"Good morning, sleepyhead," Liam murmurs with his lulling cadence when I roll over the next morning. I force my eyes to open and see Liam sprawled on the couch with a steaming mug of hot chocolate. For being Irish, he doesn't drink nearly as much tea as I expected based on my extremely limited knowledge of Ireland.

It's Christmas Eve.

It's Christmas Eve, and I'm spending it with Liam despite my panic attack/tantrum yesterday about that kiss. He didn't kiss me again, and like an idiot, I wanted him to. Even though I expressly forbade him from kissing me, I wanted him to.

Oh well. Our road trip is almost over. Yesterday, in between hissy fights over Monopoly and my ultimate victory over Liam, we traipsed through the woods and collected my final two pine samples. With Red Pine and Shortleaf Pine checked off my list, the whole reason for our trip is gone. My motivation--or really, my excuse--for spending time with Liam is gone, and I hate it.

I like this guy.

After staring into his eyes for way too long yesterday and practically begging him to kiss me again, I finally admitted it to myself. I really like him. Like hold hands and dance in the rain like him. Like I want to make out with him for a few weeks. Like I don't want to say goodbye after this road trip is over.

"Hot chocolate?" Liam asks.

"Coffee," I grumble through a hoarse throat. I brush my hair out of my eyes, an image of Cousin Itt appearing in my mind. Hopefully I look more like Wednesday than her unfortunate cousin.

Liam turns his back to me and sets the coffee pot to boiling as I fight through the blankets to emerge from the bed. Christmas Eve. If everything goes according to plan, we'll go back to school this afternoon and spend Christmas separately and alone unless I invite him to spend it with me. Will the spell over us last beyond this road trip? I don't know, but I hope so.

"Here," Liam says, offering me a steaming cup of the blackest coffee.

I accept it and take a sip. Even though it burns my tongue, I sigh in pleasure. Heaven. "Ready to go home?" I ask him as he sits on the bed next to me, careful to keep at least half a foot of space between us.

I'm an idiot. I told him to keep his distance, and he has, and now I don't want him to be. I never saw myself as fickle before, but I'm behaving like the brain-addled star of a Valentine's Day release rom-com.

Liam rests one hand on the bed and leans back, tilting his head. "Well, I'm not going home to Ireland, so there's no home for me."

I roll my eyes. Neither one of us is going to the homes of our births. "You know what I meant."

Liam shrugs and twirls a tassel at the end of one of the blankets strewn across my bed between his fingers. "Do yah want my honest answer?"

I nod. "Always."

"I don't want this to end." He turns his clear eyes towards me and a shiver washes through me. Me neither.

"Th-this?" I stutter. My body leans towards him despite my better judgment. "You mean, the road trip?"

A faint glimmer of a smile appears on his lips. "Yah know exactly what I mean, Keidy."

Another shiver. He keeps his gaze on me and the smile drops from his lips. When we go back to school, all of this will probably end. He'll return to his friends and I'll return to my love for biology. We might never say anything more than hello to each other. Maybe this magic was only made for Christmas.

I don't want this to end, and so I kiss him. It's the only way I know to make this last.

I lean into him, my body forming to his, and this time I don't hold back. Maybe everything will end tomorrow when Christmas comes and we go back to school. If it does, I don't want to let my fears of getting hurt keep me from Liam. Will he hurt me? Probably. That's what people do, especially screwed up people like the two of us. We hurt each other, but maybe it's worth it. Or maybe I like him enough to risk it.

Liam kisses me back, his hand knotting in my t-shirt at the curve of me back. He pulls away slightly, my breath heated and sporadic, and grins at me. "I thought yah told me not to kiss yah?"
"Oh shut up," I grumble, leaning forward to kiss him again. "I don't want this to end either," I whisper. We kiss for a few more long moments and I wonder why we didn't just start making out right off the bat. I thought he was hot the moment I met him--why did I waste three whole days not kissing him? I'm the world's biggest idiot.

Eventually, my poor fitness level catches up to me and I push Liam away to catch my breath. He groans and frowns. "Not again, Keidy. I told yah I like yah, do I need to say it again?"

I shake my head and choke down a few quick breaths. "No, no--it's not that. I just need to catch my breath."

Liam's face turns red and he falls back on the bed with a hearty laugh. "I thought yah were going to tell me not to kiss yah again."

I lean back on the bed next to him and he takes my hand in his, running his fingers on the soft skin of my palm. "I doubt I'll say that any time soon."

A million questions run through my mind. Is this going somewhere? Does he actually want to spend time with me when there are other options? Is this a Christmas miracle and everything will fall apart December 26th? But Liam plants a kiss on my forehead and I release them with a long sigh.

"I don't want to go back to school," I mumble. For all my talk of going "home" and forgetting the holiday, a small part of me hates that I'll be celebrating the holiday alone. Even if I spend it with Liam, it still isn't the same. I might dislike my family, but there's still something about Christmas that demands to spent with your relatives.

"Then let's not," Liam says.

I sit up abruptly, pulling my hand from his. He remains reclined, stretching his arms behind his head. I try to ignore the bulge of his biceps. "What? What are you talking about?"
Liam shrugs. "We're not in any rush to go back, are we? I can't go home, but you can. Yah got a ma and da waiting for yah, right?"

My body stills and my mind empties. Mom and Dad. I could go see them. "No," I spit out. "I don't want to see them." Maybe I should, maybe I should try to make things right, but I don't want to. I'm not brave; I'm a coward who hides in the woods with her pine trees instead of actually facing her parents on Christmas. Then again, I'm the same girl who just kissed Liam despite my fears. Maybe I'm braver than I think I am.

"Why not? I'd go with yah if yah want. See your parents, make things right, and spend Christmas with people that care about yah."

"You care about me."

Liam grins and leans up to touch my face, all nerves and hesitation gone. "Of course I do, but I'm not home. They are. Maine is. Let's go. What's stopping us?"

I pause and look at him with his twinkling eyes. We could stay here in this cabin and wait out Christmas. We could go back to school and forget this ever happened. Or we could go see my parents so I can try to reconcile myself to the mother and father who weren't what I need, but are all that I have.

Maybe for once in my life I should be brave.

"Fine," I finally say. "Why not?"

I've already gone far beyond what I thought I would ever do. I've kissed a boy I barely know, or maybe know all too well. I've gone on a spontaneous trip across the northeast. I've celebrated Christmas, and now I might just go see my estranged family.

Mom's texted me a few times over the past few weeks and even called once to invite me home for Christmas, but I ignored her. Maybe she deserves a second chance. Maybe I've been wrong just like she has.

A few hours later, we pack up and Liam starts the drive from Pennsylvania all the way to Maine. I take the passenger seat and turn on Post Malone--I'm not such a softie that I actually want to listen to Christmas music on the holiday's eve. As we drive, I should be thinking about what I'm going to say to my parents when I see them, but instead, I keep looking at Liam.

This beautiful Irish guy with the heart of gold--perhaps even gold from the end of the proverbial rainbow--cares about me more than he should. In the past few days, he's pushed me to celebrate Christmas, travel the world (or at least the country), and face my parents. In the last few days, he has been kinder to me than anyone I remember. I might just be the luckiest girl in the world.

Liam turns and catches me looking at him and I blush to the roots of my hair. He just grins and catches my hand. Yep. Definitely the luckiest girl in the world.

It takes most of the day to get to Auburn, Maine where my parents live in their hippie yurt. By the time we get to the town, my palms are sweaty and I'm mouth-breathing like an out of shape runner. I direct Liam the last few turns to the yurt. I haven't been to Auburn in years, but I still remember every street. Their yurt sits on the edge of town behind a line of trees, but Liam stops at the end of the driveway.

"Well, here we are," he says. "You're going to be great, Keidy. If they don't love yah, they're idiots, but I think they do. Maybe you've just never really understood each other."

Liam doesn't move the car and I narrow my eyes at him. "Wait, you're not coming in? You're leaving me to the lions alone?"

He grins at me. "They're your family, Keidy, and I'm not invited. I'll pick yah up when you're done. Just call me."

I glare at him. "Don't even think about dropping me off in the tundra and driving away. I will never...never kiss you again if you do that to me."

He laughs. "Are yah sure? Your parents don't know who I am, and you've only known me a few days."

I wave his concerns away with a hand. "Who cares? I could tell them I've known you for a year and they wouldn't know any better. Besides, there's no way I'm going in there alone. If you don't come, we're eating Chinese takeout and making fun of The Bachelor."

Liam wrinkles his nose. "You're cute, but that sounds horrible."

I take his hand and give him my most imploring look. "Then come with me, Liam. It'll be better with you. Everything is."

His expression softens and his resistance melts. "Fine. I can't resist yah, Keidy."

"Ditto." I lean closer to him and then pause a few inches away, biting my lip. "I might need some encouragement though. I don't really want to leave this car right now."

Liam kisses me much more quickly than I would like and then drives down the snowy driveway to my parents' front door.

We're really here.

I never imagined any of this happening--meeting Liam, traveling all over the northeast with him, getting snowed into a cabin, kissing him--but now the unbelievable has happened. I'm home. I'm visiting the people that I've blamed for my fears and insecurities. And I'm visiting them with the hottest guy I've ever met beside me. Zac Efron doesn't count, we've never met.

"Yah ready?" Liam asks as he props his door open.

"No, but I wasn't ready for you either, yet here you are."

He grins at me. "Then what are yah waiting for?"

I swing open my door and clamber out into the snow. I take Liam's hand and look at him one last time before we walk towards the front door.

"Merry Christmas, Keidy."

Thank you for joining me on this little Christmas journey! I hope you've enjoyed Keidy and Liam's story as much as I have--she was a FUN character to write. If you liked this story, you might also enjoy Washed Up, The Definition of Time, and a few of my other stories so head to my profile to check them out. Thank you so much for reading!