"What's got you in such a good mood?"

Teo was practically glowing, which was definitely not typical for him, so it was only a matter of time before his friends noticed. Macy was just the first to address it.

"My brother is bringing a friend home for the holidays," Teo revealed without hesitation.

It was obvious that the bass player sitting on the speaker still didn't understand and needed more information. Not so she could share his joy—quite the opposite, actually. It was her friendly duty to spoil it for him. "And?"

Before the black-haired young man could answer, he turned to face his friends, and his expression spoke volumes.

"You're going to try to get him into bed, aren't you?" Macy stated rather than asked.

"I don't have to," Teo replied, smiling even wider. He walked over to the stand, placed his hands on the microphone, leaned against it, and tilted slightly forward. "I already did that."

The bass player’s eyebrow, adorned with a piercing, rose upwards. "You don't even spend time with your brother," she noted.

It was true. There was a ten-year age difference between Teo and Orion. However, that wasn't the main source of their problems. At least, not from Teo's perspective.

"He didn't know I was Orion's brother." For a moment, his smile turned into a frown. "At least, I don't think so."

The third friend, who had seemed uninterested since the initial explanation and had been leaning his elbow on his guitar staring at his phone, suddenly lifted his head and shook it. Translation: he didn't believe that their band's singer was so stupid.

“How so?”

Macy was clearly running out of patience. Teo usually only told her the bare minimum, and she didn't enjoy having to keep asking. Especially since she knew the dark-haired man liked to make bad decisions. The color of his hair hinted at it.

Once upon a time, Teo was blonde. His hair was so light that when people first met him, some brave ones asked if he was an albino. He was convinced his hair wasn't that light because it was clearly still blonde, but the constant questions quickly made him insecure. Also, having light hair meant having light eyebrows and eyelashes, so his appearance never matched his style. Therefore, as soon as he could, he decided to change it.

"I looked a little different," Teo explained, running one hand through his hair and tugging at the dark strands of his grown-out mullet. "Plus, we only stuck to first names, if you know what I mean."

"So, a random one-night stand?" Macy didn't look horrified or surprised. After all, Teo was known for saying that relationships weren't for him. Sex, on the other hand... "Why am I not surprised?" Again, it was more of a statement than a question.

As quickly as it had faded, the smile returned to the singer’s face. "He's different."

"How so?"

She felt like a broken record asking the same question again.

Before Teo could answer, the garage door opened with a bang, letting in a blast of cold air and snow. A few days ago, a snowstorm hit their small town, and it was still going on.

"Fuck this weather," was the greeting from their drummer.

Any further explanation from Teo would have to wait because they were finally complete and could start rehearsing. Fred was the last person they were waiting for. Although they had gathered a few minutes late, knowing he was always late, he still managed to be the last to arrive.

The man with dreadlocks moved automatically to the drums, not bothering to take off his winter jacket. Fred put down his phone and Macy stood up from the speaker on which she had been sitting. Soon, the first notes echoed through the garage, and Teo gripped the microphone tightly with both hands.

Despite the singer's attention shifting to the song lyrics, a smile appeared on his face every so often, reminding them of his good mood, which was as rare as Fred's timely arrivals.

Meanwhile, a few kilometers away, the story’s second main character was not experiencing the same joy. Rick took the news of spending Christmas at his best friend’s house differently. He felt like a parasite and, with two days remaining until the break, was considering canceling the whole plan.

"Maybe I should tell him something came up."

Although Rick and Orion had agreed to spend Christmas together in Hollybrook several weeks earlier, it was only now that the panic and doubts fully hit him. After Rick came out to his family, he didn't have many options for where to spend the holidays, and even though he initially planned to spend them alone, being a full-ass adult, his best friend and colleague wouldn't hear of it.

“Rick.”

Amelia, his other colleague, was his support system when it came to his worries, and whenever she heard his latest argument, she found a way to refute it. That is, when he let her speak.

"Or I'll say I'll take my own car, and then I'll pretend it broke down at the last minute."

The operations specialist sat at his desk in the corporate office, surrounded by many others. He was just a small fish there, dealing with archiving and support, which meant filing documents and checking for duplication. However, now he focused most of his attention on overthinking, despite the fact that their company had the most work right before the holidays.

"I could take on extra work at the last minute. Evelyn would certainly be happy to assign me something," he continued his rambling. Although his job required neither imagination nor creativity, he was clearly overflowing with both.

"You'd rather stay in the office and have Evelyn yell at you than spend Christmas with Orion's family?" Amelia’s tone made it plain that she already knew the answer.

The brown-haired man curled his lip into a grimace that conveyed his disgust before expressing it verbally. "You're right. I can’t imagine a worse way to spend the holidays.”

“Then pack your things and go with Orion to Hollybrook.” His colleague had a simple solution.

Rick sighed. “I just don’t want to intrude.”

“Orion invited you,” the redheaded woman reminded him.

"For Christmas, even though I’ve never met his family,” Rick added what he thought were essential details.

He had no idea how wrong he was about that.

"Well, then you'll get to know them." Amelia waved her hand and leaned back comfortably against the backrest of her office chair. Despite having many employees, one thing could be said for their corporation: since most employees spent entire days at their desks, they bought comfortable chairs to make it more pleasant. Unfortunately, there was still nothing pleasant about dull, monotonous work.

"It's eleven days. You'll have enough time for that," she added.

Right. Rick was supposed to spend Christmas and New Year's Eve with them. He had only wanted to stay for Christmas Eve, but Orion wouldn't hear of it.

"Eleven days is enough time for them to start hating me."

Amelia rolled her eyes. "I'm going to start hating you if you don't start being more positive! It's bad enough that Evelyn is breathing down our necks.”

Their operations manager was like a character from a Hallmark Christmas movie. Unlike those movies, however, Evelyn didn't plan to change. It would be a miracle if she spent the holidays doing anything other than working and harassing employees who took time off.

"It's hard to stay positive when I'm about to meet people who practically only know that my family cut me off."

"Orion explained to them why, and from what I heard, they were more than understanding," the redheaded woman reminded him. However, her colleague found something negative about it again.

“Everyone is understanding when they only hear about gay people,” he pointed out. “Orion said they’ve never met anyone gay before, so I shouldn’t take it personally if they say something wrong.”

"Everything will be fine." Amelia ran out of patience. She reached out and put her hand on his shoulder. "Orion wouldn't have taken you there if he thought it would be a problem. Besides, if something goes wrong, you can call me. Maybe...just maybe...I’ll come pick you up.”

Amelia’s words calmed Rick down, and he didn't bring up the subject again that day. However, he didn't know then that Amelia's rescue plan would quickly be swept off the table after she, too, found herself alone for Christmas. And, of course, Orion immediately offered her the extra spot in the car.