Fool With Dreams

“Brandon, do you realize that it’s just seven a.m. here?” Ash grumbled, hiding her face under her pillow. She had been up late last night and now wanted only to sleep more.

“So? Get up, lazyass,” Bam laughed on the other end of the phone line.

“No way. Bye,” Ash hung up and pushed her phone farther away.

Five minutes later, just when she’d fallen back to blissful sleep, her phone rang again.

“I’m gonna throw my phone against the wall and then I’m gonna kill you later,” she threatened, not even bothering to look at the phone.

“Whoa! Grumpy much?” she heard Brian’s sweet voice instead of Bam’s she was expecting. She bolted upright in an instant.

“I’m sorry, I thought you were Margera. He’s been calling me all morning,” Ash tried to apologise, furrowing her brow at the same time. She wondered why Brian was calling her this early, especially when she hadn’t heard from him several days.

“I’ll forgive you. Are you ready? I’ll be there in ten minutes,” Brian brought her out of her thoughts.

“What? Why?” Ash jumped out of the bed, panic taking over. Fist Bam calls in this unholy hour, now Brian is coming over.What the hell is going on, she wondered.

“Bam didn’t tell you?” he asked, surprised.

“Well, I guess I kind of hung up on him before he had that chance,” Ash mumbled, now wishing that she hadn’t done that.

“Not a morning person, I see,” Brian laughed. “We have some shopping to do. I’ll tell you about it when I get there. Now get your cute little ass out of bed and go brush your teeth or what ever you do every morning. I’ll wait outside.”

“No! Wait! I have to run downstairs anyway, to let Hemi out. I’ll leave the back door open fro you,” Ash was already downstairs, heading for the spoken door.

“Okay. See ya in a bit,” Brian hung up.

There was delicious smell of coffee filling the house when Ash skipped down the stairs fifteen minutes later. She had taken the fastest shower in her whole life.

“Morning!” she greeted the man, standing in her kitchen. Just seeing him there was enough to make her happy and okay with this unexpected way too early wake up.

“Here you go. I thought you’ll be needing it,” Brian smiled, handing her a cup of steaming coffee.

“Thanks, Bri. You saved my day,” Ash smiled back, accepting the cup happily. “So, what’s going on?”

“We’re having a Christmas party,” he smiled wide.

“We are? Who we?” Ash squinted her eyes at him. She didn’t like it one bit.

“Because none of us wanted to leave you alone for at Christmas. And since you refused to go with any of us, we’re bringing the party to you,” Brian explained, walking to the back door where Hemi was jumping up and barking. He opened the door and let the dog in.

Ash was still speechless when Hemi ran to his food bowl with a hopeful look on his face. Not finding anything there, he sat down next to it and stared at Ash, waiting for his breakfast.

“Where do you keep his food?” Brian asked with a smirk, seeing that she seemed totally out of her bubble.

Ash walked to a cabinet next to the fridge and pulled out a bag of dog food, handing it over to Brian. Her mind was still processing what Brian had told her.

“You’ve got to be kidding me, right? I’m not gonna let you ruin your Christmas because of me. Christmas is a time to be with your families, not to feel sorry for a friend who chose to be alone,” she was frowning, not happy at all.

“Well, sorry honey, but you have no say in this,” Brian tousled her hair when stepping by. He crouched down and poured Hemi his food.

“What?” Ash almost yelled. She was not gonna be the reason why her friends couldn’t be with their families.

“You heard me. Look, stop worrying. We have everything planned out. We spent time with our families yesterday and today everyone will be here. And when I say everyone, I mean EVERYONE,” Brian laughed, setting Hemi’s food bag back to it’s place.

“Oh my god. Bam!” Ash finally remembered. “He’s behind this all, isn’t he?”

“Well, you could say that. But we were all in the moment he suggested it. We didn’t want to leave you alone in the first place,” he leaned against the counter, crossing his arms on his chest.

“God, I’m gonna kill him,” Ash rubbed her face. This was gonna be a mess.

“Just accept it already, it’s gonna happen anyway. There’s nothing to worry about. Like I said, we have all planned out. But now, we have to go if we want to get back in time,” Brian smiled, throwing his arm around her shoulders and guiding her out the door.

“How much people are coming?” she asked, grabbing her bag on the way out.

“About thirty I think,” Brian said. He held his breath, waiting for her to explode.

Ash stared at him with big eyes, then blinked a few times. “I’m gonna kill that motherfucker.”

*********

When they got back almost three hours later, she was greeted by delicious smell of gingerbread and cinnamon. Jimmy, Michelle and Maggie were running around the house, decorating like mad. Val and Leana were cooking something in the kitchen. Zack was playing with Hemi, throwing his toys for him around the room.

“Zack! Out! No throwing things inside,” Ash yelled, stopping in the middle of the living room’s entrance. “What the hell is going on here?”

“Thank god, you’re back. Please tell me you bought some cream,” Val ran from the kitchen and started to search through the food bag Ash was still holding.

“Yo! Insane woman! Let me at least set it down first,” Ash laughed, swatting away her hands.

“Move it then! I need that cream,” Val pushed her from the back, to get her moving faster.

“I really have to give Matt some credit,” Ash mumbled.

“For what?” Val wanted to know instantly.

“For putting up with you,” she said, earning a laugh from Brian, who was walking right behind them, carrying two more food bags. Val just frowned at her.

“I’m not that bad. Now, give me my cream or I’ll have to send someone back to the store,” Val tapped her foot impatiently.

“Yes, ma’am,” Ash dug out the cream and handed it over, trying hard to hide her smile.

The three of them, Ash, Val and Leana, spent the whole afternoon in the kitchen, cooking and baking food and snacks for the whole army. Maggie and Michelle helped out a bit, but stayed most of the time out of the way. Even between the three of them, Ash’s kitchen seemed to be too small. They were bumping into each other constantly.

Sighing, Ash walked out of the kitchen, stretching her sore shoulders.

“God, Matt, your wife is a tyrant. How can you take it all the time,” Ash whined playfully, entwining her arms around Matt’s waist and hiding her face into his shirt.

“To my luck, she’s like that only on holidays,” Matt laughed, hugging her back. “Will everything be ready soon?”

“Yeah. Thanks to your wify pushing us like slaves,” she snorted. She combed her hands through her short hair. After running around all morning and throughout the day, she was in serious need of shower.

“Ash! Don’t make me look so bad!” Val scolded suddenly behind her back.

“Aagh!” Ash squealed and hid behind Matt’s back. “Save me! Please!”

“Yes, man, save us from this hell,” Jimmy joined in but quickly fled out of the room when Val scowled at him.

“Okay kids, play nice now!” Matt laughed, happy too see his friends all together and fooling around.

Val’s scowl turned on him, making him laugh even more.

“Come here. I think you need a kiss to calm you down a bit,” he hugged his wife and planted a sweet kiss on her lips. “Don’t forget that the plan was to have fun. Nobody cares if there’s something missing. Just take it easy, babe.”

“You’re right. I’ll try to stop torturing the girls,” Val sighed, leaning her head on his shoulder.

“Everything will go great, trust me,” Matt kissed her temple.

“Hey, Val! Your fruitcake is burning!” Leana yelled from the kitchen.

“Shit! Gotta go,” Val squirmed out of her husband’s arms and sprinted to the kitchen, almost knocking down Johnny on the way.

“Hey! No running in the house,” Johnny yelled after her.

Ash watched around the room. Brian and Zack were watching TV, Matt stood where Val had left him, and Johnny walked to the couch, shaking his head and muttering something about running around like nutcase. Maggie and Leana came from the kitchen and joined guys on the couch.

“Well, now that almost everything is ready, I think I should go and take that shower,” Ash said to Matt, who was looking at his friends also.

“Sure, go ahead. I’ll keep an eye on things,” Matt ruffled her hair a bit.

“Jeesh, what is it with you guys today! Why everyone keeps messing with my hair?” Ash grumbled and walked up the stairs, not even waiting for an answer.

She walked to her room and searched through her closet. Unable to decide what to wear, she pulled out some ripped jeans and a bright green tank top at last. Grabbing a matching pair of underwear from the drawer, she headed to her bathroom.

Some time in the middle of her shower, she heard a loud thump that made even the floor shake slightly. Trusting Matt to take care of things, she continued her shower without hurrying too much.