I woke up with a jolt to my bed.

"Wake up wake up! It's Christmas!" A little ball of energy squealed in my ear.

I groaned and sat up. I opened my eyes, still groggy with sleep. It took a few seconds for my eyes to adjust to the light. I noticed Mom, Dad, and Coop were standing in my doorway.

"Good morning" Dad said and walked over and kissed my head. "There's donuts and hot coco in the kitchen."

"Let's go let's go let's go" Sky squealed and dragged me down the stairs. Once she got to the bottom she took off to her presents waiting with anticipation.

Obviously, it's been a couple days since the party. Logan kept trying to text and call me, but I ignore him. Will texted me a couple times a day to check in on me. Things were a little bit awkward, but I pretended they're weren't.

I made my way downstairs in my Christmas PJs. I could see the tree lights sparkling in the morning sun.

I grabbed a donut from the box and sat down with Carter in the floor. Coop was sitting on the floor closer to the wall.

Connor and Lena walked in and there were greetings. They sat on the floor together.

The Christmas presents were passed out. Sky was so excited to start.

"Get ready." Dad started slowly.

"Get set" she said slowly.

Sky groaned. "You're killing me."

We all laughed.

"Go" dad said really fast. Sky dug into her first present.

I opened mine at a natural pace. The first one was as fuzzy blanket. It was so soft. I immediately put it up to my skin.

I opened it and put it around my shoulders. I put the trash in a pile and moved on to my next present. It was a phone case and some jewelry. It was simple and cute. I was getting bored of my old one anyway. The jewelry was pretty.

I opened my next one. It was a crewneck sweatshirt and a neck bandana for Bandit. The crewneck had Port Aransas embroidered on the chest. It reminded me of last year. That was the best trip I had ever been on.

I got up and hugged Mom and Dad. "Thank you for the gifts."

"You're welcome sweetie" Mom said.

"Sissy, sissy look what I got!" Sky held up two Barbie dolls.

"Wow nugget, that's really cool." I said and leaned down to her level.

She grabbed my arm and dragged me over to her other gifts. She showed me all of them. Some I helped Mom pick out. I think she got the most gifts out of everyone since she was the youngest.

"The Erickson's and Remi's family are coming over for lunch. Please clean up a little bit and eat some breakfast." Dad said.

"The Erickson's are coming?" I asked.

Mom and Dad nodded. "Yes, Karla, Laura and I are making lunch" Mom answered.

That meant I'd have see Will for the first time since the party. I was extremely nervous.

I helped throw away all of the trash. I made sure that none of the presents were accidentally thrown away. It would suck to realize that someone lost a gift after we took the trash out.

We all ate donuts and just sat together for a long time. I slipped on my new phone case. I put Bandit's new bandana on him. He wagged his tail happily.

Sky was playing with her Barbie's and her tea set. We haven't broken out her karaoke machine yet, but she's excited for it.

"Okay Dad we're going over to Lena's parent's for lunch" Connor said and hugged Dad.

"Okay, be careful son" Dad hugged back. Lena hugged Dad while Connor moved to Mom.

"Always" he kissed Mom's cheek.

He hugged me then, Coop, and Carter. Sky was the last to get a hug. Lena followed the same path.

"Bye guys." I said as they left the house.

It was closer to lunch when I finished my hot chocolate. The doorbell rang seconds later. Bandit immediately ran to the door.

Mom got up and opened the door. "Karla, it's nice to see you again." They hugged each other. "You too Michael." They hugged.

They all walked in and the kids followed behind. Kenzie carried in Ryan in his car seat. Will carried in a big bowl.

"Mom brought her merry berry salad" Will said and held up the bowl.

"On the counter." I told him.

I helped Kenz with Ryan and Will went to the kitchen. He set the bowl down and came straight over to us. He hugged me and I reluctantly hugged him back.

"How are you, Cor?" He asked me.

"I'm good. I'm glad you're all here." I said.

"Look, we need to talk, but not now. It doesn't even have today. I just think we should talk soon." He rambled.

"I know we'll talk later. I promise." I put my hand on his shoulder. We both looked at it then at each other.

I retracted my hand. We looked at each other awkwardly.

It was so natural the way that it happened. It made me miss everything about him all at once. Every small moment we shared flashed through my brain.

The doorbell rang breaking whatever connection we were having. Remi's family was here. I opened it and hugged them all.

"I have the pecan pie" Laura said. She went to the kitchen to help Mom and Karla with lunch.

The turkey has been cooking for almost two hours and it was nearing the end. It smelled absolutely amazing in the house.

We all talked for a little bit while the Moms were making lunch for all of us. We played with Ryan on the floor. He was starting to walk around a lot easier now. He was still a little bit shaky though.

The doorbell rang. I looked around Carter was talking with Remi and Coop was talking with the Dads.

"I got it" I assured them and stood up to answer the door. I opened the door and Logan was standing on the other side. "Please leave" I said before he could say anything.

"Cora, why won't you talk to me? I've been calling you for days and you always ignore me." He begged.

"Do you even remember what happened at Nick's party?" I asked him.

"I was a little drunk but it wasn't that bad was it?"

I nodded. "You don't remember what you did to me?"

He looked clueless. "I vaguely remember us going into a room and kissing. Then Will came in and punched me in the face."

I shook my head as tears pricked my eyes. "No Logan you forced yourself onto me. Will stopped it before you did anything you'd regret."

His eyes filled with hurt and his body language fell. "Cora" he stepped toward me with an outreached hand. I stepped back from him. He took the hint and took a step back.

"I'm so sorry. I had no idea. You have to forgive me Cora. I was drunk." He begged.

I shook my head letting my tears falls. "I can't Logan. Drunk actions are sober thoughts and right now I can't stand the thought of you. So please just leave me alone and give me some space."

"Cora?" Will's voice popped in and I felt a hand rest on my shoulder. "You should leave" He seethed through his teeth.

Logan put his hands up in surrender. "I was just apologizing man. Goodbye Cora" he said and turned around and walked away.

I stood there not wanting to move. The feelings from the party were still there. Will shut the door and turned to me.

"Are you okay?" He asked.

I wrapped my arms around him and cried for a few seconds. I felt a sense of déjà vu as his hands locked behind my back and he rested his chin on my head, like we used to do all the time.

"Lunch's ready snowflake" he kissed my head and led me into the kitchen.

We all ate lunch and I forgot about the encounter with Logan. Once we were done everyone was just talking and spending time with each other.

"Okay everyone." Mom got everyone's attention. "Sky and I have a family tradition, that I've been doing since I was a child. Basically everyone gets the choice to sing. You can sing solo or duet. You start the song and soon everyone joins in. Who wants to sing first?"

"I will." Will said immediately. He turned to me. "Come with me." He whispered to me.

I looked at him wide eyed. "What? Will no. You know I can't sing."

"I know you can, snowflake. I know that you don't do it when your singing in the car with people. I know that you do it when your in the shower or doing your hair and make up. You're good snowflake."

How did he know that? I'm not even good. I just sing to sing.

He gave me one last look. I rolled my eyes. "Okay fine. One song"

Sky insisted that we use her new karaoke machine. Of course we did. Will put on O Holy Night.

Of course I had to sing first. I took a deep breath. "O holy night the stars are brightly shining it is the night of our dear saviors birth"

Will came in with the next line. "Long lay the world in sin and ever pining til he appeared and the soul felt it's worth."

Everyone sang together. "A thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices for younger breaks a new and glorious morn'"

"Oh Fall on you knees." Everyone else stopped leaving me lonely. I looked at Will and he motioned for me to keep going. "O hear the angels' voices o night divine, o night when Christ was born, o night divine, o night, o night divine." I sang.

I saw the looks of pride and shock on everyone's faces. Everyone came back in on the one that line and we finished the song together.

I was out of breath and everyone was clapping. Will high fived me.

"See I told you you did good." Will said.

"You did amazing sweetie." Mom hugged me.

"I had no idea you could sing like that Coco." Dad said and hugged me.

I shook my head. "Neither did I" I admitted. I've never really sang for anyone but myself and apparently Will too.

Everyone laughed and hugged me. They were so surprised by my voice. I didn't blame them.

Sky was next and she wanted to go solo singing Baby, It's Cold Outside. She was so excited. We sang for at least aanother half hour.

Right before everyone left, Will asked if we could talk. I agreed and we went upstairs to my room. He left the door open, probably remembering all the times my brothers and dad said to leave the door open.

"I know what happened with Logan sucked for you and him coming didn't really help, but let's not talk about that right now." Will said and sat in my bed next to me.

"What did you want to talk about then?" I asked. I thoughts that's why he wanted to talk. "I swear to God if you say I told you so I will literally kill you on the spot" I warned.

"Actually it's quite the opposite. I want to apologize for everything. I shouldn't have tried to tell you you couldn't hang out with him. I'm not you're Dad or Mom and I never should have said that. I know you probably don't want to forgive me and you have every reason not to. I won't judge you if you don't. I care about you Cora and I don't want you to think I ever stopped."

I slowly blinked at him. I didn't know what to say or how to respond. He was right about Logan and everything. He was just worried about me and I overreacted.

"I forgive you Will. I overreacted. Besides you were right about Logan. I said some things shouldn't have. I'm sorry. Forgive me?"

He nodded. "Of course I do. Friends?" He asked.

I nodded with a smile. "Friends"

The words felt like soap in my mouth. It hurt me to just be his friend, but this way I get to keep him around. That's all I really want right now.