Last Christmas

by Kate Brian

really just got here?"

  "Swear."

  But someone had been there. She was sure of it. Was Thomas lying?

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  Or was Daniel on campus messing with her? Or had it been someone else entirely? Ariana's empty stomach

  turned dangerously. "How did you get in?" she demanded.

  "Noelle's key," he replied simply, perusing the bath products next to the shower. He picked up a giant jar of

  conditioner, inspecting the label. "What the hell is jojoba oil?"

  "How do you know about Noelle's key?" She stepped onto the woven bath mat and hugged herself against the

  cool air.

  "Common knowledge, naughty girl."

  Common knowledge. Noelle had probably told Dash about it. Which meant that Paige probably knew about

  it, too. And Daniel.

  Thomas put the jar down and took an uncertain step toward her.

  "Give me a second." She held the door to her room open. "I'll be right out."

  "I'll be right here," Thomas said with a suggestive smile before closing the door behind him.

  Alone again, Ariana leaned against the wall and tried to slow her breathing. What if Daniel was here? What if

  he was inside Billings right now, listening in on her and Thomas?

  But no. No. It couldn't be. He wouldn't skip out on his parents, his sister, their Christmas vacation, just to

  mess with her. He wouldn't. She had to believe that. She had to believe it or she was going to go insane.

  "Just deal with the current problem," she whispered, wiping the fog off the mirror and staring at her

  reflection. Thomas.

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  What was she going to do? She had thought this was over. Thought that slap, for better or for worse, had put a

  stop to this insanity. But now, here Thomas was, in her room. They were alone and her skin was humming

  again. She took a deep breath and slipped into her white silk robe.

  She had to tell him they couldn't do this anymore. Maybe it was intriguing and fun, but it couldn't be real.

  What she had with Daniel was real. Yes. That was what she was going to tell him, and he would just have to

  understand. She looked into the mirror, into her own blue eyes, and steeled herself for the conversation. But

  when she reached for the door handle a minute later, she realized she was still shaking. And it wasn't from the

  cold.

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  PLEADING MANTRA

  ***"Thomas, I-"

  Ariana's words died on her tongue as Thomas held out a pair of Noelle's sexiest underwear-a red thong with

  a tiny wedge of fabric at the front.

  "Are these yours or Noelle's? 'Cuz I gotta say, my imagination is going to some pretty sweet places right

  now...."

  "They're not mine," she said, snatching them away from him and tossing them onto Noelle's bed with all the

  other clothes that hadn't made the cut for her trip home. "Thomas, listen-"

  "Look, I just came over here to make peace because it looks like we're going to be stuck here for a couple of

  days," Thomas said, pushing his hands into the front pockets of his jeans. "And I still haven't heard that

  apology for teeing off on me."

  Ariana clutched her arm again. "What do you mean, stuck here?"

  Thomas gestured at Ariana's computer, which was showing

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  streaming video of a weather forecast. Clearly he'd helped himself to her Internet connection. She reached

  over and turned up the volume.

  "... highway has been closed and all mass transit is suspended for the duration of the storm," the weatherman

  was saying as he was assaulted by wind and snow. "The governor has declared a state of emergency and all

  nonessential personnel have been told to stay home. The fewer people on the roads, the better...."

  Ariana's heart felt sick as she turned the volume down again.

  "It's a nightmare out there," Thomas said.

  Ariana turned and stared out the window. All she could see was white. It was like an opaque veil had been

  wrapped tightly around Billings House, trapping her inside.

  "We're stuck," she said slowly, her mouth dry. "Together."

  'Yeah, but don't worry. I won't do anything to make you smack me again," Thomas said, his blue eyes

  dancing,

  "You won't?" Ariana asked dumbly. She felt like she was just waking up. Just realizing that Vermont was not

  going to happen. It was taking her brain a minute to adjust.

  "I'm not an idiot. I get the point. You're not going to cheat on Daniel," Thomas said. "So if you want, we can

  be stuck here as friends."

  He looked her directly in eye. No fidgeting, no innuendo, no cocky grin.

  "Just friends," she said cautiously.

  She wasn't sure if she could be friends with Thomas Pearson. Or

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  that she wanted to be. But she did know that she didn't want to be stuck in this room alone. She couldn't do

  that. Not without losing her mind.

  "Just friends," Thomas said. "Fine."

  Ariana nodded and started rooting through her dresser for warm clothes. Just friends was good. She could do

  this. If she just concentrated on Daniel, she could ignore Thomas's eyes. His smile. The memory of his bare

  chest pressed against her back all night. She could. Really.

  "Cool. So, as my friend, I have this story that I have to tell you." Thomas plopped down on her bed. The

  bedsprings creaked loudly. "I just walked in on this smoking hot girl in the shower, and she was totally nak-

  "

  Ariana clamped her hand over his mouth. Thomas looked up at her like she was nuts, but she kept her gaze

  trained on her door. She'd heard something. In the hallway. And this time, she definitely hadn't imagined it.

  Thomas grabbed her wrist and pulled her hand away from his mouth. "What?" he said, following her gaze.

  "Someone's here," she whispered.

  Thomas scoffed. "There's nobody here but-" He stopped at the clear sound of footsteps nearing the door.

  "Shit!"

  He jumped up and she practically shoved him into Noelle's walk-in closet. They ducked inside and closed the

  door quietly behind them. Ariana stepped directly onto a stiletto heel with her

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  bare foot and had to bite her lip to keep from crying out. She cursed herself for choosing Noelle's closet. It

  might have been bigger than hers, but it was crammed with so many clothes, shoes, and bags that she and

  Thomas barely fit inside. Their bodies were pressed against each other, and she could feel Thomas's warm

  breath on her shoulder. Suddenly, she was aware of the fact that there was nothing but her thin robe between

  the two of them. Her skin pulsed with fear and excitement.

  Then the door to her room slowly creaked open and Ariana forgot everything but her fear. She held her

  breath, leaning against Thomas for support, her skin slick with sweat. Someone crept into her room and across

  the creaky wood floor. A desk drawer slammed and Ariana gripped Thomas tighter. "Whoever was out there

  was rifling through her things. Rage bubbled up inside of her, but she swallowed the urge to open the closet

  door.

  Let it go. Just let it go....She had to let it go. She couldn't risk getting caught on campus. Headmaster Cox had

  been very clear about his rules.

  A deep rumbling rose from Ariana's stomach, and she cringed and wrapped her arms tightly around her waist

  in a weak attempt to muffle the noise. She felt Thomas's body shaking with silent laughter. Until now, she

  hadn't even thought about the fact that she hadn't eaten since the day bef
ore.

  The footsteps got closer to the closet and stopped in front of it. She screwed her eyes shut.

  Please. Please just leave. Go. Go. Go.

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  Ariana gripped her arm in desperation. She pictured her mother, getting the news that her only daughter had

  been expelled from Easton. Pictured her alone, in that big, empty house. Flipping through photo albums filled

  with the pictures Ariana had sent almost every month since she'd arrived at Easton. Pictures of her and

  Daniel. Of dances and picnics and Daniel's lacrosse games. Of her and Noelle hanging out in their room. Of

  the dark, regal buildings that cast foreboding shadows over campus.

  If Ariana was expelled, if Easton was gone and Billings was no longer a part of Ariana's life, her mother

  would have nothing to be proud of anymore. Without those places, those things, those people, Ariana was

  nothing. Nobody. And her mother would have nothing to live for. Ariana trembled with terror at the thought.

  Finally, the footsteps moved away from the closet, and a few seconds later, the door to Ariana's room

  slammed shut. Instantly, Ariana burst out of the closet. She was dying to go for the door and catch the intruder

  in the hallway, but she knew she couldn't.

  "Ariana, you're shaking," Thomas said, reaching for her.

  "I know I'm shaking! There was someone in my room!" she hissed in response. She dove at her desk and

  started checking her desk drawers. She was torn between relief and rage. No one was supposed to be in

  Billings. Just how many people knew about Noelle's key? Besides, what would anybody want in her room?

  "Who the hell was that?"

  "A teacher, maybe? Checking all the rooms to make sure everybody's out?" Thomas sounded uncertain.

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  She shook her head. "A teacher wouldn't go through my stuff. And they're all supposed to be in Drake,

  anyway."

  She paused in front of her desk, letting her gaze wander from her laptop to her copy of Madame Bovary, and

  over the candle Daniel had brought her a few days before. Something didn't seem right. Something was

  missing.

  Thomas shrugged. "Who knows? As long as we don't get caught, we're okay."

  "How can you be so casual about this?" she snapped, running her hands over the surface of her desk. The

  thought that someone had been here, had been going through her things, made her skin crawl. "Someone

  was-" A splinter slipped underneath the surface of her skin. "Shit." She winced, peering down at the drop of

  blood that appeared on her fingertip. "Someone was going through my personal things, and you're acting like

  it was no big deal."

  "It's just ...there's nothing you can do about it, so there's no reason to get all stressed out." Thomas walked

  over to window, his shoulder lightly brushing her. She felt him pull away quickly, as if he had just burned

  himself. "It's not like you can go to the headmaster. We're not even supposed to be here."

  Ariana ignored him, focusing for a moment on the splinter wedged in the tip of her throbbing finger. Why

  couldn't she figure out what was wrong, what was different with her desk? Something had changed. Just like

  something had changed in the bathroom between the time she'd gotten in the shower and the moment Thomas

  had appeared.

  "Can we forget about this?" Thomas sighed. "Put on some clothes

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  and let's get you something to eat before your stomach rats us out to the entire campus."

  "Fine. I just need to figure out what's missing from my-" Ariana's throat closed as her blood ran cold. She

  had just realized

  what was different. Whoever had been in her room had passed up her laptop, her diamond earrings, her

  delicate antique watch, and had

  taken only one thing.

  The black-and-white picture of Ariana-the one Daniel had taken of her in the Hamptons-was gone.

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  PANCAKES AND GRILLED CHEESE

  ***Daniel. It had to be. Who else would have broken into her room and taken only a picture of her? A picture

  Daniel had taken. Who else?

  Ariana felt suddenly exhausted as she quickly threw on a pair of fresh jeans and a blue cashmere sweater.

  Thomas was waiting for her in the hallway, but she had to take a moment to just think.

  If it was Daniel, why was he torturing her like this? Why not just come out and confront her? He was

  hotheaded, quick to anger. The way he'd jumped Dash's friend ...But maybe he'd been so hurt by what she'd

  done, he'd decided to torture her, then confront her. The possibilities, the not knowing, were making her head

  hurt.

  "How long does it take to put on a sweater?" Thomas asked, barging into the room. He blinked as she looked

  up, her shoulders slumped forward. "Oh. You're dressed."

  "Didn't you tell me to get dressed?" she asked flatly.

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  "Yeah, but I thought if I surprised you I might catch the second act of Nothing but Skin," he joked.

  Ariana leveled him with a no-nonsense stare. "I thought we were going to be just friends."

  "We are." Thomas rolled his eyes. "Now let's go. I'm starving."

  Ariana hesitated. "Thomas ...you don't think it was Daniel who was inhere before, do you?"

  Thomas stopped on his way to the door. He tipped his head back and sighed at the ceiling. When he turned to

  her again, his expression was almost condescending, like he was about to explain some simple math concept

  to a first-grader.

  "Ariana. Your boy's not here. He's in Vermont. The hat we saw was one of a million just like it around here.

  A coincidence. And yeah, somebody came in here. But it was probably just the housekeeper." Something in

  his eyes told Ariana he wasn't as confident about the intruder explanation as he was about the others. "Either

  way, we've gotta eat, right?"

  "Right," she sighed. The heat had been turned off in the dorm and she was still cold, so she pulled her coat on

  over her clothes.

  "So come on. I've got a surprise for you."

  He turned and started rummaging through her desk drawers.

  "What are you doing?" Ariana demanded, annoyed. Why did people keep touching her stuff?

  He held up a silver paper clip. "Just call me Pearson," he said smoothly. "Thomas Pearson."

  "What-"

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  Thomas held a finger to his perfect lips. Then he swiped Noelle's favorite Donna Karan tank top from her bed

  and sauntered toward Ariana, swinging the practically nonexistent piece of fabric in his hand. In a single

  move, he wrapped it tightly around her head, like a makeshift blindfold.

  "Thomas, I'm really not in the mood for this."

  She lifted her hands toward the blindfold, but Thomas gently grabbed them away, holding them both down in

  front of her as he faced her.

  "Exactly. If we're stuck together until the weather lets up, I'm gonna need you to snap out of this mood.

  You're bringing me down, Osgood." His tone was light, but Ariana heard something strained in his voice.

  "Fine," she reluctantly agreed.

  "Good." He slipped behind her and clamped his hands on her shoulders, coaxing her slowly across the room.

  "Door," he announced, steering her carefully into the hallway.

  Ariana opened her eyes and tried to make out shapes through the flimsy fabric. Everything was muddled and

  distorted. Her heart started to pound. She didn't like this one bit. Didn't like the total lack of control.

  "I don't know why I have to be the one who's blindfolded," Aria
na said in a clipped tone.

  "Because I'm the one who knows where we're going, Einstein."

  As he guided her through the dark hallway, he softly hummed the James Bond theme song in Ariana's ear.

  The reverberations of his

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  voice sent pleasant shivers down her neck and over her shoulders, and somehow, she started to relax. She was

  in good hands. Thomas's hands.

  "Stairs!" he sang.

  Ariana smiled in spite of herself. Together they started down the stairs, Thomas's grip on her shoulders

  tightening to keep her from falling if she missed a step. But Ariana was nothing if not meticulous. She noted

  exactly how her feet were supposed to fall to keep her on track, making sure she stepped exactly the right

  distance each time.

  "Here we are." Ariana heard him fumbling with a lock, then heard the slow creak of an opening door. He

  rested his hand on the small of her back. "Go ahead."

  The whole blindfold game had been totally pointless. Billings was a small house, and Ariana knew exactly

  where they were.

  "Thomas. You didn't," she said, yanking the tank top from over her eyes.

  "What?" Thomas asked, smiling triumphantly. "You don't like?"

  Ariana looked around the small, neat living area. A love seat littered with embroidered pillows sat

  perpendicular to the doorway, flanked on either side by mahogany side tables. A brown wing chair, matching

  ottoman, and low coffee table piled with neatly arranged books-Miss Manners' Guide to Domestic

  Tranquility and The Little Book of Etiquette-were the only other pieces of furniture that could fit in the

  room. Every surface in sight was covered with crocheted lace doilies, and half the throw pillows featured

  Siamese cats.

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  She tossed Noelle's tank top over an ugly needlepoint pillow stitched with the words what part of "meow"

  don't you understand?

  "Mrs. Lattimer is going to murder us," she said. The Billings housemother was notoriously private about her

  apartment. Before today, Ariana had only caught the briefest glimpses inside it, and only when she happened

  to be walking by as Mrs. Lattimer was stepping in or out.

  "Only if she finds out we were here," Thomas replied. He swiped a doily from the back of the couch and

  draped it over his arm. "Welcome to Chez Lattimer, Billings House's fine dining experience."

  "Seriously, Thomas. Maybe we should try someplace else."

  Breaking into Billings was one thing. Breaking into the housemother's locked apartment upped their

  misdemeanor to a felony.

  "Where else are we going to go?" Thomas asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

  Ariana bit her lip. For a moment she considered just calling Headmaster Cox, telling him they were here. But

  then she thought about the assembly of the day before-how he'd said there'd be no exceptions. She realized

  with a heavy sigh that she and Thomas had already broken too many rules. Thomas was right. There was

  nowhere. The other remaining students were using the cafeteria, so pilfering food from the kitchen was not an

  option.

  "Before you answer, allow me to show you one of Chez Lattimer's most tempting features." He reached for

  the thermostat dial on the wall and turned. "Wait for it...." The sound of the ancient pipes screeching in the

  wall made Ariana jump.

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  "Heat!" she said happily. She felt as if her bones had been frozen for days.

  "Heat," Thomas confirmed.

  "This Chez Lattimer is growing on me." Ariana walked over to the tiny kitchen area and sat down on one of

  stools at the counter. "So, what are your specials?"

  Thomas shrugged as he stepped onto the white linoleum floor. 'Tour guess is as good as mine." He opened a

  few cabinets. "Let's see. On the menu today, we have brown rice, pancake mix, or Metamucil."

  "Wow. Everything sounds so good," Ariana deadpanned. "Surprise me."

  "Pancakes it is."

  Thomas rooted around the kitchen until he found the requisite ingredients, plus measuring cups, a griddle, and