Hold On, I'll See You Again

A Second Christmas

I woke up in my hospital room at about 8 am. I slept well despite last night, but I can't complain. The guy was caught, my parents are going to call their insurance company to replace the window, and we all had Christmas together. I stood up and stretched, eyeing Dan's presents in the corner of my room. Guess it's time to see what he's up to. Oh no, I've got to hurry. Otherwise Project Mistletoe will be a complete flop. I hurriedly dressed in my pair of jeans from yesterday and a button down shirt. Slipping on my shoes, I ran out the door and loudly knocked on Dan's door.

It slowly opened up with Dan standing fully dressed on the other side. "You're already dressed?" I asked. "Well yea. You were sleeping in, and I didn't want to wake you, so..." "Well, thanks, but we need to go to the cafeteria for breakfast with Peej and Chris." Dan dashed out the door, shutting it behind him. We then start running towards the cafeteria, only to turn around once I remembered that I didn't have the mistletoe. About three minutes later, we were stood panting in the entrance with Peej and Chris nowhere in sight yet.

"Ok, Phil. Pick a table and work your magic." I wandered over to a table for four, stood up on it, and hung the mistletoe on the ceiling by clipping it in between the moving panels. Some of the hospital employees saw me and nudged each other, entertained by what I was doing. After jumping down, I went back to Dan in just enough time to see Chris and Peej enter the cafeteria. That was a close call. "Hey guys! Sorry if we're a bit late. I had trouble deciding between Christmas jumpers." I guess we now know that Chris is the fashionable one. "That's fine," Dan said, "because we arrived only a minute ago. Let's grab some food." Thankfully, they were still serving the Christmas goodies. I grabbed two hot cross buns this time, along with fruit and a cup of tea. After everyone had gotten their food, I led them to the table, making sure Peej and Chris were the ones sitting directly beneath the mistletoe.

"So, Phil! How was Christmas at your parents'?" Dan asked. "Pretty good. I got 9 mini houseplants and 5 pairs of socks. And then we got robbed." "Wait wait wait. Explain this?" Chris said. Peej stared wide-eyed at me, and Dan had fully abandoned his breakfast in anticipation of the story. "Ok. So we had gotten back from Christmas dinner, and we were sat in the lounge area. We heard a car pull up and someone get out of it, but they didn't ring the doorbell. Soon after, we heard a window shatter and so we ducked into the basement, locking the door behind us. I called the police and after a few minutes of waiting in silent terror, we heard the cops arresting him and they told us it was safe to come out. He broke my mom's vase and attempted to steal most of our valuables, but he didn't get away with them. He even tried to steal our fully-wrapped Christmas gifts!" Christ whistled while both Dan and Peej shook their heads. "Well, I don't think any of our vacations were that wild." "Yea, how did yours go?" I asked.

After hearing about Chris and Peej's trip, along with a story of how Peej unsuccessfully tried to feed a duck and got bitten, Dan talked about what he and Adrian did. I was so happy that Adrian had finally ditched his parents. I mean, I guess it's hard to since they've raised you and everything, and I wouldn't know since both of my parents support me, but they were jerks! Dan actually looks happier now than I've ever seen him before. Breakfast was winding down, and Dan tapped my knee twice to alert me that it was time. "Woa! What are you two sitting under?" I tried to say convincingly. They both looked up, spotted the mistletoe, and quickly looked towards, then away from each other. "Come on, guys. Tradition. Kiss!" "Dan's right! You have to do it." Peej was the first to speak. "Well, I'm not sure if-" He was cut off by Chris putting both of his hands on the sides of Peej's face, and smashing his lips against his. They stayed like that for a few seconds before pulling away from each other. Chris's face was red, but he soon smiled once Peej had a huge grin that threatened to split his entire face in half. I could hear the employees squealing at the sight of those two, but Chris and Peej obviously didn't hear them.

"We got each of your opinions on the other one and thought, 'Enough is enough. You two need to kiss,'" said Dan. "So, we went and got mistletoe and managed to get you guys under it. Now I think, Dan, that we should leave these two lovebirds to talk about things." "I agree. See you guys later?" Both nodded and said goodbye as we left. We stood at the entrance of the cafeteria, located behind them. We watched as they talked to each other, then hugged each other. I might've squealed when Chris kissed Peej's cheek, and so Dan clamped a hand over my mouth. They got up and we made a hasty retreat back to my room. "Oh wait! I need your gifts! I'll be right back," Dan exclaimed. I pulled out the wrapped sweatshirt and ring and put them on my bed. The other ring was in my pocket. I put on It's A Wonderful Life and turned down the volume so it was mere background noise.

Soon enough, Dan came back carrying two neatly wrapped gifts. Certainly wrapped neater than mine, but I think it's the thought that counts when wrapping. So he and I sat down on the bed, and Dan pressured me to open his first. I took the first box and unwrapped it, finding a small stuffed lion inside a box. "Aw, Dan! He's so cute!" Dan smiled at me and asked, "What will you name him?" "Lion." He laughed after I had said that, so I explained, "It's simple, strait to the point, and I'm not naming him Winston or Jeremy." Dan shrugged and handed me my next one. It was quite a bit bigger, but once I unwrapped it, I found myself with a tin box full of Pokémon cookies. "Thank you, Dan! I love these!" I scooted over to him and gave him a tight hug, squeezing him against me. "A stuffed lion for my cutie and some cookies for my sweetie." "How cheesy can you be, Howell?" He lightly hit my arm at that. It was now Dan's turn to open his presents, so I handed him the wrapped sweatshirt. He carefully unwrapped it, and then exclaimed, "Phil! You said you wouldn't buy it!" "Haha. Guess I did?" He rolled his eyes and folded the sweatshirt back up. "Now, Dan. This is one I'm going to unwrap for you." "What! Why?" "You'll see."

I took the wrapped box and tore off the paper. Dan's eyes were wide as I opened the top. "It's a promise ring. If we get out of here alive, I want to marry you. This is just something to say I want to spend the rest of my life with you, and if I can, I'll properly ask you to marry me later. You have gotten me through living here, Dan. I can't imagine not being with you at any point in my life. In fact, this is to insure that that won't happen." Dan was now silently crying as I was finishing my speech. "So, Dan. May I place this ring on your finger?" He nodded, covering his mouth with one hand as I took the other and slipped the ring on. Once it was on, he pulled me into a kiss. Wet and salty with his tears, Dan crashed his lips against mine. I simply wrapped my arms around his back as he worked his lips against mine. He soon pulled away, a little sob escaped his mouth as he looked down at his hand. I slipped the other wrapped box out of my pocket, handing it to him. He unwrapped it and smiled as he saw it was the other ring. Taking my hand, he gently slid the ring on my finger.

The rest of the day was spent in happy tears and cuddles, along with watching It's A Wonderful Life. We went into the cafeteria for lunch and dinner and we saw Chris and Peej at one point, but the unwrapping of each other's gifts was the main highlight of today. I would definitely say that this was the best day of my life.