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“It just started too!” Etienne grinned around a mouthful of pizza

“It’s a Christe, and I popped the top and held it up for a cheers

We devoured the pizza and called out iconic lines along with the actors

Etienne put on a fake serious face as we said in unison, “You throw quite a party I didn’t realize they celebrated Christmas in Japan”

This was one of our faves since when I was a kid, someone had actually asked me why my family celebrated Christmas—as if my parents weren’t born in Canada, where prettynot-all-Canadians, but mostly everyone I knew

We groaned at Takagi’s cringey answering line about Pearl Harbor, which I couldn’t see e cringe factor Die Hard got a pass on being the best Christmas movie ever, and no, it wasn’t up for debate as to whether it was really a Christmas movie It was The end

And being here in this cozy cabin witha holiday classic, was an awesome Christmas Shit, I really had ed him and told him that

But it would be weird, right? Instead, I took another gulp of beer and shouted out the next line

Chapter Four

Etienne

I’d iined thisup with Sahts in a cabin in the mountains The colors were like a rainbow over his slack face His lips looked particularly pink and te

He was sprawled on his sto him, I’d only have to shift an inch and our knees would touch I’d only have to shift a bit farther to kiss those pink lips

Obviously, I wouldn’t

His green-tipped hair stuck up wildly in the glow of the colored lights He hugged the pillow to his face and neck The plaid duvet had slipped down to the middle of his back, and I worried he was cold, but I didn’t want to wake hi it

Thein the cold air invaded When I’d opened the door and found him there, damp-skinned and only in the towel, that candy cane in his mouth…

Tabarnak

No s Not when I was in bed with hiiant sequoia like the ones on Vancouver Island It was ridiculous—we’d slept in the sah school Or in the same tent, like on that trip to Tofino