You're All I Need

CHRISTMAS EVE

"GUESS WHO COMES TONIGHT, IMOGENE!"

"Who comes tonight, Tommy?"

"His name begins in a San and ends in a ta!"

"Let me guess... Santa's coming tonight?"

"No... but Santa is!"

Vince and Nikki were rearranging my undergarments on the tree, trying to get it all even. Nikki was standing on Nikki's back and Vince was standing on mine. Vince stepped off and walked back, inspecting the tree.

"That's what it is!" He slapped his forehead.

"What?" Nikki looked back and almost fell off of Tommy.

"There's nothing on top."

Tommy giggled.

"What now, Tommy?"

"Hehehe- nothing on TOP."

"I don't get it." Vince shrugged. "Anyway. What should we put on top?"

"AW, GOD, STOP IT! TOP!" Tommy laughed.

"No really, Vince, don't say top anymore... I'm gonna fall off of him." Nikki complained.

"Okay. Well, we need something. And it has to belong to Imogene."

"Whyyyy?" I moaned in protest.

"Because, if it didn't, it would ruin the theme of everything. So do you have any more underwear?"

"No," I lied. I had actually hidden some in an empty kitchen cabinet. And if they hadn't found it yet, I didn't think they ever would. "Find something else to go on top."

"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Tommy fell over laughing and Nikki tumbled to the ground.

"Fuck, Imogene! Why?!" Nikki yelled, rubbing his head.

"Sorry." I sighed, crawling over to help him up.

Vince ignored the whole situation- he was too wrapped up in finding the one thing to complete his masterpiece. "I'm going on a bra hunt." He announced.

"A what?"

"I know you've got more. And from what Tommy has told me, you suck at hiding things." He walked out of the living room and I followed him, trying to convince him there was nothing left. He looked everywhere in the house. Then when he got into the kitchen, he began rummaging through cabinets. He got to the specific one and was just about to open it.

"There's nothing in there!" I grabbed his wrist. He smiled and yanked it open.

"Jackpot!" He screamed, grabbing the load.

"Noooo! I'm begging you!" I ran after him back into the living room.

Vince pushed Nikki off of Tommy and tied one of the bras to the highest branch.

"There we go, it's completed." Vince said in an official tone. "Was that so hard, Imogene?"

"You're despicable." I grumbled.

They all stood around it and smiled up at the tree in admiration. Vince hung a pair of panties above the door for mistletoe. I shook my head and sat on the couch.

"Come on, where's your Christmas spirit?" Nikki punched my arm.

"Hmph."

"Imogene, don't be mad at us. We loooove you." Tommy said in a squeaky voice.

"Don't make me laugh, I'm mad at you."

Tommy curled up next to me like some kind of deranged ferret. Vince and Nikki joined him. I smiled and touched Tommy's cheek.

"Aw, I love you guys!" We had this huge group hug as Tommy pretended to play one of those "touching moment" songs that you hear on sitcoms all the time.

"Well, it's pretty late, let's get our Imogene to bed before Santa comes!" Vince picked me up and threw me over his shoulder.

"Hold on, am I sleeping with you guys?"

"Yes. We don't want you to wake up and see your presents."

"But I need to put yours under the tree! The vile, disgusting tree." I shook my head.

Tommy skipped forward so he was next to Vince. "You can do that after Santa comes. We'll tell you when he's gone."

I sighed heavily into Vince's shoulder. "Alright, you guys." They tucked me in.

"Go to sleep, Santa will be here any minute. Once he's done, we'll come in and get you to put out your presents," Tommy explained.

"Wait- then won't I see mine?"

"They're wrapped!" Tommy laughed. "Your plan is foiled."

"Then why was it such a problem before?"

"I dunno... ask Vince. It was his idea for you to sleep in our bed."

Vince glared at him and sighed. "Thanks, Tommy. Thanks."

"What are Tommys for?" Tommy winked before leaving the room. Vince kissed me on the cheek then left.

CHRISTMAS MORNING!

I woke up to Tommy jumping on the bed. "It's Christmas." He announced in a whisper.

"I know." I yawned. "Ten more minutes." I rolled back onto Vince, since I had fallen asleep in his arms.

"No, you gotta get up now. Or Bullwinkle's gonna steal one of your toes."

"Tommy, shut the fuck up." Vince hugged me tighter and threw a beer-bottle at Tommy.

I got up and looked around. "Well, once I'm up, I'm up." I pushed myself out of bed. "Come on, Vince." He got out and pushed Tommy into a wall. Nikki was already out in the living room, waiting.

"Let's open ours first, cause the ones we got for you are specialer!" Nikki said to me, grabbing his presents. Vince and Tommy sat down.

Tommy ripped his open first. "MY GOD IT'S A KAZOO!" He clapped. Vince stared at me.

"Thanks, Imogene." He groaned.

"Tommy, that's not it." I handed him another one.

"There's more?"

"Yes."

He tore that one apart too. He screamed and hugged it. "It's BAMBI!"

"Thanks again, Imogene." Vince said.

Nikki came next and opened his. "Awesome!" He pulled out the KISS album. "Now we've got something new to listen to." He smiled. "See, Imogene... there has been an accident."

"An accident?"

"You know you're favorite record, 'Too Fast For Love?'"

"Uh-huh..."

"Well..." He handed me the record, scratched up and split in half. "We are so sorry for your loss." All the other guys nodded, but I could see how hard they were trying not to smile and laugh.

Vince giggled, shattering the silence. "It's gone... it's gone!"

I sighed. "Vince, open your present." He ripped it open.

The new microphone tumbled out, shining with dick-germ-free radiance. He picked it up.

"Thank you, you are my savior!" He hugged me.

I handed them their bottles of Jack Daniel's and we moved on to my presents. Tommy handed me big wad of newspaper and I pulled the paper off carefully, revealing a stuffed unicorn and a half-eaten cookie.

"IT'S AMAZING! THANK YOU, TOMMY." I hugged the unicorn.

"His name is Mr. Fluffykicks!" Tommy exclaimed.

Nikki got me some cool socks that were red with white polka-dots on them, and a bottle of Jack in return. I put on the socks as soon as I could and Vince handed me his.

"Enjoy." He patted my head. It was a small box coated in blue velvet. "Come on, open it!" He urged. I snapped the box open and almost had a stroke.

"How the hell did you afford it?! I thought the price tag was a phone number!"

"Well, I didn't afford it." He shrugged. "I just took it. And let me tell you, it wasn't easy." He slipped the diamond ring onto my finger. Tommy and Nikki glowered at it.

"It's alright, Mr. Fluffykicks... you're her favorite present and she knows it," Tommy comforted the stuffed animal.

I turned to all of them. "Do I get hugs?!" They lunged forward and tackled me.

"Merry Christmas!" Nikki yelled.

Once we got up, we were all starving. So we decided to go to the grocery-store to get some Christmas food. We piled into the Pantera, Vince driving and me on his lap. Tommy and Nikki were squashed into the other seat. We ran in, bought some donuts and cookies, and then drove back home, where Rose and Mick were waiting for us. After some hugs, we ate till we were full for the first time in forever. Then Rose saw the ring and pulled me aside.

"Explain it."

"Vince got it for me." I shrugged.

Her mouth dropped open. "Did he propose?!"

"No, Rose. He did not."

"Aw, he was probably thinking about it. I think he will later."

I slapped my forehead. "Rose, drop it."

"Okay, it's just you two are so cute." She pinched my cheek before going back to Mick, who had just opened his present and was gushing over it. Nikki was playing his KISS record while Tommy was locked in Nikki's room watching Bambi. I tiptoed in and joined him, occupying an hour and ten minutes of our time.

As we walked out of Nikki's bedroom, I noticed Vince wasn't anywhere. I went outside and began looking for him. The clouds and the sky were darkening and little drops of rain were sprinkling everywhere.

"Vince?" I whispered.

"Imogene," He responded. I walked around a corner of the house and there he was, sitting on a weathered and cracked stone bench with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth. "Hey." He beamed. I walked over and sat next to him.

"You alright?"

"Yeah, I'm great." He put his arm around me. "Just needed to get away from everyone."

"Oh, uh- I could leave." I got up, but he pulled me back down.

"No, stay. I still approve of you."

I laughed and played with my hair. "Did you have a good Christmas?" I asked.

"Yeah. Best Christmas ever. Thank you."

"Get everything you wanted?"

He looked at the ground. "Almost." He sighed.

"Almost?"

"Yeah, there was one thing, but it's fine. I can live without it." He shrugged.

"What was it?" I held his hand.

"Nothing important. Don't worry about it."

We stared at each other for a while before I broke the silence. "Where did you get the ring, anyway?"

"When you went shopping, I went to the mall and got it from that one department store."

I gasped. "Rose and I saw you then!"

"You did?"

"Yeah, we were browsing sales racks when the alarm went off in the jewelry department."

He laughed. "Rose was talking about your encounter with the Poison guy."

"Yuck."

"I really don't like him." He said. "Try to stay away from them from now on, please?"

"I promise."

"Cause they're bad people as you might know by now. And I really care about you and I don't know what I would do if they hurt you..." He stopped talking. "They just piss me off."

I gave his hand a squeeze and rested my head on his shoulder. "You know what?"

"What?"

"I wish we could stay out here like this forever."

"Me too." He turned around so we were face-to-face. "Listen, Imogene, I... have no clue what to say." I laughed and threw my arms around him.

"You don't need to say anything." I grinned, moving some of that beautiful blonde hair out of his eyes.

"So you want me to shut up?"

"I don't know what I'm saying, ignore me."

He giggled and leaned in, kissing me softly.

"You're forgetting the personal space talk." I whispered against his lips.

"What personal space talk?"

"You know, the..."

He pulled away. "Shut up," He moved in again. The kiss got better and better as each second went by. He slipped his cold hands up my shirt and began rubbing my stomach, telling me to relax as his icy fingers reached my ribs. I let out a small squeal as he laid me against the freezing surface of the bench. I ran my fingers through his hair and his lips went lower and lower.

"Vince?" We turned and saw Mick standing there. Vince climbed off of me, staring at him.

"Yes."

"Um, time to come inside." He muttered. "It's raining."

"Nooo." Vince replied sarcastically. "We'll be right in."

"Okay." Mick quickly walked away from us.

Vince turned back to me. "Well, that was awkward."

"Yeah..." Vince helped me straighten my clothes out and he put his arm around me, leading me inside, where Tommy was playing his kazoo for Mick and suggesting replacing the guitar solos for kazoo solos.