I want her to choose this, but clearly I’m not above playing a little dirty. All I can guess is that she’s been burned before, and she doesn’t want to chance it happening again.
“You’ve got to risk to get the reward,” I tell her, sliding a hand around her waist and inching her just a little closer. “I won’t hurt you, Kalli.”
She exhales sharply, and makes a noise that’s almost a laugh. Pressing her lips together, she looks as if she’s steeling herself. Whether to push me away or pull me closer, I’m not sure. And I don’t get the chance to find out.
Because at that moment, Lennox charges into the kitchen again. “Time for a drinking—damn it. I have the worst timing ever.”
Yes. Yes, she does. Kalli’s hand drops from my arm, but I don’t release her or move away.
“Well, it appears you’ve done your job, Dazzler. Now both of you come celebrate Christmas with us by getting blackout drunk.”
“Gotta say. I’ve never had a Christmas quite like this one.”
Lennox crosses her arms over her chest and says, “You’re welcome. Now come hang out with us.” She refuses to leave the kitchen until we’re with her. And even though I really want to keep Kalli to myself, I meant what I said about her being with her friends. She talks about them as if she’s never really had friends before, at least not that many. And I get the feeling that it’s all tied together with why she’s keeping me at arm’s length and why she was so upset the night we were together. I take her hand as she slides off the counter. She tiptoes across the floor, just in case I missed any glass, and the two of us follow Lennox into the living room. Avery has moved to a spot on the floor just below Jack, leaving half of the couch open for Kalli and me to sit beside Lennox and her boyfriend. I shed my leather jacket, and lay it over the couch arm. It’s a tight squeeze with me on the outside, and Kalli ends up nearly on my lap. I lay one arm along the back of the couch to give us a little extra room. She only hesitates for a few seconds before pressing into my side.
“Alrighty,” Lennox says. “For you newbies, first up is Merry Mustache. You don’t get much simpler than this.” She nods at Mick, and he strides over to the TV and tapes a construction paper mustache a little left and down from the center of the screen. “Thank you, Mick. Now, we put on a variety of Christmas movies that everyone is sick of. You can watch it or don’t. But if during the movie, the fake mustache lines up correctly with someone’s face on the screen, yell Merry Mustache. Everyone else besides the Merry-Mustache-wisher then has to drink. Dazzler, where is your drink?”
I shrug. “You ran me out of the kitchen before I had time.”
“Mick, be your usual amazing self and get Wilder a drink.”
Her boyfriend holds up his own beer in question, and I nod in approval.
“That’s the first game,” Lennox continues.
“First?” Kalli asks. “There’s more than one?”
“Of course. It’s Christmas. No way in hell I want to be sober. And you two,” she points a finger in our direction, “have some catching up to do.”
Mick returns then with my beer, and I nod in thanks. I’m starting to realize that he’s a pretty silent dude. Again, the complete opposite of Lennox. He sits down at the other end of the couch, and Kalli is squeezed even tighter against me.
“Game number two involves the Secret Santa presents.”
“I was supposed to bring a present?” I whisper to Kalli.
Lennox must have stellar hearing because she says, “Don’t worry, Wilder. I’ve got you. I forgot to tell you, so I went ahead and got a second one. Unlike regular Secret Santa, every single one of these presents is alcohol. Because that’s how we roll at Orphan Christmas. We’ll pick numbers, and when it’s your turn to pick a gift, you have to try and guess what type alcohol it is. If you’re right, everyone else has to take a shot. If you’re wrong, you have to.”
“Someone is going to get alcohol poisoning,” Kalli says.
“That’s how we roll at Orphan Christmas,” Jack replies sarcastically.
Kalli laughs, and irritation burns in my chest.
Lennox has us all choose numbers from a hat to determine the order in which we pick our presents. Jack is up first, and when he looks in Kalli's direction, I feel an irrational urge to keep her from looking at him. I lean in close to her. Playing with one of the curls on her shoulder, I say, “Tell me something about you that I don't know.”
She tilts her chin toward me, enough that my lips could meet her cheek if she leaned just a little farther.
“There's a lot you don't know about me.”
“Then we better get started. How about we play a little game of our own? Every time one of us has to drink, we also have to tell the other something about ourselves.”
“Anything?”
“To start.”
“Planning to make it more interesting?”
“With you, I think things can only get more interesting.”
“Len is right about you being a dazzler.”
“You know she's on my side, right?”
“There are sides?”
“Definitely. And I don't want to alarm you or anything, but I'm pretty sure your side is losing. Anytime you want to jump ship, just let me know.”
She rolls her eyes and shakes her head, but she relaxes a little more against me, and I'm hyper aware of the way we're touching from chest to thigh. My blood pounds in my ear, amplified by adrenaline. This night feels important, like I'm coming up on a summit, and if I can just get there, it will open my eyes up to all the things I haven't been able to see before.