Linger

They all sat in a circle on the carpeted floor and were handing out presents to one another. Dolores had gotten John's friends custom designed guitar picks and drum sticks, which they happily accepted knowing that she did not know much about them except for their position in the band.

John, on the other hand, had gotten them some items that he explained to Dolores were part of the inside jokes he had with them and some beer from the fridge. In return, John had gotten a very nice shirt from Jared and the rest of his friends bought him either a beanie or some new boxers for what ever reason, if you catch my drift.

When it finally came down to John and Dolores, the couple couldn't even bare to look at each other. They were both feeling so pressured especially in the presence of friends. John had experienced one Christmas already with a girlfriend, but never with Dolores, and she never experienced a Christmas without her family before. They were both nerve-racked about if they would like one another's presents.

"Well come on guys, let's get this show on the road!" shouted Pat, merrily. "This is what we all were waiting for, yeah?"

The others nodded in agreement, as they all gave a hopeful smile. John cleared his throat and stared at his girlfriend first, and just when he was about to say something, Dolores cut him off, "I want to give you my present first."

John looked taken aback for a moment before laughing off his nervousness and silently agreed considering he wanted to end the night with her being the main feature. He felt she deserved the spotlight in the end from all the hard work and stress she went through just to celebrate Christmas.

When she got up to retrieve her gift from the closet closest to their bedroom, the young man laid on his back with his eyes shut and a sigh escaping his lips. He was sure that her present to him was going to be great for she always seemed to study the little things about a person and bring that out to its purest form. He usually just asked what the other person wanted, but that was the hard thing about Christmas... you couldn't just ask, you just had to deliver with a surprise, whether it be good or bad.

Dolores came back out and demanded that John still keep his eyes shut, but sit up and hold his arms out. The suspense had escalated when John heard his friends makes "ooh"s and "ahh"s. Apparently it was something rather big, because when his hands took grasp of it, they almost bent back and snapped.

"Now be extremely careful John," he heard Dolores mumble. Taking that as a big reason to open slowly instead of ripping it to shreds because of all the bottled up feelings he was enduring, John took a deep breath to sustain himself. In his head, as the wrapping was cautiously being undone with his hands, he was thinking of all the possibilities it could have been concerning the size and hard texture of the object. It could have been that end table he was always wanting to put near his bed on the tour bus, or a new TV...

And when John opened his eyes, all that he could say was, "Holy shit."

His friends began laughing hysterically at the shocked face that was not merely faltering at all. It was absolutely glorious, he thought as he rubbed his hand up the arm of it and plucking a string. If you have not guessed it already, it was the electric guitar that he had always wanted: a Bomber Manson. The outstanding designs and colors of the guitar were brilliant and the quality of the strings and wood almost made John tear up. He was so grateful of Dolores...

"Is that phrase supposed to be taken in a good or bad way...?" Dolores finally spoke up with a tiny voice, and when John broke free of his trance and stared up at her, she had her hands to her mouth in a nervous gesture.

"It's definitely a good thing, babe." he said, standing up and walking to her. "You are like, the ultimate best girlfriend that any man would be lucky to have... I-I can't even believe you're mine right now."

Dolores was blushing the color of a cherry and John's friends had to bite their lips to hold in the laughter that was just urging to come out. They were so new to the cheesy John and it was always so simplistic to taunt him about it, but not wanting to hurt Dolores' feelings or make her more embarrassed, they kept quiet.

"You sure know how to flatter someone." the young lady waved a hand at her smiling face and took a seat next to Kennedy, who squeezed her shoulder out of affection.

"I'm a professional, babe." John started. "But now I guess it is time for me to give you my present."

Dolores watched his lanky figure walk to the tree and pick up the last two wrapped gifts, both smaller than what she had gotten him, but she figured it was equal in size if you put the two together. Her heart felt like it was fluttering and deflating at the same time. She was pretty sure that if she did not like the gift, she wouldn't be able to fake her happiness. All she could do was rub her hands on her knees.

The first gift that she held in her hands was squishy and flopping over and she knew instantly that it was a piece of clothing. Her nerves were getting the best of her now because usually when someone bought her clothes, it was never her style and she hated how she could not be happy about it.

John gave her a shaky but encouraging smile, and Dolores took that as a sign to unwrap and get it over with. The first flash of a light pink color emerged behind the paper wrapping, and so far she was happy. She always liked nude colors and especially if it were a nice sweater material, which it was.

Then when the whole thing was unwrapped, and Dolores held the artical of clothing into her sweaty hands, a huge smile had emerged on her face for the second time that day. She even let out a little squeal of approval. It was a light pink cardigan sweater.

"Oh, John, this is lovely. You are just amazing... I love it so much."

John and his friends began laughing at the way her body was bobbing out of joy and the way she was rubbing against the sweater like a cat in heat. John had never seen her act so strange when she was happy, so he could have only guessed that it was completely genuine and she didn't care at that moment how odd she looked.

"I don't mean to interrupt, babe, but we still have one last present to go..." his voice cracked slightly and Dolores began giggling while nodding her head at his statement. She was already pleased with what she had so she was so eager to know why he had gotten her something else.

The box-shaped present was put down in front of her with a slight thud, which made Dolores raise her brow, and then John spoke up again. "I'm not entirely sure if you're going to like this, but I figured why not try and see if you like it?"

His face was blank and his eyes looked slightly hollow, but Dolores only knew that was because he was afraid even though he had nothing to be scared of. She already loved what he had gotten from her and her heart basically belonged to him already...

Allowing her fingers to dig into the wrapping, the cold instance of metal nearly frightened the poor girl, but she continued until all that was left was cans of soup. Yes, soup.

"John," she laughed nervously, "I really love you right now..."

Garrett's voice broke the silence ringing in the air when he said, "John, what is- I can't even-"

"He got my favorite kind of food."



From that night on, Dolores and John had continued dating. For John, it was his first relationship that lasted more than four years and it was still as full of sparks than it was in the beginning of them dating. As for Dolores, she was having her teenage dream come true by only sticking to one man alone and never loving anyone else. He was someone who didn't judge her and actually shared the same music taste, which she was even more grateful of.

When it came to John's friends, Dolores had been right when she said she'd become really close to Kennedy. He was almost like an older brother she never had, and she was appreciative of that. He was badged with the responsibility to look out for her, when John couldn't.

Garrett was like a younger brother, bothering her endlessly but in a joking way. Jared and Pat were just best friends with her now and they had taken a liking to always begging Dolores to make them food after the turkey incident.

The couple were as happy as they could have been and if it wasn't for that legendary Christmas they spent together, who knows if anything would have proceeded to have been...