Synthetic Love

Chapter 14

December 23rd.

"Did you ever celebrate Christmas back home?" Chris asks.

Chris had returned home from tour two days prior. Him and Saanvi being apart was hard, but it was good for Saanvi to be able to regroup and get herself back together without having to worry about Ravi constantly being up her ass. She felt more free now than she had in a long time. Saanvi had missed Chris dearly though, and had spent every moment with him that she could as soon as he got home. He'd come over to her apartment a few hours ago, and now the two of them were just laying in bed, talking all night. They'd been together about nine and a half months now, and the two of them just talking together all night still hadn't gotten old.

Saanvi shrugs in response to Chris's question, "Hmmm, yes and no. It's technically recognized as a Christian holiday in India, but I mean, just like over here, there's plenty of people who aren't Christian that celebrate it. You'd see the lights, hear the songs; my family more so celebrated it when I was younger. My dad loved any excuse that he could get to spoil me and buy me presents."

Chris smiles, "That's sweet."

Saanvi nods, "As I got older though, it wasn't as big a deal anymore. My dad would still get me something small each year though. Then when I came to the states, I made friends in school that would invite me to their holiday gatherings, which was always really nice."

"You never flew home during your school breaks?"

"Not really. Sometimes I would in the summers, but even then, I was trying to take summer classes or intern. It's a fifteen hour flight, a ten hour time difference, all to spend a few days with my mother telling me everything wrong I'm doing with my life. Don't get me wrong, it was always great to see my dad. I loved and missed him dearly, and still do, but..."

Chris nods, understanding.

"What does your family usually do?"

Chris shrugs, "We all get together, overload ourselves on carbs, tell stories, watch Christmas movies; some of my cousins have kids, so they'll usually run around or go build a snowman outside or something like that. We almost always watch Christmas Vacation and laugh our asses of. It's a good time."

Saanvi nods, "That sounds nice," She says as her eyes begin to droop, "I don't wanna go to work tomorrow."

"You're only working a half day, right?"

She nods again, "The clinic is closing at 1 tomorrow since it's a holiday."

"Well, then come on home afterwards and relax. You deserve it."

Saanvi gives a small laugh, "Relax; I'm not sure I even know what that means anymore."

Chris chuckles, "Get some sleep, goober. C'mere."

Saanvi scooches closer to Chris, then he brings her in his arms and the two of them drift off to sleep.

x

"So, what are you and Chris doing tomorrow?" Tara asks as she grabs her coat, ready to leave for the day.

Saanvi blinks, "We actually hadn't talked about that."

Tara furrows her eyebrows, "What? It's your first Christmas together!"

"Yes, but we're not exactly in a normal relationship. I'm not sure if it's the time for me to be meeting his family yet."

"Does he have a big family?"

Saanvi nods, "I mean, there's his parents and siblings, but then there's aunts, uncles, cousins - granted, I have all of those things too, but I'm not close to any of them, especially now that they're on another continent. When Chris is home, he's within twenty minutes of almost all of his relatives."