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Do You Hear What I Hear?
I sighed. “You’re so good at that.” As I kept watching, he made different playlists. One was for the party. Another was more emotional songs. And there were others, the classics.
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer was on that one. Frosty the Snowman. Blue Christmas by Elvis. Last Christmas. Christmas Canon. It’s Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas. Santa Baby.
He was picking and choosing so fast.
“Wait. Click on that one.” I pointed at one.
He frowned, glancing at me. “‘The Season’s Upon Us’ by Dropkick Murphys?”
I nodded and got comfortable as the song came over the room. Ryan synced it to the speakers throughout the entire house, and as it sounded around us, he kept scrolling.
“Oh! Click on that one.”
He gave me another look. “‘An Irish Pub Song’ by The Rumjacks?”
“Yeah. That one.”
“That’s not a Christmas song.”
I frowned, thought about it, and shrugged. “Click on it anyways.”
He snorted, but did and soon that song was sounding through the house. I had a sudden inclination to buy a bunch of mugs and plaster the word ‘filthy’ over them, then hand them out for the party tomorrow.
Feliz Navidad came on next.
“What’s that one?”
He clicked on it, and soon I was hearing about an Italian Christmas donkey. I said, “Add that to one of the party playlists.”
He laughed again, but did it.
I liked this. I lay on Ryan’s lap as he went through more songs. They had put their tree up this morning and strung lights all around the main floor, so as we sat there, it got dark outside and the lights clicked on since everything was set to an automatic schedule. I grew tired, lazy, and started to drift off when Cris came in. “Yo!” He walked into the living room, saw me, and lowered his voice. “Oh, shit. Sorry.”
“She’s fine. Just dozing. Everything set outside?”
“Yeah, yeah. We only need to set up the inflatables and go over the drinks.”
“We can get all the drink stuff in the morning after practice. Are we good with inflatables? Do we need to get more, or do we have enough?”
“We’ve got three Santas. A Bumble inflatable. Reindeer. A shit ton of Christmas tree inflatables. A minion one. And, uh. . . What else?”
“Christmas flamingos.”
“Yes. Those too. Oh, and all those extra candy cane inflatables. Easterly, Grant, and Cahill are coming over in the morning to do the snacks too.”
Ryan laughed under his breath. “Jesus. Can’t believe that’s happening.”
“What?” Chavez half-laughed too. “That your previous sworn enemy is helping throw a holiday party with us?”
“Exactly.”
“Well, it’s a whole team event and Coach is giving us a day off, so fuck yeah, let’s party. After everything that went down this year, we deserve to celebrate a little. Plus, shit’s going to be crazy when we go into January and for March Madness. You know all eyes are going to be on our team.”
Ryan tensed underneath me, and I shifted, but suddenly he was lifting me up and he moved so he was sprawled across the couch. He laid me on top of him, on my stomach, and I burrowed again into his chest and shoulder.
“What are you doing?” Cris asked.
