The Long Road To Eden

Christmas Apart

They had taken 2 weeks off for Christmas and New Year so everyone could be home with their families. Christian had flown home to Kentucky to be with his parents and grandparents. Zakk was back in Miami with his family, Ryan, Derek, Ariel and Ronnie had all gone back to LA for Christmas. Whilst they had been on tour Ariel had made sure that any presents they wanted to send had been bought and sent to everyone's house. Christian had spent hours thinking about what to get Ariel. Should he get her something with a lot of meaning to it or would that be too much and he should just go with something simple. He even wondered if she had gotten him anything. She hadn't said to him but Ronnie had said she was the sneakiest of them all. Every Christmas that she had been with them everyone had received the perfect gift from her and they had no clue how or when she had even sorted it. Everything got delivered by post so no one except Ariel had a clue what anyone got. The only thing she never knew was what they had bought for her. Ronnie had said it was the best thing seeing her face light up at the gifts from the band. So it was Christmas morning and Christian had dragged himself out of bed and down to the kitchen where his mother and Gran were cooking breakfast. He gave them both a kiss on the cheek and sat at the table pouring himself a cup of coffee. He checked his phone looking at the time, there was a 4 hour time difference between him and Ariel now and it was the first time he had been away from her in over two months. He missed her so much, saying goodbye to her at the airport was torture as it was like saying goodbye to a piece of him. The thought of waking up in the morning and not hearing her singing, or her and Ryan arguing over something, or her and Zakk drumming on things out of time to annoy everyone, or even how she would just sit at the table working away on her laptop was depressing. They had sent a few messages whilst they had been apart but it was only really to say they had each gotten home ok or if there was a question she needed an answer to before they resumed the tour again in the New Year. Christian thought about sending her a message wishing her a happy Christmas but it was still too early in LA. At that moment his phone beeped, he looked down wondering if she was awake and thinking the same thing.

Merry Christmas dude. Thanks for the awesome shirts. Hope you like your gift haha. Zakk

Christian felt a bit deflated it wasn't Ariel but at least Zakk had liked his gift.

Merry Christmas to you to. Glad you like, haven't done presents here yet but looking forward to it. C

He hit send and off it went and he went back to the waiting game. He was sure Ariel had bought him something, he had finally bought her something after much searching on the internet. His mum had put a plate of food in front of him, usually he was a very healthy eater but over the holidays he allowed himself to indulge a little. Ariel had been amazing as usual, she had some weights put on the bus and wherever they went she found the closest gym so he could go if he wanted to. She had ordered in certain foods for him and always made sure there were in supply. How and when she did this plus all the other things she did and yet still had time to relax with them was a complete mystery to him. He ate mindlessly wondering about her, it was strange how he had become so used to the life he now had and true to her word she had been there every step of the way. He hoped what he had bought her would show her how appreciative he was and how much he cared.

"Christian? Are you even listening to me?" his thoughts were interrupted by his mother talking to him

"He's thinking about a girl." His gran exclaimed.

"No I'm not! I'm just....I was just...." He started to defend himself

"Nope, it's no good trying to deny it. You're thinking about a girl. Tell us who is she?" this would be the first chance he had to tell anyone how he was really feeling and he needed to get it all out as it was driving him crazy going round in his head.