Heart of Christmas

~15~

27 minutes. 27 minutes until I heard Alycia call my name. 27 minutes is how long I've been up here. I stand from the bed and slide my phone into my pocket after answering my dad back. It was a sweet short message.

Dad: happy birthday! I love you and I'll see you soon! Have a good day!

I make my way to the door, opening up the door. Immediately balloons fill the hallway and I tilt my head to the side.

"Alycia?" I call out hesitantly walking through the hall, kicking the balloons as I walk through. Once I'm to the stairs I see colored string wrapped around the railing banner and dangling from the ceiling along with paper snowflakes. My eyes go wide, amazement filling them as my jaw drops. I shake my head as I walk down the stairs carefully. At the bottom confetti shoots out causing me to jump and look past it to find Alycia standing with her phone in her hand, no doubt recording me.

"Alycia," I say, looking around the room. I was amazed. It was amazing.

"Happy birthday!" Alycia exclaims walking more towards me. My eyes look around the room before finally focusing on her seeing her put down her phone, in a little spot so it was aimed at us, recording us. I shake my head as she walks back towards me. My lips curving into a smile.

"Alycia, this is amazing," I say out loud finally, looking between her green eyes.

"I know. The best part is actually yet to come," Alycia said and I raise a brow looking at her. She grins happily and reaches out grabbing a hold of my hand. "So I texted your dad and he told me you're really into this band. I managed to get some tickets to the concert they're having in March."

"Wait what?" I ask, confusion surrounding me.

"There's two tickets. They're both yours. When they come I'll make sure to give them to you. I had to get you something."

"Alycia no-" I pause and without realizing it reach my arms up around her, holding her close. "You didn't have to do any of this. Thank you. And thank you for the tickets."

"Of course!" She exclaims as we pull apart. I look at her and smirk.

"I hope you know you're going with me."

"Wha-"

"To the concert. I'm not going alone and quite honestly I really don't have anyone else to go with except my dad, but... You're coming with me," I inform her and the look in her eyes tells me that's what she wanted to hear. Whether or not it was or wasn't I want to go with her. I barely know her but after all this time together I'm really starting to like this girl. More than I ever thought I ever would.

"I would love too, although I'm not too sure who this band is."

A chuckle escapes my lips as I grab Alycia's hand, interlocking our fingers. "Don't worry. You'll love them."

Alycia's smiles at me before turning her head and walking away, but pulls me with her considering our fingers are interlocked. We head into the living room where my eyes go wide at the amount of food Alycia has.

"Alycia what the-"

"It's not much I know but," the girl let's go of my hand as we get in front of the couch. She walks around the table and I toss up my hands.

"Not much? This is too much. Alycia-"

"No no. It's okay," Alycia says placing the tv on and then heading back over to me. She sits down on the couch, patting the cushion beside me. I glance to her hand slowly moving down. Once she moves her hand I sit down, looking at all the food.

"So I don't have any Buffalo chicken dip but I do have chicken walking tacos and Buffalo sauce you could put on them-" Alycia pauses pointing to everything in front of us. "You got cheese, diced tomatoes, lettuce, sour cream and the chicken and the buffalo sauce. You can put them on tortilla chips or these hard shells. Then over here we got some wine and beer. I don't know which one you like so I grabbed both. We also have water and soda but it's-"

I turn my body towards Alycia and grabs her hands taking them into mine, giving them a tight squeeze.

"Thank you," I say gently, smiling at her. Her body relaxes as her eyes shine bright along with her smile. I bite my bottom lip letting go of her hands and reaching over to the two glasses grabbing them. I place them on the table closest to us before grabbing the wine. I open it up feeling Alycia's green eyes on me.

Carefully I pick up one glass and pour the wine in. I pour it half way then hand it over to the girl. She grabs a hold it, her fingers brushing mine. I try to hide my smile but stop when I realize there's really no point to. I let go of the glass once I know she has it and pour myself a glass. I place the wine down and pick up my glass holding it up to the girl.

Her lips curve further up and clinks my glass with her before both of us take a sip.

"That's good," I say, pulling it away and Alycia nods.

"It's the expensive stuff my dad buys," Alycia says giggling slightly. I eye her as she shrugs and placed the glass down. "Do you want to talk and eat or do you want to watch something while we eat?"

"We can talk and eat," I say, placing my glass down. Alycia nods as both of us gather the food we want and stay quiet for a moment.

<<<<>>>>

"You ran down the street naked with him?" Alycia asks, her eyes wide as she's holding back her laughter. I nod, sitting up from the couch and setting down my third glass of wine before leaning back to the position I was sitting.

"Callum convinced me it was the end of the world and I just went with it. Sure we got chased by the cops and things almost got extremely weird but hey it was a fun time. Never again though," I say chuckling lightly. Alycia laughs, shaking her head from side to side, taking a big swig of the rest of her wine before placing it down.

"That's insane. I never would have took you as someone who did stuff like that," Alycia spoke and I nod, shrugging.

"I can be a dare devil when I want to be," I say and the girl leans back in couch, cocking her head to the side. A devilish smirk lingering onto her lips as she nods.

"Prove it," Alycia challenges and I tilt my own head.

"Prove it how?"

"Do something you're scared of," Alycia says and I stare at her in shock. My lips separate and I tear my eyes from her, laughing slightly then stop. I stare at the hard wooden floor and shake my head. "Are you thinking or really scared to do-"

Before the girl could finish her sentence I lean over and lock my lips with her's. It's soft, gentle and when I expected her to pull away I feel her deepen the kiss. Her hand reaching up and cupping my cheek. As my hand rests on the side of her and my other hand on her thigh.

Both of our eyes closed. Her head tilting to the side causing my head to follow doing it the opposite way. And while this was wonderful and felt amazing I pull away slowly. My eyes slowly flutter open as I feel Alycia rub her thumb back and forth on my cheek as my eyes flicked back and forth between her green ones.

"There. I did," I whisper.

Alycia smiles and nods. "That's what I was hoping for."

Her comment makes me instantly smile, glancing down at her lap where my hand lays. The feeling of her hand on my cheek slowly moves and I feel her pinch my chin, forcing me to look back up. When I look back up and our eyes lock she leans forward, stopping her lips right by mine.

"Is this okay?" Alycia asks in a whisper and I nod, moving slightly as I gently grab her and move her backwards. She lays her back down and I keep our eyes focused.

"Is this okay for you?" I ask in a whisper. Alycia nods reaching up and wrapping her arms around my neck. Her hands running through my hair as I lean down and lock our lips.