Cole Rebury watched from a distance as a pretty blonde screamed with delight as she laughed and ran around the courtyard. Her Ugg boots left size 7 footprints in the snow as Natalie, one of her older sisters, pegged a snowball at her. He smiled as the blonde was quickly tackled to the ground one of her best guy friends, Patrick. The blonde screamed as she tried to squirm away from her best friends grip but he held on tight and together, he and Natalie covered her with snow.

Cole flipped open his phone as it started to vibrate and turned away from the happy people as he pressed the phone to his ear.

"Hello?" He asked.

"I can see you." Cole cringed at his sister's voice. Jane Rebury was Cole's twin sister he was younger by 6 minutes and Courtney Belling's official best friend. Cole sighed and took a quick glance at the house where the chase was still going on and sure enough through the second story window, a 17 year old girl with red hair and blue eyes was staring out past the snow at her brother.

Cole fingered his own deep chocolate brown hair that fell into his green eyes; the Rebury twins were as different as there looks. Jane groaned.

"What are you doing here, Cole?"

"I just came by...to...uhhh..."

"To see Courtney." She finished, referring to the blonde that was still rolling around in the snow. Cole sighed.

"Yeah." He mumbled finally.

"Cole! You shouldn't be here – you're the one that broke up with her remember? That fine day last month when you randomly dumped her when she came over for dinner? You have no right to see her-"

"That's just it, Jane! I know I have no right to see her but that doesn't change the fact that I want to! I never should have let her go Jane, I regret it so much-"

"Then why'd you do it, Cole? Why'd you do it?" Cole gave no answer and Jane sighed. "Look Cole, it's Christmas Eve...go home and I'll be there in a little while." Jane then hung up and Cole took one last glance at Courtney before turning and trudging through the snow to get back home.

+-------------------------+

"Darlings, I'm sorry I won't be home tonight...I'm not even sure if I'll be there tomorrow morning but it's...I mean, Henry proposed! I'm not going to be Rachel Belling much longer girls - getting married again! And then he surprised me with two plane tickets to spent Christmas in New York and I couldn't turn him down...go ahead and open the presents without me tomorrow, okay? Merry Christmas, I love you all and you'll have to help me plan the wedding once I get back."

At the end of the message, Grace-Ann, Natalie, and Molly Belling all simultaneously sighed. Grace Ann, the oldest of the Belling Clan looked to the living room where their youngest sister, 17 year old Courtney sat curled up on the couch, reading a novel by Sarah Dessen, her favorite author.

"So any of you guys want to tell her or should I?" Grace-Ann asked.

"You're the oldest." Molly, the youngest of the three 18 year old identical triplets pointed out.

"Only by 20 minutes." Grace argued.

"And when we argue, you never forget to use that fact in your favor." Molly snapped back.

"Is it my fault that you can't argue to save your life?"

"I'll have you know-"

"Guys!" Natalie broke in. She was the peace maker of the four sisters. "I'll tell her. Just shut up and calm down." Natalie sent them each a warning glance before walking into the living room. She ran her left hand through her light, brown hair and took a deep breath. "Court?" Courtney removed her blue eyes, the main physical trait that she shared with her three half-sisters, and smiled.

"Yeah Nat? Is mom home yet?" At Natalie silence Courtney's smiled dropped. She leaned back so that her black hair cascaded around her. "So what was her excuse this time?" Courtney asked, bitterness flowing through her voice. Natalie sighed.

"Henry proposed." Courtney groaned.

"So what'll this be? Husband number seven?"

"Eight." Courtney squeezed her eyes shut, crying would do her no good. She should be used to this by now, after all her mother had already gone through 7 husbands, but no matter what, you never get used to seeing your mother marrying new man every two years or so.

Courtney had been a product of husband number three while her sisters were from husband number two. After the four of them, their mother found the miracle of birth control therefore discontinuing the birth of children for her to neglect. Well, it wasn't really their mothers fault that she didn't pay as much attention to them as they'd like. You see, Rachel Belling just didn't feel right unless she had a man in her life and with her blue eyes and honey-suckle blonde hair, similar to Courtney's, she never had much trouble bringing in the men – it was making them stay that was the problem. After a while Rachel's eye would wander and her insecurities about not being loved by a man even if she was married would take over; eventually the guy she was married to would either a) file for divorce b) have an affair in retaliation c) give Rachel a good talking to. Either way, it always ended up with the man leaving.

Courtney took a deep breath as she glanced at the house; it the biggest one in town which was courtesy of the fact that every man Rachel's ever married happened to have quite a bit of money under their belt which meant that when divorce time rolled around...

Courtney sucked in breath and forced herself to look on the bright side.

"Well at least I'll have you guys with me tonight." Courtney said with a reserved smile as she leaned up to glance at her sister. The look on Natalie's face caused realization to hit Courtney like a ton of bricks and her smile dropped immediately.

Of course they were all going out with there boyfriends tonight...

"I'm sorry Court...if you want, I can cancel on Alex. I'm sure he'd understand." Courtney shook her head at Natalie's words.

"No, no...don't do that. I mean, I'd be going out tonight too if Cole and I hadn't..." Courtney trailed off and became furious with herself when she felt tears build up at the thought of Cole. No more crying over him...

Courtney willed herself not to think about the brunette who broke her heart about a month ago; you'd think she'd be completely over it by now but getting over someone you gave your whole heart to is never easy. Especially when that someone is Cole Rebury. He was her best friend for the longest time before he finally confessed that his feelings were a little more the friendship about two years ago...right on Christmas Eve. Last Christmas he admitted to being in love with her and vice-versa and this Christmas...this Christmas she would be all alone.

"I think that I'm going to go for a walk." Courtney suddenly proclaimed as she stood up from the black couch; her shadow danced with the moving flames from the fireplace and she smiled slightly at Natalie before noticing Grace-Ann and Molly a few feet back looking concerned. She forced a smile. "You guys, don't worry about me...I'll be fine. I'll be back later on...I'll see you guys tomorrow morning, okay? Merry Christmas." Courtney grabbed a candy cane off the tree as she passed and snatched her black pea coat from the coat hanger as she headed out the doors her shoes were still on.

She walked through the darkness and listened to the satisfying crunch of the snow beneath her feet as she walked on. She walked right on by the carolers and painfully remembered how last year; she and Cole walked down this very same street with two cups of Hot Chocolate as they took a minute or two to listen to the carolers. His brown hair would be messy from the wind and his smooth cheeks would be rosy from the cold but he'd still hold Courtney in his arms and laugh but he'd still hold Courtney in his arms and laugh happily with her as they passed the Christmas lights and festive decorations. Christmas was always Courtney's favorite holiday but not any more...its funny how one guy can change so much in a girl's life. How one boy can make the world a whole lot brighter before eventually tearing down the façade, leaving the girl to see just how grey and dull the world really is without him. How one boy can make a girl fall in love, break her heart, and yet the only thing she can do is think about him.

Courtney cursed herself out for the last one and quickly bit into her candy-cane. This was going to be a long, cold, painful night.

+-------------------------+

When Courtney got back home, it was nearing midnight and the house was empty. She sniffed back the tears that had fallen earlier during her walk down memory lane and grudgingly walked up to her room. If Christmas was supposed to be a jolly season, why did she feel so sad?

She rolled her eyes - that was a stupid question seeing as how she'd spent the last few hours thinking about the main reason she felt so depressed. Courtney kicked off her shoes and threw her coat to the floor before plopping down on the outrageously large bed in her bedroom and willing herself to sleep.

A sudden weight shift in the bed occurred causing Courtney's eyes to shoot open; she bounced up and stumbled over to the light switch on the other side of the room.

"What the-Cole?" Courtney's jaw dropped when she saw the handsome guy sitting there. The most popular guy in school, the captain of the soccer & lacrosse team, the ex-best friend, and finally the ex-boyfriend. Courtney's eyes quickly dropped to the floor when the last thought passed her mind painful memories of their breakup ran through her head. "What are you doing here, Cole?" She asked quietly. She heard the bed shift again and in a matter of seconds, Cole was standing right in front her...a tad to close for comfort. She gasped and took a step back. "Please get out of my room."

"Courtney..." Cole started but Courtney shook her head as she started to move towards the open bedroom door.

"No Cole. Just get out, I don't know what you're doing here-"

"I miss you, Court." And with those four words Courtney's breath caught and she looked up into her ex-boyfriends green eyes.

"What?" She gasped out.

"I miss you...god, I was an idiot to...to..."

"To break up with me?" She offered coldly and Cole looked down as he sighed.

"I'm sorry Courtney, I'm so sorry...I never should have done it, I mean...I mean I don't know what I mean! Look, I'm not even making sense! I always make sense – see, you do this to me Court! This is why I took the chance to end things because of this." Confusion overtook Courtney's mind at Cole's words.

"What are you talking about? Because of what? Because you don't make sense all the time?"

"No! Because you make me not make sense. I...I always lose my mind when I'm around you. I...god Courtney, that's why I did it. I ended things because at our age I shouldn't feel like this...I mean, I know I'm in love but this is...I got scared that I was in to deep. I thought that if I cut off things now then we'd be okay and these...thoughts, that these feelings would go away somehow." He finished finally; he looked at me, waiting for my response. I gulped and looked around – I was so close to the bedroom door...

"And did they?" I finally asked after a few moments. Cole didn't answer and I started to think that maybe they did, and that’s when he grabbed my face gently and turned it so that I was looking him in the eye.

"No, they didn't and I've finally figured that they never will. I love you, Courtney Rose Belling and I always will." I looked into his green eyes for any uncertainty but only found honesty and deep sincerity. However, I'm sure that my eyes held as much uncertainty as ever was possible because that's what I was feeling. I pulled away from his face and walked back and fourth.

"No, Cole. No! You can't just show up on Christmas Eve and profess your love for me – it doesn't work like that!" I turned to face him and pointed a finger accusingly at him. "Do you realize how much it sucked when you dumped me?!" I started walked again. "God, I thought I was turning into my mother! I love you so much and you just...you ended things because you were scared! How does that even work?! I mean." I stopped walking and leaned against the wall as I continued to rant. "I mean...it just. Ugh, Cole!"

"Courtney..."

"Damn it, Cole! You put me through a month of not knowing what I did wrong when in reality it was all your stupid manly senses and refusal of acceptance that caused you to end things with me! Seriously now, refusal of acceptance?! And they say that men are the stronger race, at least women can accept things and don't get scared because they suddenly stop making sense!"

"Courtney."

"And you know what's even worse? I started disliking Christmas because of you! I haven't had much Christmas spirit at all this month! ME! I'm practically The Spirit of Christmas in the flesh and I didn't have any because of you!"

"Courtney!"

"What?!" She swiftly turned in annoyance to face Cole who merely smiled cheekily and pointed above where she was standing in the doorway of her bedroom.

"You're standing underneath the mistletoe."

"I-what?" But Courtney didn't have to wait much longer to figure out what his point was seeing as how a few seconds later, Cole had his strong arms around her waist and his lips pressed firmly to her own as her arms quickly slipped around his neck. Courtney pulled away for half a second and whispered:

"I love you Cole." Before dragging his lips back down to meet hers again. Cole smiled into the kiss and pulled her closer to him, adding more passion to the lip lock.

He finally pulled away when the rather large grandfather clock rang throughout the house, striking mid-night. He smiled and put his forehead against Courtney's.

"I love you, Court. Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas." And there they stood, underneath the mistletoe.