all that glitters » david dobrik au

twenty

Christmas was in the air. Our tree was perfectly decorated, the multicolored lightbulbs flickering in only a few places, and the ornaments hung neatly and carefully to ensure every square inch of the tree was covered in something festive. The fireplace was roaring, though it was already blazing hot in our house, and a small stack of presents lay under the tree. Coupled with the Bath and Body Works Christmas candles burning strategically throughout the house and the Elvis Christmas vinyl playing softly in the background, the house felt like Christmas. Even the nervousness I felt at the fact that David was coming over couldn't kill my good mood. I was on cloud nine.

David arrived at the house a little past twelve, carrying two envelopes, a gift bag, and a pecan pie. I grinned, wrapping him in a hug despite the pie teetering on the edge of his hand. I cheered, "Merry Christmas, David!"

"Jeez, Mona, you're feeling nice today," David laughed, using the hand holding only the presents to gently pat my back. "Merry Christmas, sweetheart."

If it weren't my favorite day of the entire year, I would've told him to ditch the pet name, but it was. I said nothing, instead going for, "Come in! Come in! Here, I'll take the pie, and you can put that under the tree, and... yay! C'mon, I'll introduce you to my grandparents. They're a little old fashioned, so if they're convinced we're dating, just go with it, okay?"

"That won't be a problem," David smirked, slinging an arm carelessly and confidently over my shoulder. I paused in my stride and turned to face him, remembering the question I had been wanting to ask him for the past two days.

"Oh, yeah! When were you going to tell me you knew I was on scholarship at Abernathy?"

David didn't seem shocked by my question. Either Todd told him I knew, or he just really didn't give a fuck that I was a scholarship student. He replied, "Does it really matter?"

"The front desk lady told me the first day that Abernathy kids don't take well to scholarship kids. I kind of expected you to be in that bunch," I shrugged, blushing from the slight embarrassment. I did feel kind of bad now, knowing that David couldn't care less about how much money me and my family had.

David laughed at my statement and replied, "Sweetheart, none of us care about that shit. My mom was on scholarship. It's your friends who would."

"Like, Kristen and Zane and Heath and Liza?" I asked with a subtle frown.

"Yeah. They were friends with Gabbie until they realized she was broke, and they dumped her faster than you can imagine," he explained casually. I didn't detect a hint of a lie, but still... my friends?

I had my suspicions about them being less than good people. All they ever did was rag on me and berate me about my non-relationship with David, when they were hypocritically doing the exact same things. I had a suspicion (based on no evidence and only on guesses) that Liza still wanted or liked David, and the fact that I had a chance with him through her off. Whatever it was, it made me nervous. If I let it slip that I was a broke bitch just like Gabbie, would I get dropped? I thought we were better friends than that.

"Um... anyways, let's go to the kitchen," I sent him an awkward smile, all the while still processing the information before me. The kitchen smelled of fresh bread and mac and cheese, a smell that I wished could be packed into a candle for me to smell forever. I set the pecan pie down on the counter next to the homemade brownies and cleared my throat. My grandma, who was at the stove stirred the mashed potatoes, turned around with a smile.

"Oh, how lovely! You must be David!" she quickly waddled forward and engulfed him in a tight hug, which looked a little funny due to her short stature. "You can call me Grammy."