Used To Be Mine | Louis Partridge

Chapter 8| Santa Clause

Finally Christmas Eve. We spent the whole day wrapping each other's gift and going to town to get some last minute shopping.

One hour left until Christmas, I'm so excited. I haven't spent Christmas with the partridges for a long time. This year we got the chance to do that.

I didn't know what to present to get Lou, and ended up getting him a sterling silver piano keys ring, since he loved playing the piano so much.

I placed that in a box and put it in under our tree.

"Hey, is that for me" he stood next to me and looked at the gift.

"No, it's for my house elf dobby" I responded and headed to the kitchen to get some cookies while he followed

"Do you still believe in Santa?" I snacked on the cookie and asked him.

"I never really believed in Santa Clause, I just went along with it so I didn't ruin it for you" Santa Clause was such a big part of my childhood, My parents used it as a tactic to get their child to behave. I was so furious when I found out he wasn't real.

"I guess you weren't fooled by your parents, but thanks for not ruining the fun for me." I smiled at him.

"So I'm guessing you don't believe in Santa anymore?" he started snacking on the cookies too

"I had a friend back in NY who was jealous of me getting presents from "Santa" and decided to spoil the fun from me, So yeah no more gifts from Santa." He chuckled from my story. I'm still upset that he told me it was my parents, he could've waited a couple more years aghhhhh.

"Hey I'm really glad you didn't push me away when you got back. I thought you forgot about me all these years" How could he ever think that. For the past seven years, all I wanted was to see him again.

"How could I forget the person who'd made me feel safe every time I had a nightmare or defend me from all my bullies. You must be mental if you actually thought for a second I'd forgotten you" I said to him.

"Then why didn't you ever contact, write, or visit me for the past 7 years?" he seemed sad mentioning these things

"Well I thought you were mad at me for leaving you all of a sudden and never wanted to have anything to do with me anymore." I was so mad at myself for choosing my career over our friendship, but at the same time I'm grateful and I'm enjoying my career.

"Yes I was mad at you for a bit, but I've never not wanted you in my life. For the past seven years I've been missing you. I was a wreck and a mess when you left. I needed you and I wanted to be there for you during the beginning of our teenage years. And now that I have you in my life again, I can't see myself going through life without you again." I hugged him right away. I never knew he felt this way all along.

"Lou I've missed you so much, and I want you to stay in my life as much as I want to stay in your life." our faces were a few inches apart from each other. He was so close to me.

"Lils I-" Mr partridge shouted "MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE" I quickly broke away from our embrace and headed to greet my parents and the rest as everyone was coming in the main living space.

"Shall we open our presents" Millie asked excitedly

"Yes darling" Mrs Partridge said and everyone else started opening their presents. Lou came into the living space looking a bit confused.

After an hour of opening presents and eating cookies, everyone got ready for bed. I grabbed Lou's present and stood in front of him holding out. "My present to you Lou"

He smiled and took it. "You didn't have to" he was surprised and liked the ring.

"I hope this makes up for the past 7 years of Christmas presents" I said to him.

"This is beautiful Lils! I love it! Thank you" he hugged me "Can you meet me on the balcony, I just have to get something" he said and rushed to his room while I headed out to the balcony. Alright it's freezing out here, but the air feels fresh and cool.

"Hey um so I thought right now would be the perfect time to give you this, so close your eyes" he said as he came out. I closed my eyes and felt him putting a necklace on my neck.

"Okay you can open them now" he gave me a nervous smile.

"Wait, this is the citrine necklace from that shop. How'd you know I wanted this?"

"I saw you looking at it for a fair amount of time and wanted to buy it for you" he smiled

"I love it so much, Thank you Lou" I smiled at him and hugged him. Our face were inches away from each other again. He looked up "I guess we have to kiss now" he smirked. Huh what!? "Mistletoe, oh" I looked back at his eyes, its so brown and dreamy, I got lost in them. He touched the side of my face with both his hands and kissed me. His lips were soft and he was gentle. How did we get here. I kissed him back. Was this what Mills was saying, we were in love with each other? I guess I've been pushing my feelings away because I'm feeling something strong.

He looked at me in the eye after we broke off, "Lils I'm in love with you."