Cinnamon Spice || Leonardo DiCaprio

Chapter 14: Childhood Belief

I expected to see Leo when I woke up, but what I didn't anticipate was all the presents beneath the tree, and the stockings filled so much they were bulging. I groggily moved from Leo's arm draped over me, checking the window. There was at least 5 inches of fresh snow on the ground so far, and it was still coming down hard. The wind howled as the flakes danced around occasionally before going straight diagonally down. I tip toed over to my stocking first, touching it lightly before Tobey was stirring.

"Are you up already," he asked, rubbing his eyes before sitting up in the recliner.

"Yeah, I didn't realize we got so much stuff for each other," I remarked.

"Yeah... I didn't keep track. Should we wake up, Leo? You look like you're ready to open everything."

I giggled extra quietly as I nodded my head to his question. "Yeah, I don't think he'll want to miss out on this." I carefully shook Leo's arm as Tobey headed for the bathroom. "Leo? It's Christmas..."

He finally looked up at me, it not taking long for a smile to paint his lips. "Hey...," he breathed, stretching his arms before getting up. He instantly wrapped me up in a hug, gazing at the presents in a sleepy haze.

"Tobey and I were going to open the presents now."

"Alright..." He was still getting himself together before Tobey rejoined us. We went for the stockings first, me dropping my mouth in excitement when I kept pulling out items.

"It's a red kazoo with Rudolph's face on it," I giggled, blowing on it as Leo winced since he was still waking up. "And there's a lot of chocolate, and chocolate with peanut butter, and... a little stuffed Dalmatian. This is so adorable. Oooh, and a few hair scrunchies in different colors, a bunch of candy canes... This seems like it goes on for forever... And a dark green headband. I think that's it." I put my whole arm into it to dig to the bottom, Tobey and Leo bringing out a few similar things from their own.

"I got a dark green kazoo with the Grinch on it." I held back a laugh, since it was ironic Leo received that when I originally compared him to that character. "And a lot of the same chocolate you did. Candy canes... A really nice compass. A small book about different species of animals, and that's it."

Tobey was up next even though we had already pulled everything out. We were basically just voicing what we got. "I got a blue kazoo with Frosty the Snowman on it, chocolates, candy canes, some nice ties, and a decent watch. I've actually needed a new watch. How did you guys know?"

I looked over at Leo as he looked back at me, neither of us speaking up. Before we could think too much about it, we were moving onto the wrapped gifts.

I nearly squealed when I unveiled the cutest set of three slippers. One of them were red foxes, the other pandas, and the final one frogs. It was strange how Tobey got his whole pickleball set when I didn't recall Leo or me getting that for him. It was also bewildering when Leo ended up with a rare Star Wars action figure, which he had asked for with the first Santa we visited. I recognized the next set of presents we bought for one another though.

I was smiling from ear to ear when I saw the sweater that Tobey got me. It was a nice mango orange, and I could already see me wearing it for Halloween next year, and of course all of this winter. Leo wrapped his arm around me after seeing the neat, old fashioned red model car I bought him.

"This was before we were close. It was when you still hated me, so I hope you like it," I told him.

"I fucking love it," he promised, giving me a complete hug.

I almost forgot that Leo hadn't gifted me anything yet, since I had so much joy watching the other two receive things. Leo gave Tobey the nicest dress shirts, and I had given him a pair of socks that were weather proof.

"Your present is somewhere in the tree," Leo whispered to me.

"What," I slightly laughed, already tilting my head to try to see past the small lights.

"Go on," he gently said, me getting to my feet. I was struggling as I searched every branch, but then I somehow saw it exactly eye level with me. It had been reflecting in the window pane, and I felt my heart flutter as I delicately took the gold necklace from the pine needles.

It was the cutest most beautiful piece of jewelry. It was a gold reindeer with a tiny red ruby for the nose. Even though it was simple I could tell it wasn't cheap. I could feel Leo carefully putting it around my neck for me.

"I thought it would always help you to remember Christmas eve. It was a night where Santa would need Rudolph to get here, and it took a wake up call for me to realize I had feelings for you. I never hated you, Bonnie. I was just in a bad mood that you changed my plans, but when the bad mood went away... So did all of my negative feelings towards you. I know I didn't buy you a million different things, but I wanted to get you something really special, not something you would forget about in a few months."

I shook my head as I tried to keep myself from becoming emotional. "Leo, this is beyond thoughtful and beautiful. You didn't even have to get me anything, but you did. I love where we are right now." I held his face in my hands to kiss him, our lips moving perfectly together before parting. He was rubbing my upper arms as I kept them in the same spot.

"I do too. And I plan on buying you so many more gifts in the future. I'll be taking you to the fanciest restaurants, there's your birthday... I'm going to treat you like the queen you are."

I giggled as I dropped my hands, since I was feeling nervous. The butterflies were almost unbearable, but I never wanted them to leave. "I thought you were going to call me a princess."

"Nah, you're a queen, Bonnie, and I was a dickhead for not realizing it sooner." He kissed my forehead as another smile made its way across my lips. We jumped apart when the phone rang, Leo running over to answer the cord telephone.

"Hello? What? Are you sure? But- Okay, thanks for letting us know. Alright," Leo spoke before hanging up. He just kept staring down at the device before I said his name.

"Leo?"

"The person that rented us this place just called. They said that they were sorry they weren't able to fill our stockings last night or give us complimentary gifts. They said the weather was too bad, and that we could stay here extra days if we needed..."

"Wait, but if they didn't give us these things, then who?" I was now the one staring at him as it seemed unbelievable. "Do you think he really was the real Santa?"

"Didn't it seem like he was," Leo questioned.

I couldn't help but gaze into the blizzard, this magical occurrence just seeming to make sense. I never expected to find the guy of my dreams and realize that my childhood belief in Santa Claus was correct.

"So, do you guys want to eat something now? I'm really hungry," Tobey spoke up, breaking us from our revelation.

"Yeah, I got a cheeseball and some crackers for snacks," I shared, us heading for the kitchen. I think Tobey was just as shaken up as we were, only he was handling it more calmly.

A/N: Hey guys, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. :) I know it was a little shorter than what they typically are, but I just felt like it was a good place to end it after what happened. There should still be another chapter or two left to this story. <3 Please remember to comment, vote, and follow. Thank you so much! <3