A Very Pizza Christmas

“Summer, baby!” Cliff cried as he opened the door and saw his great girlfriend.
“Gavin, sweetie!” I imparted to my beloved boyfriend.
“You two are just so original,” Summer said as she kissed Cliff on the cheek. Were those two ever not partaking in some sort of sexual act?
“We practiced before you came,” Cliff said without smiling. He and Gavin had a little stare down until I stepped on Gavin’s foot.
“It shows. It’s very funny,” Gavin said, and then looked towards me and smiled.

I looked into his eyes and then down at my shoes, blushing. He was so gorgeous; I don’t know how I ever got him.

“Are we just going to stand here or are we going to open presents?” Summer asked impatiently, “Jay should be here soon.”
“You invited him?” Cliff whined as Summer pulled him over to the large Christmas tree.
“Yes, he’s my bff!”

“Hi,” I said to Gavin once we were sort of alone and kissed him lightly.
“Hello,” he said and kissed me again.

I didn’t know if it was the holidays or if it was because my boyfriend looked like he wanted nothing more than to eat me up (in that metaphorical romantic way of course) right there, but I was suddenly feeling very happy; as well as incredibly nervous. This was the night I had planned on doing that thing that makes me uncomfortable to think or say out loud.

“You guys get over here, let’s open presents!” Summer shouted excitedly.
“If Jay is coming over, shouldn’t we wait for him?” I asked, and grabbed Gavin’s hand to make him speed up.
“I don’t think either of the guys got him a present so let’s open theirs first,” Summer said and leaped over to the present that had her name on it, “Maddi, did you wrap this?” she asked, looking at my beautiful job of box covering.
“Yes,” I smiled as she tore open the paper like a wild animal that had been starved for a few weeks.
“Thank you, and thank you Cliff for picking it out,” she said and kissed him quickly before trying on the earrings.

I then looked to Gavin with wide eyes (a trick Summer had taught me) and without saying a word he handed me a small green bag. With slightly more composure than Summer possessed when opening her gift with, I pulled out a paperback book.

“I remember you saying once that you had lost your copy sometime in the process of moving here and that it was your favorite book,” Gavin said as I marveled at the small copy of Huckleberry Finn.
“I cannot believe you remembered that,” I cooed in a very high pitched and wobbly tone I am not proud of.

As Jay pounded on the door and simultaneously sang cheery songs about snow I began to think that Gavin might not want to break up with me because we hadn’t had sex yet. He had obviously put very much thought into my gift, more than Cliff had exerted on Summer’s present, and if he didn’t want to be with me anymore he simply would not have done so. I was just paranoid because of sad- seasonal affective disorder most likely.

For the next hour we opened the rest of our presents- the highlights of which include a Jonas Brothers CD from Jay who said I needed to “start acting like a normal little girl and listen to their hot asses,” and a voodoo doll Summer gave Jay- and made hot chocolate. Gavin did not seem to want to leave early or feel me up and a little bit more and he and I were sitting on the couch when I decided to give him my present.

Jay was telling Summer the horrors he had endured in order to paint the perfect Christmas tree on his nails when I went over to the real tree to find the bag I had put Gavin’s House DVD in. Upon spotting it I picked it up and began to walk back to the couch.

“You might not want to give that to him out here,” Summer said, causing me to stop dead in my tracks.
“Why would that be?” I asked barely above a whisper, my suspicion of why I wouldn’t want to give it to him here being horrible.

She simply winked at me and I hurriedly checked inside the bag to find the X rated Santa panty set. Why did she replace my perfectly acceptable nonsexual gift with these? I had just asked her to bring the naughty nightgown, not slip it into my gift bag for Gavin! When did she ever replace it my gift and where was House MD now? Oh this was a disaster. I didn’t even want to let Gavin see me in them anymore.

“Is that mine?” Gavin asked and reached out for the bag.
“No! I mean just that um this is not your actual present, let me put this upstairs. You stay here,” I said and fled up the stairs leaving everyone in confusion and Summer in a fit of laughter on the floor.

Once in the safety of my bedroom I frantically searched for a place to stash the nightmare undergarments. My closet simply wouldn’t do, anyone could walk in there and see them.

“Maddi? Is everything alright?” Gavin asked as he opened the door.
“Oh of course, why would you ever ask otherwise?” I said quickly.
“What’s that behind your back?”
“Behind my what?”
“Your back,” he said and walked closer to me.
“Um, you’d better not get to close I think I have, um, meningitis,” I said as I backed up to my desk. If I did so with care I could stash the devil outfit in the drawer without him ever noticing.
“I don’t care,” he said and reached a hand around my back.
“What are you doing?” I laughed nervously, moving the bag to my other hand, “That tickles.”
“Maddi, what’s in the bag?” he asked as his other hand tried to nab it also.
“I don’t have any bag,” I scoffed.
“Yes you do- aha! I’ve got it,” he cried triumphantly and held the bag out of my reach.

My spirit died a tiny bit when I saw him rifle through the bag and then stop and lean his head to the side, confused. I prepared my explanation- elephants, rabid squirrels, maybe a circus or two –as he slowly pulled out the red satin thong and white fur trimmed teddy.

“Is there a hat that goes with this?” he asked, breaking the excruciating silence, “Something for me to wear maybe?”
“Um, I can explain,” I said in a pinched tone.
“Please do,” he said and sat down at my desk.
“Um, well Summer bought that for me to give you as a joke. I didn’t actually plan on giving it to you tonight.”
“Was she expecting us to- I mean, we you planning on having sex?” he asked.
“No, well, maybe at one time, because I thought that…” I trailed off, not able to continue the sentence when he was just staring up at me so innocently.
“Because you thought what?”
“Because I thought that you wanted break up with me because we weren’t having sex and every other teenager was,” I said and turned away and shut my eyes so I wouldn’t have to see his expression.
“Maddi, honey, I would never ask you to do anything you weren’t ready for. I would never break up with you because we weren’t having sex. I’m not with you so I can do things that every other teenager does; I’m with you because I love you.”
“Oh,” I said, feeling highly embarrassed.
“Are you not going to be able to look at me for a few weeks?” he asked and hugged me from behind.
“Maybe not that long,” I said and turned around to hug him back, still not looking him in the eyes.
“You know, all of this mix up, I would like to see you in those,” he said after a while.
“What?” I asked and backed away from his arms.
“Not have sex, but just… see you in them,” he said and something in his tone made me think he would do more than look at me.

I considered the situation. I suppose there wouldn’t be any harm in trying it on. There wouldn’t be any harm if we kissed either. I looked up at him, forgetting my earlier embarrassment, and smiled.

“Wait outside while I get it on.”
“I can’t stay in here while you put it on?” he pouted.
“No! Now go outside,” I said and pointed to my door authoritatively.

Slowly I put on the skimpy outfit I once thought I would never be caught in. I assessed my appearance in the mirror; surprisingly I looked really good. I then went over to my door and tried to open it as seductively as possible.

“Hello,” I purred, then felt my eyes bulge out of my head as Cliff stared back at me with a similar expression.
“What?” he squeaked.
“Um, where’s Gavin?” I asked as I scurried behind my door, only allowing him to see my head.
“Uh he’s downstairs getting something,” Cliff said, a look of shock still on his face.
“Maddi, I’m- oh no,” Gavin said as he pranced back into the hallway and saw Cliff.

Cliff gave us a partly shocked and partly disgusted look as I awkwardly pulled Gavin into my room and tried to think of a way to get back my dignity.

“I am so embarrassed,” I cried once I couldn’t hear Cliff’s footsteps on the stairs anymore.

Gavin stayed silent and seemed to be pondering the awful incident.

“Why did you go downstairs?” I asked angrily.
“I went to borrow Jay’s Santa Claus hat so you wouldn’t feel like the only one in a costume,” he said, holding up the hat and then began laughing.
“This isn’t funny! He’s going to tell my parents and they will kill both of us!”
“Honey, I don’t think he’s going to tell anyone about this. He looked like he was going to wet his pants.”

I began laughing to, agreeing with that last statement. He wouldn’t tell our parents, but he might repeat the story to Summer, who would never let me live this down.

“You look gorgeous,” Gavin said. His gaze was making me slightly uncomfortable, but the best possible way.
I put the hat in his head on him, “So do you.”

He cocked his head to the side, looking at the teddy’s embarrassingly low neckline, before pulling me to him and kissing me. That was one of the best kisses I had ever had in my life.

“I liked your other outfit better,” Gavin said as I came out of my room fully dressed again, “But you look great now too.”

I smiled cheekily at him as he kissed me lightly and walked him downstairs.

“Lunch tomorrow?” he asked at the front door. We had stayed in my room for the better part of an hour and now he had to go home.
“Of course,” I smiled and shut the door after him.

Everyone was silent when I turned around. Cliff told Summer.

“I’ll just be going into the kitchen for a bit,” I said when no one spoke.
“I’ll come with!” Summer said and hopped over the couch.

I walked into the kitchen knowing she would soon hound me with questions.

“Oh my God,” she said once we were at our destination.
“What?” I asked, deciding to play innocent.
“Well, what happened? Cliff said that you-”
“Honey you got some serious ‘splainin to do,” Jay said as he came in.
“Did you guys do it?” Summer asked anxiously.
“No,” I shook my head.
“Really?” Cliff, the last to join us, asked hopefully.
“Yes,” I said solemnly.
“Oh thank the Lord,” Cliff said relieved.
“You mean thank Baby Jesus, it’s his birthday,” Jay said as we all made our way back into the living room.
“I was hoping you could tell me what it was like,” Summer said quietly to me as the boys argued about something.
“You mean you and Cliff haven’t done it yet?” I blanched.
“Of course not,” she laughed and then skipped over to her boyfriend.

I was going to verbally slaughter Summer the next time she and I were alone. I had been freaking out all for nothing! Although I guess I shouldn’t be too mad at her; this was one of the best Christmases I had experienced. All I needed to do now was find the House DVD I got for Gavin.