joe, on his couch across the room.

"I can't sleep."

"Santa's not coming unless you do."

"I know, but I'm excited." He said, eyes sparkling with excitement. I smiled.

"I am too. What did you get me?" He smirked.

"You'll just have to wait and see." I huffed. "Let's go play in the snow!" He said, sitting up.

"It's.." I looked at the clock. "4 in the morning! We're not going outside, Joe."

"Come on. It'll be fun!"

"No." I rolled over. "Now go to sleep." I heard shuffling, then he was leaning over me. "Go away, Joe."

"But I wanna play in the snow."

"We can play in the park tomorrow."

"I wanna play now!"

"Shh! You're gonna wake everyone up." I pushed him away, sitting up.

"Please?" He flashed the puppy dog eyes.

"What snow would we even play in? The hotel doesn't have a yard, y'know." He paused.

"There's a pool on the roof." He said after a moment.

"Are you kidding me-?"

"We're not gonna play in the pool." He rolled his eyes. "Around it."

"This is stupid." I stood.

"So you'll play with me?" He beamed. I sighed.

"If I must."

****

"Joseph, be quiet." I hissed as he hummed and skipped down the hall to the stairs.

"I can't help it. We might see Santa!" I laughed. He's too adorable for his own good. We made it to the roof of the hotel in minutes. We were wearing coats and boots, but other then that, our pajamas. "Dude! The pool is an ice rink!" He started to go over to it.

"If you break the ice, I'm not saving you." I said dully.

"You'd let me turn into a Popsicle?" He turned, eyes wide. I broke a smile.

"No." He leaned down by the frozen water, poking it hesitantly.

"It's really thick." He stepped one foot down on the ice.

"Don't." I said, walking over to him. "Joe-" He pushed himself off, sliding to the middle. He waved his arms for balance, then grinned. "You're an idiot." I sighed dramatically.

"But you love me."

"Unfortunately." He slid back over, tugging my arm. "No way."

"Come on! It's fun!"

"It's gonna break-" I was sliding with him the next second. "Joseph!" I squealed, clinging on to him.

"It's fine." He said, his voice soft.

"It's scary." I replied. He chuckled. I think I just heard a crack... "It's cracking!"

"You're hearing things." He rolled his eyes.

"Joe, it's cracking-"

"Okay, okay." He led me back over. I stepped into the snow. "Happy?" He stood next to me. "Can we play in the snow now?"

"It's your fault we're not." He flashed his tongue, scooping up some snow. The snow crunched beneath my feet as I ran from him. I scooped some of my own up and aimed it at his face.

"We're evenly matched." He smirked.

"Seems that way." I mirrored his expression. I chucked it at him, ducking as his came at me.

We had a snowball war and I was drenched with melting snow after about half an hour. I shivered. "Can we go inside now?" My teeth clattered. He rubbed his arms, nodding.

"Bet I can beat you back to the room."

"You're on!" We ran for the door, pushing each other as dove through it. Joe closed it as I ran ahead, down the stairs. We were on the top floor, and the room wasn't very far from here. I hit the door the same time he did.

"I win!" We said together.

"I won, Joe."

"No, Tori, I did." He replied. We stared at each other before bursting out laughing and opening the door. We stepped in, but he stopped me, grabbing my hand. "Look." I looked up, freezing. "Mistletoe." He whispered, peering down at me, a warm smile on his face. I swallowed.

"Oh, uh.." He brushed some hair out of my face. This reminded me of our first kiss. I blushed furiously as he leaned down, his lips brushing mine. A light flicked on and we pulled apart, looking over.

"What're you doing?" A tired Bri asked.

"We, uh.. We were....playing in the snow." I said, face red.

"At like, 5 in the morning?" She yawned. We stepped inside.

"Yeah." I looked at Joe. His eyes were on the ground. I sighed.

So close.