The Nerd and The Bully

058. Christmas

Three Months Later... (Christmas Day)

~ Gracia's POV ~

I wake up on Ash's chest. Suddenly glee fills through me. It's our first Christmas living together. I hear scratching and whines at our door. I look up and Ash is still sleeping. I carefully get from under him.

I open the door and our golden retriever, Posie, comes in. She's growing so much. She's still a puppy but she's getting big. She runs and climbs her way up into our bed and licks all over Ash's face.

He groans. "Okay, okay. I'm up, Posie. Jesus." He laughs. I chuckle as Posie pants with her tail wagging. She runs in two little circles. "Merry Christmas, baby." Ash kisses my cheek.

"Merry Christmas, lover." I say and he chuckles. "I'm going to go feed Posie her breakfast and we could take a shower together." I say.

He smiles. "I would like that." He says, kissing my neck sweetly. I giggle. I walk to the door and opened it. Posie followed me into the kitchen where I fed her. She starts eating. I then lay out toys for her to play with to keep herself occupied.

I walked back into the room and Ash is out of bed. I hear the shower running. I smile and walk in the bathroom. I take my clothes off and stepped in the shower quietly so he couldn't notice. He jumped when I place my arms around his waist. He turns around and smiles. I smile back.

He kisses my lips. I giggle and we showered together for about 30 minutes. When we got out, we both brushed our teeth and I added additional time so I could cleanse and moisturize my face. My period is coming and I tend to break out in pimples before and when it comes.

I walked out, dressed in a cute outfit. Ash is cooking us breakfast on the stove, occasionally feeding Posie some bacon pieces. I chuckle. "Posie?" I call. She turns to me. "Come here, girl!" I call and she runs to me. She wags her tail and pants as I pet her behind her ears.

She jumps on my legs and I pick her up and hold her in my arms. She places her head in my elbow and close her eyes as I pet her. Ash takes Posie out of my arms as we eat breakfast. She whines and whines until we both finished.

"Chlo will be so excited." I say and he chuckles.

"Yes, I know." He says. "She's been talking about a big Barbie for so long." He chuckles and I smile. "Every one should be here by 9." He says and I nod.

After we were done with breakfast, I got a text message from my mom. I smiled.

Mom 🥰: Merry Christmas to you, sweetheart! I'm so sorry me and your father couldn't be here :( but the good thing is that our trip was cut short so we're able to visit you and Ashton in early January. Kiss Posie for me!

I chuckle. I pick up Posie and take a picture of me kissing her head. I sent it to Mom.

Me: *one attachment*
Me: Can't wait to see you! Love you both and have an amazing Christmas Day!

~

It was 9:30 and everybody was here. By everybody, I meant Callie, Chloe, AJ, Serena, Noah, Gwen and Chase. I smile as Chloe runs around, playing with Posie. Callie calls her over so she can open her presents first.

I handed her the first present. She shook it and laughed. "What is it?" She turns and asks Ash. He smiles and shrugs. She tears the paper open and gasp. I knew she would like it.

Ash and I have saved up our money to buy Chloe an Orbeez Ultimate Soothing Spa. She told us that Callie couldn't afford it. I saved up money I got from my birthday, Ash had gotten a job and soon we were able to be able to afford it right on time for Christmas.

She hugs Ash and I. I smile, seeing her so happy. Gifts got passed around. Ash was looking nervously. I wonder what's on his mind. Soon, all the gifts were shared. Until Ash called, "there's one more." We all looked at him confusingly.

He walks in our room. After a couple of seconds, he walks back out. He has a small present in his hand. I wonder what it is. He hands it to me. I chuckled. "What is it, a necklace?" I ask him.

He shrugs. "Just open it, babe."

I unwrapped the paper and it was a burgundy case. I looked at him and opened the case. I and everyone else around me gasped. "Ashton." I say. He takes it out of my hand. Serena and Gwen squeals when he gets on one knee. Oh my gosh, this is happening.

"CiCi, we've been together for a year, two months, and 6 days." He starts. He's been counting? "When we did that project together, I never expected for us to magically connect the way we did. I never expected to fall deeply in love with you. I love you so much." Tears spring to my eyes. "We're young. But I know that I wanna marry you. Especially after high school. This is a promise ring. A promise that I will propose to you after high school and we'll get married and live happily." He says.

I smile and nod. "I love you." I tell him as he places the ring on my finger. I hug him and kiss his lips. I sorta forgot that we weren't alone.

"Ay, ay!" AJ yells. We turn to see his hand shielding Chloe's eyes. "There's a fucking child in here." He says and we all laugh.

"No bad words!" Chloe scolds. We laugh.

~

I was laying with Ash and Posie in our bed. I had turned on Elf for us to watch. That movie had always been my favorite Christmas movie. Posie followed us and got comfortable on our bed. I rubbed her soft fur as she laid down, watching the tv.

She was quiet the whole movie. I looked down to see her sleep. I nudged Ash and he carried her to her bed next to ours. She snores lightly. I smiled. The movie soon ended and we shut the television off. Ash laid back down beside me.

"I love you." He tells me as he caress my cheek.

"I love you too." I say back. "I love the ring."