Chapter 42: A Christmas Gift

"Emma, you can take Aria up to see Chase. He might even start coming out of his room now." Their dad smirked, folded his newspaper back out, and continued to read. "Thank you so much," I said. Emma grabbed my arms and pulled me up the stairs. She seemed so excited. Maybe it was because I could now actually be around without tension. We headed to Chase's room. She knocked three times. "What do you want?" he yelled through the door. Emma rolled her eyes. "Will you just answer the door?" she asked. "Not interested," he replied. I knocked this time. "Open the door, or I'm going home," I said. We snickered in the hall. The door flew open, almost scaring us. It was so fast. "Aria? What are you doing here? My parents are going to kill you," he whispered. Emma laughed. "It's okay," I said more chipper than usual. "No worries, Aria and I had a chitchat with the parents. They are okay with her now," she explained. Emma seemed to be as excited as I was and definitely more so than