The Guy Next Door

Chapter 14

Carmen's POV

After picking up all the presents for everyone including the Irwin family, I head straight home. It's like six in the evening, so, I grab everything out of my trunk and take it all inside. Walking, in I expect nobody to be home. Not even my mom. So, I jump a little when I see Ashton, Lauren, and Harry. My face softens into a smile. They made a full on dinner.

"What's this?" I ask.

"We knew you were going to be tired after shopping, so we made you a nice dinner." Lauren says.

"Well, let me go put these upstairs while you guys wash up and prepare to eat. Close your eyes while I go up there." I say before waiting for them to close their eyes. Once they do, I head towards the stairs but first I give Ashton a quick kiss. I take everything and put it all on my bed before covering it up with my jacket and comforter. I head back downstairs and sit down at the table with everyone. I pick up the wine glass filled with red liquid. "What's in here?" I ask.

"It's Hawaiian Punch." Harry explains for me.

"So, what do we have?" I ask.

"Lasagna with bread." Ashton says as I fill my plate.

I immediately dig in. The kids only ate half of what was on their plates. When they were done, we sent them home while Ashton and I took care of dishes.

As I was scrubbing a plate he comes up and hugs me from behind. He then places a kiss on my neck. I smile a bit before setting down the plate. I turn around to stare into his eyes that give me extreme butterflies and anxiety. I smile just a bit more as I wrap my arms around his neck and rest my head on his chest to listen to his heart beating faster.

"Thank you so much." I say.

"Anything for you." Ashton says before kissing the top of my head.

By the time we had the dishes put away, I was ready to pass out. Ashton gave me a hug before picking me up off of the table. The smell of his cologne made me not want to let go. I put my nose directly on his sweater instead and closed my eyes.

"You're not falling asleep are you?" he asks me.

"No, can you trade me sweaters please?" I ask.

"Why?"

"Well, this sweater doesn't smell like you anymore."

"Alright." he says before pulling his sweater over his head. I do the same before handing him the sweater I was wearing. I put on the sweater he was wearing before walking with him to the door. He gives me a quick kiss before stepping out the door. "Have great night, baby."

I then run upstairs to my room, close my blinds then hide the presents under my bed so I can sleep on my bed.

Ashton's POV

"So, have you figured out what you're getting her?" my mom asks when I walk into the kitchen.

"I don't know, I don't know what girls like." I say.

"Well, with her being gone on Christmas, I highly suggest something that'll package easily."

I spent some time when I went upstairs thinking what I should get her. I've never had a girlfriend to spoil and make happy so, I don't know exactly what to get her. Yeah, there was one girl I did somewhat spoil but she wasn't my girlfriend. She was incredible.

I wake up the next morning for school. It wasn't really that exciting. But when is school ever exciting. After school I just head to the mall and walked around stores to find things for Carmen. I grab her present, have it wrapped by the store then drive to her cousin Calum's house.

"Aye, man, what's up?" he says.

"I need you to take this with you when you go to Bremerton. It's Carmen's Christmas present." I explain handing him the wrapped up box.

"Hey, not a problem. See yeah." he says before I leave after handing him the nicely wrapped box.

I head to the house and go to Carmen's. I guess I caught her in the middle of wrapping presents.

"Ashton! No! Cover your eyes!" she yells as I do so.

"You act like I just started walking in on you changing." I say.

"Well, maybe you did. Hold up. Give me a minute." she says. I hear tape snapping and paper crunching. "Alright, here, take these over to your house. These are your guys' presents."

She hands me for wrapped boxes before opening the front door for me to walk over to my house. I manage to open the door to my house with my feet. I then run in set them under our tree that we've yet to decorate before running back over to Carmen's. Once I get inside, I sneak up behind her and hug her. I quickly kiss her cheek before resting my head on her shoulder.

"Is that Jonathan's?" I ask.

"Nope Brad's. When you were sixteen you still liked Nerf guns, right?" she asks.

"Yeah, and I mean what's the worst case scenario? He doesn't play with them anymore? Hell, I would love to come home someday and have a Nerf gun war with the only other person home." I explain.

"My spirits have been lifted. Thank god. I would've gone ape-shit if I didn't have that said. Buying presents before was so much easier. Now it's like trying to find a needle in a hay stack. I would rather have to find presents for little kids because that is actually a lot easier than getting one for someone who's almost an adult."

"Hey, you have nothing to worry about." I say before kissing her nose. "Now, let me help you with the rest of the presents."

I grab a gift which seems to be for Mia and start wrapping it. It turned out like shit. So, Carmen decided to do the rest for herself. Quicker and easier. I don't understand how women can do things so much easier and faster unlike us guys we have to do things complicated.

~~~Aye, how you doin'. Haha, I love you guys and I'm so sorry I haven't uploaded in a while things have been crazy. So please remember to vote, share, and comment.