Good Boy, Bad Girl

Mistletoe Without Mistletoe

Funnily enough I said the "update twice on Saturday" thing when I forgot I was really busy today, so I'll update twice tomorrow (at least, I'll try my best too - one of the chapter's is short and the other is the epilogue, which I've been planning since I started this story). Thank you so much for 200 reads!

"Merry Christmas!" Lilia beamed as she shoved the full English breakfast into my hands. I smile and sigh with happiness as the beautiful smell of bacon fills my nose.

"Thank you, Lilia. This is great!" I said. Lilia smiled back at me and I moved to sit opposite Jake at the table. One advantage of living with Lilia is the cooking - it's twenty times better than any food I've tasted before.

Oh, I should probably mention I've left my house. Hopefully for good.

It's not a particularly dramatic story. Not like when Jake got kicked out. I just got tired of complying, of always doing what they said just because they were "authority figures". I think Angel rubbed off on me. Anyway, I just told them straight up that I was spending time with my friends on my birthday in February, and they couldn't handle it. So I lost my temper and said that they'd let me actually have a life or I'd leave their own lives completely.

Naturally, I left the house that night.

Lilia was kind enough to take me in along with Jake, even though her money is a bit tight. Jake is working as well though - he never planned to go to university - so we're getting by. And the food is much better.

This is my first actual Christmas, come to think of it. Unsurprisingly my parents never celebrated it, as they aren't religious and they have no time for any type of 'frivolity', as they'd put it. It made for quite a few awkward moments when some of the kinder kids at school asked what I'd got from my parents.

Jake, as per usual, was having none of this and insisted that me and him had our own private Christmas. Ever since I was three years old I would sneak into his room after everyone else was asleep and we'd have a tiny Christmas of our own. We'd use glitter as Christmas lights and potted plants as Christmas tress, and Jake would give me a present and I'd give him a secretly done drawing. It was small, and didn't really count as a celebration, but it was the best we could do. Seeing how excited Lilia was, with her very well done tree and her... creative wrapping choices was kind of surreal. I bought presents for Angel, Jake, Mel, Taylor and Lilia, and for the first time in my life I actually sung along to Mariah Carey.

It's been the best month of my life.

Speaking of Jake, I met his boyfriend for the first time the other day. Well, I say met. I knew him beforehand and I knew since Jake came out that they were secretly going at it. His name is Hayden Drake. He's always been Jake's best friend and the fact that they got together romantically is no surprise. The surprising part is that Hayden expected me to be overprotective. We were sitting in Lilia's living room as she and Jake cooked dinner, and after a few minuted of awkward silence Hayden's voice broke through.

"I-uh- I know that you probably don't trust anyone with Jake, but I'll be good to him! And I'll make sure he's happy and that your parents don't touch him and he succeeds in life and-"

"Woah, woah, Hayden!" I said, raising my hands up in a calming motion. "I trust you with him! He's been your best friend since you were little, what's the difference now other than you're more likely to touch lips?"

After I reassured Hayden that I didn't want to kill him in his sleep, everything was normal again.

Two hours after Lilia gave me and Jake breakfast, the doorbell rings and Lilia perks up. "Finally, they're here! Now we can open the presents!"