The Christmas Party

The Happiest Season of All

When I woke up, Thea wasn't in bed and a mild panic struck my heart. Her side of the bed was still warm and the bedroom door was open. I could hear the faint sounds of clatter in the kitchen, so I slipped out of my bed and pulled on my clothes from last night, strung across the floor.

I found Thea in the kitchen pouring coffee from the French press into two holiday mugs. She was in her underwear, socks, and law school sweatshirt. My heart clenched with longing and relief. She was right here. She wasn't going anywhere.

Thea turned to smile at me when I walked into the kitchen.

"Good morning," she said. That smile melted my heart; she could ask me to walk across the earth and back and I would do it if only to see her smile like that.

I leaned her against the counter and kissed her. "Good morning."

"Coffee?"

"You're making coffee now?" I teased.

"On special occasions, otherwise that's your job."

"I'll happily make you coffee for the rest of our lives."

Thea kissed me again. "Good, because you're much better at it."

Luca never came home last night. Thea and I both had a creeping suspicion that his plan was to trap us together until we worked things out, for which I was grateful. Waking up with Thea alone in the apartment and making coffee in our underwear was a gift from heaven and I spent the day in her gravity, unable to spend even a moment separated from her.

When Luca finally did come home around, he took one look at us and pulled us both into a hug.

"Thank God," he said. He kissed us both on the cheek. "Stop being stupid and just accept that she loves you," he said to Thea. Then to me: "Don't let her be stupid."

We both agreed.

"Good. Now's the part where you both live happily ever after."

Thea and I grinned at each other; we were both perfectly content with that ending.

* * *

Things weren't perfect, they never would be; we're humans, after all. But things were perfect for me. Every day I worked to prove to Thea how much I loved her and I worked to prove my devotion. Despite her best efforts, I still noticed these small moments of doubt that were deeply embedded within Thea's mind. I worked tirelessly to chip away at those pieces and assure her that she was loved beyond all comprehension by Luca, by me, by my—our—family. Slowly the doubts, the insecurities, the fears fell away.

Over the next seven months, Thea and I were together every day, taking turns sleeping at each other's apartments. I cleared drawers and closet space for her and bought a toothbrush to keep at my place. I already had a toothbrush at her apartment, but it moved from Luca's bathroom to hers and she cleared me space in her room and even bought me a nightstand. When my lease expired in July, Luca and Thea convinced me to move in. I didn't put up much of a fight, so I sold my furniture and moved the rest of my possessions into Thea's—our—bedroom.

Luca still pulled me aside again to remind me he would kill me if he ever heard us having sex, which so far, we'd complied by using my apartment for the purpose of intimacy and privacy. I told Thea about Luca's threat this time, which wasn't the best idea because Thea decided it would be funny to get me in trouble by seeing how loud she could make me. I eventually took to reciprocating, both because it was funny and I would not be the only one going down for this.

Luca did not like this game.

We went home for every holiday and spent it in the company of our parents and nieces. Everyone, myself included, refused to allow Thea to refer to my family as my family. Whenever she said "your mom" whoever was closest would correct her: our mom. Every Christmas I made sure Thea knew she had a family that was never going to leave her. My mom even made it a point to tell her that if she had to choose she'd choose her over me, which always made Thea laugh. My family signed Thea and Luca's gift from 'Mom', 'Dad', or 'your sister'.

During our third Christmas at home, the Christmas that Thea finally seemed to stop fighting and accept that everything would be okay, that no one was going to leave her, that we all loved her unconditionally, I decided to convince her to sneak out again, just like our first date.

"Louise, you are not serious?" Thea said when I asked. The first time we were in this bedroom she was younger, her hair was longer, her eyes were cautious. Her hair was shorter now. She cut it to her shoulders because she liked that it was easier to manage. There was no trace of hesitation behind those eyes now.

"Yes I am! Come on! It'll be like our first date."

"Surely you can just tell everyone we want to be alone?"

"Are you kidding me? You know them. You think they'll let us?"

"If I ask, yes."

"No, we have to go through the window."

"No."

"Babe, don't be like this!"

"Don't babe me."

"For me? This is the last time I will ever ask you to sneak out the window."

"Are we climbing down the three again?"

"How else are we supposed to get down?"

"If you want to touch my butt you can just do it up here."

"Thea! Please?"

Thea groaned, but I could see she was breaking. "You promise it's the last time?"

"I promise! If you go out the window with me this one last time I'll never ask again."

Thea sighed. "Fine."

We pulled on our coats and beanies and I pulled the window open and hopped out. I turned and offered her my hands. I guided her out the window and wrapped my arms around her waist and shoulder. Thea made to go to the tree, but I directed her toward the frong of the house. I felt like my heart was going to explode it was pounding so fast. I'm surprised Thea couldn't feel my hands shake.

"I just want to show you something really quick."

Thea looked at me curiously.

I took her hand and with my other on the small of her back, guided her to edge of the roof. I pointed down below, to our snow covered yard. Thea followed my gloved finger.

Will you marry me? was written in Christmas lights on the snow.

Thea's mouth popped open and when she looked back me, I had a ring in my hand, the diamond glimmering and dancing with the colors of all the lights. Tears sprang to her eyes and she nodded her head. I carefully pulled off her glove and slid the ring on her finger. Thea grabbed my face and pulled me in for a kiss. I covered her ring-hand in my own, a surge of happiness rushing through me.

My nieces were in the window screaming.

"Did she say yes?!"

"What did she say?"

We broke our kiss and laughed. Our entire family was in my room, looking through the window. Thea held up her hand, the diamond glimmering on her finger. Every shouted and cheered and Luca, always prepared, popped a bottle of champagne and my nieces blew into noise makers reserved for New Year's Eve and popped off little confetti poppers.

I kissed Thea's temple and whispered in her ear, "I don't know what you were so afraid of. The plan was always to marry you."

"Was it now?" she asked.

"I may have underplayed how attracted I was to you at first."

Thea pulled me close. My family filed down the living room to give us privacy and let us enjoy this moment, despite my nieces protests that they wanted to join us on the roof.

"Give them privacy girls," Lauren said and ushered them from the room.

We stood together in the snow, enjoying the freezing air, looking down at the lights.

"How mad do you think Monica is going to be?" Thea asked.

"Monica? We're going to talk about Monica right now?"

"Isn't she the reason we're together in the first place?"

I considered this a moment. "Yeah, I guess you're right. Huh. Should I invite her to the wedding? Maybe she can be the officiant." We laughed together. "I'll have to subtly drop the hint that that we're engaged then. Maybe I can ask her to plan a party."

"Or you can show her this."

I looked down and Thea was holding a small box with a diamond ring inside. It was my turn to be shocked.

"Holy shit."

Thea slid the ring on my finger and admired it on my hand.

"I think it's perfect," she said.

"I think you're perfect."

Thea blushed.

"I'm so glad I asked you to be my fake girlfriend," I said.

"Merry Christmas, baby."

"Merry Christmas."

The End

* * *
A/N: Thank you everyone who read and supported this story! It was seriously so fun to do a December NaNoWriMo with you all and have you suggest chapter ideas. This story was also so much fun to write; there was no pressure at all for it to be perfect.

I'll create a "suggestions box" on my profile, so if there is a particular story you'd like to read about that's not on Wattpad, or you like my writing enough that you want to see a particular story written by me, let me know! I think it would be really fun to write from a suggestions box.

Thank you again for supporting my work. Happy holidays to everyone! You all rock!

Until next time,

-Southern_Casual