Hey everyone,
I can't believe I actually finished this chapter right before Christmas. It's been awhile since I posted multiple chapters in one month. Also haven't had late night writing sessions in a while, I kind of miss it. I hope you guys all enjoy reading it as much as I did writing it. Merry Christmas (and Happy Holidays) ya filthy animal...and a happy new year! I can't wait for all of you to see what happens next. Here's to hoping there's another chapter just before the new year. I hope 2021 becomes a better year than this one. Stay safe everyone.
Chapter 19: Ho, Ho, Ugh
It's Christmas morning. The day has barely begun and honestly, I'm beat. I haven't really had a good night's rest in a week or so ever since Lulu told Mama Rose about my "talent." I now work at Home Sweet Home as Mama Rose's apprentice...well I think the words she used were "show me what you got before I start paying you" which I guess is fair considering. I thought being her apprentice would be pretty easy and pretty leisurely, I was wrong, dead wrong. Instead of watching her cook like I thought, I'm more or less her assistant. Doing all the prep work and even cooking to an extent. I don't know what it's like working in other kitchens but to be honest this is all pretty chaotic. I don't really know if I can keep up with all of this. I've almost chopped off my own fingers a couple of times due to lack of focus from all the stress and the lack of sleep that I've been getting. Mama Rose says I need to curl my fingers when I'm chopping things up. It's a lot to process and the stress and expectations have gotten to me rather quickly. I've even replaced Dante who's sole purpose now is being the certified delivery driver. Can you believe he actually thanked me for replacing him? I guess Lulu was right, he really didn't want to take over. Besides Mama Rose working me to the bone, Carver's now teaching me how to drive everyday after my shift.
If you're wondering why my mom isn't the one teaching me, especially since this whole thing was her idea, well there's a reason why she isn't. She was teaching me last week but I almost gave her a heart attack when I sped down one of the hills on the way to Carver's and well...she practically begged my boyfriend to take her place. Trust me, I was there. Talk about embarrassing. On the other hand, she has taken me under her wing. She promised to show me everything she knows about baking. I guess that's a pretty good trade. The only person left who hasn't taken me under her wing is Grandma Aggie although I wouldn't be surprised if she does so eventually. Word is traveling fast after all.
My schedule is all sleep, work, drive repeat. I just wish that I had failed my permit test. The day after Christmas shopping, everyone literally gathered around to cram as much driving knowledge into my brain so that I could pass. It was crazy just how much effort everyone put in to help me pass the test. No amount of self-sabotage could help me not pass it. I literally tried to fail and honestly I almost did. A lot of the questions were worded like trick questions. I was stumped on a few of them. My self-sabotage plan wasn't exactly needed since I didn't understand the questions. I barely passed. Had I missed one more question, I would have.
Carver's not a bad teacher or anything but...well last night was—well it was just bad. I almost crashed his car in our school's parking lot which was empty, mind you. I kept driving in circles and mistaking reverse for forward and vice versa. I'm clearly a danger to everyone on the road. I don't think I'm going to get this driving this down anytime soon. I'm literally a basket case. I don't even want to know how it's going to like once we go back to school after winter break. And even though my mind is working in overtime processing all of this new information for the hot mess that I currently am, Carver's still patiently standing by my side. He's never gotten frustrated at me during this whole process. I swear the only thing that gets him worked up is when he tries to protect me from outside forces or other idiotic men.
"Merry Christmas!" my mom yelled as she opened my bedroom door. She then walked over to my window, pushed the curtains apart and opened the blinds. "What are you still doing in bed? Did you forget that we're going over to the Black's for Christmas this year?"
"Merry...Christmas," I mumbled into my pillow as I was half asleep. "Leave me alone, I swear I just fell asleep too."
"Oh don't be like that. Where's your Christmas spirit? Don't be such a Grinch," she chuckled to herself.
"Mmm," I mumbled again as I turned away from the window and pulled the covers over my head.
"Okay well I'm heading out now to pick up Paul. When I get over to the Black's I'll send over a little elf to come snatch you up, okay?"
"Mmm yeah okay whatever goodnight," I groaned as I quickly fell back asleep not thinking too much about what my mom just said.
I'm not sure how much longer I was out but by the next time I woke up I could smell this strong scent of cologne, the kind Carver wears and this large, warm mass directly in front of me. My mind instantly registered it as Carver even in the state that I was currently in. I rubbed my drowsiness away and lo and behold, it really was him.
"C-Carver? What are you—How did you—" I said still partially asleep.
"Well hello there sleepy head. About time you woke up," he said kissing me on my forehead. "Your mom gave me her key. Guess you could say she really likes me. Not only is she entrusting me to teach you how to drive but she also trusts me with the key that'll grant me access to my prince whenever I want."
"You're really enjoying this aren't you?" I said as I cuddled with him. "So how long was I out? How long were you watching me?"
"Me? Watching you? You wound me, good sir. A knight would never do something so...creepy."
"Uh huh, right," I said as I rolled my eyes as I took a big whiff of his scent. One of these days I'm gonna ask him to get me a bottle of whatever this is and I'll just spritz some in the air when I miss him. Is that weird? Maybe just a little since we are attached to the hip or attached...another way.
"So...when should we head out?" he asked.
"What time is it? You never answered my question."
"How long were you out or how long was I was respectfully looking?"
"Both."
"Well I got here maybe an hour or so ago. You were snoring, as usual—"
I countered his remark by pinching and twisting his right nipple through his Princess Mononoke shirt.
"Ow! Hey, you quit that!" he yelped as he shooed my hand away. "What was I talking about? Oh right, you were...not snoring. I slipped into bed next to you and the rest is history. It's about one fifteen right now."
"So I guess we should probably head out then right?" I asked pushing off of him.
"I mean we could go, but unless you want to get dragged into cooking which I'm sure you don't, what with all the cooking you've been doing the past couple of weeks. I suggest we chill here for now. Maybe we could get you caught up on Naruto."
"Hah you're funny. I'm not even caught up with Fairy Tail and I'm pretty sure I have about one hundred episodes left. It's been like two years and I stopped at the filler arc right before the Tartaros arc. There's no way I'm gonna start Naruto and not finish Fairy Tail first."
"Okay well I'm enjoying our time together either way. It's nice to have some alone time without worrying about someone barging in when we cozy up."
"Oh are you now?" I asked sitting up.
"Oh yeah. I'd enjoy it even more if we...well you know," he said winking at me.
"Let me guess, you want the gift of the Christmas blow?"
"I mean...no one's home and I'm hard," he said as he tapped his pointer fingers together.
"You're hard?" I asked running my left hand down his body and placed it on his stiff package. I giggled and smiled, then said "Oh you are."
"Yeah maybe someone should do something about that?"
Without taking my hand off, I leaned forward and pushed out as much of my breath into face. He scrunched up his face and pushed my face out of the way.
"You're so disgusting! Go brush your teeth please!"
I laughed and smiled at him.
"Who knew someone so cute could have morning breath that deadly."
"Hey now, you're the exact same way. I just don't tell you because I'm nice...and it doesn't bother me."
"Talk about a boner killer, babe. I'm gonna go find something to eat while you wash your mouth out with soap."
"There are some leftover pancakes in the fridge. My mom's been begging me to make them ever since she tasted the sauce I made that one day. She said that since she's not teaching me how to drive she can show me how to make everything she knows. So I guess in a way, having you teach me how to drive is a much better outcome because now I can learn how to do some baking on the side," I explained as I hopped out of bed.
"Is that your way of saying I'm a good teacher?" he asked following suit.
"Uh I wouldn't say that. I mean I'm still wrought with anxiety whenever you have me drive around an empty parking lot."
"Babe, baby steps. I care about you far too much to just throw you into the wild like that. Also your mom told me to take it slow after her near death experience when she took you out that one time," he said as he chuckled into his hand. "Anyway, you're driving us back to my place today so—"
"What? You mean o-out there? Outside in the real world? What happened to baby steps?"
"Yes, outside. Where else do you think you're gonna drive? It's time to take off the training wheels."
"I don't know. Mario Kart?"
My anxiety level shot through the roof. I was freaking out about driving. I ended up squatting down with my arms wrapped around my knees and my head buried into my lap. I was balancing all of weight and anxiety on the balls of my feet teetering about. I could feel Carver follow me back down. He pried my head from my lap forcing me to lock eyes with him. He then brushed my fringe out of my eyes and kissed me on the forehead.
"Relax. Everything is gonna be fine."
"But what if I crash? I mean I already scared my mom shitless and now I run the risk of killing us. I-I just don't think this is the best idea. Are you sure we should do this?"
"Babe, she was just over-exaggerating. You probably did better than she's letting on. Besides I'll be right next to you. I won't let anything happen to you. I swear. When's the last time I couldn't keep my word?"
"But I-I'm scared. What if I fuck up again? O-Or press the wrong button, o-or pull the wrong thing, o-or I just freeze. There are just so many things to pay attention to a-and I just don't know if I can do it. Maybe driving just isn't my thing. I-I could probably live my life without ever driving again," I stammered as I tried to weasel my way out of this situation.
"You won't. You know what they say. The best way to conquer our fears is to face it head on. You can do this. I believe in you. I know you do too. I can hear you say it under your breath every time you get behind the wheel. Just shut those voices out and just listen to mine, alright?"
"Y-You heard me? I-I thought I was soft enough to where you couldn't hear that. How embarrassing," I groaned.
"You worry too much, you know that? It's not good for you to worry all the time. I for one, thought it was cute. Every time you said it, I believed you and I still do. You just have to stop beating yourself up."
"...Okay, I guess there's no way of getting out of this now is there?"
"Nope. Now go brush your teeth already, I've been trying to breathe as little as I can this whole time. And maybe splash some cold water in your face? Just to snap yourself of out of this funk," he said again before giving me a comforting hug with him rubbing my back. He stood up and just as he was about to walk out the door, he turned back to me and said, "I love you, you disgusting, little gremlin. Don't ever forget that."
What a sweetheart. Okay time to get this over with I guess. Dragging my feet into the bathroom, I took out my daily pills out of the medicine cabinet. I then ran the faucet only to pop one of them into my mouth and wash it down with some water that I had cupped up with my hands. It wasn't the best tasting water in the world but what can you expect from tap. Missouri tap water isn't the best, it kinda smells but I don't really care all that much as long it does the job.
Now onto the matter at hand, brushing these not so pearly whites. My teeth were slightly yellowed. Probably cause I sometimes forget to brush them. What? Sometimes I get so tired at night or I'm too lazy when I wake up in the morning or whenever. I should probably whiten them eventually but those strips make my teeth hurt. I continued to judge the appearance of my chompers as I placed a dot of the blue, red and white striped paste on my brush and ran it for a second under hot water. Then I shoved it into my mouth and began to brush. I used a variety of different motions, up and down, back and forth, and imperfect circles. The last time I went to the dentist, she told me to make sure that I don't apply too much pressure but to no avail I always seem to get a little pink in my minty fresh foam. It's probably because I don't floss. I can't be the only one who lies to their dentist about how often they floss. It's just a hassle and besides I kinda like a little bit of pink when I brush. I don't know I guess you could say I've grown accustomed to tasting blood when this happens and I secretly like the taste of my own blood. That's probably a little too weird though right? Anyway, after about a minute or so I rinsed out my mouth and rinsed with a little bit of alcohol free mouthwash. My mom always buys the alcohol free kind since we both hate the burn and the baby tears that come with that kind. It's a much better experience when it doesn't burn.
Once I finished, I walked out and into the kitchen where I found Carver by the sink doing the dishes, not just his but also the dishes from the past couple of days that both my mom and I have been avoiding.
"Hey, what are you doing? You didn't have to do that, you know," I said as I sat up on the kitchen counter.
"I know, I just thought I could help."
"Well, thanks. I'll be sure to let my mom know you did that. We've been kinda ignoring that mess for a while."
"Don't worry about it. I'm just happy to help. Those pancakes were fire by the way."
"Thanks, I think it's safe to say I'm starting to get the hang of making them after making them for the past week now."
"I can tell and by the way, the sauce was good but I can think of a better place to use it," he said as he stood in front of me and tugged on my legs to where I naturally wrapped them around his waist.
"Oh really?" I asked as I was getting a clue as to where this was leading up to.
"Uh huh," he said as he bit his bottom lip seductively. He then took his finger and scooped up just enough of the sauce to fill the top portion of his finger from the opened mason jar that was right next to me and smeared it along my pink lips. He then pulled me into this longing kiss.
"M-Maybe we should take this into the bedroom?" I suggested with baited breath.
"You'd like that wouldn't you?" he asked with a sly grin.
"Uh huh," was all I could say as I nodded in trance.
Rather than respond with what I thought he'd do like ravish me like an animal he instead responded with one word, "nah."
"W-What? B-But I'm hard now. What do you mean nah? What am I supposed to do now?"
"Yeah well so was I and you ruined it with your deliberate morning breath attack. How do you like the taste of your own medicine?"
"I hate you."
"You're a terrible liar. You love me and you know it. But let's save this for later. I might feel different later on in the day," he said winking at me.
All I could do was moan and groan. I guess this is what I deserve. He didn't have to bait me so hard though. I would have returned the favor.
"So come on, go get dressed! Unless that's what you're planning on wearing today then I support it one hundred percent," he said. Even though those words came right out of his mouth, I definitely didn't believe it one bit.
"Are you kidding me? There's no way I'm going in my skull and crossbones pajamas."
"Why? You know no one there is gonna care about that. They're more the "come as you are" type and what not."
"I don't know. I guess I just want to look presentable, like I put effort into it I suppose."
"Oh crap that reminds me, I have to get something out of my car. You get dressed while I go do that, okay?" he said.
As I watched him head out the front, I hopped off the counter, my dick softening underneath as I could no longer sense him, no longer smell him. Walking back into my room, I peered through the blinds to see what he was up to but I couldn't really tell what he was doing. I could barely see the bottom half of his body as he dug through the trunk. Maybe he's gonna bring me a present just to share between us? I don't know. Whatever it is, I'm sure it'll be good. Why else would he need to bring it in now? I quickly got changed in my classic wardrobe, you know the deal everything must be black. I know it's not that much far off from the skull and crossbones but at least it's neutral. As soon as I put on my beanie, Carver came back in and presented me with an olive green backpack.
"What's in the bag?" I asked eyeing it as it wasn't the backpack I'm used to him using.
"How'd I know you were gonna go all black?" he chuckled. "Before we can go, we have to decide which sweater we're going to wear."
"Sweater? What do you mean?"
"Grandma wants everyone to wear ugly sweaters today," he said as he pulled out two pairs of these really ugly Christmas sweaters. One was green and the other red. Both had white and red colored eight bit looking Santa Claus sprites. And in the center of each were these reindeer stuffed animals spliced right down the center with each half sewn onto the center of the sweater. The green sweater had a reindeer with a literal red bulb on it's nose. Whereas the red sweater had a ball of yellow, red, and orange lights stitched all along the other side of reindeer while also wrapping around the sides of the sweater. "So you can either be Rudolph or Comet."
"You have got to be kidding me," I groaned just looking at how terrible these sweaters were. Poor reindeer, you didn't deserve this disservice. "Do we really have to wear these? Is this mandatory? I mean not to be mean or anything but these are really damn ugly."
"Yeah, grandma is really dead set on everyone being a reindeer. I think your mom and Mr. Lane are Dancer and Blitzen, and then Lulu and Dante are Vixen and Cupid. Trust me, everyone is gonna look terrible but with all of us together, it'll be so bad that it's good."
"Fine, I guess I'll be Rudolph," I sighed as I pulled the sweater over my shirt. It was a little itchy but what else did I expect from wool.
"I'm really happy you picked that because I really wanted Comet. Comet's my favorite," he said as he excitedly got into his sweater. "How do I look?"
"Uh like a dork," I laughed. I paused for a brief second then I finished my response with, "But my dork."
"I better be," he laughed as he reached into the bottom of my shirt and pressed a button lighting up the nose of my reindeer. He then did the same to his lighting up the lights on his sweater. "There we go. Aren't we cute?"
"If you say so."
"Don't be such a Grinch, we look cute, you more than me though."
"Hmph, my mom said the exact same thing to me. About being a Grinch. I'd say that's actually a compliment though. It's my favorite Christmas movie, both of them are."
"Well how about we watch that today when we get to the house?"
"I'd love that. I haven't gotten the chance to watch anything Christmas-y."
"Good, then it's a date," he said as he turned to head out again but turned back to me and asked, "Shall we?"
"I guess we can go now, we've wasted enough time," I answered.
We walked to the car together and Carver climbed into the passenger seat while I stood outside the driver's side. He rolled down the windows and asked, "Are you getting in?"
"I am just give me a second," I said as I took a deep breath in and slowly exhaled. Under my breath I mumbled, "Okay let's do it. I can do this. It's not a big deal. No need to panic."
After trying to hype myself up, I cautiously hopped in, buckled in, and turned the key into ignition. I could already feel my anxiety bubbling up as I tried to control my breathing. Shakily I gripped the wheel, keeping it at nine and three, while checking the mirrors, adjusting where needed. I took another deep breath in when Carver turned to me and grabbed my shoulder.
"Remember, you got this okay?" he said as he rubbed my shoulder and then kissed it in the exact spot he had just rubbed.
"Y-Yeah, I got this. I just...have to believe in myself," I said as I turned to acknowledge him. "Thank you. I can do this."
Checking my mirror, I pulled out slowly and drove on towards Carver's. Even though I was now on the road, I was still a little nervous about the whole thing. Controlling my breath can only do so much to ease my nerves. I don't know if Carver was just being himself or maybe he could see right through me, but after maybe five minutes into the drive he had his left hand on my right thigh. His hand didn't linger so he wasn't being pervy. I guess this was his way of trying to keep me calm during the drive and to assure me that he was still by my side. The warmth his hand emitted really was helping me relax too. I'm really happy that he's here right now. I don't know if I could do this with anyone else. Thankfully the roads were pretty empty. It was comparable to the school parking lot at night but with actual lights to watch. Thankfully the roads weren't slick because going down these hills actually went rather smoothly. This time I actually remembered that I had brakes so I didn't speed down the hill this time. While I had a death grip over the wheel, he never squeezed my thigh any tighter than how he had it. He had the utmost confidence in me. It took us about ten minutes from beginning to end but at least we got here alive and all in one piece. Once I pulled up to his house and put the car in park, I breathed a sigh of relief while resting my head against the wheel.
"See what did I tell you? Driving's a cinch when you shut out all of those nagging voices," he said hugging me as he leaned against me.
"I guess so, but I never would have gotten here without you," I said sitting back and tilting my head to the right resting on his.
"No way, it was all you. Learn to take credit when its due."
"Okay, okay, I get it. Thanks again. So should we head in?"
"Five more minutes. I'm really enjoying this moment with you right now," he said as he unbuckled both of us and then curled up closer to me.
It was more than five minutes though. I wasn't counting but it felt like forever but I didn't mind. I was just taking it all in, enjoying the moment and what not. Carver always runs so hot whereas I run ice cold. I just love the way he warms me up. It's so soothing, I could just sleep here in this metal cage even though the cold was seeping through the cracks.
And sleep there we did, I must have dozed off because we were rudely woken up when someone kept incessantly knocked on the driver side window. I groggily rubbed my eyes open and saw Lulu on the other side shivering in the cold, her teeth clattering together as she was hunched over with her hands rubbing her arms to try to keep warm. Oh god she really did have a similarly ugly sweater on too, reindeer and lights aplenty. I mouthed the words "sorry, five minutes". I assume she understood cause she hurriedly ran back inside. I turned to Carver and he was sound asleep. It was weird especially since I thought he could only sleep with as little clothing as possible.
"Hey babe, I'm sorry but I need you to wake up now," I said as I gently shook him.
"Mmm five more minutes," he grumbled.
"You said that awhile ago and I think everyone's waiting on us...still."
"But I'm so comfortable right now. They can wait."
Oh look how the tables have turned. Who's acting like a Grinch now?
"How about this? When we watch the Grinch later, you can use me as a pillow. You can even fall asleep through the whole movie if you want. How's that sound?"
"Mmm that does sounds nice. You've got yourself a deal," he yawned. He sat back up and yawned...well more like roared and stretched as wide as he could. "That was such a nice nap that I didn't think I needed."
"Uh you're welcome?" I laughed to myself. "Let's go inside. I don't think we should keep them waiting any longer than we already have."
"Before we go, put this on," he said as he pulled off my beanie and instead gently placed the antler headband over my head and then he placed another one on himself. "There, perfect. You're such a cute reindeer."
I rolled my eyes and groaned. We then both headed in where we were met with a thunderous roar from everyone. Everyone had their ugly sweaters on while Grandma Aggie was dressed just like I would imagine Mrs. Claus would look...except this one wore thick red eyeglasses. But besides that, she wore a long red robe with white fur along the neckline and the openings of the sleeves. She even had these bright, red winter boots and every time she stepped the soles would blink green, red, and white lights. She really went all out on this last minute theme. Besides some missing reindeer, Grandpa George was also M.I.A. I wonder where he could be honestly.
"Look who decided to join the party," Dante yelled from the kitchen while pouring some kind of creamy concoction into his cup, eggnog I assume.
There was a guy standing next to him who I've never seen before. He was pretty damn tall, almost the same height as him but a little more chunky. I could tell he still had some muscle underneath all of the fluff but it wasn't as pronounced as it would be had he had none of that to begin with. He had this fresh looking buzz cut with this deep brown, cinnamon-y complexion just like his eyes. Speaking of eyes, he had the darkest bags under them that I've ever seen. Could that be the mystery man, Henry, that he's been talking about? He didn't exactly match the description that Dante spoke about. I mean I thought he was supposed to be his equal, physically. Maybe it's not him and it's someone else? Surprisingly he too had one of Grandma Aggie's ugly sweaters. I couldn't really tell which reindeer he had but based on how the lights were arranged along the hooves I assumed he had Dasher.
"Sorry guys, it was my fault, I fell asleep," Carver said as he held me close while scratching the back of his head.
"You fell asleep at the wheel?" Grandma Aggie cried.
"No, no, I had Fang drive back. Right babe?"
"Uh yeah, it was all me," I answered shyly.
"And how was he?" my mom chimed in.
"No complaints here. I didn't have to tell him anything. I just sat back and relaxed honestly. I think he's just been acting like he couldn't do it this whole time. Right babe?" he asked again.
"I—um well that's not entirely true, but I guess—"
"Well that's great to hear," my mom said as she came up to me and tousled my hair. "And here I thought, he'd be more of a hot mess like I was when I was his age. Good to know you're not following in my footsteps."
"What are you talking about? You're a great driver...when it's not snowing," I added.
"I am now and thanks for that. But no, I was a mess when I first started learning how to drive. I even had this whole mantra that I would chant before I would start. Something along the lines about how I can do this and I had nothing to fear when I was learning how to drive my daddy's truck but it took me months to muster up the will to drive after I crashed into our garage on my very first day. That's why I got freaked out when we drove together because I didn't want to repeat the same mistakes my daddy made when I messed up. I was afraid that I'd make you a bundle of nerves for months."
"Looks like the apple doesn't fall to far from the tree," Carver whispered into my ear.
"But I am aware that I may have already done so. I just want to apologize for any damage I may have cause already. I just didn't think I was the right person for you which is why I asked your boyfriend here to take my place."
"Mom, i-it's fine. I-I mean yeah, you kinda freaked me out in the beginning but I mean it worked out in the end so I guess you made the right decision. So don't worry about it. It's all good now."
"Oh what did I do to deserve a good kid like you?" she said as she pulled me into a long embrace.
I stood there with Carver staring and smiling at me. I gave in, hugged her back and replied with, "You know exactly what you did. I wouldn't be here without you. Just don't tell any of my friends I said that." And with that, she clung onto me tighter and I swear I could hear her starting to sniffle.
"Are you okay?" I asked.
"Oh yeah, just something in my eye," she deflected. She eventually wandered off to the side only for Mr. Lane to come up to me next.
"Good job kid," he said raising his fist to my chest to which I awkwardly pounded mine into his. He then followed my mom and they plopped themselves onto a nearby couch as they snuggled up to each other watching the flames dance in the fireplace.
"Let's go mingle," Carver suggested taking my hand as he walked towards everyone.
Lulu was in the kitchen but she was helping Grandma Aggie building the gingerbread houses, Dante was hovering over the eggnog with his mystery man, and my mom and Paul were still snuggling up on the couch. We decided to help with the construction of the gingerbread houses. Once we got there though, Grandma Aggie got up and went to the back of the house.
"I feel like the most pathetic third wheel in the whole world," Lulu said as she continued to ice one of the roofs without batting an eye.
"What are you talking about?" I asked as I started popping gummy bears into my mouth.
"Everyone's booed up except for me. That's what I'm talking about."
"What about Yukiko?"
"What about her?"
"Well you know, you two are—"
"We're what? What are you trying to say?" she asked slightly agitated.
"Yeah, what are you trying to say babe?" Carver asked as took the bowl of gummies away from me.
"Um well, I just thought."
Fuck are they not together? I could have sworn Kiko was basically hinting at the fact that she and Lulu were dating or something. Wait, but wouldn't Lulu just spit it out and tell me though? I mean we are best friends. Oh crap, it's probably a secret which is why Lulu is acting defensive and what not. Oh god, I'm so stupid. I'm fucking this up. Ugh!
"Uh just forget it. I-I don't know what I was saying."
Lulu shot a squinted look at me. I could tell that the gears were working overtime in her head but I'm not sure if I'm in the clear or not. Probably not. This will probably bite me in the ass sooner rather than later. Just as Lulu opened her mouth to say something back to me, Grandma came back inside ringing a cowbell. Where the hell did she get that?
"Can I get everyone's attention please?" she yelled as she continued to ring her bell. "Can everyone gather around the tree? I think I can hear Santa on the rooftop."
We all obeyed her demand and we all gathered around the black tree. I'm honestly still geeking out over this to be honest. It's just so cool and unconventional. Thankfully I still have my own mini version back in my room thanks to you know who. As we all played along waiting for Santa, we all watched as Grandma Aggie fooled around as she placed her ear all around the house talking about hearing him and how close he was.
"I could have sworn I heard him just now," she said as she stood by the walkway leading up to the balcony. Suddenly, like clockwork, I could hear footsteps coming down from the third level. Grandma Aggie opened the door and out came Grandpa George dressed up exactly like Santa Claus. He was even carrying a rather large red sack which I assume was full of presents for all of us but there were already the unmarked presents under and around the tree from before so maybe it was just for show?
"Ho, Ho, Ho!" Grandpa George roared as he placed his bulging red sack on the floor.
Grandpa George made for pretty strange looking Santa. Standing at six foot seven, he made for one of the tallest Santas I've ever laid my eyes on. To be honest, he'd probably make for a better looking Krampus than Santa. Especially with that long beard he's got going on. He looks less jolly and more menacing. But I swear, he's really nice. He just—well if looks could kill, that's the kind of look he has.
Before he was the mayor of Haven many years ago, he served in the Air Force for about a decade. I don't really know much about his service but I think he was an engineer or something. He's got a few tattoos from his years in the military but he rarely shows them to anyone. I only came upon it when I found him out back chopping wood for the fire maybe a week or so ago. For a man of his age, I'm surprised at how fit he still is. For someone in retirement, he likes to keep himself in shape and act like someone not in retirement. Carver told me that they go out on runs all the time and most of the time, Grandpa George beats him in a race back to the house. I've never seen it with my own eyes but I can believe it. Sometimes when I look at him I think, is this what Carver's going to look like when he's old and gray? I know it's a pretty ridiculous thought but not as ridiculous as when he asked me when Carver and I were going to get married and have kids.
"Yes, it all came out perfectly!" a familiar voice yelled from behind. I turned to look and there was Al dressed similarly to the rest of us. But like Grandma Aggie, he had the neckline of his sweater decked out but not with fur but with tinsel. Of course he'd be Prancer.
"Al? When did you get here?" I asked delightfully surprised.
"Oh honey, I've always been here. You just didn't care to look for me. But really, Rose and I were helping George here get into his suit. Then we rappelled off the balcony in some makeshift MacGuyver contraption and made it back in here while everyone distracted. I'm pretty proud of my work but then again when am not?"
"It's good to see you again, Al," Carver chimed in. "It wouldn't be Christmas without everyone here.
"Wait Mama Rose is here too?" I asked.
"Oh yeah, she's probably in the kitchen right now checking in on the food. We still have to finish cooking after all of this. I hear your quite the chef now. So when can I place my order?"
"I'm really just learning how to do everything. You're honestly better off getting something from her than me if you want something."
"Really? That's not what she told me. And let me be frank, she won't stop talking about you. Fang this, Fang that. She's really fired up about this whole thing. I could only listen to so much before I had to drown myself in that water-downed eggnog. No offense but I can only take so much praise that's not directed at me and my work."
"She really thinks I'm good?"
"Oh honey yes. I'm not going to get into any details because I will make myself sick again regurgitating all of it but the praise is there. Now if you'll excuse me, there's an alcohol cabinet in the kitchen calling my name."
"I told you you were good," Lulu said as she was scrolling through her phone. "I'm good at recognizing talent."
"You hear that babe?" Carver added.
"Yeah, thanks guys," I smiled.
In the moment of all of this, Grandpa George and Grandma Aggie had passed out everyone's gifts. The kids were about to rip into our gifts but the adults told us that we had to open them one by one. Apparently they wanted to be able to document the whole thing. So we went one by one.
I got a new set of knives from Lulu, she said she wanted to help jump start my career and something about having a good set of knives is what's gonna keep me cooking. Just as I was about to open the box, my mom snatched them away. Something about how it wasn't polite to play with knives, but I think she just wanted to check out the knives herself. I think she was slightly jealous. I don't know what Lulu got Carver. When he opened it, his eyes got wide and they shared a look. When I tried to look at what was in it, he pulled away and hid the box behind him.
"Thanks Lu, I'll be sure to uh use this wisely," he winked.
"Oh yeah, no problem," Lulu giggled.
"Guys what's in the box?" I asked nervously.
"Oh just something. You'll like it though," Lulu said with a wicked grin.
"Ugh fine, I hate you guys though," I said. I looked at the boxes set around Lulu and handed her the one with the tracksuit in it. "Lulu, open this one first." I then pushed the gifts that Kiko personally gave me for her off to the side.
She didn't care at all about the box, she just ripped it to shreds just to get to the contents.
"Oh my god it's the Bride's iconic tracksuit!" she yelled as held it to her chest. "I freaking love you!"
"I knew you'd like it. Um the other boxes are technically from me but not really. The scroll is personally from Yukiko and the longer box I guess is from both of us? I don't know what's in it but she said it would go with the suit."
"Um okay, that's a little strange but I'm not gonna complain," she said as she opened the longer box first. "Holy hell, this can't be real. Is this Hanzo's sword?" She then pulled out this huge ass sword from the box. Please tell me that's not real. I'm gonna get in so much trouble if it is.
"Fang, what the fuck bro?" Dante asked slowly getting up.
"What? I didn't know there was gonna be a sword in there. Kiko didn't exactly disclose that kind of information."
Before we could continue our conversation, Lulu started swinging the blade like she was the Bride.
"H-Hey Lulu, how about we put down the sword?" Dante suggested.
"Yeah, I think it's best to listen to your cousin," my mom chimed in. "Time to put the weapon away."
"Oh come on, it's not even a real sword," she said as she swung it again but this time the tip of the blade came in contact with Dante's reindeer slicing off the head with ease. "Oh...oh damn it is real."
"Louise Landon, what the hell do you think you're doing?" Mama Rose asked furious.
"Oh hey, Grams. How long have you been standing there? This whole time?"
"Quit swinging that before you hurt somebody! Give it here. Now, young lady."
Lulu nodded, placed the sword in the box, and handed it to Mama Rose.
"Now what do you have to say for yourself?"
"I-I'm sorry everyone. That was extremely irresponsible of me. I-I didn't mean to scare anyone. I-I was just excited...but that's no excuse," she said as she sat back down next to us. She looked at the scroll and asked bummed out, "Is this safe to open?"
"Uh yeah, I promise it's not a magic imbued scroll or anything. It's not gonna explode," I said. I crawled over to her and whispered, "Sorry, I-I didn't know."
"Don't worry about it. It wasn't your fault."
She began to then unravel the scroll. Her jaw dropped as she gazed upon the photo-realistic painting of herself. "Oh my god, she did this...for me?"
"Holy shit," Carver said as he too stared in awe. "That's really good. There's no way this is a painting."
"I know, I thought the exact same thing when I first saw it. She's really talented."
"This must be what you meant when you asked me about her earlier, isn't it?" She paused then said, "Sorry I have to make a call."
She then excused herself from the rest of the group. I hope I didn't fuck things up again. First the sword, now the painting. I couldn't really tell what was going on in her head or her face for that matter.
"Is there something going on between her and this Kiko girl?" Carver asked as he spun one of his boxes between his hands. "That painting seems really intimate."
"Um honestly I'm sure. I'm as in the dark as you are."
"I'm sure everything will be fine. I mean if it were anything serious she'd tell us. So don't worry about it, okay?"
"Yeah, you're right."
"So is it my turn or yours?"
"You go first," I said handing him one of the boxes.
Unlike Lulu, Carver slowly unwrapped the box being careful not to make a tear in the paper. I was honestly getting a little impatient because of how long it took.
"Babe, just open it," I said slightly annoyed.
"Okay, okay, jeez," Carver said as he tore the box open. "Oh it's a plaid jacket."
"Yeah, I know plaids your thing and you don't seem to own any jackets so I—"
"I love it. Thank you."
"Yeah, of course. Oh this one too," I said handing him the other box. "Again just rip it open. I'm too impatient for this."
"Okay, just for you, I won't be careful. I just like the paper. It's pretty," he said. Carver ripped into the box and pulled out the shoes that Dante had picked for me. "The Air Zoom Pegasus...h-how did you know I wanted these? I don't remember telling anyone about this."
"Well I actually got he—"
I looked over at Dante and he was vehemently shaking his head and swiping the tips of his fingers along his neck. His eyes were wide and he was mouthing the word "do not." I was having such a hard time understanding what message he was trying to get across but then Carver waved his hand in my face breaking my concentration.
"Babe? Is everything okay?" Carver asked concerned.
"Huh? Uh yeah everything's fine."
"Okay well how'd you know I wanted these?"
"I uh, well would you believe me when I say that I'm...psychic?"
"Sure babe, I'll believe you. Thank you. Now open the stuff I got you," he said handing me a box.
I tore into that fairly quick and what was inside was an apron that read "kiss the cook."
"Sweetie, show it to the camera," my mom said. I pulled the apron out of the box and had him help me tie it around me. Once that was done, I stood up and showed it to my mom and everyone else.
"See, it says "kiss the cook." It's cute right?"
"Oh...I don't think it says what you think it does," my mom said trying to stifle a laugh.
"What are you talking about? It says "kiss the cook."
"One of those O's isn't an O," Dante said as he too was trying to hold back his laughter.
"Guys, it literally says "kiss the—", I looked down at the phrase and they weren't wrong, it definitely did not say what I thought it said. I immediately sat down and turned to Carver. "Why would you get me something that says "kiss the cock?"
Carver's eyes widened and his jaw dropped. "I thought it said cook. I am so sorry. But to be fair, I'm willing to kiss both the cook and the cock."
"Don't worry, sweetie, we'll have Al fix that so you can wear that at the restaurant," my mom said as she busted out laughing. We all actually had a good laugh about it. Even though his mistake wasn't intentional, it did bring the whole room to a laughter fest.
"Now for the grand finale," Carver said as he got up to wheel that big thing that was leaning against the wall. "Have at it."
The day has finally come where I can figure out what in the world this thing is. I still have no idea what it is but at least now I know that it has wheels. This one looked loosely wrapped so I grabbed one end of the paper from the top and gave one good tug. It was a full-body mirror. One of those mirrors that you can flip around. It wasn't one of those basic ones but it had this Gothic feeling from the wooden carvings all around the mirror. The wood was painted all black with golden accents. It was...beautiful.
"I know you broke your mirror awhile back and I just wanted you to be able to see what I see every time I see you. I thrifted it but I restored and customized it so it would fit your uh aesthetic."
"Carver this is...I love it."
"Great, I was hoping you were going to say that. It took me a couple of weekends to finish it. You should have seen what it looked like when I got it. It was not pretty."
After the gifts were all taken care of, we all went back to doing what we were doing in the beginning. Carver, Lulu, and I went back gingerbread building. Oh speaking of Lulu, when she came back to the group she had this big smile on her face. When I tried to ask her about it, she wouldn't really share anything but she seemed really happy so whatever it is, I'm sure she'll tell us eventually. I'm just happy she's happy. As soon as the sun set, we continued with our Christmas dinner and boy am I stuffed. I think I ate more tonight than I have ever eaten in one sitting. One of those moments where I had to unbutton the top button of my jeans.
After dinner, everyone basically left one by one. Well not before we all got into a group picture. The Claus's wanted to get a picture with all the reindeer together. Suffice to say, it was pretty cute. My mom and Mr. Lane left together. I'm not sure if she went to drop him off or if they'll be spending the rest of the night together. Mama Rose, Lulu, and Al left not too long after that and Dante and the mystery guy disappeared without saying a word. Grandma Aggie and Grandpa George went to bed once they finished cleaning up. Leaving just me and Carver alone on the couch. We snuggled up on the couch as Carver pulled up The Grinch on the TV.
"So are you ever going to tell me what Lulu got you or are you going to continue being secretive about it?" I asked.
"Thanks for reminding me, I completely forgot. Can you close your eyes?"
"I have to close my eyes to see the gift?"
"Please?"
I sighed but obliged. I could hear him getting up and running back to the tree. I could also hear some rustling, I'm assuming to get whatever was in that box. Once he was back, he started the movie and I could hear the opening to the movie.
"Okay, you can open now," he said as he wrapped a quilt around us. The same family quilt as that night beneath the stars.
I opened my eyes and saw nothing out of the ordinary, just the two of us and the movie.
"So...what am I looking at?"
"Look up, idiot."
I looked up and saw what him holding up this green plant.
"She got you mistletoe?" I smiled as I began to blush.
"Yeah, so should we uh do it then?" he asked as he kept looking back up at it.
"Come here, you idiot," I said pulling him in. We kissed for what seemed like forever. It was one of those no tongue, no frills kind of kiss. When we finally pulled away, he just pulled himself back in just so he could rest his forehead against mine.
"Merry Christmas Fang."
"Merry Christmas Carver."