Suddenly, Julio was sleeping in my bed every night.

I think the first night, he'd just done it to appease me but, after that, I think he realized that it actually wasn't so bad.

Chase obviously didn't know and, thankfully, my mother's mansion had thick walls, because we'd had some pretty heated make out sessions of late, that had progressed more than I'd expected them to. We hadn't had sex yet— I definitely wouldn't do that with my brother right next door— but there were a lot of things that led up to sex, anyway.

After four days, it was time for my mother's Christmas Eve party, which meant that Julio would either have to come in really late, hide out in my room or just not come at all. I'd toyed with the idea of him being my date to the party, but I knew that wasn't a plausible idea. It would be a nightmare if Julio, who I'd found to be pretty protective of me, met my mother, who was always making some or the other sly comment.

During those four days, I'd tried talking to Chase, but I hadn't met with any success whatsoever, since any time I tried broaching the subject, there were ten different things to do.

He'd met Ally, Chris, and even Charlie. Jack had brought Charlie for a little family dinner the day after Chase came to town, and I'd spent all day prepping Chase on what to do and what to say around Charlie that our mother couldn't object to. Chase proclaimed immediately after the dinner that he wasn't a fan of Charlie. Charlie didn't really seem to like him, either.

The next day, Ryo had shown up spontaneously to the house, and I realized that I'd forgotten to tell him that my brother was going to be in town. He and Chase spent the entire damn day playing video games and, that night, we had dinner with Jack and Charlie again.

The day after that, we'd just hung out together and both of us had been so calm and relaxed that I didn't have the heart to bring up anything that could make the mood more serious.

Then now, today, I was determined to ask Chase about it before we had to get ready for the party.

I swallowed nervously as I knocked on the door to his room, wringing my hands together.

"Uh, come in!" He called, and I opened the door. I was met with the sight of my brother sprawled on his bed, laptop rested in his lap as he smiled at something onscreen.

"Hey, Liz, one sec." He said, and I almost squealed. He was talking to his girlfriend?! Did I get to meet her?

"What's up, Tay?" He asked, grinning easily.

"I just wanted to talk to you." I said calmly, although I was freaking out on the inside, "Is now an bad time?"

"Actually, you wanted to meet Liz, right? I'm talking to her right now, so..."

I took that as an invitation and immediately plonked myself into bed beside him. "Hi!" I exclaimed excitedly, waving.

"Hi." The girl on the other side responded, chuckling. Her British accent came through even with that single word. She was, without a doubt, gorgeous. She had wavy black hair and eyes the color of milk chocolate. She had high cheekbones and a sloping nose. Her jawline was sharp, too. The girl was basically perfect.

"I'm Taylor. It's so nice to meet you! Chase has told me so much about you." I said, grinning evilly at my brother who buried his face in his hands, embarrassed.

"All good things, I hope." She smiled, adding, "Well, Taylor, I'm Liz. Your brother has told me a lot about you, too."

We made small talk for a little while longer and it was slightly awkward, because our first meeting was through Skype and not in person. After some time, I left the two lovebirds to talk in peace.

I hadn't been able to talk to him yet again. This was honestly getting frustrating.

With a sigh, I dropped face-first into bed, burying my face in the pillow. I wasn't in the mood for this party, but I didn't have a choice.

My mother had been even more of a nightmare, and had made ridiculously rude comments to the two of us every time we were in her presence for longer than a second. And with all her party planning going on, her mood swings were worse, too. She was stressed and yelling at everyone she could yell at, including the poor guy who'd delivered the excessively large Christmas tree she'd ordered yesterday.

Slowly, I dragged myself out of bed to get ready. Ally would be there, and so would Romi, Brad and Chris. Unfortunately, Millie and Tamsin would come, too. Charlie's presence went without saying.

After showering, I used my flat iron to style my hair in soft waves. My makeup was fancier than normal, and I wore eye shadow, blush and lipstick, and even did a little contouring, as opposed to just the usual foundation, eyeliner and mascara.

My dress was a simple wine red affair, with thick off-shoulder straps. It was slightly tight until the waist, after which it flared out up to quite a few inches above my knees. The back was slightly longer than the front, but not by too much. I accessorized with a gold necklace and earrings, a black clutch and black heels. My favorite thing about the entire outfit was the dress itself.

Finally, it was time to go down. Earlier, the Bitch had informed me that I was required to be present downstairs by 7:15, as the guests would start arriving by 7:30. It was already 7:20.

I appraised myself in the mirror again, checking to make sure everything was in place before standing up. I was a little shaky in the five inch heels, but it wasn't anything that I wasn't used to. I wore heels to school, too, sometimes. Admittedly, they were smaller, but they were still heels.

Just as I stood up, a knock sounded on the door. It was Chase, wearing an all-black suit and looking very much like he belonged at a funeral.

"Would it have killed you to wear a little color?" I asked, wrinkling my nose, "You're wearing a black suit, a black shirt and a dark blue tie. Are you serious?" I knew I wasn't the only one who'd be critiquing him tonight— our mother would, too.

"I'm in mourning." He said, adding, "I'm mourning the loss of my sanity in advance. I can already hear her friends saying they remember how I used to be six years ago."

I was just glad that I hadn't ever been to one of these things before. I'd always been considered too young, but now that I was almost eighteen, I didn't have a choice.

"Poor baby." I said with faux sympathy, patting his cheek. "Now, come on, we need to be downstairs before she kills us."

A little less than ten minutes later, at 7:30 on the dot, the doorbell rang and one of the maids, Samantha, led the first of the guests into the formal living room, where all of us were waiting.

The tension in the room was palpable, especially between Chase and the Wicked Bitch of the West. Jack and Charlie were the first to arrive, Jack actually wearing a tux as Charlie wore a baby blue suit with a white shirt and a bowtie that definitely didn't suit him. Outfits like that could only be worn by Chuck Bass.

"Jack, sweetheart." She said, her voice sickly sweet as she embraced him and pecked him quickly on the lips. Charlie gave me a grin and a kiss on the cheek before shaking my brother's hand. Even Jack hugged the both of us, while our mother looked on, smiling in a way she probably assumed was benevolent and fond when she actually just looked constipated.

A server arrived with flutes of champagne and another followed shortly after with glasses of red and white wine. There was an open bar, too. Alcohol would be flowing freely tonight with no one checking any IDs. I'd probably be able to sneak some, too.

We didn't have to wait for much longer before the next few people were shown into the room. It was a couple; the husband was a famous neurosurgeon from LA who'd driven down just for the party (as I'm sure a lot of other guests would have), and the wife was, of all things, the president of the Lady Roswell Society, that made plans for the good of the world and, this is a direct quote, hosted events that help improve and uphold genteel behavior in society.

"That sounds lovely." I said primly, smiling sweetly as I wondered what on earth was wrong with this woman. She'd shown up to a Christmas party in a full-length, matronly dress and pearls with white kitten heels. It was the sort of outfit one would wear to a high-class wedding.

I was soon distracted by four newcomers; a family. The parents were both lawyers while the older daughter was doing pre-med and the younger daughter was in her freshman year of college at Berkeley.

After multiple tedious conversations with both guests and with Charlie, Ally and her parents showed up. Charlie greeted his girlfriend with a kiss, but then stole away to rub elbows with all the people coming, a lot of whom knew his father.

"Wow, there must be twenty people here already." Ally remarked, looking around the room. A server offered her a champagne flute which she gladly accepted. I turned to Chase, who was standing stiffly and watching what was happening around him. He nodded shortly, giving me permission to drink and I quickly took a glass. God knows I needed it.

Ally and I spent a couple of hours talking on the couch, only stopping when someone came over and introduced themselves, mainly when they recognized Chase.

From what they spoke to him about, the official story that my mother had given out was that Chase had left town for college and I'd gone with him because she'd felt like the city was a better environment to grow up in. Of course, she threw in details about how she visited us at least every week.

Bullshit.

Anyway, Charlie joined Ally and I only for dinner and Brad, Romi, Chris, Millie and Tamsin sat with us for most of the night. Millie was being extra sweet, but made judgey comments here and there. Tamsin barely spoke to me, and I spent most of the night talking to the others. I'd found that even Brad was fun once you got to know him.

Travis, the football player from my Physics class, came over for a couple of minutes but was with his other friends for most of the night. Over the last few months, I'd learned that he actually only ate lunch with the others once in a while and mostly just sat with the other football players. From the brief conversations we'd had, I got the impression that he didn't really like Tamsin. He was fine with Millie, though.

The night didn't end soon enough, and the last of the guests only left at around 1 in the morning, sort of ringing in Christmas day together. Someone had made a toast, but all that was a bit hazy. I had a little too much champagne, I think, and even a couple of glasses of wine.

Finally, I hugged Romi goodbye, promising to text her sometime soon, and she and her parents left. They'd stayed longer than everyone else, even Jack and Charlie, as her mother, who owned a very successful chain of boutiques along the West Coast, was discussing some kind of a business deal my mother.

I bade Chase goodnight, yawning as I stepped into my room. I'd stayed up later before, of course, but all that socializing had made me drowsy.

"You look gorgeous." A voice said, and I looked up, surprised. I hadn't noticed earlier, but Julio had been sitting at my study table, one of my books open in his lap.

"Hey." I said, calming down, "You scared me."

"You told me to come in a little late tonight, so I came around midnight. I'm sorry, I should've just come tomorrow." He apologized, and I immediately shook my head, walking over to him, holding out my hands.

He took them and I pulled him to his feet, letting my hands come to rest on his shoulders. His fell to my waist, natural as breathing.

"I missed you today. I'm glad you're here." I said, leaning up slightly to kiss him. The kiss was deep, but short and chaste. I pulled back reluctantly, and realized that, even with my heels on, I still only came up to his nose.

"Merry Christmas, princess." He wished, and I smiled excitedly. Christmas was the best time of year and, although I wasn't in San Francisco with Chase as I usually was, this honestly felt better, despite the horrendously boring party I'd just been to.

"Merry Christmas, Rage." I kissed him again, quickly, before adding, "Do you want your present now or in the morning?"

"You got me a present?" He asked, seemingly surprised.

"Of course I got you a present. I mean, it isn't anything much but I thought of you the moment I saw it. It's okay if you didn't get me anything, though."

"What kind of boyfriend would I be if I didn't get a girlfriend a Christmas present?" He asked rhetorically, smiling almost lazily.

"Well, we can do our exchange in the morning, after we wake up fully." I promised, before pulling back and grabbing my pajamas from where they were lying on the bed.

I glanced at Julio, and he turned dutifully, only facing me again once I told him I was done. It was a routine. I slipped into the bathroom where quickly washed off my makeup and put my hair up in a high ponytail, before heading back into the bedroom.

I could feel Julio's eyes running appreciatively up and down me. My pajamas were basically one of his shirts that I'd stolen from his bag (he'd offered when I was uncomfortable in my tight tank top, okay?) and a pair of short shorts, so I kind of understood why he was staring.

"How is it," he began, after I'd shut off the lights and both of us had settled into bed, with me snuggling into him, "That you manage to look as beautiful in your pajamas with no makeup on as you do when your all dolled up?"

"Oh, shut up, you cheeseball." I laughed, smacking his arm lightly. "Just go to sleep."