One-shot Collection

Christmas Gift

{Christmas Gift}

"Doorbell!" mom yelled from the other side of the house when the doorbell rang. I rolled my eyes and got off the couch to answer it, reluctantly leaving my best friend (F/n) watching a shitty Christmas movie with a few of my distant family members. We'd decided to (for some god forsaken reason) invite basically all of our extended family to our house for Christmas this year. Which.. I guess would be okay normally, the house was big enough. The problem therein lies in the fact that I knew almost none of them. That's why, when I opened the door and saw my grandpa on the other side, I outwardly sighed at a friendly face. "Gee I'd hoped you'd be at least a little happy to see me." he teased at my sigh, ruffling my hair a bit. I laughed and brought him in for a hug, already knowing that everything was going to feel a lot more homey with him around. And it was. Rick, my grandpa, and I watched TV for a while and then we (including (F/n)) decided to sneak off to get ice cream.
"Hey (Y/n)?" (F/n) asked, and I turned to him and hummed in response, careful not to tip over my mint chocolate chip ice cream cone as I did. "Can I uh.. Talk to you for a second?" he asked, face contorting weirdly as he peeked behind me at what I assumed was my grandpa paying for the frozen treats. I raised a brow at his concern, but nodded and followed him out of the store. "Everything okay?" I asked, and (F/n) eyed me warily. "I dunno.. is everything okay?" he retorted, and I squinted at his confusing words. "Uh, yes? What's up?" I asked, and he looked behind me again, as if to confirm that we were alone, before sighing. "I just.. I mean, don't get me wrong. I'm not judging or anything but-" he started, and I laughed a bit. "What, don't like mint chocolate chip?" I joked, and he rolled his eyes, but looked back at me with his trademarked iron stare a second later. Shit.. He was serious. "Sorry. What's wrong, what aren't you judging me for?" I asked, and he fiddled with his vanilla cone. "I've notice the way you two are.. Or at least, how he's…" he trailed off, nudging his head in the direction of the shop. I frowned, utterly confused at this point. "Who and what?" I tilted my head, genuinely wondering what he was talking about. He scoffed, friendly but still serious. "Your grandpa. How he's been acting with you." he said finally, and I smiled nervously, brain doing flips trying to figure out what the hell was going through (F/n)s mind. "What's he acting like?" I asked, and he held my stare with his own stern one. "You know… Like that." he decided on. "Like what??" I tilted my head further, and he huffed. "Intimate!" he said loudly, and my eyes widened. What was he talking about? [Grandpa? Intimate? With me?] I coughed out a laugh, but as his serious expression didn't fade, my laughter did. He wasn't joking.. "What the hell are you talking about (F/n)?" I laughed again, albeit more nervously this time around. He took in my expression, seemingly realizing that I actually didn't realize what he was talking about. "You know- how could you not know? It's painfully obvious!" he blurted out, and I frowned, "What is??"
"The way he looks at you, how his eyes linger on your body when you aren't looking, when he puts his arms around you like that-" he explained, and I saw a flash of us in the ice cream parlor just minutes before, as if it was just coming to light. The feeling of Ricks arm curled around my waist as I ordered, the way his hand dipped a bit too far down my spine when I looked at the flavors on my tippy toes. "(Y/n) he practically held your hand all the way here! How could you not notice that?" (F/n) spit out and blinked at me with an expression like I shouldn't be so clueless and I blinked back, realizing that we did indeed hold hands on the walk here.
This was normal for us though, we'd always hold hands and hug longer than others and when I was on his lap he'd pull me flush against him and- "Oh god you're right." I muttered under my breath, just now realizing how every way he'd hold me and look at me was definitely not normal. How had no one else noticed? Did they, and they just weren't interfering?? I bit my lip, and intense sense of anxiety running through my veins. Did I like grandpa Rick? "Do you.. Like him?" (F/n) asked, repeating my thoughts. I looked up at him for a second, eyes searching but failing to find any sense of judgement. He really was an open minded dude. I picked at my lip, glancing back at the shop eyes finding Rick in the small crowd. [I mean… Sure I like when he hugs me, and when he kisses my cheek I get a little tingling feeling in my spine.. And when I sit on his lap I get a buzz of warmth in my stomach…] "Oh shit.. I like him." I reveled, eyes wide and staring hopelessly through the window at my grandpa who was oblivious to everything happening right now. I glanced back at (F/n), eyes still in a state of terror. "D-does he know? Or do-do you think he thinks that I've been playing a year's long cat and mouse game with him-because omygod I really had no idea!" I stumbled out, and (F/n) laughed and put a comforting hand on my shoulder. "I don't know.. But even if he didn't realize how clueless you were… I'd say it's still a little creepy." he offered, and I nodded. "Yeah.. But I mean it's not like he did anything to me right?" I shrugged, and (F/n) grinned "Not that you remember." he teased, and I shoved him playfully. "Shush, you." before deciding to go back inside.
I wasn't sure how to deal with this new revelation, but I knew I wouldn't be able to tell him how I felt.. I didn't know if I wanted to. What if he didn't like me? What if (F/n) was wrong? It could end up in disaster, and me loosing the only grandparent I actually liked. Plus, I was still trying to wrap my head around the fact that I had a crush on him.. As the thought of incest, let alone our age difference had never occurred to me as particularly attractive. Neither had he, for that matter. But now I couldn't stop tracing my eyes over the curve in his back, the way his lips parted into a smile whenever he looked at me, and how he brushed his messy grey hair back every few minutes like it was a nervous tick.
At dinner, (F/n) had apparently noticed me staring, because he shoved me under the table a few times. I glared his way, but I did appreciate it. Didn't want Rick to catch me staring after all.. Well maybe I did, again- I wasn't sure yet. I stared down at my plate for a while, and felt my breath catch in my throat as I looked up and saw Rick already staring at me. He smiled, playing it off nonchalantly, but I couldn't muster up a similar expression, instead blushing and looking down at my plate again. Dammit, he'd defiantly noticed that.. Sure enough, he gave me strange glances throughout the rest of the evening. He'd been able to hide most of them, but soon he got a bit tipsy from eggnog and started getting a bit reckless with his stares. I'd even started to worry that other people would notice. I blushed every time we locked eyes, and by the end of the night he'd even got a bit brazen and saddled up right next to me on the couch. His eyes were half lidded and his face flushed as his arm wrapped around the cushion behind me and his fingers rested on my shoulder. I gulped and tried, failing miserably, to keep down a blush. A slight grin appeared on his face at that, and I cursed myself, assuming he'd figured me out finally.. But he didn't say anything else to me that evening, even a good night.