Let Us Be Seventeen (Jdronica)

Let's Be Normal

December 19, 1989

JD's POV

Veronica lays next to me, sleeping. I start to get up and get ready but Veronica wakes up. "What're you doing?" She sleepily asks. "Christmas shopping." I tell her. "You haven't finished?" She laughs. "No. Because I don't do my shopping on the day after Thanksgiving." I say. Veronica left to buy Christmas presents on Black Friday. "Yeah, well your mom went last week." She argues. "Hey, I've been a little preoccupied with a certain someone." I touch her nose with my finger. "Fair enough." She leans over and kisses me. "How many more people do you have?" She asks. "Just my mom and you." I say. "I bet you're waiting because you'll tell me." She smiles. "No, I don't spill that information." I argue. "Whatever." She looks away in a dramatic way.

"Did you get your parents something?" I ask. "No. And I don't plan to." She says. She only stays at her parents' when she knows they'll be out late. She only sleeps there so they can't report her for running away. She turns 18 in March, so she can move out completely. "Are you sure you can't wait?" She asks, obviously wanting to change the subject. "Ronnie, I want to get this done." I say. "Yeah, well you waited this long." She argues. "Come here." I roll my eyes, kissing her softly. "Hey, honey, are you still-" Jill stops when she sees us kissing. "I really need to start knocking." She closes the door. We laugh.

"So, are you going?" She asks. "Yes. I'll be back in an hour and then we can spend the rest of the day together." I say. "Fine." She gives up. I kiss her and head out. I got my mom a pair of earrings she really wanted but my dad refused to buy anything that wasn't under $10. I got Veronica a beautiful locket that I planned to put a picture of us inside.

I sneak into the house and start wrapping my mom's gift. I was almost done when I hear someone sneaking up on me. I spin around. "What do you think you're doing?" I ask. Veronica laughs. "I don't know what you mean." She says. "Hm." I kiss her. "Veronica, I'm back!" My mom yells. "Distract her." I tell her, rushing to finish wrapping.

Veronica's POV

"Hey, Jill." I subtly block her. "Are you okay?" She laughs. Oh God, she knew I was doing this on purpose. "Totally." I smile through the lies. I hear JD run up the stairs. "Well it was nice talking to you." I leave her. "Hey, did you get it wrapped?" I close his door behind me. "Yes. Now I need to wrap yours so if you'll excuse me." He ushers me out of the room.

JD's POV

I search my room for the picture of us kissing. I find it in my drawer and cut it smaller. I put it into the necklace, wrap it up, then take it downstairs to set it under the tree. Veronica puts her arms around my waist. "Hey." She kisses my cheek. "Hey." I say back. "So your mom probably thinks I'm crazy." She laughs. "You kind of are." I joke. She lets go. "I'm kidding." I assure her. "I don't believe it." She dramatically turns away and starts walking. "Get back here!" I chase her. "Nope." She says. I finally catch her and throw her over my shoulder. "JD! Put me down!" She screams. "Nah." I continue to hold her there. "Jason Alexander Dean! Put me down!" She demands. Oh no she did not. "Oh no you didn't." I start to spin her around. She screaches. "Jason!" She tries to hit me. I put her down on the couch. "Thanks jerk." She says, out of breath. "I'm sorry." I say. "You're forgiven." She pecks me on the lips. "Ronnie?" I ask. "Yes?" She looks at me. "Are we normal?" I ask her. "No." She looked lost in thought. "Should we be?" My family has never been normal. "Oh please. Normal is overrated. And a lie." She laughs. "Well, what about our own normal?" I don't know what our own normal would look like, but I think we were already doing it. "Yeah. Let's be 'normal.'" She smiles before kissing me.
___

The next week was kind of boring. The days before Christmas are always boring to me. Carolers at our door, going to Christmas shows, and watching It's A Wonderful Life. Though it was different since it was my first Christmas with Veronica.

Christmas Eve, my mom hung mistletoe above my doorway. I walked to my door with Veronica when my mom popped out of her room. "Hey, look up." She smiles. I look up to see mistletoe hanging above us. "Rules are rules." Veronica leans in and kisses me.

The next morning, Veronica refused to get up. "Ronnie." I shake her. "What?" She whines, her voice muffled by the pillow she had burrowed her head in. "C'mon." I shake her again. "Fine." She gets up. "You owe me." She opens my door. We go downstairs, where my mom is sitting, reading a book. "Good morning." She lays the book on the coffee table. "Morning." I say. "I made breakfast." She walks into the kitchen and sets the plates of food on the table.

Veronica's POV

After we eat, we sit on the couch and start opening the presents. I watched Jill open her gift, which was this gorgeous watch I thought she'd like. "Thank you." She hugs me. "JD, here is yours." I put the carefully wrapped box in front of him.

JD's POV

Veronica had clearly put a lot of effort into wrapping my present. It looked like how the professionals do it. I unwrapped it to find a saxophone inside. I used to play all the time but my dad intentionally smashed it. "Oh my God." I stare at it. I had mentioned it to Veronica like a month ago but I didn't think she remembered."Oh my God. Thank you so much." I kiss her. "Woah." Veronica laughs, startled. "Sorry. Thank you." I say. "I knew you'd like it." She smiles. Then I hand my mom her gift. "Aw. Thank you honey." She kisses my forehead. I was so excited to give Veronica hers. "Here it is." I hand her the small, wrapped box.

Veronica's POV

I slowly unwrap the box to find a small jewelry box. I open it and see a golden locket sitting in the box. I look at JD, then back at the locket. I open it and there's a picture of us from two months ago. I don't know why, but tears began falling down my cheeks. "Ronnie," He scoots over and hugs me. "Thank you." I say. I think I was crying because my parents always got me generic gifts, but this was special.

After we finished, we watched a movie. I lay, curled up next to JD. "I love you, JD." I whisper. "I love you too." He says back. If this is normal, I love it. I want to keep it like this, for forever.