Page 44 of Mistletoe Face Off

Time is called, and the judge, Mayor Romano, after only deliberating for a handful of minutes, announces Fletcher and Abby’s house as the winner. No surprises there. The prize is a ribbon, which Abby pins to her top, while Fletcher glowers at everyone. As I shake their hands I say a small prayer of thanks that it wasn't Lorcan who’d won. We would never hear the end of it.

Afterwards, the mingling begins, and I know it’s time for Holly and me to stage an argument soon. But the thing is I'm enjoying my time with her too much to get twisted up in some fake argument, after which one of us inevitably storms off. Instead, I would much prefer to get to steal her away so we can be alone together, away from an audience, away from my teammates. Just her and me.

But when Holly shoots me a look while chatting with Lorcan’s partner, Fiona, I know what we've got to do. Andbesides, I know she needs to get home to relieve her mom, who’s been looking after Macy tonight.

It’s showtime.

“You two looked like you were getting on just fine to me, despite your gingerbread house disaster,” Fiona is saying as I sidle up to her and Holly.

“We have our moments,” Holly replies.

Fiona’s eyes dart between the two of us. “Are you two dating?”

“No!” Holly exclaims, as though dating me is the last thing she would want to do.

“We just get thrown together at these events a lot,” I reply, pushing away the hurt that pinches my chest at Holly’s revulsion of the idea we could be dating. Am I wrong that she feels this pull between us? Or is it just attraction for her?

“Well, you looked pretty cozy from where I was standing,” Fiona replies.

“Weren't you concentrating too much on your own house disaster to take much notice of us?” I ask. Tongue in cheek, of course. She is Lorcan’s partner.

“I think you'll findyourhouse was the biggest disaster of them all, Harrison,” she replies on a laugh.

I can’t argue with that.

“You're right. Ours was pretty horrible,” Holly agrees. “I think Harry summed it up when he called it a post-apocalyptic scene. All we were missing were the zombies.”

“Speaking of zombies reminds me of movies,” I say.

Fiona pulls her brows together. “It does?”

“Yeah, you know zombie movies. I love them, but after the game yesterday I watched the most perfect Christmas movie ever made,” I say.

Holly regards me with a questioning look. “What movie?”

“Die Hard. The best Christmas movie ever made,” I say firmly. “I bet you’re going to disagree with me about that, though, aren’t you, Holly?”

She catches on right away.

“Are you for real? Everyone knowsLove Actuallyis the perfect Christmas movie. It's got love, romance, London, an all-star cast. It’s even been voted the best Christmas movie by, like, thousands of people. Millions, probably. You can't get much better than that in the Christmas movie stakes.”

“Yeah you can.Die Hard. As I said, best Christmas movie ever made.”

“I can’t believe this is happening right in front of me,” Fiona says gleefully as she pulls her phone out of her purse and holds it up to film us.

Holly scrunches up her face. It's totally adorable. “Do you mean that old movie with Bruce Willis?”

“You say it like it's not the best Christmas movie ever made. Which is weird becauseDie Hardis the best Christmas movie ever made, bar none.”

“So you’ve said.” Holly crosses her arms over her chest, just like she did when we were arguing for real. “What's so Christmassy about people getting shot at and dying, not to mention that British guy trying to blow the whole place up? Tell me if I’m wrong, but I don't remember any of that in Christmas songs.”

I press my lips together to bite back a smile. “Come on.Die Hardhas all the classic Christmas elements.” I begin to count them off my fingers. “A family reunion, a Christmas party, and a guy coming down a chimney.”

“There's no guy coming down a chimney in that movie,” she scoffs, shaking her head.

“Okay, it's an elevator shaft, but it’s close enough!”

Holly laughs scornfully as Fiona catches everything on film.

---