Jingle Bell Rock

Christmas Morning was always cause to wake up obnoxiously early, and even though the girl was fifteen she was still awake at 7 am on the dot. This from the girl who happily slept until afternoon. Her partner, however, was still tangled up in the blankets of her double bed, snoring rather noisily. She always told him that he snored but he was constantly denying it. She wished she had a video camera right about now.

Rolling on top of him, she squished her nose against his and combed a hand through his dark hair. "Riiiidleeeey. Wake up. Wake uuuuppp. C'mon, it's Christmas. My mom's already gone and my brother's off somewhere too, it's safe. Open your eyessss. You can go back to sleep after, I promise." She persuaded, giving him a little squeeze. Her best friend and perpetual cuddle-buddy still seemed to be completely down for the count. He really did sleep like the dead sometimes, abd trying to get him off of her was quite a challenge. After all, he was nicely sized for a boy of 16 and she was petite.

Cracking one green eye, he looked at her and sighed so big that she rose up along with his chest and fell back down so her face was level with his, wrapping her arms around his neck to squeeze him again. "Merry christmas, Ridley!" She said loudly, resting her cheek against his forehead. It had been like this last christmas, too. Her mother was a busy woman-- all work and no play. She was in the office today, like she had been every Christmas that Reilly could remember. Her brother looked after himself, and so that left her. Her and Ridley. She couldn't remember how long it had been now-- a little over a year since she had shared her umbrella with him walking home from school. And it hadn't taken him long to gain the status of best friend and have frequent sleepovers...every night was more like it.

Her mother was too busy to take note. He would come in the afternoon and they'd go to her room when her mother was home from work. Funny how she never seemed to notice she was feeding an extra person. Hell, she wasn't going to complain. She liked the companionship-- having somebody to cuddle and hang out with and tell all her secrets to. She loved him-- Loved him in a way far beyond what she had said out loud. Loved him with all her heart more deeply than anyone else. This moment was magic. Christmas morning, his arms around her as they shared in the moment and the love that was Christmas. The love she'd always wanted to have someone to share it with and now she had him.

"I'm awake, I'm awake." He got up and stretched, moving his shoulders back and forth as she sat back to give him a little bit more room to move.

She slid off, retrieving the hastily wrapped gift from under the bed to present to him, grinning widely even as his cheeks turned a rather sweet shade of pink. "For me?"

She bobbed her head excitedly and clambered back up to drop it on his lap, resting her head on his shoulder. "Of course for you, silly. Who else?"

He grinned sheepishly as he unwrapped the gift slowly, peeling away the layers of paper to pull out the box and slip open the flaps. Inside were two things-- a pack of guitar strings and a few picks. "I know it's not much...but we're gonna make it one day, okay? And then we can have anything we ever wanted!" Reilly smiled and flopped down over his lap, peering up at him. "Everything. A big house. Kittens. All the gorgeous guitars you could ever play." she nodded, reaching up to tangle her hands in his hair.

Ridley nodded and smiled. "It's perfect, Rei. Really, it its." Pulling his own small gift for her out of his bag, all he could think was 'but I already have all I could ever want in you.'