A Merry Merry Christmas

Twelve

"Are you saying... Joe doesn't just like me?"

"...It's a little more than that, Kendra," Jackie replied, a smile growing on her face. I smiled back, trying to comprehend everything. "He loves you." She said. Now, we were both silent, sitting in the living room just looking at each other, smiling widely not knowing what to do.

"Why didn't he tell me how he felt sooner?" I asked. Jackie shrugged her shoulders.

"He was nervous. Whenever you were out of the room and Joe, Donnie and I were together, he'd tell me how much he loves you. I tried to get him to open up to you to tell you how much he cares and loves you but he admit that he was scared." Jackie explained.

"But I guess, now you know." I jumped in fear, turning around quickly, finding Joe standing in front of the door. I smiled and stood up quickly, rushing to Joe's arms as he lifted me up and hugged me tightly.

"I had no idea, Joey." I whispered as he continued to hug me in his arms.

"I'm just glad you know," He whispered in relief, letting go of me, as we separated from our hug. He turned to Jackie and smiled. "Thanks, Jack," He chuckled. "It feels good knowing you were there to keep me from looking like a complete idiot in front of someone I love." He laughed.

"No problem, shorty." Jackie replied with a wink and a chuckle. I couldn't stop smiling and I couldn't have been happier.

----

The morning had come around. I woke up wrapped in Joe's arms as we laid on the couch. His arms were strong and muscular and warm as he snuggled close to me, breathing lightly, his head resting on a pillow. I was the only one awake and I needed to go upstairs to my room to get dressed for the day but each time I tried to get up, Joe would hold me closer. Eventually, I was able to get up to eat breakfast and get dressed and by the time I had done all of that, Joe and Jackie had woken up and had met me in the kitchen where I was baking cut out Christmas cookies. I planned to frost them with Jackie, Joe and Donnie and give them to our neighbors. Turns out, Jackie, Donnie and Joe had the opposite idea.

"I'll be right back, I'm gonna grab something from my room." I said, sliding across the wood floor in my fuzzy socks, going up the stairs. But little did I know I was completely unaware of what I was about to see when I got back to the kitchen.

"Alright, I'm back, are-" I stopped short in the middle of my sentence, completely shocked to see half of the tray of cookies, empty. "I- I was gone... For only two seconds, how-?"

"They just looked so good." Jackie sighed, leaning back in her chair holding her stomach, obviously full from the amount of cookies she had just shoved down her throat. Donnie and Joe were sitting in the same position. I guess I couldn't blame them, those cookies took me forever to make, and I even agreed that they looked really good. I sat down next to Joe and laughed. I picked up a cookie and took a bite. It may have taken me half of the morning to make those cookies, but they were totally worth it!

----

It was early afternoon. The snow was beginning to fall and we had decided to frost another batch of Christmas cookies.

"This is the last cookie, right?" Jackie asked, eager to finish off the rest of the cookies.

"Yeah, but keep your hands away from the cookies, your gonna fall into a cookie coma if you don't stop eating my cookies." I joked.

"They're so addictive though!" Jackie replied.

"I kinda figured that one out." I laughed, placing the final cookie onto the tray for the frosting to settle.