Chapter 12

Christmas

I opened my eyes slowly to a low vibration that I had set on my cell phone. I ignored the call and noticed dark brown eyes staring at me. Ski got off my chest.

“Happy Christmas.” she said.

“I bet that was my mom saying the same thing.” I said reaching over to my nightstand. It was a missed call from my mom.

“Well tell her I said Happy Christmas.” Ski said getting up from my bed.

“Morning love birds.” Josh said from the other side of the bedroom.

“Get up.” Ski said walking to him and jumping on his bed. “Time to open presents.”

“Did you do this when you were little to your parents?” Josh asked.

“No. I didn’t really care for Christmas then.” Ski said sadly. “Get up.” she said going back to cheery.

I got up and walked into the dinning room. I was surprised when I saw that the tree had tons of present underneath. I remembered before going to bed that not a lot of presents were there.

Toni emerged from her bedroom along with Ski and Josh. Ski had a huge smile on her face.

“I think I went overboard last night, but at least it’s well worth it. I made breakfast for us all.” she said excited.

She went into the kitchen. We followed after her and sat down. Ski took out food from the stove. She put food on a plate then handed it to each of us before making herself a plate. She sat next to me.

“You didn’t have to do all of this.” Josh said.

“I never got to experience a real Christmas.”

We ate breakfast laughing and joking. We had a great time. After that I cleaned up the dishes and we went into the living room and sat in front of the tree. Ski sat in front of me between my legs. I wrapped my arms around her waist.

“You bought all of us these presents?” Toni asked.

“No, last night Jay’s mom and Drew and Toni’s parents and Josh parents stopped by to deliver these presents.”

“Wow, that’s sweet of them.” Josh said.

“What about your parents?” Toni asked.

Ski rolled her eyes. “Mom sent me a card, dad sent me a jewelry box and Lionel… he sent me a threatening letter.” she said the last part under her breath so that only I could hear it.

“So who wants to open presents first?” I asked.

Ski got up from my arms and walked to a certain gift. She came back and handed me a present. I looked at it and then stared at her. She sat in between my legs again. Our hands moved as one as she helped me open up the present. Once I opened the present I was impressed by the gift. It was my favorite movie.

I kissed her cheek repeatedly.

“Thank you.” I said.

“Well it’s what you wanted.” Ski said.

After that everyone else opened their presents. I got Ski a new notepad so that she could keep up writing. She loves to write scripts. I wanted her to continue on the path of becoming a screenwriter and director. I got Toni as a prank gift a pack of condoms. She glared at me. As a real gift I got her a cd. For Josh I got him an artist pad. I knew that he loved to sketch many things. I loved what my roommates and parents got me.

After we finished opening presents we sat and talked for a bit. We ate lunch and watched Christmas movies and then ate dinner.

After dinner we sat in the living room again.

“Take me to the dance.” Ski whispered in my ear.

“No.” I answered.

“You will be taking me to this dance.”

I laughed. “No I won’t.”

A knock at the door. I got off the couch and walked to the door. I opened it and noticed Julie standing with a present in her hand.

“Merry Christmas.” she said.

“Merry Christmas.” I replied.

She handed me the present. I looked at it. “Just take it.”

“I can’t.”

Toni walked to the door. She smiled at Julie and stuck out her hand. “Hi I’m Toni. One of his roommates. Happy Christmas.”

“I’m Julie, Danny’s birth mom.” she said shaking Toni’s hand.

“Want to come in. We already ate, but Ski made so much that there’s left overs.”

Toni pulled me gently out the way so that Julie could come inside. She did come inside and we went into the kitchen.

“So what would you like?” Toni asked getting a plate from the kitchen.

“Anything.” she answered.

Toni nodded. She went into the fridge and made a plate for Julie. She put it into the microwave.

She left the kitchen for a second then came back inside. She had a wrapped gift in her hand and handed it to her.

“This is from all us.” Toni said.

Julie looked at me apprehensively then looked back at Toni.

“You didn’t have to get me anything.” Julie said.

“Well we did.” Toni said with a smile. “So take it. It’s Christmas.”

Julie took the gift placing the other gift on the table. She opened the gift. I was shocked to find out that they went behind my back and got Julie a gift. Why wasn’t I advised about this? I shrugged it off and watched her eyes go big as she stared at a tape.

“What is that?” I asked.

Toni’s smile widen as she went to microwave that had started to peep. She opened the door and handed Julie the plate. Julie sat down. Toni handed her a fork and napkin.

“That is a video tape Ski made behind Jay’s back at his day of being in the apartment.”

“I can’t wait to see it.”

“There’s also a slide show of pictures that Kat gave us and we created a video of the time you missed in his life.”

I looked at Toni surprised at this. I thought that it was the sweetest gift anyone has ever thought to give.

“Thank you.” she said quietly.

“I hope you like it.” I said.

Julie looked at me. “Does this mean you want me in your life?”

“I guess so.”

I swallowed down the emotion that was threatening to come out. Thoughts of my father’s death came into my head. I walked out the room and pumped into Ski.

“Good job.” she said.

All I could do was nod as I walked into my bedroom.

A.N. yeah me! another chapter. meant to have this ealier, but after death, after death, and then the doctor telling me that i have a leaky valve in my heart and that i need to take it easy, plus work, school, and church stuff, it took me some time. sorry. i'm taking it easy now. resting a bit. So do what you do and thank you twilight and indian for being my true reviews. press the review button and drop an opinion. july 11, 08