Dandelion

Trek The Halls Because I'm Nerdy

12.25.XXXX

Merry Christmas, Journal!

It's hard to believe, but I'm really happy this morning.

Alex gave me a present already, he said it was because he wanted me to wear it over to his parents' house. He got me a hoodie with the schematics of the Star Trek ships with the name Enterprise from the prequel, the first series from the 1960's, and the ship from The Next Generation. Needless to say, it's my new favorite hoodie.

We're on our way to Bree and Bob's house. There's a little bit of snow on the ground, and I can tell that Alex desperately wanted to find an empty parking lot so he could do donuts in the snow. I told him he could, and his face lit up like a proverbial Christmas tree.

We were a little bit late to breakfast, because snow donuts (Snownuts, I'm calling them.), and Bree was a tiny bit annoyed because, "Alexander, you could hurt Lily by doing stuff like that," and "You'd best come in before breakfast gets cold."

Bree made the same thing she made every year: Ham and scrambled eggs with cheddar cheese, all slow-baked together in the oven, and oh my God it was the best breakfast.

I always look forward to Christmas, but since I was in the hospital for most of December, I didn't get to experience most of the Christmas prep this year. As sad as that made me, Bree's breakfast makes everything worth it.

Alex and I were just sitting down when Bob came downstairs and plopped himself in the chair across from me. "Morning, Snap."

Alex raised an eyebrow.

Laughing, I told him, "Just because my name is Lily and you call me Dandelion doesn't mean either of those are my favorite flower."

"Then what is it, Sweetie?" Bree asked, scooping a huge helping of cheesy, eggy, hammy goodness onto my waiting plate.

"Snapdragons," I said, shoveling food in my mouth as soon as everyone had servings of their own. "Dark pink ones, specifically. Mom used to plant them outside when I was a kid. She would make them sing by pulling the upper and lower lips apart by their petals and singing, 'lah, lah, laaa, lalalala, lalaaaaaah' really loudly." I laughed. It felt good to laugh.

Everyone else laughed as well, and Alex nudged me with his elbow. "Maybe you can show us next summer."

I nodded, shoving more food into my face when I realized just how hungry I was.

Conversation turned to other topics that I wasn't too keen on keeping up with, instead finishing my food and going to sit on the couch, my faithful teddy bear Theo on my lap. I looked over at the presents under the tree and started to count.

I tried to remember the last time I'd seen such a huge pile of presents, and realized it had been before my mom had died.

Alex sat beside me and wiped away the tear I didn't even realize was hanging off my eyelashes. I leant against him, resting my head on his shoulder. "You know I can't read without my glasses, right?"

"Don't worry," he said, wrapping an arm around me. "I won't give you a present with Dad's name on it."

"Gee, thanks," I said, rolling my eyes.

Bree came to sit with us. "Your father is finishing his coffee," she said with a smile and a shake of her head. "Why don't we start handing out presents?"

I handed Bree the wrapped scrapbook I'd made her of pictures of her, Bob, Alex, and me. I'd been collecting pictures since I'd lived with them, and the finished product was something I was super proud of. She gasped, flipping through my carefully constructed pages, looking up at me with tears in her eyes. Coming up to the couch, she gave me a tight hug. I winced, and she pulled away, kissing me on the cheek before sitting back on the floor.

"Thank you, Lily," she whispered.

I smiled.

Bob came to join us, sitting on the floor next to Bree. I handed him his present with a bit of hesitation, because I had no idea if he would like it.

It was a typed copy of my Mom's notebook. She was an amateur geologist in her spare time, and I had a lot of her rock samples back at the apartment. Bob was flipping through the notebook with his eyebrow raised. "This is impressive," he said.

"I can show you the original book and the rocks she wrote all those entries about."

Bob nodded excitedly, the most enthusiastic I'd ever seen him.

They gave Alex and I a few things for around our apartment, and Bree had gotten me a few tee-shirts themed with things I enjoyed like Lord of the Rings, The Legend of Zelda, Pokémon, Star Trek, Star Wars, things from Marvel's Avengers, and Harry Potter. She had also knitted me a black beanie like Alex's, only mine had Captain America's shield on it. It was small, about an inch in diameter. I pulled it over my head, the shield off center just a little, over my left eyebrow.

I had waited until we got home to give Alex his present. I'd written him a book full of short stories about us, things we'd done, and things I'd imagined us doing. Trips we'd take, places we'd see, and people we'd meet. Things like that.

Eventually, Alex and I went home after a long day (At least, I thought it felt long.) of laughing and talking and sharing storied of Christmases before. I crawled into bed with a full stomach and a happy heart, and I thought that things were starting to look up. Alex climbed into bed beside me, wrapping his arms around my waist and nuzzling his head into my back. He kissed my neck and I could feel his lips curl into a smile.

"Merry Christmas, my Dandelion."

I laughed. "Merry Christmas, Alex."

"I love you," he whispered after a few minutes of silence while the two of us watched snow float down from the sky.

I smiled. "I love you too."