Surprise

Roxi woke up with the soft music coming from her radio. She slowly opened her eyes, quickly narrowing them as soon as she saw the intensity of the sun rays that were passing through the slightly open window.

She remembered sleeping with her window like that ever since she was a kid, and that was something that she was so used to that it became strange to her to sleep in a closed environment. While she enjoyed sleeping in those conditions, her boyfriend was apprehensive about it. He thought that having the window open while she was sleeping, even if it was just for a tiny bit, was somewhat dangerous. He didn’t like to think about it in that way, but he couldn’t help but imagine that someone could break into the room and do god knows what to her while he wasn’t there with her.

She rubbed her eyes and yawned, stretching her arms over her head. She turned off the radio and glanced at the empty spot next to her in the bed. She wished she saw the 25 year-old man she loved sleeping peacefully next to her, instead of just some covers and an unused pillow. In its place, she wanted the guy with those breath taking blue-green eyes, snakebites and slightly chubby cheeks that had her heart. She sighed, thinking about how much she missed her boyfriend. She didn’t see him for six months, and even though they talked on the phone and via Internet every day, she couldn’t help but miss his touch and being face to face with him. She missed his hugs, his kisses, cuddling in the couch with him until she fell asleep and all the little things he did with her.

She loved how much dedication and work her boyfriend put into his band, and she couldn’t help but grin whenever he talked about it. She could see he always had that glint in his eyes whenever he was playing his guitar and she knew that the band was an extremely important part of his life. She really enjoyed their music too, and she considered herself a big fan of them. But no matter how much she liked to see him happy touring the world, she couldn't help but wish he was there with her sometimes.

She shook those thoughts away from her head and smiled as she realised what day it was. It was Christmas Eve and that meant the tour had finished on the previous day. She couldn’t wait until she had her boyfriend back in her arms later. She got out of bed and headed to the bathroom.

She took her time having a bath and dressing herself because she didn’t have much to do until later in the afternoon, when she was supposed to head towards her parents’ house where she would be celebrating Christmas with her relatives and her boyfriend’s family, like they did in the last few years. He should arrive in Huntington Beach a couple of hours before dinner time, and she just wanted the clock to go by faster so she could see the black haired man sooner.

She made herself a quick breakfast and left the house they both have bought near the beach. They’d been living together for two years now after dating for 7 years. They met when he was 18 and she was 17, on that sunny afternoon, in the beach. She was spending some time with her friends, playing water volley when she started feeling dizzy. She didn’t know why or what caused her to feel like that, she just knew that she passed out in the middle of the beach. When she woke up she was met by a purple haired guy, with gauged ears, snakebites and a septum and a brown haired guy, with hazel eyes, a lip ring and extremely well-built looking at her. They looked at her with a concerned expression that softened when they saw she was awake.

”Finally you wake up!”, the brown haired guy said.

“We thought we lost you for a moment!”, the purple haired guy chuckled. As she looked at him she couldn’t stop gazing at those piercing green eyes he had. She’d never seen such orbs before, that were also mixed with blue and had some yellowish colour close to the iris.

“Wh-where am I?”, she stuttered. “And wh-who are y-you?”

“I’m Matt.”, the brown haired guy smiled. As he smiled she couldn’t stop staring at his dimples. “This is Zack. He’s the one who brought you here, so you wouldn’t drown!”, he pointed at the purple haired guy who just smiled back at her. She felt her cheeks flushing red and wondered how she got there, lying in the floor with two guys she’d never seen before helping her.

“So I wouldn’t drown?”, she asked, sounding really confused. “What happened to me?”, she panicked.

“You passed out while you were playing with your friends.”, the purple haired guy, which was Zack according to what Matt mentioned, said. “I just saw you turning unconscious and brought you here.”

She wanted to hide herself with the embarrassment. She couldn’t believe she had passed out in the beach in front of everyone, and been helped by these good-looking guys. Her eyes roamed through their bodies and she saw their arms were covered by tattoos. Oh no, she thought. For her, these guys seemed like they could bring some serious trouble, and they really looked like the people she used to avoid. She admitted it, she was what they called a goodie two shoes, and she wasn’t afraid of admitting it. She knew that these guys were exactly the type of people who would never be interested in someone like her. The typical California girl, with a tanned body, brown hair and green eyes who liked to surf. They were definitely interested in someone much more different. Someone on the more alternative side, with piercings and tattoos and a different style. She shook these thoughts out of her head – why was she thinking this? It’s not like she’s going to see them again.

“Hum… Well… Thank you… Zack…”, she said. “It was really nice of you to help me when I… hum… passed out…”

“It’s okay.”, he shot her another smile. God, what an amazing smile he’s got, she thought. She slapped herself mentally for thinking that and tried to smile back. “But are you okay? I mean, it’s not usual a girl like you passing out in the middle of the beach…”

“Yeah… Yeah… I’m sure. It must have been the heat or something like that…”

“Well, we’re glad you’re okay, then.”, the dimpled guy smiled.

“Hum… Where are my friends?”, she asked shyly.

“Oh, they’re waiting for you outside.”, the dimpled guy, Matt, pointed at them. She hadn’t noticed they’d brought her to the beach bar’s seafront, and that she had her friends looking over that place trying to see if she was alright. She felt her cheeks flushing red again, noticing that probably many people saw her little accident.

“So…”, the purple haired, Zack, said. “Your name is…”

“Oh, I’m Roxi.”, she answered.

“Roxi…”, Matt said, hearing how her name would sound when he pronounced it. “That’s a really nice name!”

“Thank you.”, she smiled.

“So, Roxi…”, Zacky said, smiling at her. “Are you sure you don’t need anything?”

“Yes, I’m sure.”, she nodded, standing up from the wooden floor. The guys that were kneeled next to her stood up as well, helping her walk down the stairs that led to the sand.
“I’m fine, I can walk.”, she chuckled.

“Well, it’s always a guy’s job to help a pretty girl like you.”, Zack said and Roxi felt herself blushing slightly.

“Thank you. Once again.”, she laughed.

“Not a problem.”, Zack said.

“You come here plenty of times, don’t you?”, Matt asked. “I mean, I think I saw you surfing here lots of times before.”

“Oh, yeah!”, she grinned. “I love surfing!”

“Really?”, Zack said, sounding happy with that statement. “Maybe you should go surfing with us some day.”

“Yeah, you seem like a great girl. And I’m sure our friends would like to meet you.”, Matt smiled.

“Oh, I’d love that!”, she smiled. She really wasn’t expecting them to ask her to spend some time with them.

“Great!”, Zack grinned, and she noticed how his snakebites would move while he talked or laughed. “Just make sure you eat something before you come, so you don’t pass out on us again!”

She laughed nervously to hide her embarrassment and nodded. “Yeah, don’t worry about that.”

“So… We’ll see you tomorrow. At this time. Is it good for you?”, Matt asked.

“Definitely!”, she smiled, “I’ll see you guys tomorrow.”

She went to the place her friends were and on the next day she appeared on the beach as promised. She met Matt and Zack’s friends and they got along quite well. She started surfing with them more often and a few weeks later Zack was asking her out for a date. They started dating and even though they had their ups and downs in their relationship, they managed to stay together for 7 years.

She thought they were already ready for the next step, but she knew that with the tours, recording the albums and travelling over the world made that a hard task for her boyfriend, and she didn’t want him to stop doing what he loved just for settling with her.
She went over Keira’s house, her friend that was also Brian’s fiancée, and they spent the morning together and had lunch. They were both really excited for the returning of the guys. After all, six months was a hell of a long time.

At five o’clock, she was getting ready to leave for her parents’ house, when her phone went off. She beamed when she saw the caller ID, thinking that her boyfriend managed to catch the previous plane and had arrived sooner than she expected.

“Hey, Zacky!”, she answered the call, happily.

“Hey, baby.”, he said on the other line, not sounding too happy.

“What’s wrong, babe?”, Roxi asked, concerned. “Are you here already?”

“About that…”, Zacky said. “I… I don’t think I can get there for today…”

“What!?”, Roxi asked, in the verge of breaking into tears. She missed Zacky too much, and she couldn’t think about spending the Christmas Eve without him. “But you promised, Zacky! You promised you’d be here tonight!”

“I know baby girl, I’m so sorry…”, he apologized. “The plane will be arriving later and I won’t make it to the family dinner…”

“But everyone’s expecting you!”, Roxi said. “We all miss you so much, Zack!”

“I know, Rox… I miss you so much too. I just want to be there with you!”, Zacky apologized once more.

She passed her hand through her hair and massaged the bridge of her nose, trying to calm down and not to start crying. “When will you be here?”

“Tomorrow… Tomorrow I’ll be definitely with you!”

“Promise me, Zack. But please fulfil this one!”, she asked him.

“I promise you, baby. Tomorrow you’ll have me there just for you.”, he promised.

“Okay…”, she sighed. “Merry Christmas… Wherever you are…”

“Merry Christmas, Rox…”, he smiled. “I love you.”

“I love you too…”, she said before hanging up the call.

She calmed herself down and headed for the house where everyone was expecting her boyfriend. She hated to be the one who’d tell them he wouldn’t be arriving tonight, and she hated to think that he’d be spending the Christmas Eve alone with the rest of the guys. She knew they were part of his family, but he probably missed being with his blood family.

A little bit after midnight she left her parents’ house, after saying goodbye to everyone. She drove towards her house and parked the car. She opened the front door and walked to the living room, turning on the lights. She looked at the Christmas tree she had decorated with Keira’s help and sighed, thinking she wouldn’t be handing her presents to Zacky today.

She looked at the stairs and gasped, seeing her bedroom’s lamps were turned on. She was sure she had turned them off before leaving and the more she was thinking about it, she realized that her front door wasn’t locked either, like she had left it before she drove towards the other house. She grabbed her baseball bat and hid behind the Christmas tree, trying to peek to the top of the stairs. She groaned when she realized she couldn’t see anything to her bedroom because the door was just slightly opened. She decided to walk a bit further, and climb up the stairs. When she got to the top she took a deep breath and approached the bedroom. She peeked through the opening but cursed once she couldn’t find anyone.
“Whoever you are, the person who invaded my house, please go away!”, she said. “Or else I’ll have to hurt you!”

She got no answer and groaned, throwing her head back in desperation. “You can take whatever you want, just please go away!”

When no sound came from the inside of the room she took another deep breath and kicked the door open. She gasped once she entered the bedroom, seeing it had rose petals all over the floor and the bed and a bouquet of flowers lying in the mattress with a little note.

She crept closer to it and grabbed the flowers, smelling them and smiling. She loved roses; they were her favourite type of flowers. She looked at the card and smiled curiously at it.

“What do you say, creepy card?”, she asked more to herself, picking it up.

’Surprise! : )’

It was all that was written in the card. Surprise?, she thought.

“Who the hell are you, creepy person who broke into my house!?”, she asked, turning around and bringing her hands over her mouth, in surprise, once she looked at the doorframe.

There he was, the green eyed man, smiling at her. She gasped and ran over to him, wrapping her arms and her legs around him. “You’re here!”, she cried, tears starting to form in the back of her eyes.

“Surprise!”, he smiled, kissing her passionately. She cupped his face, wanting to seize every second of what was happening. He was finally back. He pulled away smiling, looking at her with those big shiny eyes. “I’m here with you now.”

She nodded, laughing with all the excitement and shedding a tear of happiness. She got out of top of him and looked at him from head to toes. He pulled her into a tight hug, kissing her forehead and chuckling. “It’s really me, Rox!”

“I just can’t believe you’re really here!”, she said, caressing his cheek. “I missed you so much!”

“I missed you, too, baby. More than you can imagine!”, he said. “But now we won’t be leaving for a long, long time.”, he assured. “We’ll start writing in the beginning of the summer!”

She smiled, more than pleased with that information. She gasped once he kneeled down in one knee in front of her and held her hand. She looked at him and he smiled at her.

“What are you doing!?”, she asked, surprised, covering her mouth with her free hand.

Zacky just chuckled and reached over his back pocket, picking a tiny blue velvet box. He looked at her eyes and smiled. “This is my Christmas gift for you…”

Her eyes widened and she couldn’t stop the little yelp that left her lips.

“Roxi, will you marry me?”, Zacky asked.

She felt tears of happiness rolling down her cheeks and just nodded her head furiously.

“Yes! Yes, yes, yes!”, she nodded. “I’d love to marry you!”

He grinned and picked her up, kissing her lips in the most passionate way he could find. She wrapped her arms around his shoulder and tugged her fingers in his hair, savouring the moment.

“Am I dreaming or this really the real life?”, she asked, when the pulled apart.

“It’s real life, baby.”, he smiled reassuringly at her. “It’s just you and me now!”, he said, kissing her forehead. “Merry Christmas, Rox.”

“Merry Christmas, Zacky!”, she said, hugging him as closely as she could.