Like Walking Into a Dream

2 weeks later, Christmas Eve

“We wish you a Merry Christmas, we wish you a Mer…”

“If you don’t shut up now, I’ll shove a Christmas ball down your throat!” threatened Matt, as he sat down in front of the piano that was in Brian’s living room. He was glaring at Adeline, who was up on a step-ladder, putting festoons everywhere in the living room. She stuck out her tongue and went back to what she was doing. I laughed and sat down next to Matt, I kissed his cheek.

“Ugh!” yelled Adeline. Matt snapped his head in her direction and glared at her, threatening her with his fist. She flipped him off and almost fell of her step-ladder at the same time. Brian, who was staying next to her, in case something like that happened, reacted quickly and caught her before she actually fell. She giggled, kissed his cheek and went back to decorating the living room. Brian sighed and rubbed his face. She hadn’t been up there for more than 10 minutes but she had already fallen off it 3 times… Hopefully, Brian had been standing next to her because otherwise we would have spent Christmas in the hospital… I sighed and started playing some random tune that, without thinking about it, turned into ‘Merry Christmas’, and I didn’t noticed it until…

“WE WISH YOU A MERRY CHRISTMAS!”

“Oh god!” muttered Matt next to me. I bit my lip and looked apologetically at him. He sighed and kissed me. “It’s not your fault if your sister is a little…” he didn’t finish his sentence.

“I am not crazy! I’m just happy!” said Adeline, glaring at Matt. “Adeline!” screamed Brian, because she was about to fall again.

The front door opened and Johnny, Jimmy and Zacky came in holding several bags, which I guessed, were full of food. I got up and made my way over to them to help them, Matt did the same while Adeline jumped off the step-ladder, Brian almost had a heart attack as she did so. I put one of the bags on the counter and looked in it: alcohols. Alright, I looked into an other one: sweets…

“You can search wherever you want, you won’t find the presents!” said Matt, laughing as he came behind me. I turned around and looked at him with puppy eyes, he simply shook his head, smiling. I sighed in defeat and walked back to the living room, where my sister was. I sat on the couch and she sat next to me.

“Is Matt stalking you?” she asked me. My eyes widened as I looked at her.

“What?” I asked in disbelief, where did she come with that!

“He’s like following you everywhere, he’s like a freaking shadow or something!” she said, looking at the doorway, expecting Matt to come in. I laughed:

“Yeah, you could say that he’s my shadow.” I said, smiling.

“My Shadow. Sounds good!” said Brian as he walked in the living room, holding 2 beers, he gave one to Adeline and one to me.

“Yeah, but instead of My, let’s put M and add an S to Shadow. So it’s M.Shadows, and the S can also stand for Matt. Sounds good for a stage name! It’s like Synyster Gates for Brian and The Rev for Jimmy. But we still need to find one for Zacky and for Johnny…” said Adeline.

“I say Shortshit!” yelled Jimmy from the kitchen, shortly followed by the sound of something hitting something (or someone). “Jesus Christ, Johnny!” screamed Jimmy as he walked in the living room, holding his head.

“That’s it!” yelled Adeline as she got up and hugged Jimmy. “Jesus?” asked Zacky, not sure if he was following her idea.

“No. Christ. Johnny Christ!” said Adeline, grinning. The guys looked at each others and nodded, smiling. “That’s good Adeline, thank you!” said Johnny. She just smiled like a five year-olds who just had been given a candy and sat back down on the couch, taking a swig of her beer.

The evening went by like this: loads of alcohol, sweets and junk food. Zacky and Jimmy were having a drinking contest and Johnny was the referee. Matt was laughing at them while drinking his I-lost-the-count beer, and I was eating my I-can’t-remember-how-much bag of Skittles. Adeline and Brian were nowhere to be found but last time I saw them, Adeline was pretty drunk and Brian had a tricky smile on his face. I made a face, I really didn’t want to know what they were doing upstairs…

It was around 3 am when the guys finally stopped their competition and agreed that it was Jimmy who won. We all crashed around the living room, well, the guys crashed on the floor or on the other couch or armchair while me and Matt slept on the biggest couch.

**

The next morning

Since I didn’t drunk as much as the guys, I didn’t have an hangover, which I was pretty grateful for. I was currently lying on the couch, and I needed the bathroom but I was stuck because Matt was holding me close to his chest, like I was his teddy bear or something. After a while, I shook him awake and ran to the bathroom. When I came back, Zacky and Johnny were awake while Jimmy was still snoring. I looked at the Christmas tree and saw that there were plenty of presents underneath it. I squealed and ran to them, trying to find one that was for me. I heard Matt laughing behind me. I turned around and saw my sister walking in the living room, her hair was a mess, and she was wearing one of Brian’s T-shirt, inside out and a pair of his boxers.

“What’s so funny Matt?” she mumbled, rubbing her eyes as she let herself fall on the couch.

“Looks like you had fun last night!” said Jimmy who had finally woke up, he had drunk a lot and he just woke up but he was already hyper!

“Maybe I just passed out on the floor?” she said, obviously trying to hide the truth. Matt laughed again,

“Yeah, I’m sure that’s what happened! And that’s how you got this huge hickey. And that’s why Brian is smiling like an idiot!”

“I just got my Christmas present early, that’s all!” replied my best friend as he walked in. Adeline blushed, and glared at everyone who was laughing.

“Speaking of presents!” I said as I was still sitting on the floor, next to the Christmas tree.

“Yeah!” screamed Jimmy as he sat next to me and started looking at the presents. Soon we were all sitting around, unwrapping presents and saying ‘Thank you’ and hugging or kissing everyone.