A/N: Surprise! :D

I didn't want to announce it in EN because I wanted to keep the surprise, but I am back with a little Christmas tale for everyone :)

Now, this is a bit of an insane project because well... the plan is to post one chapter every single day until Christmas day! I may need a lot of cheerleading to accomplish that though!

I hope everyone will enjoy the story! Please do tell me if this is something you're interesting in reading, if it's something I should continue!

Merry Holidays :D

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Chapter 1: The first Year

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Emily Fitch was a lot of things, but hateful was not one of them. Actually, she was as far away from hateful as it was possible to be. Really, Emily had one of the kindest, biggest heart there was. She was usually extremely patient, almost to a fault and there was very little that made her lose her temper. Still, if there was one thing she had to admit she did hate, it was when her twin sister Katie dragged her out whether she fancied it or not. Which, unfortunately for Emily, was the case tonight.

At least, the streets were much brighter than usual so it wasn't too creepy to be walking around at this hour, Emily thought as she tried to follow her sister, the stupid heels she had made her wear making her ankles wobble. Of course, with the sets of coloured lights twirled around almost every lampposts, it was no wonder everything was so bright. That had to be the best thing about tonight being Christmas Eve, Emily reckoned.

Along with the city's lampposts, several house fronts had also been decorated. Lights and tinsel were wrapped around railings or stuck along rooftops. There were Christmas wreaths on almost every door and sometimes candy canes or nutcrackers set up on lawns. Some houses were beautiful, some looked ridiculous, but with the very small layer of snow covering everything, Emily was loving it all. Even the over ambitious houses that had so many lights it was blinding. She loved Christmas, she couldn't help herself.

"Hurry up loser!" Katie snapped, bringing Emily out of her happy contemplation.

She frowned and hurried the pace.

"I said hurry" her sister repeated.

"I am hurrying!" Emily shot back. "Or at least I'm bloody well trying. These heels you've made me wear are ridiculous"

"Urh, they're hot, you mean. Thanks to me you're not like going to look like a complete mong. So like, appreciate it, you cow"

Emily rolled her eyes, but thought better than to argue. She knew she wouldn't win with Katie anyway, she never did. Ever since they'd been kids, her sister had always had some sort of weird obsession with bossing Emily around. She always argued that she had to because she was the older twin, but Emily didn't understand how 6 minutes could constitute some kind of life binding protection contract. Besides, they weren't kids anymore. They were 17 and going to College, so Katie could very much fuck off as far as Emily was concerned.

Of course, it wasn't like she had the actual courage to tell her sister that so she usually ended up following her around like some pathetic puppy dog. It didn't help one bit that Katie seemed to love having that much power over her.

"How much further do we have to go?" she asked grumpily, her arms wrapped around her small frame to try and keep the last bit of warmth she still had.

"Just like a block, will you stop whining?" her sister replied irritably.

"We've been walking for ages!" Emily argued, not willing to let Katie win that easily.

"Yeah and we're almost there so like will you just fucking- Oh! There! We're here. See? Didn't need to be such a bloody mardy bum, did you?"

Emily glared at Katie, but her sister ignored her as she walked confidently to the club's entrance. Emily followed, but somehow she wasn't as confident as Katie. From where they were standing a fair few feet away, they could hear the music pumping from inside. The front of the club was illuminated with flashing lights, guarded by huge goons in tuxedos. There also was an enormous queue composed of what seemed to be hundreds of shivering kids that started from the entrance of the club and went all the way to the corner of the street.

Emily was less than certain they'd get in, but she followed her sister nonetheless as she walked in her stupidly short skirt and very high heels to one of the goons by the entrance.

"Hi" she addressed him with a big fake smile painted on her face. "I'm Katie Fitch, my boyfriend is inside, he's Danny Price, you see, Bristol Rovers"

Emily stood next to her twin, completely silent, her arms still around herself, her lips shaking from the cold.

"You on the list, love?" the goon asked in a gruff voice.

"Uh..." Katie went to reply, her smile faltering a little.

Emily raised her eyebrow next to her. She knew for a fact that Katie's dickhead of a boyfriend had never mentioned anything about a list.

"Maybe..." she said, uncertainly.

The goon grabbed a pad by the door and started looking at names.

"You're not on the list, sorry miss, gonna ask you to go at the end of the queue" the guy eventually said just like Emily had known he would.

"No" Katie said quickly. "Look, like, Danny is a bit ditzy, he probly just like forgot. So go ask him, he'll tell you"

"Look love" the goon said with an annoyed expression. "You're not on the list and that is that"

"But... My boyfriend is in there" Katie continued, losing her temper a bit. "He's Bristol Rovers. I need to get to him"

"What you need is to get the hell away from my face and into that queue" the goon replied flatly.

"How dare you?!" Katie shot back.

"Kay..." Emily tried to intervene, but her sister continued nonetheless.

"I'm Katie Fucking Fitch and I was told to come tonight. You don't have any idea who you're dealing with! When my boyfriend finds out you've stopped me he's going be so mad! He's friends with the manager you know? I swear I'll have you like fired"

Emily groaned in embarrassment as the goon scoffed in disbelief.

"If your so called important 'boyfriend' had wanted to see you, he'd have put you on the list. Now fuck off before I start being a bit less nice"

"What?!" Katie exclaimed, but this time, Emily grabbed her arm forcefully.

"Shut up!" she hissed. "Very sorry, we're going" she continued, looking at the large man.

She dragged her sister away by the arm, ignoring the insults and threats she was still throwing over her shoulder at the club's bouncer. Every fucking kid in the queue was looking at them, laughing and taking videos of them on their mobiles. Emily had rarely been this mortified before.

"What the fuck Emily?" Katie snapped at her the minute they were out of view. "What's your fucking problem?"

"What's my fucking problem?! Jesus Katie! You were making a total fool of yourself!" Emily exploded disbelievingly.

"What?! No I wasn't! That fucking idiot is so going to lose his job I swear!"

"Oh grow up Katie! He was bloody right! If Danny had really wanted you there, he'd have put you on the list!"

"He did want me there, fuck you! He asked me to come!"

"Right... And I don't suppose you were blowing him when he said that, were you?" Emily scoffed, rolling her eyes.

"Fuck you!" Katie snapped back, her cheeks growing a bit red nonetheless.

"Why couldn't we just stay at home?" Emily continued, exasperated. "It's Christmas Eve! It's a family matter. I bet precious Danny is nose deep into some blonde slag's tits anyway"

"Fuck off!" Katie said angrily. "You're just jealous cause like no one invited you anywhere and you don't even have a boyfriend"

"Right..." Emily huffed, shaking her head.

Her insides were boiling with rage. She hated how Katie always did that, always attacked her personally whenever Emily said something that didn't make her happy. According to Katie, everything always came down to the fact that she was such a 'loser' or the fact that she didn't have a boyfriend. What the fuck did she even know about what Emily wanted? Nothing. She knew absolutely nothing.

"Let's just go home" Emily sighed.

"No way!" Katie replied. "I dressed up. We're going out and if it's not in that stupid club, it'll be somewhere else"

With that, she was off and Emily had no choice, but to follow her. Sometimes, she really fucking disliked her sister. But she was still her sister and she wouldn't leave her to roam the streets at night on Christmas Eve on her own.

They walked for what seemed like forever according to Emily. Their heels were making a crunching noise on the ground, the air was slowly getting colder, the wind biting at their skin. Emily wanted nothing more than to call it a night, go home and cuddle up with her father on the couch to watch footy games on reruns. She didn't understand Katie's need to go out. Why couldn't her sister be satisfied to just spend time with all of them in their house at least once a year?

They continued to walk in silence. Emily had no desire to address her twin and apparently the later was feeling the same way. The more they walked, the fewer places there seemed to be. If they continued like that, they'd find themselves in a residential area with absolutely no bars and no taxis anywhere close.

When Emily felt certain her lips had turned blue, she decided that she'd had enough. Just as she opened her mouth to tell Katie they were going home though, her sister spoke up.

"Hey, what about there?" she said pointing at a pub in the distance.

Emily eyes travelled until they stopped on the pub in question. They widened when they actually saw it, her heart making an excited lurch at the sight.

If Emily had had to describe it in the most simple way, she'd have said that it was just beautiful. The front was made of an old grey brick, the door and windows of a thick dark brown wood. There was ivy growing from one side of the bar, crawling all the way up to the pub's rooftop ledge and sign. For Christmas, lights had been put around the large front window as well as threaded through the ivy. Inside, the lights were yellow and dimmed and Emily could see a few candles on the tables. She could also see the bar made of the same kind of wood as the door and windows and every machine behind it was old, antique looking and made of copper. The result was quite special. The place just felt familiar even though Emily knew for certain that she'd never been there before. It was so entirely perfect and so totally not Katie's kind of place. She turned to look at her sister with a curious expression.

"It's more your kind of place, yeah?" Katie said a bit sheepishly. "I thought like... why not, yeah? And well... there seems to be a few fit guys inside so..."

Emily smiled warmly. She knew her twin enough to know that this was her way of apologising for the scene she'd caused earlier. Of course, Katie would never have admitted it out loud so Emily just nodded and laced her fingers with her sister's.

"Let's go then" she said simply.

Katie grinned and together, they walked to the entrance. They let go of each other's hand as they stepped inside, the warmth of the place hitting them instantly. Emily's cheeks tingled and her smile widened.

There was a soft jazzy Christmas music mix playing in the background, barely audible underneath the pub's chatter. The air smelled of gingerbread and hops and it was wonderful. Katie elbowed her and when Emily turned to look at her, she had the most obnoxiously satisfied smirk on her face. Apparently, Katie could tell just how much she was loving the place. Emily felt herself blushing and rolled her eyes. She elbowed her sister back and Katie giggled.

They walked further into the pub until they found a free table. They sat down, took off their coats and the minute they were settled, Katie was getting up to go to the bar.

"Kay wait!" Emily shouted after her. "Here" she continued, taking a tenner out of her bag.

Her sister raised her eyebrows and scoffed at her.

"Oh please Emsy, someone else is going to pay for our drinks" she explained just before turning on her heels, pushing her shoulders back and walking with a determined step towards the bar.

Emily chuckled to herself and looked at her go. Sure enough, a minute later, some lad had walked up to her. From the distance, Emily could see her sister bending a bit just so the bloke could have a good view down her cleavage. She rolled her eyes when her twin actually erupted into what Emily was sure was fake laughter, a hand falling easily on the boy's shoulder. A few minutes later, Katie was walking back towards her with two pints of cider and a smug grin.

Emily shook her head at her, smirking as well nonetheless.

"How do you keep doing that?" she asked when Katie sit down.

"It's called being well fit and charming. You should try it sometime"

"Fuck off" Emily chuckled.

They sipped their drinks and Katie looked around for a bit.

"It's not half bad, is it?" she commented.

"It's brilliant" Emily exclaimed.

It was Katie's turn to shake her head and roll her eyes. Emily didn't mind though. For a night that had begun in the worst way possible, things were definitely looking up.

They chatted for a bit, drinking cider and warming up. It was nice, really nice actually. It had been ages since Emily had spent some real time with her sister, time that wasn't spent fighting or arguing. It was a relief to be able to just be with Katie. Actually, things were going so well that Emily wondered if perhaps she shouldn't take advantage of the moment to tell her sister what she'd been dying to tell her for a while now.

Her heart started beating furiously at the thought of finally doing it. Her hands were trembling on her glass, her throat constricting. Could she really do it? Katie was in a good enough mood it seemed and it was just the two of them, wasn't it? Would there really ever be a better time? Emily doubted it. She had to do it now before it was too late.

She opened her mouth, her heart beating so fast she was afraid it would stop, but right when she'd been about to speak, Katie opened her mouth.

"Oh my god!" she muttered excitedly. "Look at him!" she continued.

Emily closed her mouth and turned to look at whoever had caught her sister's attention. There, a few tables away, was a really fit looking bloke, even Emily had to admit. He looked tall, his shoulders broad, his teeth Hollywood white and straight, his hair dark and short. He was chatting with another guy, shorter, but quite cute too and just as Emily looked, he turned his head to smile at Katie. Katie grinned beside her.

"He is so lush" her sister gushed.

"Why don't you go talk to him? Seems like he fancies you as well" Emily encouraged, all hopes of talking to her sister disappearing instantly.

"Yeah? You think?"

"Of course, he keeps looking at you" Emily assured her.

"Well, yeah" Katie agreed.

"So go on! What are you waiting for?"

"Come with me! His mate doesn't look half bad"

"No thanks" Emily replied quietly.

"Why not?"

"I just don't fancy him" she shrugged, looking everywhere, but at her sister.

"You don't fancy anyone" Katie said with an eye roll. "Okay then, you sure you don't mind if I go?"

"Promise" Emily replied, meeting her sister's eyes this time.

Katie looked at her for a beat or two as she tried to figure whether or not she was being sincere. When she was satisfied that she was, she grinned happily and stood up.

"Okay! See you later, hun" she called back and marched towards the boy, who grinned widely when he saw her approach.

Emily sighed to herself as she watched her go. She'd been so close to finally tell her sister, but now the moment had passed. She stared at her pint for a bit, playing with the edge with her index finger.

She'd been feeling so good a minute ago, but now she was feeling a bit blue. She couldn't believe she'd been so close to telling her sister and now her chance was gone. For a moment there she had almost been able to taste the words on her tongue, feel them finally falling into the air, finally exist somewhere else then in her heart and soul.

Emily lifted her gaze and looked at her sister openly flirting with the boy.

"Katie... There's something I need to tell you... I've known for a while now and well... the reason I never fancy the boys you show me is because... well... I don't fancy boys... at all. Katie, I'm gay" she muttered to herself.

Of course, voicing those words when no one was there to hear them wasn't the same. She sighed again and took a large gulp of cider.

Emily had no idea how Katie would react to the news when she finally got around to telling her. In all honesty, she was completely terrified that her twin would hate her for being so blatantly different from her. It seemed to Emily that, ever since they'd been born, Katie had always loved counting their similarities, even if they had always been a lot fewer than their differences. To know that they were so fundamentally different would be a shock to her twin no doubt, but Emily couldn't keep hiding who she really was. It was eating her up inside, all these lies and deception. Katie was her twin for fuck's sake, she had to know.

But apparently, she wouldn't, not tonight at least.

Emily took another gulp, letting the liquid fill her mouth for a bit, letting her taste buds discover every little flavour. She placed the glass back onto the table and shot her sister another look. She seemed to be deep in conversation and enjoying herself.

Emily sighed to herself. Maybe she shouldn't have encouraged Katie to go on the pull. Now she was sitting on her own and there was no way to tell how long she would stay that way. It had barely been a few minutes and she was already sick of it.

She decided to chug the rest of her pint and got up to get another one at the bar. If she had to wait around for her sister, she might as well be properly tipsy, right?

Emily had just placed her order when something reflected the light right in her eye for a second. She squinted and turned to glare at the offensive object. She lost her frown the minute she found it though, her mouth going dry.

As it turned out, the offensive object just happened to be a silver watch wrapped around the wrist of one of the most breathtakingly beautiful women Emily had ever seen. Her heart started pumping wildly in her chest and her stomach gave an almighty lurch. Her mouth even opened a bit as she stared at the girl.

She seemed to be about her age with straight platinum blonde hair that stopped just above her shoulders.. Her skin was pale and looked as soft as skin could be, her features long and delicate, her nose straight and perfect and her lips... gosh, Emily could barely breathe. She gulped slowly, her eyes inadvertently falling to the edge of the girl's cleavage as she followed the exposed skin visible through the girl's V-neck T-shirt.

When Emily brought her stare back up, she felt her limbs go faint as her eyes connected with curiously amused blue ones. She closed her mouth and turned her face away, her cheeks bright red. From the corner of her eyes she saw the blonde girl giggle and smirk.

Emily bit her bottom lip in embarrassment as the bartender finally arrived with her brand new pint of cider. The second she had paid for it, she grabbed it briskly and took a huge gulp. She placed the glass back on the countertop, her eyes stubbornly fixed in front of her, her heart still beating furiously.

Emily stared for a while until she couldn't take it anymore. She turned her gaze until it was fixed on the blonde once again. The girl wasn't looking at her anymore, but seemed to be back in her own world. As much as Emily knew it was stupid to observe the blonde so obviously, she couldn't help herself.

When the blonde turned around and her eyes found Emily's once more though, the petite swore internally. She tried to distract herself, tried with all her might not to look again, but soon enough, she found herself glancing in the blonde's direction. This time, it felt like the blonde had been waiting for her, her ridiculously blue eyes fixed right on her, unblinking, unapologetic. Emily blushed furiously as she averted her eyes.

She counted to 30 in her head, trying to ignore the voice in her head- that sounded a lot like Katie incidentally- that was telling her how much of a loser she was being, before turning around to look at the blonde. Her heart faltered when she saw that the spot previously occupied by the girl was now vacant. She turned back o face the bar, a bit crestfallen.

"So..." a beautiful voice suddenly said behind her, making her jump out of her skin. "How long do you usually do that?"

Emily turned around slowly, her heart hammering away, her hands trembling as she hoped the voice belonged to who she thought it did.

When her eyes locked with striking pale blue ones that were flashing with amusement, Emily knew she'd guessed right.

She half giggled, half choked. The blonde was even more gorgeous up close and Emily was not prepared for that.

"Wha-what?" she asked nervously.

"The little staring game" the girl explained with a shrug. "How long do you play it before you go up to actually talk to the girl? Because, I'm telling you, after a few minutes it just starts being creepy"

Emily bit her bottom lip and felt herself shake.

"I... I'm sorry, I didn't mean..." she grumbled, her heart still racing.

The blonde tilted her head and looked at her curiously before a smirk crossed her lips.

"I didn't say you had been creepy just then, did I?"

Emily chuckled softly.

"No, I guess you didn't" she conceded.

They felt silent for a bit and Emily started squirming in her seat. The blonde didn't seem bothered though. She just kept looking at Emily calmly and perhaps that was the reason why she was feeling so nervous.

"I'm Emily" she ended up saying just to break the silence.

"Very nice to meet you Emily" the other girl replied.

They were silent for a few more seconds again. It was the blonde who broke it this time.

"So, Emily" she started, her voice deliciously melodious as she said her name. "You didn't answer my question... How long do you play the game, then?"

"I don't do that" the petite replied truthfully.

"Do what? Stare at girls? Because, I'd beg to differ..."

"No I meant..." Emily started, stopping as a wave of embarrassment hit her.

"Ah... You mean you don't ever get to the talking part?" the blonde asked.

"Well... yeah..." she mumbled in answer, her eyes shifting to her lap.

"No need to be so shy about it" the other girl reassured.

Emily felt herself smile gratefully.

"So what do you do then? You just come here on your own and... look?" the blonde asked, no hint of judgment in her voice, just genuine interest.

"Christ I'm not that sad" Emily shot back with a scoff.

The blonde chuckled along and shivers erupted on Emily's arms.

"I've actually never been here before and I'm not alone, I'm with my sister, but she's huh... busy" she explained as she turned to look a Katie who was still very much busy.

"Eh, would you look at that, twins. That's funny actually" the blonde mused.

"What is?"

"Well there's your sister trying to pull this bloke and then here's you... I don't think you were about to try and pull any bloke were you?" she teased, a big grin on her face.

Emily's mouth went dry and she averted her eyes for a moment.

"I... I don't know what you mean" Emily mumbled uncomfortably, her eyes finding Katie and her heart squeezing painfully.

The blonde was silent for a few seconds after that.

"She doesn't know?" she eventually asked calmly.

Emily's throat constricted painfully and she shook her head.

Silence fell around them again. Emily tried to control herself as her throat burned. Then, she felt a hand on her shoulder. Her entire body warmed up from the touch, but she also shivered. She dragged her eyes from Katie and locked them with the blonde's.

"It's okay you know?" the girl said softly.

"What is exactly?" Emily asked, not sure if the girl was referring to her being gay or the fact that she hadn't told her sister.

"Everything you fear isn't" she replied with a smirk.

Emily nodded, her eyes still locked on blues. The blonde didn't add anything and neither did she. They just continued to look at each other, their eyes unblinking and, just like that, Emily was overtaken with the urge to kiss the gorgeous blonde in front of her.

As the urge hit her, it seemed like the rest of the pub started to fade. All she could see was blue eyes and black irises and pale skin and really inviting pink lips. She squirmed in her seat a bit, hesitant, feeling like the urge was pulsing through her veins, intoxicating her, making her light headed. She knew she'd end up doing it if she kept staring into those eyes.

But then a voice yelled into the distance.

"Yo! Blondie! We're moving on, you coming?"

And just like that the moment was broken. The rest of the pub came rushing back and Emily blinked. The next second, the blonde had let go of her shoulder and was giving her a faint smile.

"Well I've got to go... It was nice meeting you Emily" she said.

"Wait!" Emily panicked. "I... Just... Am I going to see you again? Do you come here often? Or like, do you go to Roundview?"

The blonde chuckled.

"So many questions..." she teased. "It doesn't matter, does it?"

Emily's heart fell at the response. She panicked again when the blonde started to walk away.

"At least tell me your name!" She shouted after her.

The blonde turned to her with a smirk and shook her head.

"Isn't it more poetic not to know? Now I get to be that mysterious stranger you ended up chatting with in a quaint little pub on Christmas Eve"

"But... you know mine..." Emily tried to argue.

The other girl grinned wider and shrugged.

"Well you offered it..." she said.

Emily opened her mouth to argue some more, but stopped when the girl shook her head again and chuckled.

"Merry Christmas Emily" she told her and with that, she turned on her heels and disappeared through the door.

Emily stared after her for a long time even after she had. It wasn't until Katie came back to sit beside her that she snapped herself out of it.

"Hey loser!" her sister piped up. "Guess who got one extremely lush guy's mobile number?"

Emily rolled her eyes, but smiled.

"Not going home with him then?"

"Huh no! I'm not putting out until he's brought me on at least 3 proper dates" Katie replied indignantly.

"Well I'm glad you've got at least some sense" Emily replied happily. "Home?" she inquired.

"Yeah" Katie agreed.

They grabbed their coats from the table they'd been sitting at and walked back outside, shivering when the cold wind hit their skin. Despite herself, Emily looked around to see if she could spot the beautiful blonde. She was a bit disappointed when she realised she was nowhere to be seen.

"So?" Katie asked her. "Met any interesting boy while I was chatting with Ian?"

Blue eyes, blonde hair and a cheeky smirk came instantly to Emily's mind at the mention of someone interesting. She sighed slowly, wondering if she'd ever see that girl again. Then, she realised Katie was still waiting for an answer so she shook her head slowly.

"No... no boy" she replied.

"But there was that one girl" she thought sadly as her sister started telling her how maybe the next time Emily would meet her perfect lad.

Soon, she thought then. She'd tell Katie. Just not tonight.

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So? What's the verdict?