Page 15 of The Merriest Christmas

"Hanover," one of the other guys said and nudged his shoulder."Hey man, wake up."

The guy with the buzz cut startled, looking at us through bleary eyes.

"What's going on?" he said.

"That's what I want to know," I said and crossed my arms.

"Huh?"

"What did you do to the gingerbread?"

The guy sat up fully.His eyes were more alert."I didn't do anything."

Rose pointed to his cheek."You've got a piece of cookie stuck on your face.Might want to take care of that before you answer."

"Ah, thanks," he said, peeling the piece away and promptly popping it into his mouth.

Unbelievable.

"Did you eat all the gingerbread?" I asked.

"Yeah."

"Why?"

He shrugged."I was hungry."

I groaned, and Mom put a hand on my shoulder.

"Hanover," she said, "I get that, but…did you have to eat everything?"

"Well, at first, I thought I'd try just one," he said."But then I noticed they were all labeled, like with little numbers.I wanted to see which was the best, so I tried all of them.But I couldn't tell the difference, so I just kinda kept going."

I raised a brow."You couldn't tell the difference because they were all the same.And the numbers were so we could have the gingerbread house competition—which we obviously can't have now since you can't make a gingerbread house without freaking gingerbread."

"That makes sense."

Hanover nodded, then his stomach growled.Loudly.

"I don't feel so hot," he said.

"Because you ate all those sweets," Rose said with a nod."Then you passed out and got caught with your hand literally in the cookie jar—or on your face."

Hanover seemed to be turning green.

I narrowed my gaze."Are you okay?"

He shook his head.

"Do you need the bathroom?"

A nod.

"Okay, it's down the hall, second door on the left."

He was gone like a shot.

Finn shook his head."Poor guy."

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