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Chapter 18

Chapter 18

Jerome

       Final exams had passed and I was so happy they were over. For one thing, Nolan had been stressing out way too much over it and now that it was finished, he could finally relax.

       Well, for a bit. I knew it wasn't going to be long before he started stressing out over the wedding.

       Nolan stared at the ornament I was currently placing on the Christmas tree we just bought. "That's ugly," he said.

       "You're ugly," I shot back. Nolan looked at me with a raised eyebrow. "Oh my gosh, no, I was kidding. You're so hot. Don't hate me."

       Nolan snorted and grabbed a pure white ornament from the Christmas decorations container. "I don't hate you, Jerome," he said, hanging the ornament on the tree. "I'm serious, though. That's an ugly ornament."

       "The ornaments don't have to be pretty, Nolan," I said. "That's not the point of decorating the Christmas tree."

       "Yes, it is."

       I rolled my eyes and ignored him as we continued decorating the tree. Nolan, however, had a scowl on his face and I was tempted to take down the so-called 'ugly' ornaments, but he was so cute when he was scowling.

       "So...." Nolan said slowly. "You're not....you're not going to go out drinking, are you?"

       I furrowed my eyebrows. "Why would I do that?"

       "Because it's close to Christmas," he said. "And last year, you decided to go drinking because you didn't want to be reminded of your family."

       "Nolan, I'm not going to go out drinking this year," I said. "I promise. Yes, I don't want to be reminded of my family, but Christmas is two days before our wedding, and that's when I'll officially be part of your family. Besides, my dad is coming to the wedding and divorcing my mom, so things may be different."

       "Are you sure?" Nolan asked. "Because I really don't want you to get drunk again."

       "I won't," I said. "I promise."

       "Okay."

       I gave him a smile. "Thank you, for caring."

       "Of course I do," Nolan said. "I love you and it won't be long before you'll be my husband, so I want you to be okay."

       "I'm okay," I said. "And I will be okay."

       Nolan smiled and I leaned over to give him a kiss. "I love you too."

       When we finished decorating the Christmas tree, we took a step back to look at it. "It's so....ugly," Nolan said.

       I rolled my eyes. Nolan was always big on decorating for holidays, and he got really picky about it. The tree didn't look ugly at all. Yes, it didn't look like it came out of a magazine, but the point of a Christmas tree wasn't so it was picture perfect.

       "It's fine," I said

       "It sure isn't fine."

       I shrugged and sat down on the couch, then held my arms out. Nolan sighed and sat down on my lap. "Why does it matter if it looks perfect or not?" I asked.

       "It doesn't matter, but I want it to look good."

       "It does look good. It's not perfect, but it does look good."