Burn

"I think it looks grand." John said, standing back and admiring our handiwork. We'd spent the last half hour decorating the little four-foot Christmas tree that we found in the back of a storage closet upstairs. After a bit of digging, we were able to round up the tiny ornaments meant to hang on it and a set of white Christmas lights. It was currently sitting in the middle of the living room table--the LED lights flashing and throwing glowing specs on the cream-colored couch beside it.

"It's not much, but at least we'll have something to put presents under." I grinned, looking over at him.

He grinned, too. "Now all we need is some mistletoe above each door and this place will be all set."

"What do you need mistletoe for?" I arched an eyebrow at him. He grabbed me up, pulling me against him and nuzzling his nose against mine playfully. "All the more reasons to do this, Viola Grey."

We both leaned in to connect our lips but were interrupted by the doorbell chiming. Before either of us could take a step, Garret came bounding down the stairs, opening the front door to reveal Callie and Rose standing on the door step. He let them in before enveloping Rose in a warm hug, grinning from ear to ear. As she pulled away, she mimicked his grin and Callie and I exchanged knowing glances.

"Vi!" she exclaimed, coming over to me and pulling me in for a hug too. Her long, blonde hair was curled beautifully and bounced on her shoulders, making me wish I'd put more effort into mine that morning. "You look good." she whispered before pulling away--as if knowing what I was thinking--and making me smile.

"Hey, Vi." Callie said, squeezing me tightly also before pulling away.

"What are you guys doing here?"

"We came to see you!" Rose said happily, grinning. "Garrett invited us over."

"It's just you two?" John asked nonchalantly, but I could tell by the tight sound of his voice he was asking about Caleb.

"Yeah, everyone else is busy today." Callie answered, giving him an understanding smile. I thanked her with my eyes. I looked at Garret curiously, waiting for an explanation. He gave me none and just a sly smile instead.

"Well did you guys want to go somewhere? We could visit town or something." I asked. Rose shook her head. "Why can't we just hang out here? With the dudes."

"I'm sure the boys have a ton to do with the album--"

"Actually Brendon gave us the day off today." Garrett chimed in, grinning at me. I suppressed the urge to roll my eyes and smiled a tight-lipped smile. "Great."

Rose and Callie followed Garrett into the kitchen and I watched as he and Rose began giggling over something in his phone. Kennedy and Pat came out of their rooms and joined them as I watched sourly from the den. John came over to me and grabbed my chin, tilting it up towards him as he looked into my eyes. "How come I get the feeling you don't want them here, Viola Grey?"

I shook my head. "It's not that I don't want them here, it's just that--well, if I wanted my friends over I would have invited them myself. I don't need Garrett to do that for me."

"I'm sure he meant nothing by it." he leaned down to peck my lips quickly before grabbing the left over ornaments from the living room and heading upstairs to put them away. "I'll be back in a few minutes!"

Callie strolled in from the kitchen with Rose in tow, both of them staring wide-eyed at me. "When were you going to tell us?" she hissed, narrowing her eyes.

"Tell you what?" I asked, furrowing my brow.

"About you and John!"

It dawned on me that I hadn't seen them since the last time The Maine played at The Palace. Wow, I had a lot of explaining to do. My cheeks burned hotly as I struggled to think of something to say. Rose broke out into a grin from ear to ear at my facial expression. "I know this was going to happen!"

"You--I--ugh!" I growled, frowning at Rose and Callie's matching grin. "You two are so freaking cute." Rose gushed.

"Oh my god, have you...?" Callie whispered, her eyes widening. "No!" I answered immediately, feeling my blush creep down to my neck. "It's not like that! Will you guys stop?"

"Stop what?" Garrett asked, grinning as he came into the living room and plopped on the couch, turning on the TV. "Judging by the look on Viola's face, you just asked her about John. Am I right?"

Rose and Callie giggled. "Correct."

"So tell me again, why I'm friends with you guys?" I mumbled, crossing my arms. Although they were already bothering me, I was glad that Callie and Rose had come by. I was starting to seriously miss all the girl time we used to have now that I was constantly surrounded by boys.

John and the rest of the guys joined us downstairs in the living room and everyone broke out into friendly chatter as the group caught up with one another. Callie and Rose lounged on the love seat and Garret, Kennedy and Jared shared the large couch. Pat was perched on the couch arm beside Callie, engaging her in conversation about super hero movies. John and I were currently struggling to both sit in the recliner at the same time since it was the only seat left in the living room.

"Your hips are too wide!" I complained, pushing him away from me. "Your hip bones are digging into me!"

John looked at me seductively at that comment, wiggling his eyebrows and causing me to roll my eyes. With one final push, I finally ejected him from the chair and onto the floor. No one seemed to notice our struggle until John pulled me up from the chair and sat down, dragging me down into his lap so that I was draped across him. I caught Rose's sly glance, causing my face to redden. It was funny how just my friends' presence there made me so much more conscious of each moment between John and I.

"So are you guys ready to be back home?" Rose asked, changing the course of the conversation and making me stiffen in John's lap. It wasn't necessarily a topic I wanted to cover at the moment. Since my episode with John during our date I had been trying to focus less on the future. Our future.

"Yes. This is going to sound so weird, but I miss my mom." Pat confessed, chuckling. Rose smiled at him. "I bet. It's hard to be away from your family during the holidays, huh?"

The boys all murmured agreements. "It's not so bad." Garrett said. "We'll make Christmas really cool this year to make up for it. And Tim has been thinking about throwing a party for new years, right Pat?"

"Oh yeah." Pat said, nodding. "You guys are invited of course, and so are Alex and Joel. It'll probably just be all of us, unless that changes in the next week."

"Sounds great!"

"Is anyone else ready to sleep in their own bed again?" Jared joked. "I mean, it's great here, but I can't wait to be in my own house."

John began humming in my ear, rubbing circles into my back to distract me from the conversation. I was so grateful for the way that he could read me, especially at times like this. I noticed that he didn't partake in the conversation that was about going home.

"You know what I think we should do?" Kennedy asked. "I think we should have a bonfire tonight. We haven't taken advantage of the fact that we have a fire pit and a really nice patio in the backyard."

"Can we roast marshmallows?" Rose asked hopefully.

"Sounds like a plan." John agreed. "We need to go find fire wood, though."

"Garrett and I can do that. What about some hot dogs? Lighter fluid?"

I got off of John's lap as he and the rest of the group began discussing the plans for that evening. Jared left with John to go to the store for supplies as Pat headed out into the backyard to collect firewood with Garrett and Kennedy. And just like that, we had plans for tonight--and Callie, Rose and I were left in the living room with not much to do.

I stood up. "I'm going upstairs to go put on something a little warmer for tonight."

"Ohhh, does this mean we get to see the bedroom you share with John?" Rose asked, smirking. "Oh, I'm sure you know all about it, considering how good of friends you are with Garrett now." I fired back, narrowing my eyes at her.

Callie clapped her hands immediately. "Quit it, you two." she mediated, looking between us. "What is with you today, Viola? Do you not want us here or something?"

I shook my head, sighing and pinching the bridge of my nose. "No--I don't know what is wrong with me. I'm sorry, Rose. I'm just stressed. I'm slowly realizing I can't deal with the fact that John is leaving next week. It has me really freaked out, you guys."

"Aw, Vi." Rose cooed, coming over and wrapping me in a hug. "You have every reason to be uneasy about that...come on. We can talk about it while I'm picking out your outfit for tonight."

I rolled my eyes and laughed. "Yeah, okay." I muttered as Rose dragged me up the stairs with Callie in tow.



"Absolutely perfect." Garrett said, examining his marshmallow after blowing it out and reaching for a graham cracker. "Have you guys ever seen a marshmallow this beautiful?"

"I have a beautiful marshmallow beside me." John whispered, nudging me with his elbow and making me crack up. "That was so corny, O'Callaghan."

"But it made you laugh!" he replied, grinning.

We were all gathered around the blazing fire in the backyard thanks to the handiwork of the boys, enjoying smores and hot dogs. The fire was a nice contrast to the chill outside air, and provided just enough warmth that was comfortable to sit around with a jacket on. I snuggled closer to John on the bench we were sharing and he looked over, beaming at me. I returned his smile as I stuck a marshmallow on the end of my stick.

I looked over to see Garrett and Rose mimicking John and I's actions, and the sight made my smile falter a little. I watched as Rose pulled her marshmallow from the fire and shrieked as she saw the entire thing covered in flames. Garrett blew it out for her and threw it to the side, handing her a new one and guiding her hand to the fire. I still wasn't sure how I felt about their relationship--especially because I couldn't tell whether they were into each other or not.

"We need music." Pat said, getting up and disappearing into the house.

"How's your article coming, Viola?" Callie asked. "The due date is coming up pretty quick, right?"

I nodded. "Honestly, I actually haven't been working on it like I'm supposed to be. The guys keep me really busy."

"Hey, don't blame us." Kennedy teased.

"I think it's fine that you enjoy your time here while you have it. Mr. Clancy is going to give you time to write it after they head back to Arizona, right?" Rose asked, looking over at me. I just shrugged. Why did we always have to talk about the one thing I was trying to avoid?

Pat came back out of the house with his iPod and a portable speaker in hand and set it up on the table on the patio. After fiddling with it for a few seconds, soft music began to play out of it that went with the laid-back atmosphere of the bonfire.

Everyone was quiet for a while as we enjoyed the music and and the quietness of the outside around us. I watched the fire dance in the air as I thought about how much the past couple of months had changed my life. I'd gotten promoted, I'd basically moved out of my apartment to live with strangers, I'd lost my best friend but gained new ones, and I'd started a relationship with one of the most amazing people I had ever met in my life. It was funny how eventful life could be at times.

The song on Pat's iPod ended and the soft beginning of Ed Sheeran's 'Give Me Love' came through the speakers. I smiled and began singing the lyrics softly beside John, swaying to the music and grinning when Callie joined me. John stood up and turned around, offering me his hand. "Dance with me?" he asked softly, a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.

My eyes widened and I went to reject him but he pleaded, "Come on, Viola Grey. Please?"

I took his hand and cautiously followed him to the grass right beside the stone tiling of the patio. Garrett followed John's lead and grabbed Rose up, pulling her to his chest and eliciting a shy giggle from her. I wrapped my arms around John's neck and he laid his hands softly on my hips as we turned slowly to the beat of the song.

"I like your hair like this." he commented, running his hand along the length of my ponytail. Rose had insisted when I was getting dressed that i pull it back because that was "sexier". I shook my head, feeling it swing on my back and smiled at him. "Thanks."

John gazed down at me with such a warmth in his eyes it made my face blush. I was thankful for the cool air outside and the fact that it was night time so I could hide it from him.

All I want is the taste that your lips allow

My-my, my-my, my-my

Give me love

John mouthed the words at me before reaching his hand up to cup the side of my face and connect our lips softly. I relished in the feeling of his lips against mine, pushing my chest against him and moving our lips in sync. A glow as warm as the fire engulfed me all the way from my toes to the tip of my ponytail. I was completely filled with him and only him, forgetting for a few moments that our friends were surrounding us.

I pulled away breathlessly and John rested his forehead against mine as we returned to swaying to the music. I looked into his eyes that were boring into mine, watching the way the light from the fire cast shadows on his face and accentuated his chiseled features. I was filled with such an infatuation with this man that I couldn't put the feeling into words to say. But I couldn't most definitely think them--over and over and over.

I love you.