Nothing We Could Do

Chapter 26

⚠️ This chapter contains:
- mentions of rape
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———— K I O S H I ————

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"Kioshi! Kioshi wake up!"

I groaned and pulled the sheets over my head, "What?"

"Wake the fuck up, Its Christmas!" Ivanna yanked the sheets away and straddled my hips.

"Yeah yeah whatever, go back to sleep. It's too early for this shit."

"I've been up for 3 hours already."

I squinted my eyes against the morning light pouring in from the curtains, "What? Three hours? We went to sleep at two in the morning so why are you waking up so dam early?"

She'd insisted we stay up all night watching about a hundred thousand Disney movies including Bambi and Dumbo just for the fun of it. She'd raided the kitchen for popcorn and sat stuffing spoonful after spoonful of cookie dough in her mouth as she stared up at the screen.

It was mesmerising seeing that side of Ivanna, the wholesome side where she let herself go completely and was purely herself, however chaotic that was. Her child-like excitement had made me think that maybe, she'd never gotten to do something like that before. I knew hardly anything of her past but I'd got the gist she hadn't been able to make the most of her childhood.

Of course, we'd gotten sidetracked from the movies a few times.

Everytime I caught her off guard and kissed her, she'd tasted like cookie dough which had honestly never tasted so good as it did on her lips. And that's saying a lot because I was a pure cookie dough hater.

"It's Christmas! Come on!"

She yanked at my arm in attempt to drag me out of bed but I pulled her into my chest and shoved the covers over us.

"Hey!" She wriggled and tried to push away, "Let go, I want to give you your present."

I paused, "You got me a present?"

She kicked the covers away, "Yeah of course, Its Christmas."

"You didn't have to get me anything you know."

She smiled, "You're my boyfriend, of course I have to get you a gift."

I immediately noticed she didn't say 'fake boyfriend'. Maybe it was a mistake but I was suddenly so unbelievably happy. I pulled her in for a deep kiss, cupping her face and gently sliding her closer.

She pulled away with a smile, "Hate to cut this short but you have presents to open."

"We'll continue this later?"

"Yep. Later. Now come on!"

I grabbed my shirt from where it had been discarded the night before and Ivanna slipped on the matching Christmas robes my mom had got for us, before shoving mine to me. It was honestly the first time I'd ever seen her wear anything but black and the red actually suited her. I let her drag me out of bed and down the stairs, blinking my still weary eyes. It hadn't stopped snowing outside so everything was coated with an even thicker layer of snow and the house was cold.

Though we were the first ones down, the Christmas tree was lit up, all hundred and so lights twinkling. From the way Ivanna was gazing up at it, you would have thought it was the holy grail. Honestly, it was a pretty cool sight, one that I'd been privileged enough to see every Christmas. It made my gut ache to think that maybe Ivanna hadn't.

"Hey," I smiled, "Are you going to show me my present or what?"

She beamed, her smile so bright my heart skipped a beat, "Shouldn't we wait for everyone else first?"