Page 2 of Christmas Agreement (Majestic Falls: Christmas Spice #3)

Rugar James

I hadn’t dared to imagine the turn my night had just taken.

I’d figured I could finagle an invite to dinner at the Johnson’s house.

That was easy since Mrs. Johnson always invited me to dinner.

The hot meal was great, but my real purpose was to see my totally off-limits dream-girl—off limits because my best friend would murder me if I indulged my fantasies.

Whenever I did anything with Katie, it had to be “as a friend” since I’d been consigned to the friend zone since seventh grade.

That was about the time I’d started to notice my best bro’s sister, and every day since had been an exercise in frustration.

My life was boring, predictable, and torturous.

At least, I didn’t have to worry about some asshole coming on to her at school.

As much as I liked to tease Katie about her line- up of men, the truth was, she’d kill me if she knew the truth—the truth about what Kyle and I had done.

I wasn’t alone in the scheme. We’d issued a campus-wide, off-limits dictate for her.

Not every guy knew us. Not every guy even knew why they needed to stay the fuck away from her.

They just knew they’d be dead meat if they laid a finger on her.

And now, I had a date with Katie. Two dates with her, actually. And somehow, I was going to parlay that into more. God knew, I was known for seeing opportunities when no one else did. And this might be the opening I needed.

“Rugar, honey, you’ll come over for our Christmas Eve potluck next week?” Katie’s mom asked. It was less of an invitation than it was a directive.

“Yes, ma’am.”

“And you’ll come over on Christmas to watch the football games?” Mr. Johnson said.

“Oh, and for brunch!” his wife added before I could answer. It seemed like Katie’s parents were booking my holiday. No complaints from me.

I glanced at Katie, who lifted a brow at me, clearly amused, then back to her parents.

“Of course. That would be great,” I told them.

I wasn’t going to visit my parents and the weren’t coming here since they would be traveling.

Spending time at the Johnson’s would ensure I wasn’t alone and I was with some of my favorite people.

One of whom was the girl I wanted to make mine.

I still hadn’t figured out how to get around her brother, but our agreement would be a major step in the right direction.

With my schedule settled, her dad started asking me questions about the hockey team, how I thought the rest of the season would go, and whether I though we’d make any of the tournaments.

He was still quizzing me when Katie and her mom cleared the table.

Mrs. Johnson came back, but Katie did not, having ducked out to finish her paper.

I hadn’t been happy about that, but what could I do?

As I sat on my bed, hours after dinner, I stared into space rather than watching the sports channel I’d turned on and tried to devise ways to parlay the two dates Katie and I had agreed to into more. Preferably into infinity.

Pulling out my phone, I lay back on the pillows on my bed and brought up my contact for Katie. I had her info in case there was an “emergency.” That’s what Kyle thought anyway. He certainly didn’t anticipate me texting her.

Rugar: Coffee tomorrow?

Katie: Who is this?

Well, shit…

Katie: JK.

Well, that was a relief. It felt better knowing she obviously had my info in her phone, too. Probably, it didn’t mean anything. Except it did matter to me.

Rugar: Ha-ha. Coffee?

Katie: When and where?

Tomorrow was Saturday, so I figured I could convert this to breakfast. A breakfast date, though she wouldn’t know it.

Rugar: 9? At Anna’s Diner?

Katie: That sounds more like breakfast than coffee. But I won’t pass on a meal.

Rugar: Pick you up at quarter to?

Katie: You don’t want to meet there?

Rugar: No.

Even if Kyle would kick my ass just as quickly as he would any other guy on campus, I wouldn’t make Katie my dirty secret.

I had more respect for her than that, and when the time came, I sure as hell would man up about it.

I wanted everyone to know. That meant picking her up for our breakfast not-a-date.

There was a long pause where I watched the dots dancing on my screen. Then disappearing. Then reappearing.

Katie: OK.

I grinned and tossed my phone onto the blanket beside me. I had a date with Katie Johnson. Her brother would probably kill me. Eventually. When he found out. But that was a problem for a different day.

I snatched up my phone again.

Rugar: Sleep well, Katie-Kat. I’ll see you in the morning.

Katie: Don’t call me that.

Rugar: You love it.

Those dancing dots again… And again, they disappeared then reappeared a few times.

Katie: Night.

She’d signed it with a winky-face emoji, and I grinned. She did like my nickname for her.

Rugar: Night.

Leaning back, I laced my arms behind me and stared at the ceiling.

Today felt like years of waiting coming to an end.

An ending and a beginning. I’d never really had a solid plan for how I’d get Katie in my life.

I’d just always known that there wouldn’t be any girl for me other than her. However it was that I worked that out.

Tomorrow, the real campaign would begin.

Time for rubber to the ice.

Time to take it to the net.

I just had to hope when I took my shot, I scored. Otherwise, this could be sudden death elimination.

I had to do this right or else.

Puck me…

Agitated, I leapt back to my feet and headed out of my apartment.

Thankfully, it hadn’t snowed too much today and that had been in the morning, so the little precipitation we’d gotten had all been cleared.

In minutes, I was in my Jeep and driving toward the beach on the north side of Lake Majestic Falls.

I rolled along Lake Main Street, a path similar to the one that Katie and I had walked earlier.

Everything was dark, save for occasional Christmas lights and the beams from the posts at regular intervals along the edges of the sidewalks. The street was deserted, since the caroling had finished awhile ago. Not a creature was stirring, not even a moose.

I snorted a laugh through my nose. A moose… My eyes were peeled for Clarence, Majestic Falls’ proverbial mascot and good luck charm for couples. He was nowhere to be seen, either. Hopefully, that wasn’t a portent of Katie and I being unsuccessful together.

“Come on, Clarence. Do me a solid,” I said then laughed at myself. A moose wasn’t deciding whether I’d be with the girl of my dreams. That was totally up to Katie and me.

Still, I drove around for over an hour before I was settled enough to head back to my place and fall into bed.