Page 42 of The Holiday Disaster

As soon as the seat belt sign blinked off, everyone was out of their seats and waiting to grab their bags and get off the plane. They were probably all anxious to get home after the long, unplanned weekend.

We sat in our seats until it was our turn to deplane. Personally, I wasn’t in a rush. When we got back home, we’d have to deal with our families and their worries and all the questions I was sure they would have.

“Do you want to grab something to eat before we head home?” I asked, hoping to stall and obtain some more alone time with Kingsley.

He smiled as if he had seen through my plan. He wrapped an arm around me and guided us down the escalator. Neither of us had checked in any bags, so we could leave right away. “It’s going to be okay. They’re going to love us being anus.”

“How can you be so sure though?” I grumbled as we continued walking to the ground transport area, Kingsley not letting me delay the inevitable.

He laughed and stopped, resting his hands on my shoulders as he turned me to face him. “Because we make sense together. You keep me grounded while I remind you to actually live your life. They’re going to see how we make each other better people. Besides, we’re freaking adorable together.”

A smile slipped through my pout. He was right. We were freaking adorable, and it would be on them if they didn’t see that. Either way, I wasn’t breaking up with Kingsley. He and I had been blessed by the Doves of Destiny, and nothing was tearing us apart.

With those worries out of the way, we continued hand in hand past the baggage claim and to the taxi area. There were people standing around holding up signs as they waited for the person they were looking for. It was pretty normal to see these kinds of scenes as this was an international airport.

There was a crowd waiting by the door. They didn’t have any luggage with them, so I assumed they were also waiting for someone. They looked familiar, but I was sleep-deprived and could have been imagining it.

However, as we got closer, I was certain I knew them. “Mom, Dad?” I called out a couple feet away from them. The group turned around as a collective, their eyes landing on us, then down to our combined hands.

I wanted to snatch my hand out of Kingsley’s and hide away from their gaze but forced myself not to. It didn’t matter if they didn’t approve or found it strange. Kingsley and I were together, and they would just have to get used to it.

“Sweetie! You guys are finally here!” Mom said after a few seconds pause. She strode to us and wrapped me in a hug before doing the same for Kingsley. My dad, Elliott, Valerie, and Kingsley’s parents followed behind, waiting for their own hugs.

“Little brother, you can’t even bear to let go of your boyfriend to give me a proper hug?” Elliott said, his voice full of teasing. The snide comment had me pulling my hand out of Kingsley’s grasp from embarrassment and to also prove him wrong. I didn’t have to be stuck to Kingsleyallthe time, just most of the time.

“Wha-what are you guys all doing here? I texted that we’d take a taxi home,” I said, turning to my mom. She was wearing a lightweight blue jacket that was a stark contrast to my heavy coat and Kingsley’s red scarf wrapped around me.

“How could I not come meet my little boy? Especially when we heard that you and Kingsley had professed your love for each other, and so passionately as well,” she said as she put her hands by her heart and let out a happy sigh.

“Wait. How do you know that?” I asked in a panic. My eyebrows were probably at my hairline as I looked at her in shock. My brain wasn’t working as I was still exhausted and a bit jet lagged, and it wasn’t until I heard Mom’s words that I finally realized what Elliott had said. “And how do you know he’s my boyfriend?” I asked Elliott, narrowing my eyes at him.

“Anyone on the internet could see it.” He pulled out his phone and pressed some buttons before handing it to me. “When we found out you were stuck in Wintertown, we kept tabs on the local news in case anything happened. And boy did something happen!”

I couldn’t understand what he was saying, and it was too early for riddles. I scrolled the news article he had pulled up on his phone for clues on what he was talking about. Kingsley leaned down beside me to also peer at the phone.

The news article wrote about the holiday festival in Wintertown, promoting it as an event of magic and love. I kept scrolling, my thumb freezing when a picture of me and Kingsley popped up.

It was taken when we were at the coffee shop. I was sitting on Kingsley’s lap, and we had our foreheads and noses pressed together in a very intimate moment. It was a profile picture of us so our features weren’t clearly shown, but they wouldn’t have stopped our family from recognizing us.

My face burned at the fact that my parents had seen me kiss my boyfriend, and online at that.

Kingsley wrapped an arm around me, holding me close as he pressed a kiss into my hair. “Isn’t this great, babe? We don’t have to worry about having to tell them anymore,” he said with a laugh.

“You guys don’t mind that we’re together?” I asked, my gaze flicking to my parents, then to Elliott. My brother got on my nerves as older brothers did, but I still loved him and didn’t want him to feel betrayed like I was stealing his best friend or something.

He laughed and rubbed my hair. “We’d been waiting for this to happen for years. You always looked at Kingsley like a love-sick little puppy when we were younger. It was so obvious you were in love with him. And this dude…” He nudged his thumb in Kingsley’s direction. “He was always dancing around you, so I knew something had to be up."

The others nodded at Elliott’s words in agreement, and my face burned even more. I didn’t know I wasthattransparent.

“Wait. Am I the only one who didn’t know about this?” Kingsley asked with a frown.

“Duh, it was so obvious,” Valerie said, stepping up to push Kingsley away from my side so she could take his spot. “Are you absolutely certain about this one? You could dosomuch better,” she pretended to whisper as she glanced at Kingsley.

“Hey! Are you trying to ruin your only brother’s happiness?” Kingsley glared at her, his arms crossed like a petulant child. Valerie stuck her tongue out at him and looped her arm around mine. I broke out in laughter at their antics. It didn’t matter how old we were, siblings would always act like children around each other.

“Let’s go home so you can tell me everything that happened. You can’t leave out any details either,” Valerie said as she pulled me forward.

“We just got back and you’re already stealing him away,” Kingsley grumbled as he followed behind us. I turned back and held out my free hand to him, which he happily took.

---