Best Friends...Forever?

My parents were busy getting the house ready for Christmas. They cleaned everything downstairs. They bought present that were wrapped. Mine were hidden. They had bought food for the meal and we were going to get a tree. Hunter tagged along with us; he always came with us to pick out our tree. The ride was really long but Hunter and I were loud the whole way, laughing at things we saw and said. When we arrived at the tree farm, it was cold and I had a light jacket on. I should have listened to my mom when she told me to put on a heavier one. Hunter and I headed out into the field to look for the tree. We passed the fat, short trees because I hated them. We looked for tall, skinnier trees.

“I like this one.” Hunter pointed to a tree that was ahead of him.

“No way,” I said looking at the tree. “It looks funny. It bigger on the top then it is on the bottom. It’s an upside down tree.”

“It’s not upside down,” Hunter argued.

“Yes it is besides this one.” I pointed to the tree next to it. “Is the tree we are getting; it’s perfect.”

Hunter looked at the tree with disgust. “That tree is funny looking.”

“No, it’s not, your tree is.”

“No, your tree is.”

“No, your tree is.”

“No, your tree is.”

After going back and forth a million times he finally said, “Fine get your tree it’s going to be in your house anyways.”

“Victory is mine,” I said. My dad sawed down the tree as me and Hunter said timber as it fell.

We dragged the tree back. We meaning my dad and Hunter and paid for and loaded the tree. When we got back we set the tree up and Hunter and I started decorating it. After we got the lights on and started with the ornaments, my parents left to do other things. They still had some presents to buy. Hunter and I continued decorating the tree.

My tree was really tall and I couldn’t reach the top to put the angel on so I asked Hunter,

“Hunter, can you reach the top to put the angel on?” He grabbed the angel from me and tried to place it on the top but he was just a bit too short and couldn’t reach it.

“What if I lift you up? Then you could probably reach it.” Hunter asked coming over to me to pick me up.

I ran away from him and said, “Are you crazy you won’t be able to lift me?”

“Are you saying I’m weak?” Hunter joked.

“No, I’m saying I’m too heavy,” I said sadly.

“You’re not heavy, Jessica,” he said in a sincere voice. Then he said, “Watch” and suddenly I was lifted off the ground with the angel in my hand. Hunter had lifted me up. I quickly placed the angel on the top of the tree and yelled, “Okay put me down.” But he didn’t put me down. “Hunter put me down,” I yelled. He only changed his hold on me so I was now in his arms bridal style.

“Nope I think I’ll just carry you around.” He smirked.

“Seriously, I’m probably too heavy. Put me down!”

His smirk faded. “Not until you say that you are not fat.”

“But I am and if you don’t put me down soon you are going to drop me.”

“No I won’t! Now say it or else I won’t put you down.”

“Fine, I’m not fat,” I said in an annoyed tone.

“Say it like you mean it,” he said serious, still holding me.

“Fine.” I rolled my eyes then said in the most sincere tone as I could, “I’m not fat..” Then when he put me down I added ,“But you are.” in a joking tone.

“What did you just say?” Hunter said with a smile on his face.

“I said you are fat.” The next thing I know Hunter is running at me and chasing me around the house. He finally caught me and then started tickling me. I fell to the floor as he tickled my feet. I laughed as I try to say stop but I couldn’t get it out. He finally stopped.

“Now what do you say to me?” He asks.

“That you should go on a diet.” He starts to tickle me again but I scream, “No, not again.”

“Then say you’re sorry for calling me fat,” Hunter said.

“I’m sorry that I called you fat,” I said.

“Good now when are your parents getting back I’m hungry?”

“Me too,” I added.

My parent’s brought a pizza home with them and we all ate in the living room. The tree was
all decorated and Hunter went home.

I went to bed excited; Christmas was almost here in two days. Everyone was happy it seemed, even Hunter with his parents in another country.
--
I woke up in the morning and found my parents downstairs having breakfast. The tree looked great; Hunter and I did a good job. I made myself a bagel and joined my parents in the living room. My parents were talking and I was watching TV.

“Who’s coming for Christmas?” I asked when I was done with my breakfast.

“Nobody on Christmas but on Christmas Eve the family will be here,” my dad said.

“That’s what I meant who in the family is going to be here on Christmas EVE.”

“Your dad’s sister, my two brothers, and your cousins. My mother and grandmother. That should be all of them.” My mother listed all of my relatives. None of my relatives were married; my one uncle was for a little bit but they got a divorce. I realized that I hadn’t told my parents that Hunter was going to spend Christmas and Christmas Eve with us.

“It’s okay for Hunter to come over, right?”

“Of course,” my mother said.

My dad added, “He’s always welcomed here.”

I smiled. “Great because his parents are away and I invited him like usual.”

My parents nodded. “I’m spending New Year’s Eve over there again.”

“That’s fine,” they said.

I spent the day with Hunter at his house. I watched him play video games and I played some with him too. His parents had sent him a Wii for Christmas and it arrived early. He set it up and we were making characters of ourselves. When he was done making one for himself, I took the Wii remote and made some adjustments to his character. I made him bald, gave him glasses, and a big nose. Then I adjusted the weight so it was as fat as I could make it.

“Now it looks just like you,” I said laughing at my creation.

“It does not,” Hunter defended, “Didn’t we already go through this? I’m not fat do you want to get tickled again?”

“No thank you. I’m good.” I changed his character back to how he had it. Then I started to make one for myself. I gave her long brown hair and brown eyes. She was average height and I made her skinny. Not too skinny so she was a toothpick but skinny enough so she didn’t look fat. We played Wii sports. I kicked Hunter’s butt in tennis but he beat me in boxing. We had the same ability for bowling and baseball and we both really sucked at golf. Soon the day was over with and I had to go home.

I said, “Goodbye and see ya tomorrow.”

Tomorrow was Christmas Eve and all of my relatives would be coming over and Hunter.
--
I woke up and went downstairs to find my parents in a rush preparing for today.

“What time is everyone coming over?” I asked as my mom checked the ham.

“Around three o’ clock. But you know how your uncle is always late.”

“When are we eating?” I jumped up on the counter and watched my mom start to prepare the food.

“Um... whenever everyone gets here no later than four, probably,” my mom answered.

“When are we opening presents?” I rattled off another question.

You could tell my mom was getting annoyed when she said, “After we are done eating, not right after but you can’t open presents from us until tomorrow.” Of course I knew the answer to that one we always opened presents a half hour after dinner after everyone finished their dinner talk. I never got to open my presents from my parents until Christmas, though.

“One last question,” I said.

“What is it?” my mom said frustrated.

“Do you need any help?” It probably came as a surprise to her since I never offered to help and never had helped before but I figured she might need some.

“No thank you, just stop bugging me and maybe go see what Hunter is doing.” She said it nicely and shooed me off the counter. I jumped down and grabbed a coat and walked next door to Hunter’s. I walked right in and sat down on his couch, after hearing the shower going. I flipped on the TV as I waited for him to get out of the shower.

After five minutes, I heard the water stop. A few minutes after that Hunter came down the stairs. He didn’t have a shirt on and his light brown hair was glistening from his shower. He walked over and sat on the couch. I watched his chest disappear as he put on his shirt.

“Hey,” he said.

“Hi.”

“So when are we eating?” he asked looking at me to answer.

“Everyone should be there around three but we won’t eat till about four,” I answered.

“So that gives us,” Hunter looked at the clock stove for the time, “four and a half hours to do whatever we want.”

“Yup, but we should probably get to my house around three when my relatives arrive or my mom might get mad.”

“Okay, so what shall we do until three?” Hunter asked.

“I don’t know.” I shrugged. We wound up watching TV for another hour. Hunter flipped through the channels the whole time going from one show to another. I didn’t really care, there was nothing good on today but Christmas shows. After we decided to play with the Wii. We played a couple games of Mario Party 8 and a game of bowling.

“I’m hungry,” I said as I beat Hunter by ten pins in bowling.

“We still have a couple hours though.”

“But I’m hungry now! What snacks do you have over here?” I walked into the kitchen and started looking around the cupboard and pantry for a snack. I spotted a bag of popcorn so I grabbed it and stuck it in the microwave. When the buzzer dinged I dumped it out and placed it in a bowl. I sat on the couch next to Hunter and popped a piece of popcorn into my mouth. “Ahh. It’s hot,” I said as I fanned my mouth. Hunter shook his head with a smirk on his face. “Don’t smirk at me!” I yelled.

“It’s hard not to. Of course it’s hot; you just took it out of the microwave,” Hunter explained. I took another piece of popcorn but this time I chucked it at Hunter. “Why’d you do that?” he asked.

“Because you were smirking at me.” I grabbed another and chucked it at him but he caught it in his mouth still smirking. “How’d you do that?” I asked actually impressed.

“I’m just talented like that.” I rolled my eyes. “Sure you are. I bet you can’t do it again.” I chucked another piece of popcorn at him and he caught it.

“I told you. I’m talented,” he boasted.

“Oh, yeah.”

“Yeah.”

“Then catch this.” I threw a handful of popcorn at him.

“That’s not fair.” He fake pouted. Then he grabbed a handful and threw it at me.

“Hey, why’d you do that?” I yelled.

“Because you threw it at me first,” he defended. The popcorn war had begun. We threw popcorn at each other till it was scattered all over the room and nothing was left in the bowl. By the end we were both laughing.

“Now you have to clean this up,” Hunter said serious.

“What about you?” I questioned.

“You threw the first piece, you pick it up,” he said.

“No way, you have to help.”

“Why should I?”

“Because you made this mess too?”

“Fine, I’ll help but only cause I’m nice like that.” I rolled eyes but didn’t say anything. We cleaned the popcorn off the floor and threw it all away. We sat back on the couch.

“I didn’t even get to eat any of it,” I pouted. Then Hunter started laughing.

“What’s so funny?”

“You have popcorn in your hair, see?” He reached up and grabbed a piece from my hair, and then he popped it into his mouth. “Hey, that should have been mine. It was in my hair.” I was still hungry.

“Yes, but I took it out so I got it.”

“But I’m hungry.”

“It’s almost three o’ clock anyways. We should probably leave soon,” Hunter said looking at the time.

“Wow, we wasted a lot of time. But we won’t eat till four,” I said.

“You can’t wait an hour.”

“I guess I could wait. Let’s go.”