Christmas. What most refer to as the happiest day of the year, a holiday filled with family, friends, peace and love. At least that’s what people say; my past Christmas’ were never like that. I spent Christmas with my family where most of the day was filled with arguments between my Mother and Father about various irrelevant things and my siblings would fight between themselves about their own relationships. I’d get dragged into the conversation along the way about my lack of life partner or whether I had bought my Niece’s and Nephew’s the right gifts or if they thought they were unsuitable for the age group. The arguments were pointless yet consistent.
But these past few years have been different. These past few years I haven’t spent my Christmas with my family, and this year would be even better. I could finally tell my Mother and Father that I finally had that partner they had been hoping to find for me. Although I wouldn’t be able to tell them that as I’d be spending it with the most important people in the world to me. I’d be spending it with Laurence, Kier, Luke and the most important of them all; my beautiful boyfriend, Shane.
Shane and I were just friends this time last year. Last Christmas we all spent it crying over the Doctor Who Christmas special while stuffing our faces with chocolate and listening to Kier and Luke spit insults at each other as they played Mario Kart on their new DS’. It was fun, I admit that. Laurence tucked himself away in his room after Christmas dinner and all we heard after that was the sound of him playing his guitar and talking to himself as he composed new material; even on Christmas day the guy never gave himself a break. This year was going to be slightly different though, you see on New Year’s Day Shane confessed something to me; he confessed that he loved me. I had felt the same for years, and I of course returned that confession. I know the classic Fearless Vampire Killers fanfiction moment, right? But this was real, and I had never been happier. We had almost been together a year now and I wanted to do something special for him, I wanted to show Shane just how much he meant to me. I had the perfect idea; but it can go one of two ways; perfect or horribly wrong.
I woke up alone Christmas morning in my freezing cold flat due to the central heating suddenly turning itself off again. Usually I’d wrap myself up in multiple dressing gowns and blankets then quickly run to the kitchen to make myself a steaming hot cup of coffee before returning to bed, but not today. Today I woke up and quickly ran into the kitchen to make my morning cuppa dressed only in my star wars pyjamas to then have a quick shower. As I was getting dressed I heard the familiar sound of my phone’s notification tone. Walking over to it humming softly to myself I unlocked my gadget and brought up my message.
From: Shane x
Merry Christmas Beautiful
Xx
Blushing slightly – he was so perfect - I typed out a quick reply.
To: Shane x
Happy Christmas Handsome
See you soon
Xx
I quickly dressed into a shirt, tie and smart trousers before returning to the bathroom to brush my teeth and hair. As I returned I drank the last of my coffee – wishing I did that first because everything became horrifically minty – and struggled into a decaying pair of converse without untying them first. I left the flat shortly after, unlocking my mobile once more as I locked up.
From Shane x
Can’t wait.
Xx
The day went by perfectly, we all arrived at Laurence’s house around the same time; excluding Luke because there was heavy traffic on route, but once he arrived we all sat around Laurence’s Christmas tree with hot beverages and exchanged gifts. I received a small collection of CD’s and DVD’s from each of my friends and a beautiful photo album filled with precious memories of our past from Shane. It was perfect; he was perfect. I bought each of my friend’s similar gifts; various TV show box sets for each of them, but I bought Shane something a little different. He had never been one for DVD’s, so I decided to buy him some various art supplies. I didn’t know much about Art so when I bought them I pretty much just bought one of everything I could see. Shane seemed to like them, his eyes lit up at everything I bought and the shopkeeper that day was certainly happy, so everything went well. I was waiting for the exact right moment to give him my last gift. I wanted everything to go perfectly.
I waited until after dinner, when everything settled down and everyone went their separate ways for a few hours until the Christmas specials of Doctor Who, EastEnders, and Mrs Brown’s Boys aired. Kier and Luke returned to the living room and Laurence had tucked himself in his bedroom once more, waiting the time when we would opt Kier to go and drag him away from his work. I found Shane in Laurence’s kitchen, sat with his back to me at the dining room table, a pink party crown drawn from a cracker perched on his head precisely. The soft sound of led scratching against paper filled the silence gently and a sense of pride filled my insides; He was using the pencils I bought him.
“Shane.” I said softly, stepping up behind him and wrapped my arms around his neck gently.
“Hey Drew.” He replied, grabbing my right hand and kissing it gently. I ignored the flip my stomach made as he shown me affection and walked around him, perching myself on his lap as he dropped the pencil he was using.
“What you doing?” I sung softly, wrapping an arm around his neck once more.
“Just drawing, I’ve got a really good idea for a merch design.” He replied, smiling as he wrapped his arms around my waist.
Snuggling into his neck I chuckled. “Working on Christmas day? You’re not becoming Laurence are you?” I joked, kissing his neck affectionately and pulling the Christmas hat down over his eyes, giggling as he attempted to shake it out of his eye line without releasing his hold on me.
“Me? Never.” He grinned as he admitted defeat and pushed it back up onto his head before returning his hand to my waist.
I chuckled and sat up straighter in his lap. It was time to give him his last gift.
“Umm... Shane?” I asked, playing with my hands.
“Yes?” He asked, eyebrows furrowed in confusion.
“I have another present for you.” I replied, digging in my pockets and revealing a small black box. Shane looked down at it anxiously.
“Another one? Oh Drew, but you already bought me so much.” He said, looking slightly sad.
“Tough.” I said, poking his nose and cleared my throat. “Here.” I said, pushing it into his palm.
The anticipation was killing me as I watched him delicately open the box. He stared at it in silence before his voice sounded my ears.
“A key?” He asked dumbly, completely unaware of what I was trying to ask him and how much his answer to my silent question meant to me.
I supressed a laugh at his reaction before explaining my gift to him. “Y-Yes, well umm… you see I was thinking that w-we’ve been together for almost a year… and we’ve known each other since we were kids so it isn’t too soon for us… m-my flat is really empty and lonely, I’ve never been one for furniture, you know that a-and i-I really do hate being alone… all I need is y-you, i-I l-love having you around… umm-”
“Are you asking me to move in with you?” Shane cut me off with a whisper but I could sense the astonishment in his voice.
Biting my lip nervously I nodded, lifting my head up to look deep into his beautiful eyes. “Yes.” I answered breathlessly.
I watched as Shane’s lips curved into a grin. He leant towards me, cupping my face gently and pulling me into a small but affectionate kiss.
“I’d love too.” He mumbled as we pulled away.
“Great.” I mumbled as I blushed deeply and grinned back at him.
