By Her Side

Chapter 16: Loving Me

~ Amelia's POV ~

After we had finished dinner I helped her clean the dishes and clean the table. I sat with her on the couch, with our glasses of sparkling apple cider. The bottle sat on the coffee table. My legs are on her lap as my back leaned against a pillow at the arm rest, she was stroking my legs as we continued to talk about her trip.

She looked over to the backyard, "Want to go outside for a bit?" She asked me and I nodded. She helped me with my jacket and she took my hand as she led me out, we still had our glasses in our hands as we walked out, there was a bench beyond the backyard patio and out by the trees. We walked out there and sat. She played with our fingers as my head rested on her shoulders. She smiled at me and kissed the top of my head. I looked up at her and I could see the loving smile within her as she leaned down to kiss my lips.

"Is it bad that it's only been one week and I've missed you more than ever?" I asked her after about ten minutes of enjoying each others company.

She shook her head, "No it's not bad, I was in Paris and of course I'm not used to the weather and everything over there, so as I stayed in a hotel, I couldn't help but feel sad that you aren't next to me." She said.

I smiled and pecked her lips once more. The breeze started to blow a little more. "We should go inside. It's getting chilly." She nodded and we walked in. I looked over to the kitchen table and noticed my present still there. "Oh yeah, you should open your Christmas present." I smiled.

She nodded, "Let me run to my room and grab yours, we can sit here on the ground by the tree." She said and then went up to grab it. I sipped my glass as I looked around, standing next to the fireplace and looked at all the pictures of the family. I smiled and I heard her footsteps come down, "What are you looking at?"

"How cute you and Tracy are at that age," I said as I pointed to the photo.

She laughed, "We were very young, my uncle took us on a trip to Paris, it was our first time there. Which was when he started to teach us French, Tracy wasn't that into it, but I loved the language as I heard it, which was how studied the language and pursued it through high school and college. We were at the Eiffel Tower and we took a picture."

I smiled, "You should take me with you one day, if you ever get another change to head there." I suggested.

"We can plan something out." She said and then we sat by the tree. We exchanged gifts. "Open yours first."

I smiled and unwrapped it, I noticed it was a box, as I lifted the lid to see a 5.5 x 8.5 sketch book, I smiled as she knew my hobby too well, I took it out and noticed a small box that had three markers in it, a black, grey and lighter shade of grey, or close to clear. I looked at the name and it read copic markers. Then I saw a couple of sketch/shading pencils.

"Oh my gosh, you didn't have to get me all this." I said.

"Don't worry about it, we were in your room one day and noticed you didn't have those three markers in your case." She said.

"Because I used these shades the most." I laughed.

"I figured, but I wanted to get you these. The sketch book was because I admire the drawings that you do and hoping you keep working with this hobby." She smiled.

I kissed her and smiled, resting my head on her shoulder again. "Thank you." I said, "Now open yours." I said.

She looked at the gift for a second, it was kind of heavy as she gave me a strange look but I kept smiling, I was amused as she lightly and neatly undid the wrapping paper. She took the bow off and stuck it on my forehead and I started to laugh. I decided to keep it on there for fun. I decided to take the ribbon that I had untied from my gift and play it over her shoulders like a scarf. She looked at me and then continued to open the present. I could see the visible present as she sat and looked at it before turning her head to look at me.