lost // camren

4

Lauren had always loved Christmas. She loved how no matter what hardships you were going through, the Christmas spirit always seemed to lift you up and let you soar into happiness. She absolute adored the way the jolly music that you couldn't escape from regardless of how hard you tried to always seemed to get stuck in your head and brighten even the darkest of days. Her favorite thing about Christmas was how Todd let her decorate the house in any way she wanted. He always let her pick out where the vast array of vibrant colored lights would hang, using magic to do any design she wanted. He always let her put whatever ornaments on the tree, even if most of the time it was messy and not in any order at all, but just having random shades of balls and pictures swinging from each branch.

Another thing that Lauren had always looked forward to was Todd's heavenly cooking. He was a great chef any other month of the year, but December was when his talents really showed. He was always thinking up different recipes, all having to go along with the Christmas theme that December gave him, and he never seemed to mess up on them, which Lauren's tastebuds thanked tremendously.

Plus, for some odd reason, her subconscious had always enjoyed how well the green and red meshed together in practically any decoration put out anywhere. She didn't know why she enjoyed those two colors together so much, but it always gave her some sense of satisfaction to know that they worked well together.

The soft sliver of sunlight was streaming directly through the one broken blind in Lauren's room, hitting her square in the eye, virtually begging her to wake up and bound downstairs, rouse Todd with a few squeals of excitement and then a few jumps on his bed when he only groans and rolls over. So, that's what she did.

"Todd!" she yelled, excitement and adrenaline coursing through her veins as her brain began to process that it was indeed Christmas morning and she had no reason to sulk around in sadness, thanks to She-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. "Wake up!"

She leapt down the stairs and onto the ground, racing in the direction of the kitchen, but unfortunately sliding on the concrete and right into a tired-looking Todd, but he still had that twinkle of amusement in his eyes. She collided with the man, her socks betraying her on the slippery tile and letting her crash down in flames.

Before Todd bent down to help her up, he laughed for a solid two minutes, tears welling in the corners of his eyes while Lauren sat on the ground, staring up at him with an unamused expression.

"That was definitely the funniest thing I've seen all year, and will probably remain the funniest all next year," Todd yanked her up using all his upper body strength, which caused Lauren to soar up and start giggling as he stumbled backward a bit, trying to make sure she didn't fall once again. "So, kudos to you for that one."

"I'm glad my pain is aiding to your humor," Lauren's laughter faded and she put a scowl on her face, narrowing her eyes.

"I'm glad you're being such a good sport about it," Todd shot back, wiggling his eyebrows, causing Lauren to lose the battle of not smiling as her mouth twitched slightly before the corners turned upward slightly, the happiness reaching her eyes and radiating off of her.

"Does that mean we can open presents now?" Lauren asked, not bothering to be nonchalant about how eager she was.

"Yes," Todd laughed. "Go and find a seat on the couch and I'll be right there."

He watched Lauren disappear behind the wall and into the other room, shaking his head while trying to calm down his nerves. This was the moment that he had been trying to plan perfectly for nine years of his life, not ever finding what felt like the correct way to do it.