"He's probably on that plane right now." Jenna complains, looking up at her star decorated ceiling. She likes turning the lights off and watching the little stickers glow in the dark. It helps when she's depressed or lonely. James was suppose to fly out to Minnesota today with the rest of the Big Time Rush family. While he does that, Jenna has been spending Christmas eve with her overly nurturing mother, over protective father, Chris (who is as overly nurturing as their mother), and her opinionated aunt. Aunt Lauren is thirty five and she's been divorced twice. Jenna loves her, but she also gets on people's nerves. When she found out that Jenna was dating James, she immediately decided that the relationship meant nothing but trouble.
"You know, Aunt Lauren doesn't think that James is good enough for you." Chris comments. "She said that he's a womanizer and if you stay with him, you'll probably end up getting pregnant, married, and divorced before you're twenty five."
Jenna rolls her eyes. Aunt Lauren would say that. She's a know it all. She thinks that she can decide what's going to happen to someone before it even happens. She assumes that just because Jenna is dating someone in show business, James is going to get her pregnant, marry her, then cheat on her, and then she'll file for divorce. That's not gonna happen. She can't believe anyone thinks that it would happen. She and James are not that kind of couple. They're two innocent teenagers that are dating. It's like everyone's waiting for the downfall of their relationship, even their own families. It seems like their friends are the only ones that are being supportive. That's pretty sad.
"Of course." She mutters, sitting up. She sits with her back against the headboard, cuddling her stuffed panda to her chest. No one acted this way when she and Aaron were dating. Then again, Aaron was a regular high school student just like her. She doesn't really understand what her family has against James. He may be in show business, but he's so sweet and caring. How could anyone not like that boy? She hopes that they won't end up talking trash when he's around. He wasn't exactly happy when that paparazzi asked Jenna about him cheating on her.
"Look, I know it seems like everyone wants your relationship to fail, but we don't." Chris says gently. "In fact, we worry about it failing. We know that you like him and we don't want you to end up hurt when you two break up."
"How do you know that we'll break up?" Jenna retorts.
"I don't." Chris agrees.
Jenna messes with the hem of her pink, long sleeve see through, which has a sky blue tank top underneath. She's tired of everyone criticizing her for dating James. She likes him and no one can stop her from being with him. They haven't even tried getting to know him. Everytime he comes over, Jenna's dad makes sarcastic comments, while her mom and sister try to act polite but end up acting really awkward and stupid. Jenna wishes that they could learn to like James because he's a really sweet guy. He's her guy.
"Whatever." She sighs before leaving the bedroom. She walks downstairs and to their kitchen, grabbing a Coca Cola from the fridge. She takes two sips, then puts it away. She starts to leave the kitchen, but Aunt Lauren stops her. She gives her aunt a fake smile and tries to brace herself for whatever insults the woman is about to make toward her boyfriend.
"Sweetie, I would like to talk to you about that boyfriend of yours." Aunt Lauren says, guiding Jenna to the dining room. "Sit down."
"Aunt Lauren, I know you don't like him, but-" Jenna starts to say as she sits across from her aunt.
"I understand that you like this boy and you say that he's really sweet, but I don't know if some guy from a boy band is right for you." Aunt Lauren explains, jumping into one of her lectures. "You don't know him that well, you've only been with him for a little more than a month, and I'm concerned that you two are moving just a little too fast. You seem him almost every day, you talk to him on the phone all the time, and the background on your phone is a picture of you and him together. You're only seventeen and you don't need to worry about being in a serious relationship yet. You need to think about college, then you can get married and have as many babies as you want."
"We're not getting that serious." Jenna disagrees. "We're dating."
"Your family just wants what's best for you." Aunt Lauren says gently, jumping in surprise when the front door bursts open.
"MERRY CHRISTMAS, EVERYONE!" Lacey shouts.
"Lacey, what are you doing here?" Jenna asks as she walks to the living room.
"A Christmas present for my bestest friend." Lacey smiles, handing a candy cane striped bag with green paper to her. Jenna smiles gratefully and removes the paper from the bag. She reaches inside and pulls out the adorable blue leather Dolce and Gabana handbag that she saw at the Grove last week. She wanted it so bad, but she didn't have the money to buy it.
"I love it!" She squeals, hugging her best friend.
"Wait! You've got one more present." A deep voice says from outside. Lacey smiles and opens the door, revealing a smiling James.
"Jay, what are you doing here?" Jenna says in disbelief, throwing her arms around his neck and kissing him over and over again.
"Griffin wanted a Christmas EP, two of of the songs needing to be celebrity duets, so we kidnapped Fabio, took his place performing with Miranda Cosgrove, then Gustavo got hit by a limo and we recorded a song with Snoop Dogg, then we found out that there's a snow storm in Minnesota, which means that we're not going home because flights have been cancelled until the blizzard goes away."
"Aww, so we can spend Christmas together." Jenna says cutely, kissing his cheek.
"Um, Jenna, you're spending the day with your family." Will reminds her.
"I know, daddy." Jenna says, giving James another kiss.
"You know, I should probably be getting back to the Palm Woods." James says, trying to be polite. Jenna can detect a hint of sadness in his voice. She glares at her dad, who raises his hands in defense.
"I'll go with you." Jenna says, reaching for his hand. Before she follows him out the door, she looks at her family. "I'll be back later tonight. Good night, everyone."
"But I just got here!" Lacey whines.
"Come with us." Jenna suggests.
"Yay!" Lacey exclaims, waving at Jenna's family before following James and Jenna.
"I'm sorry that my family is so obnoxious." Jenna says sympathetically, rubbing James's arm.
"I know they don't like me." James sighs. He doesn't know why, though. He always tries to act super polite when he visits. He offered to help Chris and Ms. Harper decorate the Christmas tree the other day, but they declined. He doesn't understand why they all seem to have such a problem with him. Does it have something to do with his chosen career? Are they worried that he's gonna hurt Jenna? He would never do anything to hurt her. He doesn't care about what he has done in the past (dumping the girls). Jenna isn't like those girls. She just cares about living in the moment. She doesn't focus on what their relationship will be like in the future. She cares about right now. She isn't in any hurry to say I Love You or moving in together after high school. He likes her a lot and he cares about her, so he doesn't know what to do about her family.
"Jay, they like you." Jenna says, kissing his cheek. "They're just getting use to you."
"Jen, turn it on that one Christmas station that we always like listening to during the holidays." Lacey suggests.
"Great idea." Jenna smiles, rubbing James's shoulder before turning the radio on. She turns the dial until it's on the Christmas station, then lets the car be filled with holiday cheer.
"Hey, this is the song that Jo recorded for New Town High!" Jenna says as she starts to sing along.
As she sings the last line of the very first chorus, she places another kiss on her boyfriend's cheek, while Lacey sits in the backseat and rolls her eyes. Some couples are so sappy and as happy as she is for Jenna, they are one of the sappiest couples that she has ever seen. She isn't sure whether to be amused or irritated. She's a little bit of both. Jenna is dating a guy from Lacey's favorite band. Lacey would love to be a Big Time Girlfriend, but Logan is taken. Maybe they need to add a really hot and talented fifth member, so Lacey can be a part of the fun.
"Sing with us, Lace!" Jenna encourages.
"Fine!" Lacey says.
"All I want for Christmas is you!" They sing in unison.
When they arrive at the Palm Woods, they walk to the entrance, without being bothered by photographers. They walk through the lobby and Jenna greets her new celebrity friends. She even wishes the Jennifers a Merry Christmas and they reluctantly say it back. She holds onto James's hand and they walk to the elevator, with Lacey following close behind. Is it wrong to feel jealous of your best friend? Because Lacey's starting to feel it herself. Jenna gets to be a part of this crazy, fun life, while Lacey's stuck on the outside.
They arrive at 2J and find everyone dressed in their PJ's, prepared to carry presents out the door.
"What are you guys doing?" Jenna asks them.
"Oh, we're gonna surprise Bitters with a little Christmas cheer." James whispers as Ms. Knight hands him a couple of gifts to carry.
"And we got you two some PJ's." Kendall says, handing two sets of pajamas to Jenna and Lacey. Jenna's PJ's are purple cheetah print, while Lacey's are Christmas green. "Get changed."
"Best Christmas feast ever!" A surprisingly cheerful Mr. Bitters exclaims. He, the guys, Jenna, Lacey, Ms. Knight, Katie, Gustavo, and Kelly are all sitting on couches or on the floor, by the fireplace.
"We're really glad that you guys got to stay." Jenna says, snuggling up to James. "We would have really missed you guys, but we're sorry that you couldn't get to Minnesota. And Gustavo, we're sorry that you couldn't go to Figi."
She loves her family a lot, but she really prefers spending Christmas eve with James. With him and his friends, she truly feels appreciated. Her family seems to only care about keeping her in a box and making sure that she stays a little girl forever, not realizing that she's almost eighteen, which means that she's gonna be an adult. So why can't they treat her like an adult? She needs to start making some of her own choices and her family needs to respect them. After all, she knows not to make any bad choices. She's talking choices such as deciding who she wants to date. They can't dislike her boyfriend just because he's not the kind of boy they want her to date.
"Honestly, we're kind of happy, too." Carlos admits. "After all, it's our first Christmas in LA."
Jenna smiles as she kisses James, whispering to him. She crawls onto his lap and wraps her arms around his neck, kissing him some more. She plays with the hair on the back of his neck, giggling when he closes his eyes. He loves when she does that. He also enjoys shoulder rubs. Basically, she knows just how to make her guy happy. And they're learning more about each other every day.
"And we got gifts for our new friends." Logan says, handing a gift to Jenna and another to Lacey.
"Hey, it's that black sweater that I wanted." Lacey says, hugging her new sweater to her chest.
"Aww, you guys got me a stuffed piggy." Jenna says sweetly, cuddling the stuffed animal. "Wait, do you guys think I'm weird for having a stuffed animal collection?"
"No." Kendall shrugs. "I still have a collection of Pokemon action figures, but never tell anyone."
"We won't say a word." Jenna promises.
"This has been one amazing Christmas." Ms. Knight says, kissing Kendall's cheek.
"Agreed." The others say together.