Lera
I shiver in the cold, as a warm strong hand wraps around me, pulling me into an even warmer chest. A soft kiss is pressed to my forehead as we reach the front steps to my house, as Christian's hand extends to knock the door loudly. We stay huddled together as a loud commotion is heard from inside the house, the door being yanked open not even a second later.
"Lera!" Janet, Christian's mom exclaims, bringing me into a crushing hug. You'd think I hadn't seen her in years, rather than mere hours.
"Hi Janet!" I reply, pulling out of her hug slowly and going to hang up my coat.
"Honey, call me mom now. I've been wishing upon it for years, but now we're only one step away from reality!" She replies, kissing my cheek as I blush. I throw down my bag before turning back to see Christian crushed in his own hug.
"Oh, my darling boy!" She exclaims once again, as Christian shoots me an annoyed glare over her head.
"Mom, we literally saw you three hours ago." He grumbles, hanging his own coat up before walking back over to me, positioning his hand around my waist.
"Three hours too long. I've missed the both of you so much, now come in, lunch is nearly ready."
I lean into Christian as we walk into our living room, where we find the rest of our family. You see, me and Christian have been alternating where we sleep each night, and last night was at his house. This morning we made waffles together, and opened some presents with Christian's family, but they left early to help out with making Christmas Lunch, leaving me and Christian to make our own way to my house later.
We enter the main section of the room, seeing Kat and Noah lounging together on the couch, with Kat braiding sections of Fern's hair. They all stand when they hear us enter the room, hugs flying everywhere. I'm first enveloped by Kat, and I break apart from Christian's hold to wrap my arms around her.
"Geez, my brother comes home and suddenly you abandon me? I thought better of you Kat." I say jokingly, referencing the lack of time I've spent with Kat in the last week since my brothers come back home from college.
"Oh, and you can talk, I see you all the time at school anyway L." Kat replies, her face bright and smiley. I move to my brother next, punching him in the arm lightly before pulling him into a short hug. I barely have enough time to pull away from him before soft hands are clasping onto my body.
"Oof. Keep growing and you'll be taller than me soon, Ferny." I say, scooping Fern up and hugging her in my arms. She giggles, pressing a wet kiss to my cheek before I lower her back to the ground. I next move to my grandma, and both Christian's grandmas, who are sitting at the kitchen table discussing the latest gossip magazines. I bend down to kiss each of them on the cheek, seeing Christian mirror my movements and doing the same.
"Awwww, you kids look so nice together. Why'd it take so long?" one of Christian's grandma's, Patricia asks. I feel my cheeks flush, as they always do when I'm questioned about Christian, and I drop my head to mask the redness. But of course, Christian, being as confidently charming as he always is only smirks, throws an arm around my waist, pulling me closer to his chest and pressing a kiss to the top of my hair.
"Well, I was stupid, and Lera was stubborn." He replies smoothly, to which all 3 ladies laugh. I pull out of his grip, scowling sarcastically at him before bidding goodbye to the Grandma's club and walking into the kitchen. My nose fills with delightful fragrances and I walk over to my mum, pulling her into a hug.
"Hi honey, how was your morning?" my mom asks, kissing my cheek before moving back to her work.
"Good, I missed you though." I reply, leaning on our kitchen bench as I talk to her.
"I missed you too, don't worry we'll do presents and watch movies tonight, just like old times. Christian's staying tonight, right? " She smiles up at me, the memories of previous Christmas's flooding through. Me and my mom sitting on the couch and watching movies for hours, drinking hot chocolate and eating leftovers from lunch. It'd been our thing, something we did together, and hopefully always would.
"Yeah, I'm looking forward to it. You're fine with Christian staying, right? Because I know we do that stuff together, just us, and I don't want to make it awkward or-" I begin to say, but my mom cuts me off with a soft laugh.
"Lera, honey, I couldn't be happier. He's a wonderful, nice boy, and I'm just so happy you've found the love you're meant to find. Just promise me, you have to invite me to Christmas movie night even when I'm old and frail. I want to carry the tradition out with my beautiful grandchildren one day."
I blush again, shaking my head softly before I speak.
"Mom, let's not get ahead of ourselves just yet. There is nothing cooking in this oven except a burning desire for whatever's cooking in that oven."
I feel an arm snake around my waist as my mom laughs at my remark.
"Just promise me, please."
"I promise mom."
"Good, now shoo, lunch is nearly ready and the two of you are in my way." my mom says, pointing a wooden spoon in our direction. I turn on my heels, pushing Christian's back softly to move him out of the kitchen.
We move out to the living room, taking a seat on the couch opposite my brother and Kat. I lean back onto Christian's chest, and he wraps his arms around my shoulders, his breathe warm on the back of my neck.
"What was your mom saying?" he asks me quietly.
"Just something important for our future. I'll tell you... one day." I reply, placing my hands over his.
I hear him grumble, but my attention's soon turned to a loud exclamation in the conjoined dining room.
Christian's parents are moving to and from the kitchen, placing food and drink along the wide table. Fern's sitting on one of the Grandma's knees, and they're all smiling and laughing together. I look to my left, seeing Kat and Noah smiling, looking into each other's eyes lovingly. Finally, I turn my neck to look into Christian's eyes, seeing him grinning down at me. Unable to resist, I turn my entire body, pressing my lips onto his for a few seconds.
Christian stares into my eyes as his hand comes to hold my cheek softly.
"And what was that for?" he asks, a smirk pulling at his lips.
"For loving me. For all the people here that are putting so much love into today." I turn my head around again, surveying the crowd before continuing. "It's just so... nice to be around people that all love each other so much. I'm so thankful, and I feel like I don't tell every here that enough, that I'm thankful for them and how loved everyone makes me feel."
Christian's smile turns lopsided, as he reaches forward to kiss my forehead.
"I'm thankful for everyone here too, but most importantly you Leers. I'm thankful for the second chances you've given me, how much you love me, and for being here, with the people I love right now. Thankyou Leers, for everything. Absolutely everything." He says, trailing his fingers down my jawline.
I reach up and kiss his cheek, before standing up and clasping his hand in mine.
"We'll talk more later, but for now, let's eat." I say, pulling him off the couch.
"Hell yeah." I hear Christian whispers as he follows me into the dining room, taking a seat next to me.
The seats begin to fill up, and my mom hands us all Santa hats to place on our heads before we begin to eat. The table is soon filled with laughter, with people pulling on hats and making jokes. I look over at Christian, to see the tassle on his hat hanging off the side of his head. I join in on the laughter, as I reach my hand out and bop the tassle. Christian only laughs at me, shaking his head before reaching across to grab the bowl of baked potatoes, his other hand reaching to interlock with mine.
Sometimes I wonder how life decides to pan out, if there's some kind of plan it needs to follow, or if fate really does dictate who and what we meet and discover. Anyway, whatever it is, I really think I struck gold with my outcome.
...
The rest of the day followed smoothly, with more jokes and laughing filling the house, until I'm sure it could combust at any moment from pure joy. I didn't realize how much I longed to be around such bright and amazing people, who make me feel so happy and full of love.
Everyone went home at around 5pm, after lunch, dessert, presents and reminiscing over past years came and went, leaving myself, Christian and my mom to sit around watching Christmas movies and polishing off leftovers. My brother wasn't staying at ours tonight, as he was having Christmas dinner with Kat's family. It's currently 11:30pm, and my mom just headed off to bed. Christian and I went up to my room, as in the chaos of today we haven't given each other our presents yet.
We're sitting across from each other on my floor, with Christian's hand clasped ontop of mine. My room is dark, with only a small lamp lighting our faxes slightly. Our presents for each other are placed in front of us, waiting to be opened one by one.
"You go first." I whisper, circling my thumb across the palm of his hand.
"Okay." He replies, reaching forward to grab the square box wrapped in colorful paper. We'd decided to only give each other smaller gifts this year, as then we could only build from what we'd given each year.
He slowly disconnects his hand from mine as he unwraps the paper, revealing a black colored medium sized box. He lifts its lid, opening it to find a dark blue, fabric covered album. His brow furrows slightly as he lifts it out of the box, and opens it first page.
"I didn't know if it was too cheesy, but, I guess it sort of summaries the past 6ish months we've had together." I ramble as he flicks through the pages of the folio.
"Leers, this is..." Christian's starts, his eyes wide as he flicks through the pages.
"I know, it's stupid, I'm sorry, don't feel like you have to keep it I just-" I stutter out before Christian interrupts me.
"No, no, Leers, this is... incredible. You did all of this for me?" He asks, his face full of shock.
"Yeah?" I reply, although it sounds more like a question rather than an answer.
"This is... amazing. I can't even imagine how much work this took, thankyou, so much Leers." Christian gushes, reaching forward and pressing a quick kiss to my forehead and bringing me into a tight hug.
"I just, this is probably the best gift anyone has even gotten me. Thankyou, so much." he continues, sliding over so he's now sitting right beside me. He places the book in-between us, continuing to flick through the pages.
"You made a page for every day we took photos together?" he asks, his hands skimming over them.
"Yeah, whenever we had lots of photos taken on the one day I made them into their own page, as I felt like it was another day of memories we had made. Whether that be the day of your first game, or the days where we baked in our pyjamas, it all meant something, it was all documented somewhere in our brains." I reply, leaning my head on his shoulder. He wraps an arms around me, bringing me closer to his chest as we come to the end of the book. He closes if slowly, pressing another kiss to the top of my head as he does so.
"Thankyou, I love youuuu." he sings into my ear, causing me to laugh softly.
"I'm glad you liked it." I reply, nuzzling myself further into his chest.
"I loved it. It probably took forever to make." he says, running a hand up my arm, sending chills down my spine.
"It took a while, but I love scrapbooking, and it was for you, so the time didn't matter." I reply softly, my words only making Christian more affectionate.
"Thankyou. I'll put it up in display in my dorm, so everyone walking past it knows how amazing my beautiful girlfriend is." he says, placing the book on the floor besides him. I laugh into his chest, hugging his torso tight.
"Okay, now, I know it doesn't compare to your gift, and I definitely didn't make it myself, but I hope you like it." Christian adds, handing me the gift he so lovingly wrapped.
"Christian, I'm sure I'll love it." I reply, as I attempt to pull open the paper with one hand. Being unsuccessful, Christian uses his spare hand to help rip the paper apart. Out tumbles a small box, with a bow tied on its lid. I undo the bow warily, lifting the lid a second later. I gasp at its contents, moving my body slightly to look into Christian's eyes.
"Now, I'm not sure if these are too cheesy, but I bought one for each of us." Christian starts, motioning to the jewellery box sitting open in front of us.
"I got the filled in one sized for you, and the outlined one for me." He continues, as I grab the matching rings out of the box. I firstly slide the ring onto his finger, before Christian grabs the other, sliding it smoothly onto my own. It fits me perfectly, almost like it was moulded for my finger. The design is perfect, the silver band is paired with a small white cloud etched onto the front of mine. Christian's ring is made of the same silver lines, although his shows only the outline the cloud. I look down at my hand, marvelling at the ring for a minute before Christian speaks again.
"I picked it because I used to call you dreamy, like clouds. I saw it in a jewellery store, and after realizing it had a matching one, I thought you'd like it. And, if you bring your hand close enough," Christian grasps my hand, pulling it closer to his, "they click in together, like 2 missing pieces of a puzzle." Christian bends my finger, and softly places it in front of his. The rings fit together perfectly, making me smile as Iook into his eyes.
"It's perfect." I whisper, pulling him close into my chest. "This has been the best Christmas, ever."
"Don't worry, there'll be many more to come. As long as I'm with you, life can only get better." he whispers, planting a kiss to my cheek.
"What do you think Christmas will be like in... say 10 years?" I ask, lifting a hand to stroke his soft hair.
"Ooh, looking at the big picture, I like it." Christian replies, his own bands finding their way to my hair. "Well, I presume we'll have just spent the day having lunch or dinner with our family, and hey, we may even be opening presents from each other right now. Who knows, I just can't wait to spend the rest of my life with you."
I feel tears spring to my eyes as I hear him speak, the thoughts of our future feeling so close but far from reality. Unable to form a reply, I bury my head deeper into his side, my mind suddenly becoming sleepy. Sensing my exhaustion, I feel Christian's arms snake around my body, scooping me up effortlessly and placing me softly under the covers of my bed. He lies down beside me, pulling the blankets over our bodies before his hands find my body again. He wraps his arms around my waist, as mine move to his neck, capturing locks of his hair once again. I lean forwards, placing my head atop of his shoulder and leaning into his body.
"I can't wait to have a Christmas of our own, with our little Laurence's running around all excited, and your mom and my parents leaning back and having fun. We'll get to spend time with Kat and Noah's family, and hey, Fern may even have a partner, god forbid. I love you so much Leers, and I still can't believe I get to cherish you everyday for the rest of my life." I hear Christian whisper into my ear as I begin to doze off.
"I love you too." I whisper back, just as sleep takes over my body, a spell taking over my mind.
A/n:
Anddd......
This is the last ever chapter of Spellbound!!!!!
I can't believe this story is coming coming a close, it literally feels like yesterday that I was starting it all.
Thankyou to everyone who has stuck around for this long, you are so appreciated in my mind, and I love you all xoxo
I have a special announcement coming soon, so stay tuned friends!!!
I hope everyone has a great holiday season, no matter which holidays you and your family celebrate! Stay safe, and I'll see you all soon!
Love, em <3
'Spellbound'; Finished, 10th December, 2021, 21:25 hours.