Strictly Platonic

☼ C H E E K

Out of all my friends, Doug probably had the nicest house. His family was extremely rich and they showed it in every way possible.

The house was more of a mansion and the walls were all painted in an eggshell white and the shiny hardwood floors contrasted beautifully. There was a chandelier in almost every room and the lights were soft enough to cast a light glow on everything.

The only thing the house was missing was a loving touch. There were no family pictures or anything that would remind someone that people actually lived here. It was sort of sad, but Doug didn't seem to mind.

Despite our pleas, Doug invited El to the little gathering he was holding for the annual gift opening. El couldn't come, though, and we were all grateful, except for Doug of course.

He seemed to seriously like her, which I still couldn't wrap my head around. Apparently it was more than just sex, and that sort of freaked me out. How could Evil El turn Doug into a one woman man?

Maybe under her rude and tough exterior she was actually nice.

"Who's opening their presents first?" I asked.

"Doug, because it's his house." Chris suggested, pushing his present closer to Doug. Doug grinned at him and I saw Chris nod. I was so happy Chris found someone he could be with, instead of sticking to his infatuation with his best friend.

Oops.

Doug opened all of his presents, and he had a great time yelling at Jace and I when he saw the condoms and lacy underwear we got him.

Everyone really enjoyed their presents, though, and I really liked what I got as well. Sarah had gotten me some very sexy Victoria's Secret underwear (she winked at me when Jace wasn't looking), Doug got me some pretty jewelry, Cody bought me makeup from Sephora (he said Parker helped him pick it out), Adam got me Juicy Couture, Chris got me a beautiful pair of shoes, and Matthew got me a disposable camera.

I was extremely grateful - although a bit confused by the camera - but I appreciated it nonetheless.

We all sat around and spent the rest of Christmas Eve together, talking and laughing. We took pictures and played games, just happy to be together.

"Alright, I think it's time for me to go. It's already eleven and my parents are probably worried about where Lex and I are." Jace said as he stood. He stretched and then held a hand out to me. I grabbed it and let him pull me up.

I was going to spend the night at his house so that we could open presents early. I brought mine already, ready for him to unwrap as soon as we wake up in the morning.

We all said goodbye to one another and Jace and I left, heading to his house. Once we got there, we heard yelling.

We weren't stupid. We knew it was his parents fighting again.

We rushed upstairs and fell onto his bed. Even though he was smiling, I knew his parents fighting was affecting him more than he showed.

"Jace." I said softly. I scooted closer and pressed my hand to his cheek. He looked at me with blank eyes.

"What?" He was still pretending, and it frustrated me. I wasn't serious with Jace that often. Why couldn't he just be real for once?

"I know that it's something more than just them fighting. What's wrong?" I brushed some blonde hair out of his face and ran my hand through it. His hair was incredibly soft.

"I'm just scared that when I get married, it'll be like that. Like I'll constantly be fighting with my wife and that I'll want a divorce. I don't want that to happen, Lexi." He closed his eyes, and I realized I was sort of massing his head by the way I was continuously running my hands through his hair.

"Jace, being scared of it shows that you won't let it happen. Promise me the girl you marry won't ever hurt you like that." I begged. His eyes opened and he stared into them fiercely.

"I know she won't." He sounded absolutely positive. "I'm just scared I'll hurt her."

"Oh, Jace." I whispered. "You couldn't hurt a fly, let alone the woman you love."

I brought my arms around his neck and hugged him. I was sort of straddling him while hugging, but I didn't mind. I just loved hugging him, and he needed it.

We hugged for a long time, until we eventually fell asleep in each other's arms.

I would miss the days when I couldn't do that anyway.

••••

"Wake up, wake up, wake up!" A voice said in my ear whilst a finger prodded my hip. "It's Christmas, Lexi! Get up."

I opened my eyes slowly and locked gazes with a beaming Jace. I smiled and blinked, loving how absolutely young he sounded and looked. It reminded me of when we were little kids.

"You're present is right here, wrapped and everything." He lifted up a box with a blue bow on it. "I wrapped it all by myself."

I laughed lightly at the fact that he sounded so much like the younger version of himself. He used to say things like that when he was a little boy.

Before I could realize what I was doing, I leaned in and kissed his cheek. When I pulled away, I saw that his cheeks were a furious scarlet.

"Open my gift first." I demanded, handing him the small box and ignoring my action from moments before.

"Fine." He coughed, clearing his throat. He slowly slid the lid off and the look on his face was so worth the $200 I spent on the tickets. "Oh my God, Lexi. Is this a joke?"

"Nope. Merry Christmas, Jay-Jay." I squeezed his shoulder and he stared at me, his mouth agape.

"I love you so much." He said in awe. "I could kiss you right now. In fact, I really want to kiss you right now."

Please do.

I couldn't tell whether he was joking or not, but I laughed anyway. I gestured at the tickets. "You better be taking me."

"Duh." He rolled his eyes. He put the tickets back and closed the box, gently placing it on his nightstand, as if would break. "Open yours now!"

He handed me the box and I pulled the bow off, going slow on purpose. He seemed like he would spontaneously combust if I didn't speed up, however, so I hurried.

I gasped when I opened the box.

I wasn't the kind of girl that usually freaked out about dresses or even really liked dresses at all, but this was the most gorgeous piece of cloth I'd ever seen.

It was black and had certain parts cut out in shapes. It was sort of short, but it was too cute for me to care. I didn't know when I would have an opportunity to wear it, but I couldn't wait until I did.

"Do you like it?" Jace asked, seeming sort of nervous.

"I love it. It's so pretty." I gushed, still staring at the beautiful dress.

"I was thinking you could wear it tomorrow. I wanted to take you to a fancy restaurant for your birthday, and I thought that since you don't have any dresses, you could wear this one." He shrugged, but I could tell he was happy that I liked it.

"Of course." I couldn't wait to show off the dress. It was just so pretty. "Thank you so much, Jace."

"No problem." He kissed my cheek now. I bit my lip as I felt the blush spread across my skin. "Now let's go eat! My mom made pancakes."

So we ate pancakes and watched Christmas movies all day. It was a pretty great way to spend the holiday.

••••