"Sam no." Jodie panicked beside me as I pulled up at Cole's house.

"Trust me, I'm gonna go talk to him. Stay here." I demanded and she sighed, nodding her head. I exited the car and jogged over to the front door and rang the bell. I shifted from foot to foot as I waited for someone to open the door.

Moments later the door was flung open to reveal a shirtless Cole.

Eww.

He looked restless and had the exact same sad expression on his face. I then slapped his chest. He winced and glared down at me. "What the hell was that for?" He hissed.

His eyes then wandered past me and into my car. His face folded in pain and then his face went blank as he turned to me. "What's going on?"

I crossed my arms against my chest as I looked up at him. "Jodie told me everything."

Cole squeezed his eyes shut and rubbed his head with his hand. He frowned deeply. "I fucked everything up Sam. I stupidly kissed her because I was drunk and couldn't help it but she actually kissed me back but it was a mistake, I've just made things worse."

I shook my head with disbelief with how blind they both were.

"You're an idiot Cole."

He grimaced. "I'm sorry Sam I-"

I whacked him again. "No you big idiot. You upset her by saying it was a mistake."

His eyes widened. "W-what?"

I smirked. "I'll be back." I said and then ran to my car and threw open the door. You know what, playing cupid was more fun than I thought.

Jodie looked at me with confusion as I grabbed her arm and gently yanked her out of the car. She was extremely hesitant to move and glared at me the entire time I dragged her over to Cole. They both were staring at the ground and I huffed loudly.

"Cole." He stared at me with curiosity and I placed my hands on his shoulders and leaned into his ear. "Tell her everything." I whispered and took a step back.

He stared at me like I was an alien from out of space but I just gave him a knowing look. Basically 'do what the fuck I say' kinda look.

He rolled his eyes but turned to Jodie regardless. "Jod?" He whispered so softly.

She snapped her head up to him and I could see his face twist with concern over how upset she looked. I felt like I was intruding so I slowly backed away but they both grabbed my hands. Jodie was to my left and Cole was to my right but I was slightly behind them so they could face each other. I gave them both a gentle squeeze which they returned.

"I like you, I like you so fucking much that I lied and said it was a mistake. I didn't want to ruin our friendship." He blurted out and I watched with a grin as Jodie went from looking like she wanted to cry to becoming the happiest girl on earth.

"Really?" She asked happily and he nodded, a wide grin now on his face.

They were both just staring at each other and grinning.

"Kiss you morons!" I cheered happily and they both spared me a glare before doing exactly what I told them to do.

I was grinning ear to ear as I watched them both gravitate towards each other and wrap up in each other's arms and kiss. But then they started to make out and the grin was replaced with a disgusted grimace.

"Eww." I whispered to myself and I basically yeeted myself back into my car to avoid hearing those sounds anymore.

I did however smile my whole journey home at my two best friends finally happy, as long as they didn't do that shit in front of me I didn't care. I didn't care that other people would see me as third wheel because I knew that our friendship with each other wouldn't change.

When I opened the front door, my dad stood there with a concerned look on his face. "Dad, we did it!" I beamed as I kicked the door close behind me.

He raised an eyebrow suspiciously at me. "Did what?"

And then I told him everything.

My two best friends in the world were now officially dating. After that night, Cole had asked Jodie to be his girlfriend. They went on their first date yesterday which Jodie rang me straight after and told me all about. Cole had taken her to this beautiful restaurant but apparently they spent most of the date making out.

Eww again.

Dad also grinned like a maniac when I told him the news. He actually high fived me because he had always seen the chemistry them two shared. Apparently, dad saw from day one when we were 5 that Cole liked her.

I call bullshit.

It was now Christmas eve and I let out a fat yawn as I got ready for the day. Today was tradition for us and I had invited Reece and Jake the other day to which they happily accepted. Reece was coming to pick me up and the others were meeting at Cole's. I tied my hair into a messy bun on top of my head and threw on a red Christmas jumper with an elf in the middle. I paired that with a pair of black skinny jeans and then my black jacket over the top. We were all going ice skating so I wanted to dress comfortable and to be honest, when do I give a shit anyway?

I grabbed my huge bag with all of the presents in and made my way downstairs. Dad sat at the kitchen table with a frown on his face. He had his MacBook placed on the table as he stared down at it with a scowl. "Morning." I smiled as I took a seat next to him.

He turned to me with a forced smile. "I have some bad news."

I furrowed my eyebrows at him. "What is it?" I mused.

My dad was a relatively happy person so when he looked this glum I was expecting something bad.

He sighed. "I have to go back to New York next week for 2 months." He paused and my heart literally dropped. "It's my biggest case of my career, I can't miss it Sam. I'm really sorry." He smiled sadly at me and I nodded slowly.

I gave him a tight lipped smile. "It's fine."

His eyebrows rose in surprise. "Really?"

I shrugged. "I want you to stay but if you have to go then you have to go." I smiled and I could see him let out a breath.

He then smiled. "When did I get such an amazing daughter?"

I chuckled. "You always have." I grinned and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek before I heard the doorbell ring. We quickly exchanged goodbyes and I pushed my chair back and walked to the front door. I swung it open and I nearly shivered at how good Reece looked.

I seriously needed to sort myself out.

He was dressed in a navy hoody that really showed off his broad shoulders and muscles and black skinny jeans. I rolled my eyes at the leather jacket that he wore every single day. He smiled softly down at me and I instantly felt myself smiling back without even realising.

"Ready?" He questioned and I nodded, stepping outside. Unluckily, my foot slipped straight on the ice and I went flying backwards. I awaited the pain but it never came as Reece's arms wrapped around my waist and hoisted me back up.

He then chuckled lowly. "You're so fucking clumsy. Do I have to carry you to my car?" He mocked, grabbing my elbow and walking to his car.

I mean, I wouldn't complain.

I glared at the back of his head and then elbowed him gently in the ribs. "I'm not clumsy!" I lied. "I didn't know it was icy." I hissed, folding my arms across my chest as Reece stared down at me with an 'are you serious?' face.

"You didn't know it was icy in December?" He spoke dryly.

I rolled my eyes. "Obviously not." I murmured and stepped towards his car, extremely careful not to slip again. I opened the passenger door and slid in the seat. It was quite sunny today but also pretty cold so being in the warm was nice. The driver's door then flew open and the smell of him just instantly hit me.

I seriously needed to figure out how the fuck he smells that good.

"So..." I spoke, breaking the comfortable silence that surrounded us as he started the car. "What's your plans for tomorrow?" I asked.

Reece cleared his throat and drove away from my street and towards Cole's. "Not much. Just spending the day with mum and Ellie."

I raised an eyebrow at him. "What about your family that love me?"

He rolled his eyes but chuckled anyway. "They've all gone back home and we don't really see my dad's family anymore so it's just us this year."

I fiddled with the bracelet on my wrist that I always wore around Christmas time. It was my mothers, which was given to her by her mother. When my mum died, my grandma insisted that I had it. My mum's family all lived in England as her parents were British so I hardly ever saw them. My mum was half British and lived in England until her teenage years when she moved to America when her father got a job over here so that's why I often picked up a lot of things that she used to say. The silver bracelet was absolutely gorgeous, and had multiple little snowflakes attached to it.

Hence why it was only worn at Christmas.

I wanted to ask Reece about his dad as he had only ever mentioned him once to me before. I remember back to the day Reece took me to go pick up my car and I told him all about my mother's death and he said his dad had died in a similar way.

"Hey Reece?"

He spared me a quick glance before turning back to the road. "Hmm?"

Somebody tell me why I found that so attractive?

"What happened to your dad?" I asked quietly, continuing to fiddle with the bracelet.

Surprisingly he then chuckled. "How long have you wanted to ask that?"

I rolled my eyes. "Not that long." I lied.

"He died from brain cancer when I was five." He paused, smiling sadly to himself. I don't think he even noticed me watching him intently as his eyes never left the road. "I still remember when he used to get home from work and I would always meet him at the front door. He used to pick me up every time and we would cook dinner together. He was a fucking good cook."

My heart panged for him and I just stayed silent as he carried on. "Dad owned a million-dollar company so he worked a lot but when he was diagnosed we spent more time with each other than ever. When he died mum was an absolute mess and grandma Lily, the one you met the other day stayed with us for about a year. She looked after me because mum became so depressed she could hardly get out of bed. Mum and dad were high school soulmates and mum got pregnant only a few months after they graduated. Dad took over my grandad's business and then they got married when mum was pregnant with me."

I listened to everything he said and I felt grateful that he felt comfortable enough to talk to me about this. "He seems like an amazing dad." I spoke softly and he nodded.

"He was." He replied a little raspy so I grabbed his hand that was resting on his lap and gave it a gentle squeeze. At first, his hand tensed at my touch but quickly softened. His hand was warm and for some odd reason my smaller one fit over his so perfectly.

After a couple moments he had to move his hand to change the gear and I quickly retracted mine back into my lap. It felt so natural I completely forgot it was even there. "If you don't mind me asking, who is Ellie's dad?" I asked, knowing that if his dad had died when he was five that he couldn't have been her dad.

He sighed. "When I was 10, mum starting dating this guy." His teeth gritted together so tightly. "He was a fucking asshole." Reece's hands had gone white as he was gripping the steering wheel with so much force. "Luckily, some things happened and he's gone now but we don't even know whose Ellie's dad is."

He ran his tounge along his bottom lip. "Mum went through a stage." He replied slightly awkwardly and I instantly knew what he was talking about. "Then one day she was pregnant. At first, she was scared to bring a child into our fucked up life but that little idiot is the best thing that's happened to us." His lips twitched at the thought of his adorable little sister.

For the rest of the journey, we just spoke about random crap until we arrived at Cole's. Basically, ten minutes of taking the piss out of each other.

And I wouldn't ask for it any other way.