Meant To Be

Christmas day

[RECAP: Lily went to Asher's house for dinner and made up with him. They're now friends again]

It's December 25th, Christmas morning.

I walk down to the kitchen to find a table full of breakfast foods and my mom in the kitchen making hot chocolate on the stove.

"Good morning, and Merry Christmas" i smile at my mom as she turns around from the stove to look at me.

"Merry Christmas honey" she walks over to me and kisses my forehead.

I smile at that as Olivia runs down the stairs in her pyjamas and her raindeer slippers, she almost trips at her excitement. I Iaugh at the way she comes down the stairs.

She runs towards me and my mom, brings us into a group hug and smiles.

"Merry Christmas!!" She jumps and hugs only me this time.

Maybe i don't always hate her.

My mom chuckles as she starts speaking.

"Hey, uh i was wondering if it was okay for you guys that John comes by later?" My mom asks.

John is my moms new boyfriend. They've been dating for about three months and they're getting pretty serious. He's nice and all, but no one will ever compare to my dad. Me and Olivia's only met him about four times.

"That's fine i guess.." Olivia utters seeming more sceptical than me of him.

My mom gives us another hug and keeps making the hot chocolate.

We start eating breakfast, i add a dash of cinnamon to my hot coco, just the way i like it.

The door bell rings a few times.

"I'll get it" my mom says standing up from her chair.

It's a Christmas carol, we open the door to some kids looking about four years younger than me singing 'jingle bells' from start to end on our porch.

"Thank you, that was beautiful " my mom smiles as they're done and closes the door.

A few minutes later, the door bell rings again.

"Another one?" Olivia says surprised taking a bite of her pancake.

"I'll check" i stand up from my chair and walk towards the door.

I open the door to reveal Asher on the porch.

"Hey!" I hug him

"Hey, i'm just here to give you this" he says handing me a small giftbox.

"What? Thank you so much. But i don't have anything for you?" I raise my eyebrows.

"No worries, just thought you might like what's inside" he smiles.

"Anyways, i need to get going, see ya" he walks out to his car.

"Oh, uhm well, see you then" i close the door, a little confused.

I put the small box under the Christmas tree and drank up my hot chocolate.

Just as the morning Christmas TV shows are done, I start getting ready for the day. I put on my favourite Christmas sweater and a pair of all black leggings.

I'm really curious to see what's in the box Ash gave me, I also feel really bad about not getting anything for him. I mean it is Christmas after all.

***

"I'm here!" I hear John's voice from downstairs as I'm in my room watching 'home alone' in boredom.

I hear my mom talking, laughing, and when i walk out of my room and look carefully down the stairs, i can see her smiling wide looking straight into his eyes.

Ever since my mom and John started dating, she's been a lot happier. But it hurts knowing that it's not my dad that my mom is smiling and laughing with. But i'm still happy for her.

My mom has been preparing the Christmas dinner for a couple hours, we've never been much for big family dinners since my dads family never really liked us for some reason, and my moms family lives over in Hawaii and they're always really busy.

So as you can imagine, just one new person celebrating Christmas with you is a big difference from what we used to do.

I decide to walk to the livingroom to leave Olivia's gift under the tree. I bought her a diary with bright colors on it since she loves writing, so i figured she would love that.

I lift some of the gifts to read the sticker with the names on it. I lift up a small box wrapped in red gift wrapping and with a pink ribbon on it.

'To the best sister in the world, from Olivia' the sticker says in a childish looking cute handwriting.

She's actually a really good little sister sometimes, maybe she's starting to mature or something.

I read on another box,

'Merry Christmas Pam, from John'  I find myself smiling at that. He seems really nice and i should probably stop judging him just because of my past.

"Snooping much?" I jump as my sister comes into the living room.

"Nope" i laugh and walk up to her to hug her.

"Jeez what was that for" she laughs.

"I don't know? Sisterly love?" I smirk at her trying to hold back my laugh.

"Sisterly love" she mocks me and chuckles.

She gives me a second hug and walks over to my mom and John who's in the kitchen talking.

***
About twenty minutes later, my mom is done with dinner. We all sit down at the dinner table with all of the Christmas food in front of us. Turkey, potatoes, vegetables and other foods are on the table. Olivia being the first one to put some of everything on her place, i figure i'll be the last one to grab food. I don't want to be in the way of anything.

"So how's school?" John asks as we all start eating to break the silence.

The classic questions, i already did this at Asher's house a few days ago, so it's a little boring honestly. But I appreciate him caring anyway.

"It's okay, just a lot of assignments to do" I smile so tht it doesn't get too awkward.

I give Olivia a look signaling her to tell him about her school.

She's still in the baginning of middle school, her life is so simple. She has a lot of friends, and she has it easy in school. Well, obviously, she's a middle schooler, but you get my point.

The rest of the dinner feels almost like at Ash's house, except he's not here. He's at his house with his huge family being happy as ever. I wish i had a family like his, but i'm greatful for everything I have.

"So do we open the gifts now or what" olivia smiles in excitement after we're all finished eating.

"Yeah sure" my mom laughs and starts putting the dishes in the dishwasher.

                                          ***
We all sit on the couch to open our gifts, Olivia being the most excited, she grabs the gift she brought for me and hands it to me.

"Aw, thank you Liv" i smile.

I open it to reveal a bracelet with colorful beads on it. I automatically put it on my wrist and thank her.

Everyone opens their gifts, including me. My mom got me a hair product i've wanted for a long time, and John got me a gift card at my favorite store. I'm so thankful for everything. It's getting pretty late, my mom, sister and John gets to bed since he was going to spend the night. When everyones sleeping, i'm still in the kitchen getting some gingerbread cookie leftovers, i realise something. I forgot Asher's gift that he got for me.

I walk over to the Christmas tree and reach down to the one gift left with 'for Lily, from Ash' written on it. I really wonder what he got, i'm also kind of sad that i didn't get him anything.

I open the little box to reveal a necklace, but it has a locket on it, that's shaped like a daisy flower, my favorite flower. I open the locked, it has a picture of me and Asher on one of our first play dates in kindergarten. I just sit there, smiling at the picture for a long time. I'm so happy to have a friend like Asher.