"I hope I gave you some to believe in, cause none left for me."
"The softest soul can't hurt a fly."
"If I die before I wake, then it's my soul for him to take."
"We can do whatever we want, but boy don't you dare go falling in love."
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It took me about 10 minutes to put gifts for the 118 in my car, mostly because I was forgetting about a whole bunch of shit. Even my car keys which is weird because how was I gonna drive there? As I'm getting the bags out of my car, I see a red-haired girl talking to Buck with the cameraman.
"Who's the redhead?" I ask Eddie, and he laughs at the sight of her and Buck. "Taylor Kelly, she's a news reporter, pretty sure she's only here for buck. Don't worry, what you and Buck have is special." I give him a disgusted look, "Oh please, she's doing me a favor by distracting him so he won't bother me, I was trying to be nice, give you a gift. But after that little comment..... I don't know anymore." I shrug my shoulders and start to walk away.
"Alright, I'm sorry, is that better?" He says sarcastically and I hand him the damn bag, I start to go up the stairs and I make eye contact with Buck and the tall redhead. "You must be the new girl in the station, I'm Taylor." She offers her hand for a handshake but I don't shake her hand. "Artemis, germaphobe." I can hear Eddie laughing behind me, everyone feels the tension in the room more like a loft but Buck decides to speak up to relieve the tension.
"Alright... um, Artemis w-what's up with the gifts?" He scratches his eyebrow.
"I don't know if you have noticed that I may have been a bit of a Debbie downer the rest of the days of the year but you're lucky I like giving gifts."
"What??" They all say sarcastically, "It was a joke, now open up those gifts fellow co-workers."
They start opening their gifts up and their jaws drop from what I each got them. "Artemis, these are beautiful, how'd you get my sneaker size." Hen kisses the sneakers that I got her, "I have my ways...... to be fair I just asked Karen. Oh, this one is for Karen and Denny."
"Well, aren't you the sweetest, who is this girl, and what happened to Artemis?" I laugh. "Eddie, what do you think?"
"A Rolex watch? Thank you, Artemis." He goes up to give me a hug then remembers I don't like people touching me, instead, he gives me a high five. I give him another gift for Christopher and he graciously accepts it. "You are joking, Artemis... What the hell? An Apple Watch? I can finally go on runs without my Fitbit acting up. Thank you." Chim says.
"Buck? Cmon I couldn't have left you speechless this time. Tell me, whatcha think? I'd cure that'd you want a gold one." He holds up the dainty gold necklace with a cross. "W-wow, I have no words. It looks.....expensive, are you sure?"
"Obviously, if not I would never bought it. That means I did my job, now Bobby come outside with me, your gift is extra special." They all follow me outside and I can feel the red-haired woman looking me up and down. A black stone grill is what I had in the parking lot for Bobby. "It's beautiful Artemis, you shouldn't have."
"I actually got you something." Buck hands me a bag and I get confused, I take out a small stuffed dragon plushie. "Can I ask for the significance?"
"Well, you're like a baby dragon, small but ferocious, I think it suits you very well." I try to look on the bright side. "I like it, great job using a big word, did you come up with that last minute?"
"Nah, I actually took the time to pick that, it reminds me of you." I grin and laugh, "Okay... I love gift giving and even though this Christmas sucks for everyone at least presents make it better." We all go upstairs to hang out before we get a call, and the reporter starts going live. "Sounds like you're not a big fan of her either, after all, she stole your boyfriend away from you right?" I look at Eddie and he rolls his eyes. "I just don't like her in general, she's too nosy." As I'm reading I see Buck and Taylor flirting, "If you guys aren't too busy, eye fucking each other, can you get this damn camera away from me before I smash it against the wall, don't worry you can send me the bill later." The camera was all up in my face, I couldn't read in peace.
She Signals the man behind the camera to put it down and she looks at me, "Better?" She said in a sassy tone, "totes!"
"Que tanto quiero rastrear esa tipa de su pelo." I say to Eddie in Spanish, so she wouldn't understand, "I would pay to see that." I smirk and see Buck looking at us while Taylor is standing in front of him. I wave to him and he gives me a nervous smile. "I like getting under people's skin, I find it amusing. Especially when she's a bit fond of dear old Evan Buckley, he made my life a living hell, now think of it as returning the favor." _________________________________
Eddie invited me, Buck, and hen to his house and he told me to bring Santi, we started making gingerbread houses. Me and Buck against, Christopher, Denny, and Santi, we spent the majority of the time arguing.
"Buck that's not the roof, that's the walls." I take the frosting away from him and he manages to take a bit of frosting from the piping bag and smothers it on my cheek. "No, you did not, and you got frosting in my hair!"
"That's what you get for not letting me have fun." The younger boys start laughing and yes that includes Buck, he acts like a child which is what kids love about him. "Get away from me, I'm mad now." I get up and sit with the adults, Eddie hands me a napkin and I try to get the frosting out of my hair and get it off my cheek.
"I can't work with him, he's so difficult. Anyways what's up Eddie? Why the down face? I thought that would be me this holiday."
"It got ugly, after I said I had to work on Christmas, he went straight to his room and wouldn't speak to me for the rest of the night." Eddie takes a sip of his coffee while telling us about his troubles with Christopher.
"It's just new, he'll get over it." Hen tries to reassure him but Eddie still feels horrible. "Abuelas bringing him to my aunts, I know he's gonna have a great time. He just-, last Christmas was special, this one's harder."
"Is that why you invited us all here? Trying to cram Christmas cheer between now and then? Well for Artemis it's anger, the poor girl has a vein popping out of her forehead because of Buck." she wipes off the excess frosting on my face, "Thanks."
"Well I thought I'd be nice to bring the boys over for a playdate, and Honestly I had forgotten that Artemis and Buck don't get along."
"Fair enough, It's all four of 'em', it's weird how he's so good with kids but makes sense because he acts like one." Buck is all smiles around those three kids, no wonder why they love him. "Who needs more cement?" he stirs the frosting and begins to help the boys. "Hey buck." Christopher catches the attention of him. "Yeah?"
"Can I spend Christmas with you?" Buck looks at Eddie for him to intervene, "I'm sorry buddy but I'm gonna be working on Christmas with- with your dad."
"Stupid work, Dad can I spend Christmas with Ari and Santi? I don't want to go to abuelas." Christopher puts a pout on his face, and Eddie looks at me with a slight smile. "Can he? Please it'll help me a lot." Eddie says and I agree. "Of course, just send me a list of what he wants as presents."
"Oh you don't have to do that, you're doing enough for me as it is." I look at Christopher and then look back at Eddie. "It's okay Eddie, I've never gotten an actual Christmas as a kid so I enjoy seeing kids be happy and I would want him to feel at home." Eddie starts to tear up and he wipes it quickly from his eyes. "You really want to hug me huh?"
"Just this once?" I get up and so does he, "fine you only get 3 seconds." I hesitate to hug him but he pulls me in tightly. "Eddie- Eddie I can't breathe."
"Sorry" I take a deep breath and I sit down again, Buck sits right next to me trying to ask a question. "Is it just me or does Christmas suck this year?"
"Definitely, not just you, it's been a rough year for everyone. So I'm happy to immerse myself in the magic of Christmas and I just look forward to putting this year behind me." hen replies to Buckley. "I wouldn't surprised if a surprise smack in the face comes, and not one from Artemis, it doesn't come as a surprise to me anymore. It just hurts now."
"Your welcome," I said with a straight face clearly bummed out.
