Something about watching my sleeping boyfriend brings me so much peace. He's just so sweet looking, a side of him only I get to see. Only me.
He always puts on a tough heartless act around everyone else, but he's not that person. He can be tough, and even heartless in a few brief moments, but it's not him. He is the wonderful, precious boy I get to see every single day.
I hear a knock on my door, and try to get out of bed as lightly as possible so I don't wake Matthew. I walk up in my pajamas, opening the door to see my mum and little sister holding my mum's famous apple cinnamon muffins.
"Yes!" I say excitedly, grabbing the tray. "Merry Christmas Eve", my mum smiles. "Are you coming to the Christmas Eve service tonight?"
Oh no.. she's not going to like my answer.
"Actually, I'm having some friends over." I say.
My mum looks at me with a less than pleased look, obviously upset that my Christmas Eve plans have changed this year. Every year I go to church, spend time with my family and Fred's family, and then we would end the night with a movie.
It's different now though.
We won't be getting together with Fred and his family since we broke up, and I have people I want to spend my evening with. She's just going to have to deal with it. "love?", Matt calls from the room and I mentally face palm. "Who is that?", mum asks.
"It's Matt. You like Tom remember!" I encourage. "The atheist?" She questions. Bree mouths a sincere 'sorry' to me, indicating that she spilled. "He's allowed to have his own beliefs mum", I state. "Please tell me you're not dating an atheist, Eliana." She says. "Mum he's great. He's sweet and kind and he respects me. I love him." I say. She scoffs, and Aubrey intervenes. "Mum he's very nice, couldn't you just give him a chance?" She tries.
"I don't know who you are, I don't know what has changed in you to shift your priorities so drastically, but you are not my daughter", she says harshly, and walks off. "I'm sorry", Aubrey says, and follows after mum. I stand at the door, feeling slightly heartbroken. My mum has to approve of Matthew.. he means the world to me and I want my family to love him as much as I do. "Iris? What's wrong my love?", Matt asks as he walks up behind me. I shut the door, and set the stupid muffins on the table. Matt grabs my hand, pulling me to him so I'm forced to talk. I look into his still sleepy eyes, not wanting to tell him what my mum just said.
"Who was at the door? What happened?" He asks with concern.
"It was just my mum." I shake my head. "Don't worry about it." He puts his finger under my chin, tilting my head up to his. "Talk to me." I sigh, taking a seat. He sits next to me and waits for me to explain. I'm so lucky that he actually cares. Deeply. A lot of relationships don't have that.
"She's upset that I'm dating an atheist." I say. "And it's not changing anything, I truly don't care what you believe. I love you just as you are. She's just judgey." "Well I can get into church." He shrugs. "I mean you just sit there and listen to someone talk right?"
"Matthew! I'm not making you go to church", I laugh. "Oh come on! It'd be fun. Sunday mornings we wake up, drink some tea, and go participate in a cult." He jokes and I roll my eyes. "Oh you're so funny." I say sarcastically. "I'm being serious though. Your mum wants me to go to church on Sunday? Then I'll go to the damn church." He states. "You'd really do that for me?" I ask in shock, and awe of my sweet boyfriend.
"Love I'd jump in front of a bullet for you, I think I can handle an hour of church on Sunday", I squeeze him tightly, appreciating his sacrifice for me. Maybe a Sunday or two of him trying it out will get my mum off my back.
He pulls me to sit on his lap, as he always does. I find it so sweet, he's just really handsy with me. He grabs my hand and holds it out in front of us. "I have to say, this hand would look really pretty with an engagement ring on it." He says. "Matty", I say.
"Hmm?" He hums. "That's my right hand", I state and he looks at me with confusion. "And?" He asks.
"And.. the engagement ring goes on the left hand", I inform him. "I don't think so.."
does he not know this?!
"It is definitely the left hand." I say. He pulls out his phone, and I watch as he looks it up. I smile to myself when I see my answer is correct, and his is wrong. "Wow, I have a smart girlfriend." He says and I smile.
it's literally a commonly known fact but I won't tell him that. "Yea you do." I nod. "I got pretty damn lucky." He says with admiration, except I feel like the lucky one.
Matthew and I make sure everything is ready for when everyone gets here. Tonight is going to be so much fun. I have all the alcohol ready, the Christmas movies, the snacks, everything. It's going to be perfect and I get to spend it with all of my friends. The doorbell rings and I walk over to open it. "Hey hon!" Gianna says happily, hugging me. I forgot she's a hugger. "I'm Jewish so I'm here for the alcohol." Eleanor says and I laugh. "I'm pretty sure everyone is just here for the alcohol." I say. I shut the door, and Matthew says hello to the girls. "Love where's the vodka at?", Matt asks me.
"Love?! Since when did this happen?!", Eleanor practically yells and my hand slaps over my mouth. Ouch.
We completely forgot to tell them.
Which is weird because she's the one who basically told me to go for it. "Like five days ago, I totally meant to text you!" I say. "Oh my god! Finally! Stubborn Sturniolo finally settled down!", Gianna cheers and i laugh loudly at the nickname. "Stubborn Sturniolo?" I question.
"Oh yeah that's what everyone called him in high school", she says. "Yeah alright let's not tell my girlfriend about my embarrassing high school nicknames yeah?", Matt mutters and there's another knock at the door. I open it and see Sam without Chris. I guess he decided to stay home tonight, which I honestly feel is for the best. Matthew may be well controlled right now, but if he came face to face with him he might just get really angry and break down. It's completely understandable I mean- his brother is trying to steal his girlfriend. "Come on in." I smile.
"Oh good you didn't bring the traitor with you!", Matthew says. "Traitor?" Eleanor questions. "Oh you know, just my youngest twin brother who's trying to sabotage my relationship because we're both in love with the same girl", he shrugs, taking a drink of his alcohol. I don't think he should be drinking.. especially not vodka. It's Christmas so I don't want to tell him not to, but this very well could trigger a breakdown later.
Justin and Nicolas show up, and everyone takes their first shot as I start our first Christmas movie. I take notice of how Matt is practically chugging down the drinks. I knew he had a bit of a problem but this is a lot, even for him. "Maybe you should slow down.." I whisper to him. "Maybe you should let me have some fun", he mutters. I turn my attention back to the movie, and let Matt do whatever he wants.
There's no controlling him or helping him when he's like this, even though I feel I should.
