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It wasn’t normal to leave students unsupervised like this but then again, it was rare that they had so few students that stayed at the school over break. They only had three students Rafael, Landon, and Ramona, all teenagers who could take care of themselves. Still, Alaric had left plenty of food and was making sure that either Damon or Elena came to check on them every day or two to make sure they were safe.
It was only going to be for three weeks but Alaric still felt guilty about it. Caroline pointed out that they were all old enough to look after themselves and had his number in case something went wrong. Besides they didn’t have many more Christmases before Lizzie and Josie went off on their own. So Alaric laid down the rules and just like that they were the last people to leave.
Ramona watches the adults leave before she looks between Rafael and Landon. “Well, you two have so much fun I am planning on spending the next three weeks asleep in my room. Later.” She leaves quickly and heads up to her room so that she can start her alone time. It would be nice to not have to deal with any of the other wolves or really anyone.
Landon exchanges a look with Rafael before he watches Ramona leave. “She’s…” He doesn’t want to be rude of course but she seemed like she had a lot going on.
“A lot?” Rafael finishes before he exchanges a second look with Landon. He knows that not everyone got along with the wolves and especially not the ones who had a lone wolf mindset. “Look, it isn’t her fault you know that girl Hope? Well, apparently their moms were from the same pack. It's the pack that had all the wolves hunted down and killed in which included her parents. She isn’t big on holidays or really… any big events.”
“Oh…” Landon says before looking up the stairs in the direction she had left in. She was pretty and very mysterious, something that had gotten him in plenty of trouble before. He wouldn’t try to push it though maybe he could try to make friends. “New Orleans pack- does that mean she is one of those enhanced werewolves? The ones who don’t have to turn.”
“It does, which means you’ve got a fifty-fifty shot of not having to spend Christmas Day by yourself,” Rafael tells him jokingly before giving Landon a playful shove. The full moon was on Christmas Eve and meant that Raf would sleep all through Christmas which sucked but they would just have an even better December 26th. “Now come on Wade left his Switch for us let's go play Mario Kart.”
They spend the next few days pigging out on junk food and doing all the check-ins with the Salvatores. Ramona isn’t there for any of them so after a few days, Landon decides to bring a peace offering. He knocks on her door hearing her call out that the door is unlocked. He walks into the doorway and holds up a plate. “I was making sandwiches for Raf and I. I thought you might be hungry so I made you one- well I was going to make one but I didn’t know what type of meat you like so I made three different ones. Then I realized you could be a vegetarian so I made a grilled cheese too.”
Ramona looks up from the book she had been reading and stares at the plate of sandwiches. She gets up and walks overtaking the tops off of two of the sandwiches and smashing them together. “That’s a trick question. I'm a werewolf so any of these would be the right answer, except the bologna- who likes that.” She grabs a handful of chips as well putting both on one of his plates going to sit on the edge of her bed. “I’m Ramona by the way.”
“Uhh me?” Landon says before he takes that sandwich and has a bite out of it to prove a point. He waits for her to kick him out but she doesn’t so he pulls out the chair at her desk. He has a seat before waving a bit. “It’s nice to meet you, Ramona. I'm Landon do you uhh… well what have you been doing all this time?”
“What do you want, Landon? I mean the sandwich is nice and all- a bit too much mustard but it’s nice. Regardless it doesn’t mean that we’re best friends now.” Ramona says before she has another bite. She sees the look on his face and realizes that he must have thought it was good enough to get her to talk. “I’ve been reading now, what do you want? I would like to get back to that reading so if we can figure out whatever it is you want I’d appreciate it.”
“I was wondering what you are going to do on Christmas Eve- if you’ll change. I just thought maybe if you didn’t change we could hang out on Christmas day because you know Raf can’t pick one way or another. We could watch a Christmas movie.” Landon suggests before realizing that would mean for him to suggest. She had no interest in Christmas for the same reasons he probably should hate it. “Or we could have an anti-Christmas. We'll watch a Halloween movie and eat non-Christmas foods.”
Ramona laughs at the suggestion realizing that she really does like that idea. “Halloween won’t be necessary. I am down to watch a Christmas horror movie if you make the popcorn- and set up the projector inside.” She could figure out blankets or somewhere to sit but that was it if he really wanted this to happen he was going to have to work for it.
“Yeah for sure I can do that! I’ll uh- I’ll start now we can do it in the cafeteria. There's a big wall there. I'll meet you on Christmas!” Landon says before he quickly gets out of Ramona’s room and starts to get things ready. If she’s going to agree then he’ll do whatever he has to if it ensures he doesn’t have to spend Christmas alone. That and if he’s being honest he thinks that Ramona was cute so why not spend time with her?
Ramona doesn’t turn on Christmas Eve which means she wakes up on Christmas feeling good. When she comes down she is surprised to see that all of the Christmas decorations had been taken down. No more mistletoe or twinkling lights, it looks so utterly normal. She follows the lack of decor to the cafeteria, smiling as she sees Landon. “Did you do all of this?”
“I dunno, did you just smile?” Landon asks before cracking a grin. He motions for her to follow him. He had set out a bunch of blankets and seats they could choose from. “I haven’t made popcorn but I thought we could decide together you know sweet, spicy, or whatever else.” He tells her before he heads into the kitchen.
Ramona stops what he’s doing and pulls Landon in for a kiss. He seems surprised but he doesn’t stop her. He even leans in and kisses her back for a few moments before they pull apart. “This… this is all really cool thank you for doing this. I needed to do something besides brood in my room thinking about how much my life sucks all day.”
“Yeah- I mean yeah sure no problem,” Landon says before he nervously pushes his curls out of his face. He looks at her before looking back at the kitchen. “We should get the popcorn started now probably… I mean if you still want to watch movies.”
“Oh you’re a bit eager aren’t you?” Ramona asks, watching him as he looks nervous. She then lets out a laugh giving him a playful little shove. “I’m messing with you Kirby now come on let's go I want to figure out how the hell we can make spicy popcorn.”