Belle

Christmas

Belle

Our holiday becomes our escape from our problems as we just cohabit the house, trading kisses from time to time but never going as far as we had on the first night, keeping our hands to ourselves and pulling away when things get to heated.

Every time I lock eyes with him and he smiles that special smile at me I feel my heart constrict more and more. Every night he sleeps in my bed, holding me closely and keeping me warm.

We sent off the presents to the staff back and school and place the ones they sent in response under the Christmas Tree we decorated together. On Christmas day I sneak out of bed early with a quick peck of his cheek to go and collect his present. It was hard to convince the principal to agree to it but with a lot of negotiating and persuasion I finally managed it. "Beast" I whisper, letting Sultan loose on the bed "Meet Sultan, your Christmas present" I smile as the small ball of fluff attacks his face with kisses.

He sits up excitedly, hair everywhere "You got me a puppy?" He gasps. I laugh and nod "This little one needed a home for Christmas when it was abandoned and since you've always wanted a dog so much..." I trail off as my body clenches with the cuteness of him laughing and playing with the wiggly puppy.

He pulls me down to kiss me on the lips "You are the best girlfriend in the world" he breathes before turning back to the puppy. "Merry Christmas" I beam. He just called me his girlfriend. I'm his girlfriend. "But... how does this work? We can't bring his back to school with us?" He frowns, hugging Sultan protectively to his chest.

"Actually with a lot of resistance, I managed to convince our principle that we can keep him there as long as we agree to keep him on a lead on campus at all times and clean up his mess ourselves then we can in fact keep him in our room" I reveal, sitting next to him and holding the puppy myself as it makes them cute little puppy snuffs at us, yapping at both of us as we lay back, letting him play across our laps. We moved very quickly with our relationship, but why not? There's a strong animal attraction between us and I know we're right for each other. Some would say that's stupid teenage thinking but we're both highly intelligent people without bragging, and I can tell you this attraction isn't superficial.

I'm falling for every part of him, and seeing him slowly come out of his protective skin and reveal himself to me means a lot.

"Now come on! We have presents to open" I remind him. I've contacted my father and he told me that he was staying in a hospice over Christmas because his carer couldn't come out over the holidays and he's not allowed to be released until after Christmas now, but I will go and collect him tomorrow. "Want to go and open our other presents?" I ask, sitting up. Beast grins and grabs me, throwing me over his shoulder to earn a squeal from me before bounding downstairs, the puppy hot on our heels. He deposits me on the sofa and laughs as I smack his ass angrily.

"Open your presents then you grumpy cow" he teases, but I ignore him, springing past him to the present pile, sorting them between us neatly. The first one I open is obviously from Annie, being a book she's written herself with all of her recipes in it. "Oh my gosh" I whisper to it, eyes watering at all the thought that went into that. I remember telling her that I always felt unaccomplished as I wasn't the best chef in the world and I asked her if she could teach me her ways.

In a back of the leather bound book is a note for me. "Isabelle, don't think this means I won't be teaching you. You better still come see me as soon as you get back. You treat that boy well or I'll hunt you down, he's like a son to me." I laugh slightly, clutching it to my heart. "What did she get you?" I ask Beast. He looks up from his own note and grins, passing me a huge ziplock back with seemingly pre mixed powder. "If you add three eggs and cook it for half an hour, we have Annie's specialty spice cake she always makes for Christmas and my birthday" he looks so excited I can't help but laugh, walking through to the kitchen to dig up an old pan and doing as instructed.