#SamGabeHSAU -

"Oh, the finals outside are frightful..."

Gabriel is so delighted with his impromptu song parody that he almost misses the setup. Almost, but it's hard to miss the old cardboard sunflower, left over from a musical long since closed, revamped with strings of tinsel and jauntily hanging Christmas ornaments. Gabriel stares at it, then his eye roves downward from the stage to the piano, festooned with lights, and the presents sitting on the first row of seats. His jaw drops and all song parodies vanish from his slack lips.

"So," Sam says, "want to spend Christmas with me?"

In response, Gabriel does something Sam has never seen him do before. He wipes a tear from his eye.

"Is that a yes?" Sam's voice is so quiet it even surprises him.

Gabriel moves with the air of one possessed. He comes up to Sam, his head bowed, and grabs his sleeves. "I hated you," he says softly. "The first time I saw you, I hated your stupid face and your floppy hair and your dumbass smile."

Sam isn't quite sure how to take this. "Um... I'm glad you changed your mind?"

Gabriel snickers. "I didn't."

"You..." Now Sam is completely lost. "You didn't?"

"No, you chucklehead." Gabriel punches him lightly on the arm. "You did."

For a sec Sam doesn't get what he's saying. Who changed whose mind here? Then Gabriel's head is on his chest, and Sam doesn't give a damn what he was trying to say because he thinks Gabriel just said a four-letter word.

One starting with L.

"What?" He can hardly force out a whisper.

Gabriel looks up at him. He's blushing. "I read that, somewhere."

"Read what?"

Cheeks flush redder still. "That love is friendship caught fire."

"Gabriel." Sam half-laughs and half-scowls. "Is this some kind of confession?"

"Shut up." Gabriel looks away. His hands on Sam's arms squeeze hard enough to hurt. "Damn it, where's some mistletoe when a guy needs a distraction?"

Sam grins and opens one closed hand. Slowly he lifts the somewhat crushed sprig above his head.

Gabriel gapes.

"I meant to hang it up," Sam says.

More than one four-letter word is spoken, and maybe one of them begins with L. They'll never tell. But then not a lot is said for a long time.

That night, after they clean up the tinsel and the ornaments, Sam pauses in the doorway to steal another kiss under the mistletoe from Gabriel. In the darkened school, they linger there, confident that they are in love and alone.

They're half right.

~End Volume 3
Friendship Caught Fire

Next:
Volume 4
Roar of the Lioness~

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