Counting Down The Days To Go

“Merry Christmas! Merry Christmas! Merry Christmas!” Aiden yelled while clanging something against the door of the bedroom.

I opened my eyes slowly as the noise amplified the headache in my throbbing head.

“Good morning,” Mike whispered into my ear. I looked up only to be enchanted by those mesmerizing green eyes.

“Merry Christmas,” I said to him before capturing his lips in a sweet, gentle kiss even though both of us had morning breath.

“Merry Christmas to you too.”

The both of us got up and grabbed bathrobes that we found in the bathroom.

“Let’s get down to the family room,” I told Mike. It was a yearly tradition that we exchanged presents bright and early in the morning before rushing back to our own families.

Aiden and Amanda were already waiting for us in the family room. I saw the presents that I had gotten for everybody in a distinct pile under the abnormally large fir tree. There were a few other piles under the tree too and I presumed that they belonged to the rest.

“Merry Christmas,” Amanda squealed.

We exchanged greetings and plopped ourselves down on a comfortable couch. Chanel and Jeff were soon stumbling down the stairs and into the family room.

“Did you guys use protection? Chanel, I’m sure you won’t want to end up like me,” Amanda called out.

“Um…you guys, we didn’t. Uh…” Chanel stammered as she blushed. Jeff just smiled.

The talk about sex made me recall what happened, or rather what almost happened the previous night. I turned to Mike to see him gazing at me too.

“Only when you’re ready,” Mike whispered into my ear so as to not let anyone else hear.

“Okay.”

“Alright alright. Enough chit chat. Let’s open the presents already!” Aiden yelled out. Someone seemed to be extremely hyper today. He went to the Christmas tree and pulled out a pile of presents that he bough for us. All of us then began to do the same by dragging out our loot and we ended up sitting in a circle on the floor.

“Let me go first!” Amanda cried out. “First off, here’s this present for my wonderful friend!” She said as she turned to me and handed me a pink envelope.

“It’s a few hundred dollars’ worth of mall vouchers!” Amanda squealed. “So that you can buy whatever you want.”

I smiled in back in gratitude and thanked her before passing her the gift that I had bought.

“Oh my gawd. It’s pink! It’s pink!” Amanda squealed as she took out the music player and the headphones.

“Yeah. I just want to let you listen to some music and chill. I thought you really needed it because of all the stuff that's happening,” I said, shrugging.

“I love you!” Amanda cried out before giving me a huge hug.

One after another, we exchanged gifts. I felt really bad because I hadn’t bought anything for Jeff. And I felt even worse when he gave me a gift. I kept apologizing but he was a cool guy so he shrugged it off. It turned out that everyone else except Chanel didn’t get him a gift either.

I passed Chanel her hamster and she seemed to absolutely love it. She named it Ruby. Aiden fell in love with the Hot Topic goodies that I had bought for him and he wore the beanie right away. Chanel was very generous and she got me the Chanel bag that I had been eying after.

Aiden on the other hand, got me a really interesting gift. It was in a huge box that was hot pink in color and tied up with a black bow but I thought nothing of it since it looked pretty normal.

“Open it now!” Aiden said with a glint in his eyes.

“Okay…” I said. I undid the bow and took off the cover, only to see a huge mass of purple tissue covering the gift. After searching amid the sea of tissue for a little bit, I finally felt something soft...and really small.

I pulled out what I thought to be a hot pink handkerchief at first, only to realize after some fumbling around that it was a lacy G-string.

“Aiden!” I cried out with my face flushed red with embarrassment, but I was amused nevertheless. Amanda, Chanel, Jeff and Aiden were doubling over with laughter. Mike was looking at the G-string with a cocked eyebrow.

“Oh my god! Take out the other one!” Aiden said through some laughter.

"The other one?" I asked in disbelief.

I searched around for a bit, almost afraid of what I might take out. I felt something silky and I pulled my hand out, only to reveal a top. It was a bra-like thing with some translucent, silky bits around it.

“What were you thinking when you got her those?” Amanda asked.

“Hmm…that maybe Crystal would model those for me?” Aiden asked, wriggling his eyebrows.

“Dream on, boy,” Mike said, his voice lower than usual.

“Chillax. I won’t force her to do it. Right, Crystal?” Aiden asked, turning to me.

“Umm…I don’t think I’m ready for these yet. Thanks though.” I said.

“Mike is one lucky guy,” Amanda said with a mischievous grin on her face.

“Hey hey hey. I bought if for her. So it’s for my eyes only,” Aiden suddenly cut in.

“Oh please. Like which girl would flaunt her body to you?” Chanel asked.

“Crystal?” Aiden said with some hope in his eyes.

“Like I said, dream on. Crystal, I’m going to give you your present now,” Mike said, trying to change the subject. I don’t think he liked the idea of me modeling the lingerie for Aiden very much.

Mike reached over and grabbed a huge package. Believe me when I say huge, I meant HUMONGOUS. I had to stand up to open the package.

After everything was peeled off, I was met with a huge, cuddly teddy bear! It was brown in color with huge black eyes. It even had this cute collar around his neck with an M on it. It was just so cute!

“Oh my god. Thank you so much!” I cried out, enveloping Mike in a hug.

“You’re welcome. You can treat this bear as my substitute when you’re alone at night and need someone to cuddle up to,” Mike said. He was just so sweet!

“And that’s how you give a girl a present,” Mike said to Aiden.

“Whatever bitch.” Aiden retorted.

“Okay, okay. Merry Christmas,” Chanel said, hoping to restore the jolly Christmas mood.

I only had two packages left to give and it was Mike’s gift. I was nervous yet excited at the same time.

“I got you these,” I said shyly. I was worried that Mike wouldn’t like what I had bought for him.

He opened up the package containing the leather-bound book first. “I love it. I’ve been meaning to buy one of these and you got it for me! It’s like you read my mind or something.”

“Aww. Okay, now open the other one,” I said, pushing him the other present that I had gotten for it.

I bit my lip in anticipation as he slowly opened up the present.

“Crystal, you shouldn’t have. I love this one too,” Mike said as he held up the customized watch that I gotten for him. I had Mike's name engraved on the back of the watch and added some authentic gems to the watch to give it a 'bling bling' kinda feel.

He then leaned in to give me a big hug.

“This is my best Christmas in ages and I’m sure it’d get better with you around,” I whispered into Mike’s ear.

He whispered something back but Amanda’s squealing made me sit up and notice her instead. It turned out that Ruby the hamster had ran up her top. Aiden was squirming with mirth while Chanel had her hand down Amanda's bra and she was trying to take Ruby out. I couldn't help but laugh along.

This was a very merry Christmas indeed. My boyfriend was sitting by my side while my friends were making a fool of themselves like usual. Isn't this what Christmas is all about?