A Christmas Wish

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A/N: Hey guys! In honor of my favorite holiday, I'm writing this super cheesy Christmas romantic comedy. It'll be pretty short, because, you know, it's a SHORT story.

WARNING: MAY BE TOO PREDICTABLE AND CLICHÉ FOR SOME AUDIENCES.

Okay, okay, I'll shut up now.

~~~

I gasped as the diamond ring sparkled in his hands. I looked from the glinting ring to his gradually falling face as I was silent longer and longer.

Natasha, will you marry me? Brian's words echoed in my skull. I closed my eyes. I liked Brian. He had black hair and electric blue eyes that were easy to get lost in. He cared for me. He knew everything about me. He loved me. But did I love him back?

My eyes filled with tears as I whipped around and ran out of the restaurant. I'm 25 years old! I'm nowhere NEAR ready to get married!

I heard Brian repeatedly calling my name, but I continued running. I literally jumped into my car, an orange 1971 Mustang Mach 1 that I saved a lot of money for back in the early days of college, and sped off into the night. I was sobbing, and I really didn't know why. I drove to my parents' house and parked in the driveway. I opened the front door to the house with my key and was greeted with the smell of chocolate chip cookies baking in the oven. My mom looked up from her cookie recipe, worry suddenly replacing joy in her beautiful hazel eyes.

"Natasha, what...?" I effectively interrupted my mother by running into her arms and crying in her chest.

"I'm sorry, mom, I'm so stupid, but I thought that coming here would be-" I choked on my words between sobs but my mother hushed me.

"Natasha, let's just go to the living room, shall we?" My mom gently placed her arm around my shoulders and steered me away from the kitchen. My dad came in the room, looked at me with concern, spun around on his foot and walked back out.

"Thanks, mom," I mumbled, knowing she had given the 'it's a girl thing, now get out' look to my dad. I calmed myself down and looked at her.

Before I could say anything I heard something, or rather, someone thundering down the stairs.

"Mom! Are the cookies r-" my sister Jules stammered, flitting her eyes from me to our mom, back and forth, "ready...?" She paused again, thinking with her brows furrowed, and finally said, "Oh, Nat, did he propose? I knew he shouldn't have, and I told him not to, but he must've, and-"

"How did you know?" My mom and I both asked incredulously. We looked at each other, and then looked back to her.

"Oh, um, well, he sort of asked me if he thought it would be appropriate, and I said no, but I guess he didn't listen," a lock of brown hair fell into her green eyes and she nervously pushed it aside. I felt my own hair falling from my bun but I made no attempt to fix it.

"Oh," I said, my mind everywhere but the conversation.

"Nat, can you at least tell us what happened?" Jules asked timidly, as though questioning me would make me explode. I don't blame her - I felt ready to burst with emotions. I took a deep breath.

"Brian took me to dinner at Ozzie's and everything was fine, really, until he pulled out the ring, and I-I just, I couldn't say yes. I can't say yes to him. I don't love him, not like that, you know?" My azure eyes were filled with tears and I couldn't fight the waves off sadness that rolled off of me. I buried my head into my mother's shoulder. She wrapped a blanket around me, and soon enough, I felt my little sister hugging me from my other side.

"Thanks, guys," I mumbled into the blankets and smiled sadly to myself. If I truly don't love him, then I'm just going to let him go.

"Sooo, are you guys gonna eat the cookies?" my dad said, popping his head around the corner of the room.

The three of us on the couch looked at each other and quickly shouted, "No way!" We rushed into the kitchen and ate cookies to our hearts' content.