Hey guys!
I just want to give a quick shoutout to the lovely @MrsNugentHopkins (or Danielle) on Wattpad. She is an amazing writer and she actually just started a new Edmonton Oilers/Connor McDavid fanfiction called "Life as a McDavid". It's really good, and you guys should totally go check it out.
Thanks so much, and enjoy the update!
-Becca xoxo
{Abigail}
"Wow, it feels weird to be walking up this driveway again." I say, as I make my way up the large driveway towards my family home.
"You haven't been back home to this place for a while, have you?" Pat asks, looking down at me.
I shake my head smiling.
"No, it's been a while, actually." I shrug, laughing.
The snow crunches under our feet as we make our way up to the front entrance of my family home.
It's Sunday, December 25, about 5:00 in the evening.
It's Christmas Day, and this year, the Christmas dinner is at my parents' home in the suburbs of Chicago.
My parents have lived here their entire life, and I lived in this house until I was in my early twenties.
My younger brother Chris lived here until University, when he moved out.
He attends the University of Pittsburgh, and has been going there for the last few years.
I haven't actually seen him since the wedding in August, so it's going to be nice to see him again tonight.
He absolutely loves Pittsburgh and his school, but he misses Chicago dearly.
Chris is a die-hard basketball fan.
He loves the NBA.
He's been obsessed with basketball his entire life.
He has played since he was extremely little, all through middle school and high school, and even played on the University basketball team in Pittsburgh for two years, before realizing he didn't have time for it amongst his studies.
So I know that he misses having a basketball team in his city, since Pittsburgh doesn't have an NBA team, but Chicago has the Bulls.
He's been a huge Bulls fan his whole life, and I don't think that will ever change.
I remember one time when Chris came over to the apartment at Trump Tower with Patrick and I one weekend, and we ran into Derrick Rose in the lobby, since he lives in Trump Tower as well.
Chris started freaking out.
He literally was worshipping the guy.
It was the funniest thing ever.
Right then, Patrick and I make our way up the steps to the front entrance, and I ring the doorbell.
The sound of it is familiar to me.
I flatten out my skirt, and run a hand through my curled brown hair, as we wait for the door to be opened.
I hear a few footsteps coming to the door, and my mom swings the door open.
"Hey Mom!" I say, as Patrick and I make our way inside.
"Hello Abby, oh I've missed you!" My mom says, as she pulls me in for a tight hug.
"I've missed you too, Mom." I laugh, as I take off my jacket and hang it up in the closet.
"Oh, Patrick it's so nice to see you again!" My mom laughs, hugging Patrick.
"It's lovely to see you too, Angela." Pat smiles, hugging her back.
My mom then takes Patrick's jacket, and hangs it up, before we make our way further into the house.
The smell of food cooking is strong in this house, and it smells delicious.
We walk through the familiar house, towards the large family room, where everyone is already sitting, chatting with each other, multiple conversations going on.
I notice Patrick's parents, Erica, Jessica, Jackie, my dad, and Chris all on different couches or chairs, laughing and talking with one another.
Chris looks up and notices me, and immediately gets up.
"Chris!" I laugh, as I wrap my arms around him and hug him tightly
"Abbers!" He laughs, as he hugs me back.
His tall, large figure envelopes me completely.
Chris is 6'4", so he is fairly tall, almost an entire foot taller than me.
"Oh, it's good to see you again!" I laugh, as we pull apart.
I look up at him, and even since the wedding, he has changed.
He's three years younger than me, so he's twenty-four.
His face seems to have matured a little bit, even since the wedding.
"You too, Abbers." He smiles.
My dad then walks over to me, and I smile, as we greet each other.
Of course, I have seen my parents more often than Chris, simply because they live in the same city as me, but it has still felt like forever.
After about five minutes, everyone has greeted everyone.
Patrick has greeted Chris, my dad, his sisters, and his parents.
I have greeted Chris, my parents, Patrick's parents, and the girls.
It's amazing to see Erica, Jessica, and Jackie again.
They were my bridesmaids, and they are three of my best friends.
We all sit down in the family room, continuing to catch up and talk with each other.
Patrick sits with Chris on one couch, and it looks like they are having a fairly good conversation at the moment.
My dad sits with Pat's dad, and my mom sits with Donna, both of them talking and laughing together.
I sit with Erica, Jessica, and Jackie, and the four of us catch up with one another.
It's been way too long since I last saw them.
We snack on the few appetizers that have been laid out in the family room.
The girls ask me how my work has been going, and I tell them that it is has been going well.
I did take a week off for Christmas though, so I haven't been working a lot lately, and that has been really nice.
"Oh my God, Abigail, I have to tell you about Erica's boyfriend." Jessica says, her eyes widening.
"What!? You didn't tell me you have a new boyfriend!" I exclaim, my jaw dropping.
Erica blushes, rolling her eyes.
"Please, we aren't even together yet." She says, shaking her head.
Jackie rolls her eyes.
"By together do you mean that you guys are only spending every goddamn second with each other and you are basically inseparable?" Jackie giggles, biting her lip.
I laugh.
"Jackie!" Erica says, laughing.
"Anyways, his name is Dustin. They met about a month ago, and they are seriously obsessed with each other." Jessica says, smiling.
"Aw, Erica!" I laugh, looking over to her.
Her short blonde hair is straight, and she shakes her head, a small smile on her face.
She's blushing.
Erica has had a few boyfriends in the time that I have known her for, but she hasn't had one for a while after her last breakup, about a year ago.
She had been dating this guy for a long time, and when they broke up, she was devastated.
Ever since then, she hasn't been in a relationship.
Until now, I guess.
"There's only one problem." Jackie says, her blue eyes fluttering over to mine.
Her eyes are almost the exact same color as Patrick's.
"What is that?" I ask, smiling.
"Dustin hasn't passed the "boyfriend approval test" yet." Jessica finishes, smirking.
Erica rolls her eyes, blushing still.
"Ooh. You better get on that girl, or someone isn't going to be too happy." I say, winking.
She laughs, shaking her head.
The Kane family "boyfriend approval test" or "BAT" for short, is the test that is used to make sure that any of the girls' boyfriends are worthy to date a Kane sister.
The boss of this test?
Patrick.
In order for one of the Kane sisters to date a new boy, this new boy has to meet Patrick, and Patrick has to approve of him first.
If he doesn't approve of him, then the girls aren't allowed to date this new guy.
Patrick is extremely over-protective of his sisters, and this is just one of his ways to show this.
It's adorable, in my opinion.
And apparently, Dustin hasn't passed the BAT yet.
"I'm sure he would pass it, if Patrick had actually met him yet." Erica rolls her eyes, giggling.
"Yeah, but Pat hasn't met him yet." Jessica says, widening her eyes.
"He doesn't even know about Dustin!" Jackie says, biting her lip.
I laugh, shaking my head.
"But I'll admit, Dustin is pretty gorgeous." Jessica says, nodding.
"Holy, I'd tap that any day." Jackie laughs, widening her eyes.
"Jackie!" Erica laughs, hitting her little sister on the arm lightly.
"Oh my God, I've missed you girls." I say, pulling them all in for a tight hug.
We all hug, giggling excitedly.
After about an hour, I have talked and had a good conversation with everyone in this room.
Patrick's parents and I had a good conversation about how the Blackhawks have been doing, and how the married life is treating me. (Which is very well, by the way.)
I've caught up with my parents, and with Chris as well.
However, Chris didn't really want to talk to me.
He was more interested in talking with Jackie.
Although he'll never admit it, I think Chris has had a crush on Jackie since the first time they ever met, when Pat and I started going out.
It's hilarious, really.
And obvious.
He doesn't think so.
But, I do.
Whenever the two of them are with each other, they are always flirting.
Chris has had a thing for Jackie for a while, and to be honest, I don't think Jackie minds.
Chris is a handsome young man, and Jackie is always flirting back with him, whenever they are together.
It's quite adorable, actually.
The two of them have been "flirting-partners" for the longest time.
After about an hour, my mom announces that we should get to the Christmas dinner.
With that, all of us get up, and head towards the kitchen.
Things get busy in the kitchen, as everyone is grabbing their plates, trying to find utensils, and amongst that, everyone is chatting with each other.
It's loud, but it's the good kind of loud.
My dad heads over to the alcoholic drinks on one counter, asking everyone who wants what drink with their meal.
"Does anyone want some champagne or wine?" He calls, laughing.
Patrick's parents each take a glass of wine, and the Kane sisters each take a glass of champagne.
"Some champagne would be lovely, thank-you." Patrick says, smiling.
My dad nods, and pours Patrick the drink.
"And for you, Abbers?" My dad asks, smiling at me.
I shake my head.
"No thank-you. I'll stick with water." I say, smiling.
My dad looks at me for a second, his head tilted slightly.
His face has a slightly confused look on it, but he shrugs and shakes his head.
"Alright." He says, before pouring out a drink for himself.
I don't drink a lot, but on special occasions, I usually have a few glasses of wine here and there.
But not tonight.
I'm not sure if I'm pregnant or not, but I'm not going to take any risks.
I look over at Patrick, and he has a small smile on his face, as he looks back at me.
"Just in case." I mouth, quietly.
He takes my hand, looking down at the ground.
He's smiling and blushing.
His dimples are accentuated, and it's adorable.
After about ten minutes, everyone has gotten all of their food, and we make our way to the dining room on the main floor.
Everyone finds a spot at the large, circular dining room table, laughing and still chatting as we sit down.
Patrick sits to my left, and Jessica sits to my right.
The center of the table is crowded with gravy, fruit platters, salads, and everything like that.
"Before we begin, I want to make a toast." My dad announces, standing up.
We all smile, looking up at him from across the table.
"I want to thank all of you for coming out and having this Christmas dinner with us, tonight," He starts, smiling.
We all nod, smiling as well.
"And so this toast, is to each and everyone of you here tonight. Thank-you for making this Christmas as lovely as it has been." My dad finishes, sitting down, and raising his glass.
Patrick moves his hand to rest on my thigh, and I get shivers at his touch.
We all raise our glasses, laughing as we do so.
"Cheers." We all say, in unison, as we clink all of our drinks together.
Everyone raises their wine/champagne glass, while I raise my water glass.
"Abigail, you're not having anything to drink?" Donna asks, as she notices my water glass.
"I'm just sticking with water." I say, smiling.
Pat squeezes my thigh gently.
I giggle, placing my hand over his.
"Alright." Donna smiles, nodding at me.
I smile back, and then look down at my stomach.
I place a hand over my stomach, and despite knowing that even if I am pregnant, there is absolutely no way I would be able to feel anything yet, it feels different.
I think it's just a psychological thing, but I don't know.
It's a beautiful feeling.
I quickly take my hand off of my stomach, and turn my attention towards my plate of food.
I look out the corner of my eye, and down the table, I can see Jessica eyeing me, her head tilted slightly.
Shit.
She probably noticed me putting my hand on my stomach.
And she's probably put the no-alcoholic-beverage thing together.
She looks suspicious.
I then notice her shrugging, and she shakes her head, continuing to eat.
I exhale, thanking God that Jessica didn't say anything.
Knowing Jess, she probably thinks it's nothing.
With that, I take my first bite of mashed potatoes, and they melt in my mouth.
Delicious.
My mom has always been incredible at cooking.
And her homemade mashed potatoes are literally, to die for.
"Mom, these potatoes are amazing." I say, looking over at her.
Her light brown hair is down and straight.
She smiles back at me, sweetly.
"Thank-you, love." She says, nodding in my direction.
I laugh, as I take another bite.
With that, we all continue to eat, conversing as we do so.
We talk as a whole group, about pretty much everything.
Our conversations range from the weather, to politics, to sports...
It's a broad conversation.
We talk and laugh for hours, all of us enjoying ourselves greatly.
After about two hours, dinner is finished, and dessert is served.
My mom had made a delicious plum-pudding, and the Kane sisters had baked a ton of chocolate chip cookies, for tonight.
We had cookies, cake, and ice cream for dessert.
It was amazing.
I have a huge sweet-tooth, and sometimes, it's not a blessing.
Finally, dessert finishes.
We all help clean up the dining room table, and put our dishes in the kitchen.
After we all pitch in to help clean-up, we make our way back to the family room, where we start the Steal and Swap present activities.
Every person here tonight bought a gift and wrapped it up.
At the beginning of the evening, we all put it under the Christmas tree for later.
And now, we are using the presents for a game.
We all pick a number out of a hat, and whoever has the lowest number gets to pick a gift first.
The person who has the second-smallest number then picks a present, and can either choose to keep their present, or steal the first persons' present.
Essentially, you want to have the highest number so that you can either choose to keep your present, or steal from any one else.
It gets pretty intense.
Chris gets the smallest number, and so he picks one of the presents from under the tree.
He picks the present I believe Jackie brought.
He opens the present, and a Chicago Bulls t-shirt is folded neatly under the wrapping.
His mouth drops open, and he laughs.
"No one better steal this present from me." He says, shaking his head.
We all laugh, and I notice Jackie blushing.
She obviously brought that gift in hopes that Chris would open it.
And she got just that.
Patrick has the second-smallest number, so he picks next.
He opens up the gift, and it is an at-home spa kit.
We all laugh as he unwraps it.
"Well, this is just what I need!" He laughs, sarcastically.
I laugh, shaking my head.
Jessica picks next, and she steals Patrick's gift.
"I'm actually not too upset about that." Pat laughs, raising his eyebrows.
We all laugh as the site unfolds in front of us.
And in this moment, with all the excitement and laughter coming from everyone in the room, the faint noise of the song "Last Christmas" by Wham! playing in the house speakers, and the un-wrapping of gifts on this cold, snowy Christmas, a thought comes to me.
Together, we are a family.
And when it comes down to it, that is all that matters.