the twelve months of christmas | JENLISA

chapter 11; october

Jennie had never understood the people who celebrated each and every month of a relationship. She'd dated plenty of those kinds of people, and still had never quite grasped the novelty of it.

It seemed silly, to commemorate surviving another month or two months.

It had anyway, before Lisa.

"Happy two-month anniversary," Jennie sing-songed, sliding a wrapped package across the bar and leaning over it to kiss Lisa on the cheek.

"What's this?" Lisa asked, chasing red lips for a second kiss and then cocking her head to the side as she looked at the box.

"Just a little something," Jennie replied with a nonchalant shrug.

"Did you see the beignets and flowers?" Lisa asked quietly, a blush heating her cheeks.

"Yes, they were wonderful. Thank you. My classes were very intrigued as to who my mystery beignet and flower woman could be," Jennie chuckled.

"And now I get a mystery box," Lisa grinned, shaking the box slightly.

"Gentle, gentle," Jennie said with another laugh, reaching out to still the movements. "It's framed."

"Sorry," Lisa replied as her grin turned slightly sheepish. "Want to take a break with me?" she asked, nodding toward the back room.

"As if you ever have to ask," Jennie hummed, moving around the end of the bar and following Lisa to the back room.

"You got me something framed?" Lisa asked, dropping down onto the couch and pulling almost on top of her.

Jennie nervously fiddled with the hem of her sweater, a small smile on her face. "Mhm," she hummed in reply.

"Why are you nervous?" Lisa whispered, dropping kisses along her right shoulder.

"I just don't want you to open this and hate it and then hate me, and then we break up and everything falls apart," Jennie said, her tone going for joking but falling a little flat.

"Baby, even if you got me the ugliest picture in the world, I'd hang it on my wall and pretend to love it until you got me something new," Lisa teased quietly while tucking brown hair behind her ear.

"It's not really a picture," Jennie murmured, nodding at the package.

"This won't fall apart," Lisa assured as she slipped a finger under a piece of tape on the back of the gift. She slowly unwrapped it, keeping her chin or cheek or forehead pressed against Jennie's shoulder all the while. And when it was fully unwrapped, all Lisa could do was bury her face in Jennie's neck and hold tightly to her.

"I didn't want you to always picture the 'Yankee Candle Coming Soon' sign, so I thought I'd get you something to replace it," Jennie explained, running a hand up and down Lisa's back and praying she hadn't misstepped.

"It's really sweet," Lisa whispered as she gripped onto the framed watercolor painting of her original storefront in New York.

"Your mom sent me a photo from your opening day that I could give to the artist. She made me promise to send her a picture of the finished product," Jennie whispered back.

"It's perfect," Lisa mumbled against her neck. "It's my dream... illustrated."

"I think New Orleans could use a bookstore like this," Jennie hummed quietly.

"I think it would be really cliché for a creative writing teacher and a bookstore owner to date," Lisa chuckled.

"Would it be cliché for the creative writing teacher to have fallen in love with the bookstore owner?" Jennie asked, voicing the feelings in her heart without fear.