Buttered Popcorn

Chapter 6: December 25, 1986

"Fuck, I had no idea what to get them." I mumbled to Les who stood beside me as we rocked back and forth on our heels in the cold.

"Hey! Come in!" Steven embraced me into his muscled arms, instantly warming me up from the chilled air. After a few seconds of his hug, he moved to Les, who only received a quick side hug, if you could even call it that. She didn't seem fazed, though. Axl's greeting seemed to make it up to her with an intense kiss.

"Hey, killer." Izzy nodded to me before bringing me into his arms as well and nestling my head into his chest, due to the height difference. "Jimmie! Les! What's up, guys?" Duff greeted from the kitchen, pulling us under his arms. "Hey, Duffers." Les giggled.

"Fuck, is that Jimmie?" Slash called from down the hall, followed by a groan. "Ugh, Saul's here? If I knew that, I wouldn't have come." I groaned back. He soon appeared shirtless in black jeans walking toward me, "I live here, fucker." "I assumed they would've curbed your sorry ass by now." I smiled sarcastically at him, holding his glare before we both erupted into laughs.

"Get over here, dumbass." He smushed me into his side, rubbing his knuckles harshly against my head. "Lay off, dude. You're gonna crack my skull." I chuckled, pushing him away from me. "It's not like it's protecting anything, anyway."

Over the past few weeks, Slash and I have grown pretty closes. We terrorize and harass each other to no end as if we were siblings, but don't hate the other nearly as much as we did when we first met. We would also flirt with each other, but no one else seemed to pick up on the fact that it was a joke. I think it was a joke. Some could even say we were damn close to being best friends.

"Alright, love birds. Let's break this up before it gets too R-rated." Duff smiled, pulling me into his side once again. "Ew, as if. He wishes he could have all this." I ran my hands up and down my body in a mocking seductive manner. "Hell yeah." he winked.

"In your dreams, Curly." I scoffed jokingly. "Every night, babydoll." "Alright! This is Christmas, not a strip club, let's keep it PG." Steven huffed, sitting on the couch. "What's his deal?" I mumbled to Slash. "He thinks he's put some kind of claim on you, and doesn't want us flirting. How could I control myself, though. I mean, who would?" He bit his lip dramatically while wiggling his eyebrows.

"Keep it in your pants, horn-dog." I scoffed, pushing his chest lightly with a laugh. "Present time!" Duff clapped his hands together and rubbed, walking over to the make-shift tree. It was a small potted plant that stood at about a foot tall with a star sticker on the tip and presents surrounding it, which were just grocery bags and brown paper bags scribbled with designs.

The boys usually didn't celebrate holidays, according to Izzy, but Les made it her duty to make sure they did and I went along with it.

"Okay! So, which is for who?" The tall blond began picking up each gift and handing them out to the rightful owner based on the 'to' and 'from' writing on it. Soon enough, we all had our presents in our lap.

"How is this gonna work? Do we all open at the same time.. or?" Steven asked, looking around to each of the people present in the room. We had done a 'Secret Santa' type of thing, but chose two people instead of one. Les had gone the extra mile of getting something for everyone, despite not having to. I barely managed to get the two that were required. By the looks of it, the band was on the same boat I was.

"Let's just open them all at once." Axl shrugged, tearing through the grocery bags that were taped onto his gift. Everyone followed, ripping open what they held in their lap. "Oh my God!" Les squealed loudly over the low hum of chatter in the room, gaining all of the attention she was out for. "Babe! You didn't!"