Christmas was rapidly approaching, and we were super excited. Well… I was. Ash thought I was crazy. He wanted to spend the holidays somewhere warm, out of the snow. Which I was 110% down to do, but Christmas is my favorite holiday. While Ash was recording tracks for the re-release of their debut album, I was buying decorations for the new house. He would leave in the morning after breakfast, and then come home to garlands wrapped around the staircase, or a wreath hanging on the door. Boxes of ornaments started stacking up in the guest room, and finally a tree appeared in our front window.
“Bella!” he called one day, after coming home. I was in the kitchen, finishing the dishes from the night before.
“What’s up?” I called back
“Where’d this tree come from? And why is it fake?”
I grabbed a towel to dry my hands as I walked into the front room.
“Bought it at Walmart, and it’s fake so it doesn’t die and drop needles everywhere while we’re gone. Speaking of which, you haven’t said where we’re going for vacation yet.” I pointed out, fluffing some branches on the tree.
“That’s because I was saving the reveal for a surprise, but if you really wanna know… you could open this.” He said, pulling a small box out of his pocket.
Small boxes typically meant jewelry…which could be a ring.
Is he proposing? I wondered
“Ash…” I started to say, slowly taking the box from him.
“It’s not what you’re thinking, calm down.” He laughed.
Opening the box, I found a delicate silver bracelet resting on a bed of soft fabric. Hanging in the middle, was a Disney castle. Specifically, the castle from The Little Mermaid.
“Ash!” I exclaimed, eyes widening as I realized exactly what this meant.
I tackled him in a hug, squealing in his ear. I couldn’t believe it. Disney. He was taking me to Disney for the holidays!
“There’s a table digging into my back, babe.” He pointed out, moving a piece of hair out of my eyes.
In lieu of answering, I kissed him. The coffee table didn’t matter, the fake Christmas tree didn’t matter. None of it mattered, except for him. This man right here, with a hard corner digging into his back, his hands on my waist, and his lips on mine. This man that I love with all my heart.
Eventually we made it off the floor, up the stairs and into the bedroom. Neither one of us had anything to do the next day, so we stayed there. Only leaving for food and the occasional bathroom break. Although, he did leave at one point. But it was only to go downstairs and find the bracelet that I’d accidentally flung across the room in my excitement last night.
“Try not to lose this. The charm is custom made.” He laughed as I slid it onto my wrist.
“Please, just tell me more about this trip.” I begged him as I played with his hair.
“We leave on the twentieth, and we’re staying for a week. Which give us plenty of time in each park at Disney World. I got us a Savanna view room at the Jambo House in Animal Kingdom Village. The bed isn’t as big as this one, but I think we can manage it.”
I had to laugh at that comment. We had a California King bed, but we didn’t really spread out much. I loved having the room to do so if we wanted, but the way our sex life went, we were usually in each other’s space as much as possible when we were home.
Waking up the next morning, Ash wasn’t next to me. Which wasn’t all together unusual nowadays, but I hadn’t expected him to be gone first thing. Going downstairs, I found hot coffee and a note on the whiteboard on the fridge.
Had to run to the studio for a bit, but I’ll be back soon. Looking forward to packing for our trip. Love you!
Smiling, I pulled the suitcases out of the closet under the stairs. Our flight would leave at six in the morning, but it was a nonstop, which was great. It would also put us in Orlando 10 minutes before the parks opened. Ash had already gotten our park tickets, and tickets to Mickey’s Christmas party. The excitement was almost enough to kill me. Especially because we were spending Christmas day in Florida, which meant that we were exchanging gifts there as well.
I was still waiting for his gift to be shipped but had been assured by the company that everything was fine. If it happened to arrive before we got home, my assistant had been tasked with watching the house and checking the mail. She had a key and knew exactly what to do. Ash was going to be so surprised when he saw it.
I was looking through my closet when he got home, and because I was on a call with some of my co-workers, I didn’t know he was there until his arms wrapped around my waist. Luckily, the call was over quickly. Because of the sun in Orlando, and the beautiful pool and water parks offered by the resort and the parks, I knew I needed some shorts, tanks. A swim suit for sure.
“Please tell me you’re packing a bikini. Because I really need to see you in one. Like, every day that we’re there.” He asked, sitting on the bed, and pulling me between his legs.
“Seriously? Just because it’s snowy as shit here, and we can’t use our own lovely pool outside, doesn’t mean you need to see me in next to nothing. Horndog.” I said, laughing as he tried to blow raspberries on my stomach.
Although I did have an amazing brand-new swim suit. It was a bikini, but without the skimpy bottoms. Boy shorts were my go-to swim bottoms. I’d custom ordered this pair to say Deviant in Ash’s handwriting, which I knew he would like. He didn’t even know about it yet.
Two days later, we were in the air. I am not a morning person in any way and having Ash there to help me was great. He made sure I had coffee and let me fall asleep on his shoulder. Granted, he fell asleep too, but still. Landing in Orlando, I relished the warmth. I could do without the humidity, which was making Ash’s hair frizz like crazy.
We spent each day in a different park, and Christmas day in the room. I didn’t have his gift, but I had gotten him custom guitar picks to go with it. He was just as excited as I thought he would be about the gift, but said he was waiting to give me mine. The day before we were supposed to fly to California for New Year’s with the rest of the guys, we went to the Christmas party. Fake snow started to fall on Main Street U.S.A as fireworks exploded over the castle.
Ash had his arms wrapped around my waist as we stood and watched the magic. He’d bought me more charms every day and my bracelet jingled with every movement of my arms. I leaned my head back, so it rested on his shoulder, entwining my hands with his. This had been one of the greatest Christmases I had ever experienced, and I was so excited for New Year’s. Although Ash still hadn’t given me my gift and I was going crazy wondering what it was.
On the way back to the hotel, his phone went off.
“What’s up Andy?” he said, rubbing my shoulder while I dozed.
“But it got delivered alright? Because we’re flying out tomorrow at like eight thirty and it needs to be there before we are.”
I wondered what he was talking about but was too tired to question him. I barely made it into the room before I fell on the bed and felt my eyes closing. Just before I drifted off, I heard him say
“This has to be perfect for her, Andy. She’s gonna remember that moment for the rest of her life.”
