Page 44 of The Holiday Disaster

We stood there for a few minutes, recharging in the feel of each other. Yesterday afternoon was the last time I’d seen him since I was out with family and didn’t get home until late. We’d been apart for entirely too long.

When I couldn’t hold back my curiosity anymore, I pulled back and looked up at him. “What’s this?” I asked, bringing the blue wrapped frame between us.

His grin was wide as he stole a quick kiss. His hand wrapped around my nape, and I shivered at his touch. “It’s your present, silly. Open it up.”

I didn’t need to be told twice. I tore the wrapping paper open to find a picture of me and Kingsley. It was the same one that was published on the online news article from Wintertown.

“What is this—howdid you get this?” I asked as I stared at the photo in my hands. It was a beautiful picture that captured the love that we shared perfectly.

“I reached out to the author of the article and asked for the original. They were more than happy to send it to me after finding out that I was one of the ‘lovebirds’ in the photo, as they put it. I know it’s not much, but I wanted to replace the old picture with something that represented the start of us. If you don’t like it, I can—”

I never let him finish as I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled him down in a bruising kiss. All the emotion that was threatening to come out in the form of happy tears were pushed into the kiss.

“I love it. And it’s a billion times better than the old picture,” I breathed against his lips, and he chuckled. He pulled back and retrieved something from his desk drawer.

“Here, this one is to take back to school with us,” he said, handing me another wrapped frame.

“Wow, I get not one, but two presents?” I said, tearing the wrapping paper open to find an exact copy of the photo I’d already unwrapped. “I can’t believe you did this.” I held the two frames close to me. No one was ever taking them away from me.

“I feel bad for the gift I got you now,” I said with a pout. I’d ordered him a hoodie in his favorite color before we’d even gotten together. Our families had always exchanged Christmas gifts, so I couldn’t not buy him something. I also didn’t get him anything too meaningful for fear that he would come to some conclusion based on the gift. Although that was a moot point since we were together now.

“Babe, I’m sure I’ll love whatever you got me because I already got the best gift I could ask for,” he said, his gaze full of tenderness as he wrapped me in his arms again.

I wiggled out of his arms and bent to grab the red pull bow that had been on the frame and placed it on my head. “Do you want to unwrap your first gift then?” I teased. The glint in his eyes told me he was completely on board with the idea.

“Very much so,” he said as he hugged his arms under my butt and lifted me. I wrapped my legs around his waist as he brought us to his bed before gently laying me down with him over me. “Like I said, best. Gift. Ever,” he said between kisses. He made sure to shower my face with love, especially my right eyelid that he loved pressing soft kisses to.

I laughed, his kisses tickling my skin and my heart. I could imagine us doing this a billion more times in the future as we grew into the people that we wanted to be.

Every day would be filled with love and laughter, and best of all, I knew he would be by my side every step of the way.

EPILOGUE

KINGSLEY

Following fall semester

I took the elevator to the third floor and navigated the rows of bookshelves to the study area in the back. A figure sat by the window with his head stuck inside a book.

Even after we started dating, Ethan didn’t change his habit of constantly studying in the library. We made time to visit all the date spots and popular restaurants around campus, but whenever he was free, he would always be in this seat in the West Library.

The only difference now was that I would more often than not accompany him. Mom had been ecstatic that I was spending more time on my studies and figuring out my future.

I placed his favorite hot chocolate on the table and scooted the chair close to him. He finally looked up from his textbook and pulled out his earbuds. “You’re finally here. I missed you,” he said with a sweet smile and chaste kiss in greeting. I tried to deepen the kiss, but Ethan pulled back and glanced around to make sure no one was watching us. He said the library was too sacred of a place to show public affection. I chuckled and settled for kissing the back of his hand.

“How was your internship today?” he asked as he hugged my arm. He loved snuggling up to my side, and I never got tired of it.

“It was great. Little Tim got his first goal.” Ethan gave a gentle smile as he listened to me give a play-by-play of how it went down.

This semester, I had started interning at a local youth sports center, learning alongside the coaches in order to teach the kids.

A lot had changed when we returned to school, and while change was always scary, I was in a much better place than I was last year. Ethan had convinced me to talk with our university’s career counselor, who worked with me to brainstorm exactly what I wanted to do for my future.

I was done coasting through life and letting things happen to me instead of pursuing what I wanted. After talking with her and Ethan about the future, I knew that I wanted to do something related to teaching kids sports.

Teaching gave me a sense of fulfillment that I’d never obtain from anything else. When I saw Tim’s toothy smile as he scored his first goal today, I knew that this was what I was meant to do.

With the help of my career counselor and Ethan’s constant support, I made a plan. It was a huge risk, but I switched to the exercise science major last semester since it would be more beneficial in realizing the future I wanted. It meant that I would have to attend college for an extra year, but that wasn’t so bad. It also meant that I would have an extra year of attending school with Ethan, which was a huge plus.

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