December 24, 1983
"You're speeding, Nikki," Evie had to holler over Brian Johnson singing about dynamite.
"'You're speeding, Nikki,'" he replied in a mocking high pitched voice. But then Nikki laughed and took his foot off the accelerator until they were going five over the speed limit instead of twenty.
It was fifteen minutes after Nikki had woken her up with a gentle kiss to her forehead. Nikki thought she was just pretending to be asleep, because the alarm had gone off for a solid thirty seconds before he gathered enough strength to lift his arm and hit the button. But Evie was actually still out of it. It took a few seconds of shaking her shoulders without getting a response for the first glimmer of panic to rush over him. What if she's dead? The voice inside his head said. She can't be dead, he tried to reason with himself. But she could be, after all those sleeping and pain pills he had given her on the plane. It made sense, after all: the second Nikki got a glimmer of hope and happiness in his life, it would be stripped away from him by the forces that be. It was that thought that made him realize how much he loved her, because if Evie was dead, he wanted to be dead too.
Luckily for both of them, Evie was just a deep, drugged-out sleeper and she came to after Nikki shook her a few more times and called her name. Nikki was so overcome with relief when he saw her eyes open that he kissed her forehead and told her he loved her. She didn't need to know about his monetary panic.
Now, they were on the way to Ralph's to pick up some ingredients to make cookies. The store was packed, but the two of them still stuck out like sore thumbs—Nikki with his rockstar hair and outfit looked very out of place in suburban LA, and Evie was gorgeous to Nikki, but everyone else in the store could probably tell that she had gotten off a sixteen hour flight, gotten in bed for a little bit, then immediately made her way to the store.
Nonetheless, they ended up with a bag full of cookie making stuff. By the end of the hour, Evie's forty-hour-old makeup was off, her hair was tied back in a ponytail, and she was in Nikki's kitchen.
Nikki wouldn't leave her alone the entire time she was trying to make the dough. His hands were bound to be found on her waist, under her shirt, or on her thighs. His lips were practically glued to her neck. By the time she was using the cookie cutters to create snowmen and gingerbread men, Nikki was pushing his erection into her back. Finally, when the dough had to chill in the refrigerator for an hour, he picked her up, carried her to the living room, and fucked her on the new fur carpet until he had nail marks in his back.
Afterward, they remained laying on the carpet, talking about what Christmas usually looked like in the Deal house. The truth was, there was not a sure answer. What their Christmas looked like depended on how much money that had. Usually, the only constant was that Mick tried to get her a present, she tried to make him a gift and cookies, and they would have Christmas Eve dinner together. The rest —if they had a tree, if Mick woke up from his drunken stupor before noon on Christmas, and if there would be more than two items involved— that was never guaranteed.
Nikki couldn't remember the last real Christmas he had had. Last Christmas, he forgot it was Christmas until he saw the wrapping paper sticking out of the trash can his neighbor put on the curb. He had spent the night before shooting up and then spent the morning throwing up. When he thought back on it now, he couldn't believe the way he used to live.
While Nikki was stuck deliberating his embarrassing past, Evie got up, dressed, and made her way to the bookshelf.
"Will you call my dad?" She picked up a dusty hardcover horror novel. "Tell him the cookies are cooking."
An hour and half later, the couple was sitting in the roughed up neighborhood that Evie called her home but hadn't visited in months. Nikki's car was parked in the same spot he always parked in when he lived in that house.
"You ready?"
Nikki forced a smile and nodded before opening the driver's side door.
Despite having lived there for five years, the front porch felt foreign to Evie. Especially in the darkness, she got this surreal feeling, like she wasn't actually in her body and had never been to this place before.
The feeling wouldn't subside until she made it into the living room of the house and Mick embraced her. They did the usual 'how are you'-s and she handed him a silver bag with tissue paper coming out of the top — her gift for him. "Be careful with it," Evie said. "It's a bit fragile. And this one is for Nikki."
Of course, Mick hadn't put up a Christmas tree, so he just set the bags down near the TV, where two wrapped gift boxes were already sitting. Evie immediately headed for the stairs. Now that the feeling of unfamiliarity died down, she longed to be in her own room again.
Mick went into the kitchen, where Nikki set the tupperware container with the chocolate chip cookies down and started going through the tin foil pans that had the spaghetti and the salad. "Never thought I'd see you in my kitchen again, Nikki."
"I never thought you'd be inviting me over for Christmas dinner, Mick."
"I didn't invite you over. Evie did."
Nikki's head dropped a little and he turned back around to face the food again. Mick felt a pang of guilt. "I don't mind." The guitarist grabbed the cookie container. "Not that much, anyway. You make her happy. And if she's happy...I'm happy."
Nikki let a smile appear on his face. "Then, I guess you'll be okay with the fact that I didn't get you a gift?"
Mick chuckled. "Well, your gift is something that I was originally gonna get for Evie until I remembered I had to deal with you this Christmas."
Nikki laughed. "I think my name is on the gift tag of the bag Evie gave you. But I'm gonna be honest and say I have no fucking clue what's inside."
"We'll find out tomorrow, won't we. Bowls are in the same place they used to be."
Nikki surprised himself by remembering exactly which cabinet to open. "Not much has changed around here, has it? Same house, same car, same furniture, same dishes. Is my futon still down there?"
Mick shook his head. "That's probably the one thing that is different. I sold it to a guy I worked with not long after you moved out. It reminded Evie of you and she refused to go down there. Left me doing all the laundry."
Nikki's spirits were dampened once again at the reminder of the past. He silently filled his bowl with salad.
Mick spoke up again, a cookie in his hand: "You're welcome to sleep on the couch tonight. There's blankets in the closet. Or you can go home. I don't really give a shit."
"Still not allowed in her bedroom?"
"Would the two of you even fit in a twin sized bed?"
"We fit in a tour bus bunk," Nikki shrugged.
Mick's eyes narrowed and he turned to face the counter. He was unaware that Nikki had found that out. "Do what you will. I just want Evie home tonight."
A few minutes later, Evie came back downstairs. The three of them got their food and gathered in the living room to watch Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (guess who's request that was). When it finished, they moved onto the topic of the upcoming North American leg of the tour. They spoke of the places they were most excited to visit out of the 50-something cities they'd be playing in, and though it was a tight schedule with shows almost every night, they pulled out some maps to look at bars, restaurants, and shops near where they'd be playing. They finished the night off with some Jack Daniel's, and when it was nearing eleven p.m, Mick announced that he was heading to bed.
With Mick gone, Evie put away the last of the food. She led Nikki upstairs and they kissed and talked quietly about the next morning until Evie declared she wanted to take a shower. Nikki would have joined her, but he was honestly exhausted. He just stripped down to his boxers, climbed into bed, and turned off the light. When he briefly woke up a few hours later, Evie was sleeping and basically laying face down on top of him; her leg in between his legs, her arm wrapped around his torso, and her face nuzzled into his neck. He wrapped his arms around her and fell back asleep.
December 25, 1983
It was Christmas morning in the Deal house and Evie was in the kitchen, making bacon and waffles while listening to Machine Head by Deep Purple. Usually, their tradition was to make hash brown casserole (something Mick's mom always did), but this was an unusual Christmas. She was by herself. She woke Nikki up trying to get out of bed and told him he had to shower before he could come downstairs. As far as she knew, Mick hadn't even woken up yet.
But Mick beat Nikki to the dining room.
"Merry Christmas," Evie smiled.
"Merry Christmas. Sorry I didn't do your stocking this year. I didn't even think about it until last night."
"Don't worry about it. The waffles are ready. Just waiting on the bacon." Evie would have been fine if they decided to not even do Christmas this year. She was happy to be home and she was happy that they were to the point that they could buy almost anything they wanted, whenever they wanted. In fact, the amount of stuff she bought or was gifted during the last year was probably more than she had gotten in the past eighteen Christmases.
"You wanna do presents before or after we eat?"
Evie shrugged. "After, probably. Nikki should be down here anytime now."
Mick sighed and leaned against the dining table.
"Thanks for letting him stay here," Evie said sheepishly.
"No problem. As long as he makes you happy, I guess."
"He does."
Mick came into the kitchen. He grabbed a waffle from the plate and kissed the top of Evie's head, something he hadn't done in months. "Good. Now, I'm not watching a cartoon again."
A few minutes later, when Mick was in the living room watching A Christmas Story, Nikki made his first appearance of the day. He immediately kissed Evie, and her lips tasted like the cookies she had been snacking on while cooking. Then Nikki lingered in the kitchen for a bit longer. Of course he knew he was welcome to the food she was cooking, but some part of him still felt like a burden.
"Do you wanna grab something?" Evie finally asked.
"Yeah," Nikki said. "You." He grabbed her by the waist and kissed her again.
"Don't be cheesy," Evie laughed and pushed him away.
Once the family ate, it was time to open gifts. They gathered the bags and boxes and sat on the couch.
Evie was adamant that Mick open his first. It was a new leather guitar strap; a black one with a faint star pattern going along it. Mick never mentioned wanting one, but Evie knew he needed one. She watched the already distressed six-year-old one get beat up on this tour, to the point where Evie was afraid it might just snap mid-concert. Also in the bag was a mug with something that resembled blueberries and leaves hand painted on it. It was the stereotypical gift for a father but back when they were broke, Evie would always make him something rather than buy something. When she and Diana stumbled into a 'paint-your-own-pottery' shop in West Germany one day, Evie knew it would make the perfect Christmas gift.
Next was Nikki. He opened Mick's present first. Based on their conversation the night before, Nikki expected it to be a coupon for shampoo or something, but it ended up being something he actually appreciated: two tickets to the museum of natural history in Los Angeles. Actually, it was two pieces of printer paper that said "Museum of natural history ticket" with twenty dollars in cash underneath them because Mick wasn't able to get over to the real museum in time for Christmas.
After that, Nikki opened his gift from Evie. Nikki hadn't even thought about what she might have gotten him because her affection was enough of a gift. But she gave him something anyway: a cologne that smelled like amber musk with a slight hint of eucalyptus. Evie picked it out when she was third wheeling through downtown Paris with Vince and Diana. The scent had a masculine yet calming effect that somehow reminded her of Nikki's aura. It also had common enough fragrance notes that they'd be able to find it in the states if Nikki liked it.
Finally, it was Evie's turn to open her gifts. She opened Nikki's first. Evie pulled back the tissue paper and the first thing that caught her eye was a furry, mahogany-orange object. She picked it up to reveal an absolutely adorable red panda stuffed animal. Nikki explained the backstory on that one: he remembered that, two years ago, she told him that her favorite animal was red pandas. Then, not long after they reconnected in Manchester, Nikki decided to go to the London Zoo just to stop by the gift shop and pick something up for her. At the very least, he remembered thinking, it would give him a reason to stick with her until Christmas.
Nikki worried she might find it a little childish, but Mick's present was similar in nature. Evie opened the box to find a soft, black robe with teddy bear faces on it. Underneath it, folded into a square, was a throw blanket. It was light blue and patterned with snowmen, snowflakes, and candy canes. It was softer than her softest blanket. Mick told her he found it at a mall in West Germany.
It was the best Christmas Evie remembered having. She had her father with her, she had her boyfriend with her, and she got and gave meaningful presents without worrying about what it meant for their grocery trip that week. After they opened the gifts, they sat around the living room for a bit longer, drinking hot chocolate and watching TV. At one point, when Mick was in the bathroom, Nikki asked Evie if she wanted to spend the night at 'their' place. She eagerly agreed and when it was well into the afternoon, Nikki announced that he was going to head back home.
With that, Evie got up, thanking Mick for the gifts and the food and telling him she'd be back in a day or two. All of her stuff was still at Nikki's house, after all. Mick hugged her and told her that the next time he saw her, he wanted to hear about her trip to the museum.