Sunset Memories

Chapter 15 - Simple Gifts

I woke up on Christmas morning to a beautiful lust seeping through the windows. Snow was falling heavily in the silver-blue sky. It was just after eight in the morning. 

     Danielle was above me on the bed, her beautiful form curled up beneath the blankets. One of her hands was curled up in a fist and dangling over the side of the mattress, innocently lying there like a guitar waiting to be strummed.

     I missed my guitar. After this, I would strum a million songs and sing a million lyrics on it, just to fill the emptiness in my heart. 

     Danielle's eyes weren't opening any time sooner. I waited patiently for about five minutes, then stood up and turned on the lights. It felt like summer and Christmas at the same time. I went over and sat on the bed beside her.

     ''Danielle,'' I hissed. ''Hey. Danielle. Wake up.''

     She didn't move. I shook her shoulders.

     ''Danielle. Wake up.''  

     Her eyelids twitched. I was getting somewhere. I pounded her very lightly with my fists, some sort of massage on her back.

     ''Wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up . . .'' I sang softly. The lyrics from Angels rang out in my head. Wake me if you're out there! I was out there. So I had to wake her. 

     I shook her violently. She let out a groan.

     ''Danielle,'' I said softly in a musical voice. ''Wake up, it's Christmas. Wake up . . .''

     She moaned again, and ducked underneath the covers. There was no trace of her now.

     I sat there for a moment, frustrated and inpatient, like a guitar without its strings. Wake up. Then I grabbed the edge of the covers and ripped them off the bed.   

     ''Luca!''

     Danielle lay on the sheets, dressed in light blue pyjama bottoms and a red long-sleeve that said You still haven't hugged me today. She was curled up in an uncomfortable position that actually seemed comfortable.    

     ''Get up,'' I told her.

     She blinked a couple times, adjusting her eyes to the sudden light. ''Why did you do that? I could've been naked underneath the sheets, for all you knew!''

     ''All I know is that you're not, and that it's Christmas, and that you should get up.'' I opened the bedroom door. More light spilled into the room. Downstairs, the sounds of Alexander, Curt, and my mother opening presents.

     She got up and stepped into her green sleepers under the bed. ''What would you have done if I wasn't wearing anything and you ripped the covers off?''

     The question should have embarrassed me, but it didn't. Probably the excitement from Christmas, I guessed. ''Either fainted, screamed and ran from the room, or start making out with you,'' I answered stupidly.

     Danielle looked at me with an air of shyness and disbelief. Then she stood up and punched me in the gut, though her fist stuck to my ribs as though we were Silly Putty trying to connect again. It was like the first morning I'd woken up with her in the room. Plus the air of both of us being giddy and nervous from the excitement of Christmas, and I wasn't wearing a shirt.

     We were, again, so close.

     She put her head into the crook of my neck in a sort of hug, her hand cupping the edge of my stomach. I wrapped my arms around her. The feeling of our heartbeats melting together and her thin shirt against my bare skin gave me something like satisfaction. Her hair smelt like strawberries, and it was soft and silky.