Retaliation

Chapter 14 The Skrull Who Stole Christmas

Christmas. 

Such a strange holiday for a bunch of aliens who don't quite understand the origin story but what's not fun about giving gifts to people? I found it quite fun shopping for both Jasmine and Ryan and it was quite stunning to see all the presents wrapped and neatly stacked under a flickering and glistening tree. All the decorations were cute too, candy-filled stockings over the fireplace, colorful lights plastered all over the outside of the house, and tiny marble deer statutes lining the tables. Not to mention ALL OF THE FUZZY CLOTHES. They were all so cozy and warm and to pair it up with steaming mugs of hot chocolate was the ultimate cherry on top.

I had gotten up early due to my excitement not allowing me to sleep at all. I utilized my excess energy to boil enough water for multiple cups of hot chocolate and baked some sugar cookies to go with them. The ultimate breakfast as far as I was concerned. 

Jasmine seemed to have agreed as she helped me make them and cut all the cookies into fun little shapes using a bunch of cookie cutters we had found on sale. We were pretty much waiting for Ryan to get up as she was always able to sleep no matter what was going on. I guess she's lucky being that the ability to sleep is something that can be taken for granted. However, come eight o'clock in the morning I was getting too impatient and decided to finally wake Ryan up as I didn't want all our stuff to get cold.

"Ryan, get the fuck up it's Christmas!" I shouted as I pounded on her door. After I heard some rustling and grumbling on the other side of the door I quickly pushed it open and practically jumped on her bed.

"I'm coming!" She lazily shouted back as she ducked under her covers. I reached to pull them off but was met with a purple cloud of smoke.

"Coward!" I rushed down the stairs despite a vision showing that my socks would cause me to slip on the second to last step. I tried to catch myself on the railing but a strong arm wrapped around my back and stopped me from falling. I looked up to see a pair of warm honey-brown eyes staring down at me.

"You would think the psychic would be able to prevent herself from falling down the stairs." She half smiled.

"You said you'd never let me fall, I intend to keep you on your feet." I joked. She looked away, almost like she was hiding a blush, and helped me regain my balance so I was back on my feet.

Things have been kind of awkward between us since that night we spent together on the couch. I didn't mind at all, in fact, I enjoyed it...maybe a little too much. However, Jasmine acted like she was almost embarrassed by it. Every time I tried to bring it up, she would either change or drop the subject altogether. I boiled it down to her being afraid to get too close and show her emotions. I can't exactly blame her.

We walked in awkward silence over to our tree to find Ryan stuffing her mouth with cookies with one hand and holding a cup of hot chocolate in the other. I couldn't help but let out a chuckle and I sat down beside her. Jasmine sat down on the floor across from us. A bunch of all of our gifts were clothes as we really didn't have much besides maybe a few outfits each. I had gotten both Jasmine and Ryan new sneakers along with some more sweaters and sweatpants. 

Ryan quickly sped through her presents and managed to get to two presents that weren't clothing items. We had made it a rule that we would each get each other something that was a little more meaningful. She ripped through the present I had got her with ease and her jaw dropped when she saw that it was a new laptop. 

"Got to have one for school." I smiled. She reached over and hugged me and I of course returned it.

She carefully set it aside and grabbed the one from Jasmine. I snuck a quick glance her way and saw that the fire from the fireplace was illuminating her perfectly. The sparks glistened in her eyes and the glow surrounded her dark body in a soft golden hue. I felt my cheeks begin to warm from the blood rushing to them. I quickly looked away in hopes it would go away before she or Ryan noticed.