Page 2 of Forever Foolish

“You are our little queen, Pumpkin. Just have some holiday punch and come sit with us. We’ll get out of here shortly because my tolerance level for this festive crap is about to come to an end too.”

“Why is that, Daddy?”

“Because if Mitchell makes me wear the Santa suit instead of him, I’m done with these things – and he hasn’t stopped hinting at it yet.”

Three years later…

“Hey, Chloe.”

She turned, looking over her shoulderfrom where she was speaking with Madison Petersen, and lifted an eyebrow arrogantly at J.J., who was standing there behind her.

“Would you like to get some eggnog?” he said simply, giving her a cool look.

“With you?”

“Yes – with me.”

“Aren’t you afraid your parents will see you talking to the Evil One?”

“I’m hoping the Evil One can forgive ‘past me’ and give ‘current me’ a few moments of her time,” he said in a hushed voice, holding her gaze. “I missed you attending the last few years and couldn’t read the numbers on the napkin.”

Chloe felt Madison nudge her forward, causing Chloe to nearly bump into J.J. bodily. She looked up at him, her eyes widening, and saw his narrow, almost skeptically.

“Is this a ‘yes’?”

“Sure.”

“Great. Hunter owes me ten bucks.”

“Excuse me?” she snarled in awareness, shoving him on the shoulder. “You and Hunter Petersen laid a bet to see if I would join you for eggnog – and you are dumb enough to tell me that to my face?”

“No,” he said bluntly, not backing down. “I told you that to see if you would believe the worst of me – or not.”

“You were testing me.”

“Don’t you do the same to me? All the time, I might add too.”

They stood there, glaring at each other, both on the edge of getting into an argument as tempers flared. Her fists were bunched up, and she saw his jaw was working as he gritted his teeth. There was a pinched line between his eyebrows, and she hesitated as she saw a glimpse of something in his eyes.

“Your stupid haircut looks nice.”

“Well, your hair looks cute in a coronet on your head,” he retorted, still not moving. “You want that eggnog or what?”

“Sure. Are you going to spit in it?”

“Maybe, if you don’t drop the attitude.”

“That’s all you’ll ever get from me.”

“I think I can handle it, you snooty little thing.”

“Next time you shave your face, how about you make sure and get that fuzz on your upper lip.”

“So long as you get your ankles, Sasquatch.”

“Are you done?”

“Are you?”

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