Kate McKinley's Christmas Dilemma, a Romance fanfic

#¤#¤#¤#Kate McKinley's Christmas Dilemma#¤#¤#¤#
...:.:.:.:.:.:.By: Cimmy.:.:.:.:.:.:...

Summary: Kate can't decide who to invite for Christmas – Chris, or Jeff? And do they even want to be invited?
Rating: PG
Timeline: Some time during their college years.
Dedication: Huge shocker here: Kristine's second Christmas fic of 2007. I spoil her, I know.
Disclaimer: Chris, Jeff and Lex belong to NYgoldfish54.

Kate lay perfectly still on a pink shell shaped pool float in the large pool in her parents' backyard. Sometimes she questioned why anyone would choose such a boring existence in Sherman Oaks over a fun filled life in New York, but at times like these it was so obvious that she almost considered moving back.

She had spent the last three days lounging in the pool, getting a nice tan and giggling to herself when she thought about the snowstorm her friends were dealing with back in New York. It was two days before Christmas, and she was taking the opportunity to relax as much as possible before she had to pack up her things and go meet Fred and Daniel at the airport for their annual Christmas trip.

It was a tradition by now that had started during Kate's first year at college, where they would meet up after the holidays and go someplace together and just party for three days straight. It was of utmost importance that Kate was rested for this event otherwise she'd probably die trying to keep up with two guys. This year they were going to Mexico.

They weren't going by themselves, though, as they had invited the rest of their friends to join them. Kate knew that it would all be about her, Fred and Daniel anyway, so she didn't care if they brought along the entire population of New York City.

There was just one problem she was struggling with at the moment, as she rested almost carelessly against the comfortable air mattress. Kate usually didn't worry over things, as she dealt with gnarly situations as they came. It didn't suit her to brood and ponder, she left that for Fred and Daniel and the mass hysteria they would sometimes cause. No, Kate wanted to be laidback and carefree, not a worry in sight.

But she was currently dealing with a dilemma. As much as she loved floating around in the pool all day, she knew she had to make a decision. Back in New York, Chris sat all by himself in the snowstorm while his friends where elsewhere celebrating Christmas. Kate wanted to invite him to Los Angeles so he wouldn't have to be alone. But the way the cookie crumbled this time, Kate also knew that Jeff weren't enjoying himself very much either, as he was stranded with Fred and Lex in San Diego while waiting for everyone else to get there so they could go to Mexico from there. Kate felt sorry for him, imagining the kind of awful neglect he must be enduring in the presence of Fred and Lex and their annoying lovey-dovey attitude.

So, naturally, she wanted to invite him for Christmas as well. San Diego was of course much closer, but Kate felt that it was unfair to judge someone based on their convenient distance.

It seemed to be a running theme in her life, choosing between Chris and Jeff. She had hoped it would stop being so difficult once they got older, but it was still impossible to tell who to vote off the island. Chris had been her first real boyfriend, and she had been absolutely crushed for a long time when they broke up. At least the first time. Jeff, on the other hand, well… he was Jeff, simple as that. Kate couldn't stay away from him, even if she tried, and the short time that they had officially dated had been the best time of her life. How was it possible that she could love them both so much in so different ways?

Kate put her hand in the water and splashed around a little. The sun had disappeared behind the house, so she figured she had to get out of the pool soon unless she wanted to miss her favorite reruns on TV. Then she would call Chris and listen carefully at his voice so she could tell how sad he was. After that she had to do the same with Jeff. They rarely sounded sad when she called, which she took as a good thing and it made her glad. Unfortunately, it didn't help much.

She had lost track of how many times she had been going back and forth between them. Not in a desperate, clingy, pathetic way, of course, but more in a confused and complicated way. This was the only complicated aspect in her life; everything else was just rolling on nicely. Sure, she had dropped out of school to her parents' absolute horror, but only because she couldn't decide what she wanted to do with her life. A girl had to have some perspective on life, she figured as she sipped on her perfectly made San Francisco. Besides, Daniel had never even considered setting his foot in college, even though he was ten times smarter than her, which proved that she would be just fine because Daniel was so well-adjusted. Okay, that might have been the wrong choice of words. Daniel wasn't dead yet, at the very least.

Maybe one day she would go back to school and continue studying to be a lawyer. She hadn't found it particularly boring or anything, it was just school in general that she wanted to stay away from for a while. She was still interested in law and all its fascinating branches, but right now she was content with hanging around, working wherever she was needed and doing what she thought was fun. Everyone thought she was crazy, including her friends, but she didn't care. She could do anything she wanted and be anything she wanted, so why limit herself to such earthly problems as education? Kate was beyond such concepts.

Even though she had basically shattered her father's lifelong dream of her becoming a lawyer, she was still welcome to come home whenever she wanted to. After getting her father's hesitant approval to drop out, Kate realized that she could probably murder someone and still be as loved by her parents. She was even getting along much better with her mother now from when she had been younger. But to be honest, who wasn't able to love Kate?

She paddled over to the edge of the pool and heaved herself up from the pink shell. It was time to do something productive. Maybe order in some food and make another drink. She strolled inside, closing the glass doors behind her as she entered the living room. Her parents weren't as rich as the other people living on their street, but they were still considerably wealthy compared to a regular family. Kate had always gotten what she had wanted, but never really asked for as much as she could be given. It evened out nicely that way, she thought.

She snuck over to her father's liquor cabinet and made herself another drink. When she was younger she hadn't dared going close to the bottles, afraid that she'd get caught, but now when she was way past the age of eighteen, it wasn't such a big deal anymore and she figured she could have a taste if she wanted. She still didn't want to be caught, though.

After a successful mission, she lay down on the couch and made herself comfortable among the soft pillows. She flipped through the channels for a while, looking for a Christmas movie to watch, but all she found was boring documentaries about the birth of Christ. Kate's family wasn't at all religious, and she couldn't think of one time that she had been inside a church, so she found all related things boring because she had no idea what they were about. Christmas was of course a huge exception, because Christmas meant pretty lights and gifts.

Instead, she picked up the phone, trying to decide who to call first. Jeff? Or Chris? Who did she rather spend Christmas with? The love of her life, or… the other love of her life? Tricky.

She heard the door slam out in the hallway, so she quickly dialed a random number, hoping to avoid a conversation with her mother. Yeah, they got along much better and appreciated each other's company a lot more, but Kate still considered her mother to be super annoying at times, especially when she was talking.

"Hello there, Kate," her mother greeted her with a smile as she entered the living room. "How was your day?"

Kate smiled back, genuinely happy to see her mom but she still put a finger to her lips, indicating that she was on the phone. Her mother just nodded in agreement and disappeared into the kitchen. The signals were still going through to the other line, until it clicked and Chris's voice was heard. Kate immediately felt affection for him and had to really try hard not to invite him on the spot. "It's me! Kate!" she announced happily. Chris usually never had any trouble guessing who she was, but she felt she had to tell him anyway. "Merry Christmas!"

Chris laughed at her. "Kate, Christmas is in two days, and we spoke this morning when you also wished me a merry Christmas," he pointed out amusedly.

"There's no harm saying it more than once. Christmas is almost over soon anyway," she giggled. "What's up?"

"Nothing much," Chris said easily. Kate thought she could detect a hint of sadness in his voice. "My parents left this morning, but I'm trying to keep busy."

Kate knew that Chris's parents and his younger brother were spending Christmas in Spain this year, and they had invited Chris to come with them, only the problem was that their trip coincided with the trip to Mexico, so Chris had chosen to stay at home alone over Christmas this year until he would leave for San Diego. Kate was dying from repressed feelings. All she wanted was to blurt out an invitation, but she wanted to at least give Jeff an equal chance. It had to be fair, and it was more important than ever to be fair when she wasn't dating either of them. "My dad made chocolate fudge this morning," she said sneakily, hoping he would take it as a hint that he was more than welcome to visit her.

"Oh, really," Chris commented dully. Kate figured he was trying to conceal his excitement. "I have to order in some food now. Can I call you later?"

"What are you eating?" she asked curiously.

"Pizza."

"That's so sad!" she whined loudly, clapping a hand to her mouth. "You can't be sitting there in the dark eating pizza all by yourself! It's Christmas! We have to do something!"

Chris groaned. "Calm down, will ya? It's only pizza. Look, I'll call you back, okay? Bye."

Before she had a chance to protest, Chris hung up. Kate couldn't think of anything Jeff could be exposed to that was sadder than eating a cold pizza in an empty apartment. She waited dramatically for a moment until she felt calm enough to make the next call. Kate greeted Jeff identically to Chris, so they wouldn't have to be jealous of each other later.

"Christmas is in two days," Jeff also repeated back to her. "Kate, why do you keep harassing me at all hours of the day?"

Kate knew that he was delighted to hear from her so often. She betted no one paid much attention to him in San Diego, what with Fred and Lex being chronically attached to each other. "Because you love hearing my voice," she replied smugly.

"I think it's because you love hearing your voice," Jeff chuckled. "How's it going? Did you just get up from the pool? Must be time for old reruns, then." He had her daily routines down to the minute, Kate noticed. Probably because she harassed him so much, as he put it.

"Yeah!" she cheered. "Do you wanna watch them with me? It's the episode where Layla get stuck in a basement and doesn't get out until seven months later." Kate entertained herself with watching old episode of the daytime drama soap her mother starred in a long time ago.

"No, thanks," Jeff muttered.

"It's not like you have anything better to do," Kate said pointedly, rolling her eyes. After prodding him, he eventually agreed to watch two more episodes with her. They were both debating over Layla's chances to escape and whether Kate's mother would end up marrying the man that murdered her husband, when Kate suddenly remembered that Chris was supposed to call her, and she had been keeping the line busy for over an hour.

She made an excuse to Jeff that she had to go out and put away her pool float before it melted in the sun, and then she hung up on him. Why was it so hard to tend to two guys at the same time? Kate leaned her head against the couch cushion and felt sorry for herself for a few minutes. She felt it was justified this time.

Chris was playing it cool, pretending that he had forgot that he was supposed to have called her, but Kate knew that deep inside, he was hurt. At least she kind of hoped so. She had dated him the longest, after all, if you combined all the times. The longest she had dated anyone was a year, and that had been Chris. Then they had hooked up two or three times after that, but never for as long as the first time.

The longest she had dated Jeff was three months. She couldn't remember why they had broken up, but she had a feeling that it was because Jeff didn't want to risk his friendship with Chris, back then when they were still acting like rivals over her. At least that's how she had looked at it. Besides, if she had to be completely honest, she never wanted to do anything that would risk their friendship. It was a touchy subject. And she knew that the world couldn't possibly revolve around her alone, so at times she had to be selfless and modest, even if it didn't suit her very well.

It all came down to the simple conclusion that it was up to her. She had to choose between them, even if she didn't want to, and they would respect her choice and go on with their lives. But she didn't want to choose, at least not yet. They were both so incredibly important to her and she hated the thought of losing one of them.

After finishing her conversation with Chris, she padded around the house for a while, not sure what to do. She poked at the Christmas decorations and was struck by the thought of how bizarre it looked to have them up when it was sunny and warm outside. It was December, and she was in her bikini. She went up to her room to change into clothes for dinner, and sat down in front of her mirror. She had fastened tons of pictures over it, but the most important ones were framed. She had one picture of Jeff and one of Chris, which she shuffled around from time to time, depending on what mood she was in. Sometimes when she was mad at either of them, she put the photo frames under her bed until they were friends again. Also, if she began dating one of them, the other had to have his picture be put away in a box. It was easiest that way.

Kate sighed forcefully, looking at herself in the mirror. Her hair was lighter from being out in the sun so much, and her hair wasn't as curly as it had been a couple of years ago. She figured it was part of growing up; she couldn't stay the same forever, and neither could her hair. Putting it like that, it was almost obvious to her that she was supposed to put her romance with Chris behind her. Chris had been her boyfriend back when she had been a different person, when they hadn't been all grown up yet. If she ever had to move on, she had to move on without him.

Then again, she'd had a lot of fun with Chris even after their first breakup. He had been the one to boost her self esteem enough to make her apply for pre-law, and he had encouraged her when she thought she didn't have it in her to keep on trying to get accepted somewhere. They had shared so much between them, and he had been the first person that she had truly loved, from the bottom of her lousy, indecisive heart. They did mature, responsible, grownup things and Kate had loved every second they'd been together. She didn't want it to end, ever.

Her relationship with Jeff was completely different. They were completely irresponsible together and did crazy things that neither of them would otherwise do. They argued and fought over the most ridiculous things, and they had fun doing it. She brought out sides in Jeff that he wasn't aware he had, and everything was just so intense when they were together. She loved him with everything she had, and she couldn't stand to think that she might never again feel the way she did when she was with Jeff. How could she choose to ignore that kind of happiness?

There was only one thing to do about this horrid situation. She had to toss a coin and just hope for a merry Christmas, no matter who she spent it with. Or she would call Chris. Right now, that option made more sense to her. He was all alone and abandoned, and at least Jeff had someone. Plus, Kate would be seeing Jeff in a few days anyway. Chris could be invited as a friend, with no strings attached, and that would leave the final decision open for discussion until Kate felt like dealing with it.

With slight hesitation, she picked up the phone for a fourth time, again dialing Chris's number.

Kate was more noticeably excited than ever when she skipped around the house, getting ready for dinner, while her parents watched her with amused expressions on their faces. It was Christmas Eve, and Chris had said that he might show up later if he was able to catch a flight. Kate had to go all out to persuade him to come visit her, but it had worked.

She had spent all day getting dressed, and was wearing a slim deep red cocktail dress with spaghetti straps that her mother had suggested she'd wear. Kate had tied a satin sash around her waist so it wouldn't be exactly how her mother had told her to wear it. It was important to take a stand with such issues. The rest of the day had been spent straightening her hair so it wouldn't look like the mess it usually did. Even though it wasn't as curly anymore, she still had to make a forceful effort with both a blow-dryer and a straightening iron to remove the last bit of frizz out of her hair. Chris had never seen her with completely smooth hair before and she hoped it would impress him.

The table in the dining room was set with the fine china that they only used at holidays and when they had important guests over. Kate was usually never allowed to go near it, but her parents seemed to trust her a bit more now. They even let her have a crystal glass to drink from. As soon as Chris would arrive, Kate was going to put out a plate for him too.

While her parents carried the food from the kitchen, Kate waited patiently by the door. Maybe Chris's flight had been delayed? Yeah, that was probably it. Kate wanted to call him, but she didn't want her parents to listen in on the conversation, and she couldn't sneak off to her room. Kate's grandmother showed up a few minutes later, disappointing Kate so much that she almost started crying because she had assumed it would be Chris.

"Kate, we have to start eating," her dad announced after they had waited for her to come join them by the table.

"Ten more minutes, please," she begged desperately. "Dad, please!"

Her father sighed, looking at his wristwatch. "I'm sorry, Katie. We've waited nearly an hour now. We're all hungry, and your grandmother has been looking forward to seeing you."

"I'm sorry," Kate mumbled, feeling stupid. Why hadn't Chris showed up? "I'll be there; I'll just go wash my hands real quick."

Her father nodded, giving her shoulder a light squeeze before he went back to the dining room. Kate hurried to the bathroom and locked the door, trying to get her cell phone out from its hiding place in her cleavage. She quickly dialed Chris's number; hoping one of her parents would come looking for her.

"Hello?"

Kate drew a deep breath of relief as she heard his voice. At least he hadn't crashed and died on the way over there. "Where are you?" she asked concernedly, knowing she sounded choked up. "I thought you were coming. I've been waiting for you all day."

"Oh," Chris said, sounding surprised. Kate knew it didn't bode well when she heard that tone of voice. "I thought that I might come, but I changed my mind. You said it wasn't a big deal-"

"Of course it's a big deal!" Kate howled, unable to keep her tears back. "Now my parents think I'm this sad, lonely figure who's being stood up on Christmas Eve, and my grandmother thinks I'm rude because I haven't spoken to her yet, all because I was so excited about you coming here! I really thought you would be here, Chris. I counted on it."

Chris was silent for a moment before he replied, "But Kate, I never said I would be there. I said I might, but I just don't feel like stressing over flights and tickets at the last minute, so I never called back to confirm anything. Don't be so upset, Kate."

"But I thought…"

"You thought what?" he asked nicely. Kate knew that he was only being nice so she wouldn't cry.

She wiped a few tears out of her eyes. "Nothing. I was wrong. I'm sorry, I won't bother you again."

"Kate, wait, don't hang up-"

Kate was feeling so humiliated at this point that she just closed her phone without saying goodbye, and then she crouched down on the floor, pressing her hands to her face. It took a few minutes before she had pulled herself together enough to wash her face, touch up her makeup, and return to sit down with her family. Hopefully they wouldn't notice that she had been crying. She didn't really care if they did, either. She just wanted to avoid having a conversation about it.

As soon as her grandmother had hugged her goodbye, she ran up to her room, dramatically throwing herself on her bed so she could cry some more. Unfortunately, she didn't feel like crying anymore, since no one was around to cheer her up. So she did the next best thing, and took out her diary to jolt down some well chosen words about Chris and his behavior.

She talked to Fred a while later, but she was bawling and sniffling so much that she made him uncomfortable and was told to call Daniel instead. Daniel usually told her to get a grip when she was in her drama queen mode, and Kate wanted to be felt sorry for. It crossed her mind that she could call Jeff, but she quickly thought better of it. Jeff would be annoyed that she had invited Chris without telling him, and then they would spend all vacation being unfriendly. No, Kate had to suck it up and deal with it in a healthier way.

Healthier way meant sitting down with her parents and watch an old movie, while stuffing her face with chocolate ice cream. Christmas Eve was not living up to her standards this year.

Kate was still moping the next day. She wasn't curious about the presents under the tree anymore, or excited about knowing what her parents thought of the gifts she had bought for them. She didn't care about the turkey they were eating or the roasted potato (even though it smelled delicious). She spent all morning lounging around in her sweatpants and a large sweatshirt, and spent the hours after lunch in the pool.

Her parents left her alone, knowing she was upset and wanted to be by herself. Kate appreciated it, and promised herself to lighten up by evening so she wouldn't ruin their Christmas as well. She had briefly considered going down to San Diego to join Fred, Jeff and Lex, but she just didn't have the strength to explain why she wasn't at home.

The day passed slowly. Kate could enjoy quiet moments as much as anybody else, but at some point it got a little too quiet. She wasn't used to sitting still for so long, doing nothing. Outrageous plans formed in her head as she drifted around in the pool, plans involving taking trips to New York or sending Chris plane tickets or inviting Jeff at the last minute – she knew it was stupid, though. None of it was going to happen, and Christmas Day was almost over.

She wasn't even sure why she was so upset this time. She should be used to disappointments by now. Ever since she was a kid, she had acted very easygoing about minor setbacks, and she was never the one to admit when she felt hurt by something. This caused a lot of people to simply just ignore her feelings, and she had been let down more times than she could count. Fred was one of the few that could tell when she was genuinely disappointed and mistreated, but it had taken her a while to even admit to him how she was feeling. Daniel probably knew but didn't care; he was more of a let down in general. Daniel forgot about her birthday and he often just didn't bother showing up at all when they had something planned. Kate was used to it by now, almost immune to it. So it made no sense that she was taking this so hard. If anything, she should have expected it.

But Chris was supposed to be the reliable one. He showed up when he said he would, and he never intentionally forgot about her. Jeff was a little flaky in that matter, but he usually never let her down either. Kate figured she had been lucky with them, because she hadn't always been shown the same respect by other guys. She was taken for granted by everyone she knew, except by the two of them. Until now.

Kate stared down in the clear blue water. Why was it so hard to get people's respect? Was she just a pretty face to them? Was she as shallow and empty as the shell she was floating around on? What would she have to do to earn their love? Maybe she was doomed to be single forever. She knew she wasn't the kind of girl that guys wanted to marry. She was the kind they messed around with, until they found true love elsewhere.

Finally, her father dragged her out of the pool, telling her she had to at least join them for dinner before they opened their presents. Kate reluctantly agreed. She was still quite hungry and took seconds of everything until she felt more stuffed than the turkey. Her parents watched in amaze as she forced down another potato, before falling back in her chair with a moan, announcing that she was full.

Her parents cleared the table before they all gathered in the living room. Kate sat down on the floor in front of the tree, poking at her gifts. She had already turned them over and checked which ones were hers. To her delight, most of the large presents were hers. It was awesome being an only child. "I can open mine while you guys watch," she suggested happily, but was voted down two to one. She appointed herself to hand out the gifts, so her parents had to wait while she tried to read their handwriting.

Kate ripped open her gifts in a matter of seconds, not caring about her mother's plea to be careful with the wrapping paper. They were rich and could afford new paper next year, Kate deemed. She was just about to start on one of the larger gift boxes when the doorbell rang. They were still waiting for Kate's grandmother to arrive so they could all go together on their traditional visit to the cemetery, where they placed a candle on Kate's grandfather's grave before they went out to get dessert at some fancy restaurant. Kate almost liked that tradition more than unwrapping her Christmas gifts.

As her parents were trying to open the gifts Kate had wrapped, she offered to go answer the door herself. She admitted that she had gone a little crazy with the tape and strings, but it was nothing her parents couldn't handle with a good scissor. She ran over to the front door and yanked it open, actually happy about getting to see her grandmother this time. She yelped with surprise when she saw Chris standing there instead, and almost closed the door in his face.

"What are you doing here?" she asked, shocked about seeing him there and shocked that she had forgotten about him entirely over the last half hour. "I thought you said you didn't wanna come."

Chris shrugged, grinning at her surprised face. "Well, I can leave again if you want, or you can invite me in."

Kate just stared at him. "I thought you were my grandmother."

"Thanks. I get that a lot."

She giggled and moved so he could enter the house. Her mother had walked in from the living room to make sure Kate was all right after hearing her screaming. Chris put down his bag on the floor and went over to say hello. Kate was still slightly speechless about him showing up so suddenly, and also very aware that she was wearing her stupid sweatpants that had the words 'cheeky' written on the back, instead of her pretty dress that she had wanted him to see her in.

"We were just opening our presents," she explained as she lead him over to the couch where her father was still struggling with his present. "I wrapped them myself."

"I can tell," Chris smiled amusedly as he noticed shredded paper all over the floor. Kate allowed him to help him with the large gift she had started to open right before he interrupted them. It turned out to be a new black coat, a black dress, and shoes inside, which Kate had to squeal about for a long time. Designer clothes were her favorite kind of clothes. Among everything, she also got a new laptop, various makeup items, DVDs and CDs, plus a lot of money from her relatives over in England.

Kate lost some attention, though, as her mother received a beautiful diamond bracelet from her father, and the two of them became so cuddly that Kate had to leave the room. She showed Chris up to her room instead. "Can you believe he got her something so expensive?" Kate asked, shaking her head in disbelief. "I've wanted one of those bracelets since forever!"

Chris laughed. "Come on, you know you'd lose that in like two seconds if you ever wore it anywhere. And your mom seemed really happy. And you also got more stuff than any normal person would get in a lifetime," he added finally, ignoring her sulky look. "I thought parents were supposed to stop spoiling their child as she got old."

"I'm not old, I'm just getting taller," Kate protested, putting her new glass vase lamp in the window. When she turned back, she realized that the pictures she had been looking at earlier were still scattered over her desk, so she quickly shoved them down on the floor and kicked them in under the bed before Chris would see them. "They haven't changed my room at all."

"No, it looks exactly the same as before," Chris said as he walked around, checking out her things. "Why do you keep all this stuff up?"

"Well, I don't live here anymore, and I think it's sad to take them down because they remind me of all the fun I had in high school," Kate explained, walking over to see what he was looking at.

He took down her stuffed giraffe Mr. Gonzo from one of the shelves. "I haven't seen him in a while. He's just as dirty as he's always been."

"Mom wants to wash him, but I think he looks good the way he does. All that dirt is symbolic."

"Oh, yeah? For what?" Chris wanted to know.

"Stuff," Kate said thoughtfully. "Dirty stuff."

Chris grinned, quirking an eyebrow. "Oh, and what kind of dirty stuff would that be?"

"Not that kind of dirty!" Kate said wrongfully, slapping his arm. "Put him back now, you've lost your Mr. Gonzo privileges."

Chris gently put the giraffe back in her bookcase. "I have a present for you too."

"You do?" she asked, making a useless attempt to conceal her excitement. "I have one for you as well. But I thought you wouldn't be here so I never put it under the tree… why are you here, anyway?"

He sat down on her bed, watching her. She had always found him very handsome, from the moment she first saw him. It was more obvious now than ever how attracted she was to him. With his beautiful gray eyes and charming smile, she was sold. "I don't know, I felt bad I guess. I didn't realize how important this was to you until you called me yesterday, and you sounded so sad that I figured it wouldn't hurt to take a trip. It's not like I had a lot of other plans to fall back on."

"You're so nice," she said earnestly, almost feeling choked up again. "I missed you."

"I missed you too a little," he admitted. "You want your present now, or do you wanna wait?"

Kate couldn't believe he would ask such a ridiculous question, but before she could dig the gift out of his bag and rip it open, the doorbell rang again. "That's probably my grand mommy," she said, grabbing his hand to drag him downstairs again. "We always go to the cemetery, you know."

"Right. Maybe I should stay here?"

"No, don't be silly. You'll miss out on the dessert later," Kate smiled, leading him out of her room. "We won't stay long, I promise. If you want, you can stay in the car."

They all got dressed and ready to go, while Kate made up for her silence yesterday by talking non stop with her grandmother. They drove to the cemetery together, and after spending some time there placing flowers and candles on the grave, they went over to the restaurant to get their dessert.

It was late when they finally got back to the house. Kate managed to sneak away when her parents weren't paying attention, to avoid being reminded by her father that she wasn't allowed to share a room with Chris. The one thing he was strict about, and it had to be that. Kate had snuck around behind his back with both Chris and Jeff countless of times, but she rather avoided getting lectured anyway. It was uncomfortable enough that he assumed that she wanted to share a room with Chris because she wanted to sleep with him; she didn't want to be reminded by him saying it out loud.

Kate changed into her pajamas and brushed her teeth, listening carefully for any sound indicating that her father was coming upstairs. It seemed to be okay, though. Maybe her parents just wanted to be alone for a while without having to deal with Kate. She found that to be a little insulting, of course, but there was other things to concentrate on at the moment.

While Chris was brushing his teeth, Kate quickly hid all her stuffed animals in her closet, and tried to put away most of her girly belongings, even though it was practically hopeless. It was like trying to make Chris think that her room wasn't at all covered in pink. When she heard the door open, she jumped up on the bed and crawled down between the sheets. "Hello. I was just making the bed ready." She realized how corny that sounded the moment she said it.

Chris didn't say anything, he just looked amused. "I see. Well, scoot over and make some room for me."

Kate bounced over to the other side of the bed. "Did you have a good time today?" she asked concernedly, hoping the visit to the cemetery hadn't completely freaked him out.

"Yeah, it was all right. Much better than eating cold leftovers by myself," he said contently. "I always forget that your parents are a lot more normal than you describe them to be."

"The nerve," Kate mumbled tiredly with a yawn. She put her head on the pillow and closed her eyes. "I'm sleepy. Goodnight, Chris."

Chris smiled as he watched her crawl up into a ball. He leaned forward and kissed her gently on the side of her face. Kate giggled. "Goodnight, Katie."

It had been a pretty decent Christmas anyway, Kate thought to herself before she drifted off to sleep.

Original Fiction