The Bucket List (Kellic)

9. Christmas Eve

It's Christmas Eve and my mom and I were trying to clean the house as much as we could before the Fuentes family showed up. I honestly don't think they would care if it were a little messy but whatever works for my mom is fine with me.

Just as I was finishing loading the dishwasher, the doorbell rang. Since my mom was busy vacuuming, I took it upon myself to answer the door. 

I walking over to the the door and opened to reveal the Fuentes's family.

"Hey guys." I say, stepping to the side so they could walk in. "My mom is in the living room finishing up some cleaning." I tell them.

Vic walked over to me and pulled me into a hug. I've come to find out that Vic is a huge hugger and is always up for cuddling. If I knew this sooner, I would've done it with him way before last week. 

"Can Mike and I take our stuff to your room?" He asks me, his breath fanning my neck. 

"Y-yeah." I tell him. He pulls away from the hug and smiles at m before leading Mike to my room. I was half tempted to go back with them but I had to hurry up and finish the dishes.

As I was finishing, Vic and Mike came back out to keep me company.

"You need any help?" Vic asks, leaning on the counter beside me. 

"No, I'm okay." I say, sending him a smile in thanks. 

"Alright." He says, leaning over and kissing my cheek before returning to his original position.

"Seeing you two makes me want to get a girlfriend." I hear Mike say from behind one.

"You'll get there someday." Vic says reassuringly to his little brother.

"You got the looks and I got the height." Mike whines. I giggle and look over to the two.

"That's not true. If I weren't with Vic, I'd go for you." I tell Mike jokingly, adding a wink at the end. Vic looked over at me like I had just kicked a puppy. I giggle again, walking away from the sink since I was done with the dishes.

"Are you being serious?" Vic asks in disbelief. 

"Dead serious." I tell him, trying to keep a straight face but failing miserably. 

"So you don't think I'm attractive?" Mike asks.

"You're cute just not my type. Your brother fits that spot a lot better." I tell him, walking over to Vic. 

"I better fit that spot better." He mumbles, wrapping his arm around my waist. I giggle and kiss his cheek. 

"You do, don't worry." I tell him, "Let's just head back to my room until they want us to make cookies, yeah?" I suggest. He nods and leads us to my room. 

I lay myself on my bed but jump up as I remember I need to change. 

"I forgot to put on my pants!" I shout, rushing over to my sweatpants drawer. 

"Uh, what?" Vic asks, clearly confused.

"I have these pajama pants with little penguins with Santa hats on them that I always wear with a big hoodie." I explain, digging through the drawer until I find them. I hold them up and turn to show them to Vic. 

"Cute." He comments with a smile.  

"I'm gonna change now." I tell him.

"Do you want me out or?" He asks.

"I don't really care. It's whatever." I say, setting the pants on my bed before pulling the ones I have on down. 

"Alrighty then." Vic says. I smile and pull on the penguin pants.

"Do you have your cologne with you?" I ask him, grabbing his sweatshirt from by my pillow. I cuddle with his sweater while I sleep, sue me. 

"Yeah, why?" He asks, walking to his bag.

"Spray this. It's starting to smell more like me than you." I tell him. 

"Maybe if you didn't sleep with it." He accuses, taking his cologne out and spraying it on the sweater.

"Maybe if you would cuddle with me more." I shoot back, slipping the sweater over my head. 

"You could've just said that." He says, laying down on the other side of my bed. I roll over so that my head is resting on Vic's chest. 

"Can I ask you something?" I ask him quietly. 

"Yeah, go for it." He says.

"I have chemo therapy next week and I, can you come? You don't have to if you don't want to." I ask him shyly. I was starting that up again soon and I was really scared. I'm not sure why they had me stop but they did. The point is, I wanted him to be there with me.

"If you want me to, I'll go with." He says.

"Thank you." I whisper. He hums in response before we're thrown into a comfortable silence.

About a half an hour into our cuddle session, my mom is calling us from the living room.

"Let's go make some cookies." I squeal, jumping from the bed and pulling Vic with me. He laughed at walked down the hall after me. 

"We have everything out. You just have to mix everything." My mom explains to Vic, Mike, and I. From the looks of it, we're making chocolate chip this year. We switch it up everywhere. We usually repeat after so many but it's whatever. 

We preheat and get working on the cookies. Surprisingly, we didn't get everything everywhere. Though, Mike ate almost half of the first batch before we were even able to put them in the oven.

After all of the excitement, everything went in slow motion when I realized this will be the first Christmas that I won't have my dad here. I look at Vic then to the door before rushing to it, ignoring Vic's questions. I knew he would follow me so it's not a big deal. 

I step out into the freezing cold air and sit down on the stairs. I stare blankly at the ground before I hear the door behind me open. I was expecting to be Vic, but it was actually my mom.

"Are you okay?" She asks, sitting down next to me.

"No." I say, my voice cracking slightly. "God, I miss him so much." I say, letting the tears fall down my face.

"I do too. We all do." She says, running her hand up and down my back comfortingly. I know she means well but she's not really helping. 

"C-can you go get Vic?" I ask her weakly. She nods and goes back inside. A few seconds later, Vic is by my side.

"You want to tell me what's wrong?" Vic asks. 

"Back in March, my mom and dad were in this really bad car accident. And, well, he died on the scene." I explain to him. "I didn't even get to say bye." I whimper, resting my head on Vic's shoulder. 

The thing I need most was for Vic to just comfort me while I let this out. 

"This is the first Christmas we'll be having without him. It sucks." I tell him, closing my eyes.

"I can't tell you that you'll be okay because I have no idea what it's like to loose a parent but just know I'm here if you want someone to vent to." He whispers. I nod and bunch his shirt up with one of my hands, kind of scared that he was going to leave. 

"Please don't leave." I whimper.

"Never." He whispers then kisses my forehead.

So far, this Christmas is pretty fucking shitty.