forever yours • adam banks

chapter twenty nine

ella

Christmas is my absolute favorite time of the year.

There are so many things about it that just put me in a good mood. Whether it's a Christmas movie, baking cookies, decorating the tree, or anything similar, it has my name all over it.

As usual, I spend the weekend with Sadie and Morgan. We went shopping, got our nails done, and started preparing for our trip. I also bought them their Christmas and birthday gifts while we were out, and I really think they're going to love them.

As well as this, I had my doctor's appointment for my ankle. Although it's only been eight weeks, my ankle is almost completely healed. The good news, I can actually ski in Aspen. The bad news however, I can't do anything too extreme. Because there's a risk of reinjuring it, I have to take it easy. I'm fine with that, as long as my ankle heals and I actually get to do things on my trip.

The day of Christmas Eve is spent at Alex and Matt's house with the rest of my family. We did all of our usual traditions - decorating cookies, a gingerbread house competition, and watching a classic Christmas movie, just to name a few ones. We didn't do gift exchanges, because everyone is coming to my house tomorrow for Christmas dinner.

The thing I love most about our family Christmas dinners is that we don't dress fancy. We focus on spending time with the people we love rather than how nice we look. That's what Thanksgiving is for, the holiday where we worry about looking nice.

When I wake up Christmas morning, a smile forms instantly on my face. There's just something about Christmas that makes me so happy. I throw on a sweatshirt and make my way downstairs, anxious to see the tree and what's underneath it.

I quickly realize that I'm the first one awake, and it's only nine. I make myself an iced coffee, make my way into the living room, and flop on the couch, turning on Home Alone while I wait for my family to wake up. Within an hour, my family joins me in the couch.

Let the madness begin.

An hour and a half later, all of the gifts are unwrapped. The floor is full of clothes, shoes, training equipment, jewelry, and candy. I don't think I could've asked for a better Christmas. The only thing that would've made this more perfect was if I got a puppy, but I don't think that'll ever happen.

As I'm organizing my gifts, I hear a knock at the door. I gesture to my parents that I'd get it, and jog over to the door. I unlock and open it to reveal none other than Adam.

Great!

He's in sweats, which first off, I don't know how he isn't freezing, and he has a small box in his hand. He doesn't say anything, he just stares at me for a minute until he collects himself and hands me the box.

I take it and carefully place it on the entry table before grabbing his card from the table and handing it to him. We exchange brief smiles, before he finally breaks the silence between us. "Merry Christmas El."

My stomach immediately starts doing butterflies. It's something I can't explain. I know so many people call me El, but it just feels different when he calls me it.

"Merry Christmas Adam." I respond, before shutting my door and turning my attention to the box on my entry table. I feel a little bad about not using my nickname for him since he used mine, but I'm still not completely over what he did.

I look back at my family, who watched the interaction, and give them a shrug. They know that I'm still upset about it, and they think that I have every right to be. However, they're also telling me that he's trying to make it up to me and it's really not worth risking my friendship with him over something that'll eventually boil over.