I'm Only Me When I'm With You

I'm Only Me When I'm With You

Chapter Seven

As the months went on Annie's belly grew bigger and bigger, and only got worse after Thanksgiving. It was now Christmas, Joe and Annie would be going over to Joe's family's house. It was only six am and they had to be there by seven, Annie was half asleep as they drove and all she wanted was a big piece of turkey, or maybe some chocolate.... ice cream.

They got to the house and Joe made her stay in the car till he got all the presents for her inside and under the tree, she didn't find it important as he did, making him carry his own presents into the house, she did put them under the tree though, throwing them where ever there was room. Finally everyone was sitting on the living room all around the Christmas tree.

Two hours latter everyone had opened their presents, Annie, Denise and Danielle went into the kitchen, making the big Christmas dinner.

“Can you wash the pot right there for me, Annie?” Denise asked, she nodded and went over to the sink, Danielle got done with cutting the onions and gave Annie a few more dishes to do, Danielle dried them as Annie washed them. They could hear loud laughs and talking coming from the living room.

“They seem to be enjoying themselves....” Denise trailed off, from the stove.

“It's all that spiked eggnog” Danielle muttered, just then Joe came dancing into the room, a glass in his hand, he walked over to Annie and pulled her into a tight hug.

“I f*cking love Christmas” he kissed her hard on the lips then left the room. All three of them stared at the door, a bit taken aback, then Danielle and Denise both looked over at Annie with a smirk.

“That was weird....” she trailed off, blushing a bit.

“I think you two better spend the night, Joe is not in the right mind to drive.”

“Won't Kevin Sr. be mad?” Annie asked.

“I don't really care if he is or not.... its for your own safety, not to mention my grand-babies”

After all the food was made everyone sat down to dinner, Annie was sure that Denise had told Kevin Sr. that her and Joe would be spending the night cause he looked extremely unhappy. The food seemed to sober Joe up a bit cause he was beginning to act normal again.

“You two go sit down” Denise told them after dinner when Annie started to clean up the table. “You helped make dinner and Joe needs to sit, so you two just go into the living room.”

Joe and Annie went into the living room and sat down on the couch, the fireplace a small fire crackling a little, the tree was lit, it was a very peaceful moment, until Joe started talking.

“It was a nice Christmas, huh?”

“Yeah, it was nice...” Annie trailed off.

“Did you get everything you wanted?” Joe then asked.

“I guess... if your idea of a good Christmas present is nothing but baby clothes.”

“Hey... wait a second.....”

“Huh?” she asked, confused.

“What's that over there?” he asked, pointing to a little box on top of the fireplace. “It looks like a present... someone must have missed it.”

He got up and walked over to the fireplace, he picked up the box and looked at the name tag.

“Annie... hey, I think I remember putting one there for you... silly me... forgetting” he smirked walking back over to her and sitting back down. He handed her the little box and she looked up at him suspicious.

“What's this?”

“A present, duh” he smiled. She opened the box and looked inside, there was a even littler box, but this box looked like a ring box. She pulled out the ring box and opened it to find a diamond ring, she looked up at him and he was smiling even bigger.

“I've been thinking, your gonna be eighteen in a few weeks and.... I..I think I better make you a honest women.”

“Your.....” she trailed off, not getting out the words.

“Asking you to marry me? Yes I am.”

She looked up at him, her mouth hung open, it might have just been her out of whack hormones but she suddenly wanted to cry, she look down at the ring again, it was so beautiful.

“So, will you?” he then asked, looking a bit worried now.

“Will I what?” she asked, still gazing down at the ring.

“Will you marry me?”

“Oh, you know I will.... you don't even have to ask.”

“Its kinda the way it goes... the guy asks the girl, the girl says yes and they get married.... kinda tradition...”

She didn't say anything , still looking down at the ring, he pulled the ring out of its box and held out his hand for her, she placed her left hand in his and he slowly pulled off her heart ring he had given her, he placed the diamond ring on in replacement and pocketed the heart ring.

“I want that back you know” she muttered, he smirked and pulled her into a hug.

“If you want it back you gotta get it yourself” he whispered in her ear, she pulled away from the hug and bit her lip.

“I'm not scared.... I'll do it and you know it.”

She tiptoed her fingers up his thigh and took a wrong turn at his hip, going for his pants zipper.

“Annie.... my whole family is in the kitchen....” he trailed off, trying to pull her hand away.

“That's never stopped you before.”

“Its....its Christmas... its unholy to do this kinda stuff on Christmas.”

“So your trying to tell me that you've never had sex on Christmas?” she asked, getting a bit annoyed and removing her hand.

“I... I did... a long time ago.”

“Oh, so what makes it so different now, huh?”

“I've changed...” he trailed off.

“So, suddenly your not interested in sex at all, huh?” she sat up more, getting mad now.

“I... I am... but...”

“But not with me.... is that it?” she began to yell. “To fat for you now, not good enough to f*ck?”

“Annie.... I lo...”

“Shut up” she stood up and stomped out of the room and into the kitchen. Denise and Danielle were sitting at the kitchen table, drinking coffee, they were the only two in the room, the others must have left.

“What's wrong, Annie?” Denise asked.

“Joe....”

“What he do now?” Danielle asked.

“He...he...” but before she could get it out Danielle gasped, she jumped up and grabbed Annie's left hand.

“He asked you to marry him?”

“Yeah he did, but...”

“Oh my gosh, it was about time” Denise sighed.

“What do you mean about time?” Annie then asked.

“ He and I went to pick that ring out months ago...” she trialed off, with a smile.

“You mean to tell me that you knew he was gonna ask her to marry him and you didn't tell me?” Danielle gasped.

“I knew you couldn't keep the secret” at that Danielle gasped again. Soon Annie lay in the guestroom she once called her room, she was alone in it once again, her new diamond engagement ring was shining in the moonlight as it lay on her finger, she heard the door open but she didn't bother looking. He walked over to the bed and got in, getting under the covers. He wrapped his arms around her.

“Annie...”

But she didn't answer, just kept looking at her ring, he didn't try anymore he just lay his head down on the pillow and closed his eyes.