Status: complete!

Lonely Christmas

one of one.

"You have got to be kidding me," I spoke into the phone in disbelief. There's no way he's being serious. He has to be kidding.

"I'm not kidding," Andy replied, his voice completely serious. "You know how much this album means to us and John thinks we should catch a flight a little bit later so we can work on a few things."

"I thought the album was done, Andy. How are you still working on it if you're releasing it in only a few weeks?" I questioned.

"They're finishing touches that John's suggesting and we're running over them real quick," he explained. "Please don't get mad, Dani."

I glared at him, quickly realizing he couldn't really see me, so I settled for the picture of me and him on the fireplace and glared at that. "I'm most likely going to be spending Christmas alone and you expect me to be completely okay with that?" I asked flatly.

"I meant mad at me," he corrected. "Don't get mad at me. I promise I will be there tomorrow, I just don't know what time. Especially with delays in flights and such."

"Right," I scoffed.

"C'mon!" he whined. I would've laughed at the sound of his deep voice whining had I been in a better mood. "You can go to your parents and I can just pick you up from there."

I sighed, pinching the bridge of my nose. "My parents are taking their like, twentieth honeymoon. That's why we had that dinner at their place before you left, remember?" I reminded my busy, forgetful boyfriend.

"That's right," he muttered under his breath.

"Dani, you're all out of chocolate chip cookies!" My best friend, Jess, called to me, poking her head into the living room.

"You ate all of them?" I asked the blonde-haired girl in disbelief, who only gave me a sheepish grin in return. "I think there's Oreo's in the pantry."

"Somebody ate all my chocolate chip cookies?" Andy questioned with a gasp.

I rolled my eyes. "Jess at the chocolate chip cookie I made that were going to be for you, but you won't be here to eat them, so now they're hers," I told him.

Andy began to say something, but was cut off by what sounded like Jake in the background saying, "We gotta go, dude."

"Dani, I've gotta go," Andy said, his voice sounding apologetic and guilty. I didn't mean to make him feel bad, but I really couldn't help myself.

I sighed, chewing on my bottom lip. "Alright. Can you just call me tomorrow morning at least? So, in some sense, I can wake up with you on Christmas morning?" I asked, not caring how desparate or pathetic I sounded.

I heard the smile in his voice as he spoke. "Of course, baby. Whatever you want," he cooed. "We should be done here by ten, we could Skype before you go to bed?"

I smiled, feeling better that I'd at least see him on my laptop before I went to sleep. "Okay, I like that idea," I said.

He chuckled, the sound melodic. "That's good," he said. "Alright, Ash. Calm down, I'm getting off." I giggled as I heard Ashley whine and call him a few colorful words. "I really have to go now. I'll talk to you at ten."

"Okay."

"I love you," he said.

I couldn't help the smile that formed on my face. "I love you too," I spoke. "Bye." I hung up, sighing as I dropped my phone onto the couch. I ran a hand through my hair, frustrated with myself. This was Andy's job; it's what he lived for. I knew what I was getting into the second I agreed to be his girlfriend and I was getting this worked up over it? I was so pathetic.

I stood up, walking into the kitchen and dropped onto one of the bar stools. I examined all the empty containers of food laying on the counter. "Does Darren not feed you or something?" I asked Jess, who was searching through my fridge.

"He does, but you guys always have much more delicious food than Darren gets," Jess explained, grabbing a bin of cookie dough and a spoon before popping of the top and eating it.

"Why don't you get off your lazy ass and go grocery shopping instead of making him do it?" I asked.

"Because I'm usually busy sitting on my lazy ass," she said, shoveling cookie dough into her mouth. "Anyway, troubles with Andy? Didn't sound like you two were having a great conversation in there."

I rested my chin on my palm, frowning. "The band is doing some finishing touches on the new album, so they're going to have to catch a later flight," I responded.

She furrowed her eyebrows. "But it's releasing in a couple of weeks. There's nothing left to finish because it already is."

"Right? That's what I thought," I agreed. "But I can't really blame him. He's so excited for this album and everything so of course he's going to do his best to make it perfect."

"Aw," she sympathized, her eyes growing concerned. "Do you want me to stay here tonight so you're not alone? I can tell Darren what's going on and that I'm just gonna crash here and comfort my best friend."

I let out a laugh. "No thank you. I know you've put a lot of thought into his... present and I wouldn't want to ruin all your hard work," I remarked.

"Oh yeah, it's hard work alright," she agreed, wiggling her eyebrows suggestively.

I laughed. "Okay, Jess, too much information," I told her.

She shrugged. "Not really," she disagreed. "I don't know why you won't let me tell you exactly what's gonna happen. I mean, I need somebody to tell me if it's a good idea and-"

"And I don't want to know how kinky your night's going to be while I'm at home alone," I interrupted.

She frowned. "When you put it like that, you make me feel bad," she groaned.

I chuckled. "It's fine," I assured her. "Actually, you should probably go so you can get everything ready. I'll probably just clean up the mess you've made in here."

"If you're sure..." she trailed, putting the top back on the cookie dough and dropping the spoon in the sink.

"I'm sure," I confirmed. "Go ahead, I'll see you tomorrow. You and Darren are still coming over around three, right?"

She nodded. "Of course," she said, pulling on her jacket. "Make sure you tell Andy that I'm gonna kick his ass for making you spend Christmas Eve alone, got it?"

"Got it," I said, chuckling. She gave me a hug and after a couple more assurances that I'm just fine, she finally left. I immediately turned my iPod up as loud as it could go and started cleaning up the kitchen, not caring about if the neighbors complained. I needed a distraction and music was the perfect thing for that. So for the next hour and a half I cleaned the entire house, checking my laptop every two minutes to check and see if Andy had called.

It was now almost ten thirty, and he still hadn't called. I couldn't tell if I was getting more angry or sad that he hadn't, but all I knew was that this was turning out to be a crappy Christmas and it wasn't even Christmas day yet. I was making my bed, ready to sulk until I fall asleep when I heard my laptop make noise. Excited, I hurried back into the living room, my excitement growing when I saw Andy's name on the screen. I happily clicked the Answer button. "Jeremy?" I asked, my excitement vanishing when I saw the familiar guy. Don't get me wrong, besides Andy, I was the closest with Jeremy. But I was really looking forward to talking to Andy.

"Whoa, try to contain your excitement, Dani. We wouldn't want Sammi or Andy getting jealous, now would we?" he asked.

I chuckled lightly. "I didn't mean it like that, of course I'm excited to talk to you. I was just looking forward to talking to Andy," I corrected. "So why do you have Andy's laptop again?"

"Oh, he fell asleep. But I just remembered that he said he'd talk to you, so I decided to call so you knew that he wasn't just blowing you off or something," he told me.

I couldn't help but feel slightly disappointed. "Oh, okay. Thanks for that," I said, giving him a small smile. A knock at the door caused me to roll my eyes. "Great, someone's at the door," I muttered.

Jeremy raised an eyebrow. "Expecting somebody?" he inquired.

I shrugged. "No, but it's probably Mrs. Nancy, ready to scold me for how loud my music was a bit ago," I explained, rolling my eyes. "I'm gonna answer the door then go to bed. Thanks again for calling me."

"No problem. Merry Christmas!" he wished.

I wished him the same before ending the call, the incessant knocking continuing. "I'm coming, I'm coming!" I called, walking to the door. I quickly unlocked it before opening it, quickly defending myself as I did so. "Mrs. Nancy, I'm trying to keep my sanity and loud music is the only wa-" I froze when I saw who was at the door—it wasn't Mrs. Nancy.

Andy was standing in front of me, his luggage and a red bag in one hand and a Santa hat on top of his head. "Hello, I'm looking for my girlfriend, Daniella. You might know her," he spoke with a smile. "Have you seen her?"

"But you—and Jeremy—and I—what?" I stammered, unsure of what was going on.

He brushed passed me, dropping his things on the ground. I slowly shut the door behind him. "The hat was Ashley's idea, since I'm sure that's what has you all flustered," he joked.

"I thought you were stuck in the studio and wouldn't be back until tomorrow?" I asked him.

He chuckled. "Dani, baby, the album's been done for weeks. It's being released in January—what else could we do? It's not in our hands anymore," he said. "I figured you'd caught that lie, it was so bad."

"What the hell is going on then?" I asked, watching him kick off his boots and take the hat off before stretching out on the couch.

"I don't get a hello kiss or even hug? I'm hurt," he complained. "I lied to you about coming home tomorrow because I wanted you to be surprised when I showed up tonight."

"I'm definitely surprised," I said, nodding.

"So can I get my welcome kiss and hug now? Or would you like me to answer anymore questions?" he asked.

I grinned, rolling my eyes and taking a seat next to him before pressing my lips to his. He responded immediately, deepening the kiss as his tongue ran across my bottom lip, asking for entrance. I didn't hesitate to oblige. I pulled away a few minutes later. "Wait, what's in the red bag?" I pondered, eyeing the Santa-like bag.

"Presents," he answered, wrapping his arm around my shoulder as he pulled me close. "From the band, my parents and a few other people."

"Ooh," I said excitedly. "Speaking of which, what'd you get me?"

"I can't tell you, you have to wait until tomorrow," he tsked me. "Trying to ruin Christmas; how dare you." I grinned, snuggling into his shoulder more, inhaling his scent. "So you're not mad at me?"

"Of course not."

"Why don't we go into the bedroom?" he suggested.

I looked up to see his grinning face. "Sure," I said, standing up. I eyed the red bag, silently wondering what he could've gotten me.

"Your present from me isn't even in there," he claimed, tugging my hand so he could lead me into the bedroom.

"Sure it isn't," I said doubtfully with a chuckle as I shut the door behind me.

Of course, as the night progressed, I had no idea about the little black velvet box hidden underneath the nightstand.
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wow okay so if you completely hate this i am so sorry okay this just didn't turn out how i wanted it to (what's new?) and it's just yeah.
i hope you like it a little though & i hope you had a great christmas! c: