My obsession with peppermint mochas and peppermint cocoa was getting out of hand, according to Alec. I was on my third cocoa of the morning, happily putting the finishing touches on the Christmas tree in my living room while dancing around to carols on the radio in Alec's baggy T-shirt. Carlie and I had stayed up half the night stringing lights, watching sappy Hallmark movies, and video chatting with Michelle, Renee and Shelby. I gave the girls a virtual tour of my new apartment and they rambled on about how excited they were to come visit soon. I was excited to see them again, too. It felt so weird being on opposite sides of the country.
Despite the sleet coming down, SeaTac still had plenty of flights going through. One flight in particular was a 767 arriving from Dallas that would deliver one of the few things I wanted for Christmas: my brother. I'd called Jake yesterday morning and though I could hear reluctance in his voice when I mentioned that Alec and I were spending the holiday together, he agreed to come visit, to my surprise. I still had about an hour before the taxi would drop him off at our building.
"What do you think?" Carlie bounced into the room wearing an adorable red and green "ugly" sweater that she'd made herself. "Is it too much? I think Rudolph's nose looks a little droopy."
Alec burst out laughing and quickly scampered off to the kitchen when Carlie shot him a stern glance.
"You look really cute," I giggled. "You did a good job for a first try."
"Clothes making is not my forte." She shook her head but continued to smile. "Are you excited to see Jake?"
I nodded, sipping at my cocoa and stretching out across the couch. "Yeah. I really want to patch things up with him. We've always been close but never as close as I'd like us to be. And you know how my family feels about Alec."
"Holding a grudge is for third graders." Carlie waved her hand. "Alec's a good man. They'll realize that eventually."
"And if they don't?"
I could practically feel Alec straining to listen in from the kitchen.
"If they don't, who gives a flying squirrel? Marry the dude. Have a bunch of babies like the Kennedys'. It's not up to them."
Almost two hours and three concerned texts later, I finally heard a knock at the front door.
"What in the hell took you so long? I got worried!" I whined, tackling my brother in a bear hug.
"I'm sorry, Bree. The roads are pretty messy."
I stepped back to take in his appearance. He looked exhausted. After two long flights across the country, I was sure he was. He wore a green Seahawks hat with a flannel shirt and his usual ripped jeans and scuffed boots. It felt like it had been ages since I'd seen him, much less gotten to hug him. I was overjoyed!
"Since when are you a Seahawks fan?" I frowned, gesturing to his ball cap.
"I picked it up at the airport. Trying to get in the spirit of Seattle for you," he said in a goofy voice, taking the hat off and plopping it on my head backwards.
"Well, come on in. Let me show you around. Do you want anything?"
"She has an absurd amount of cocoa!" Carlie yelled from the couch.
Jake's eyes lit up when he saw Carlie. I'd always suspected he had a thing for her, ever since she helped him go Christmas shopping for my parents and me last year. I'd gone over to her apartment to borrow a step ladder and accidentally walked in on them about to kiss. They'd both blown it off as my eyes playing tricks on me and after the third time Jake mentioned he was too busy working to have a relationship, I'd let it go. Now, based on the look in his eyes, I doubted he was still too busy with work.
"Hey, Carlie," Jake smiled. Really smiled. "I haven't seen you in a while."
"I'm here now," she raised an eyebrow and I could almost feel the electricity between them.
I nudged Jake's arm to bring him back to reality. They had plenty of time to get reacquainted and potentially make out later.
"Oh, uh... Bree," Jake stuttered and cleared his throat. "I have an early Christmas present for you."
I was surprised. I hadn't expected Jake to bring anything but a box of peppermint bark or cookies with him.
"You do?"
"It's kind of a big one," he nodded, stepping aside. "This is actually what took so long. I had to wait for the second flight to land before I could catch a cab."
"Second flight?"
Before I could blink, I was engulfed in hugs from my parents. I hadn't seen them since before Alec's and my trip to Seattle a few weeks back. When we'd returned to Wilmington to pack, I'd been avoiding my family, knowing they were furious over my relationship with Alec. I hadn't even discussed the move with my parents. I'd been too uncomfortable to have that conversation.
"Jake, this is the best surprise!" I started to cry, pulling him into the group hug.
But then I heard someone clear their throat noisily. We separated and I turned to see Mr. and Mrs. Shaffers standing in my doorway. They were both dressed formally, like they'd just left a cocktail party and Mr. Shaffers' frown was about as bold as the shiny Rolex on his wrist.
I looked back and forth between Jake, my parents, and the Shaffers in confusion.
"Mom? Dad?" Alec stepped into the living room. He'd just gotten out of the shower. "What are you doing here?"
I'm wondering the same damn thing!
"Well, dear, the Laughlins and we have been talking," Mrs. Shaffers spoke, her judging eyes skimming over my apartment. "While we don't necessarily jump for joy at the decisions you two have made recently, we do understand why you've made them, and we want to support you both, regardless of any difference in opinions."
Alec and I looked at each other, stunned. Where was this coming from? We'd both been dreading the day we finally had to sit down and discuss all this with our families. It couldn't be this easy, could it?
"What changed your minds?" I asked hesitantly.
The last thing I wanted was to piss off Mrs. Shaffers. Her Wicked Witch mode went from zero to sixty real fast.
My mom pulled me into a one-armed hug, smiling and rubbing my arm reassuringly. "Honey, we've all been mad for so long that we hardly remember what we were mad about to begin with. I, for one, don't want to be mad anymore."
"You've grown into such an intelligent and beautiful young woman," my dad chimed in. "We're so proud of you. Both of you."
My dad reached out a hand to Alec and I felt like I was going to cry. The two men shook hands visibly firmly and nodded to one another in a silent understanding and new-found mutual respect.
"Thank you, sir," Alec said sincerely.
Mr. Shaffers patted Alec on the back with a closed mouth smile, taking in my apartment. "Well, what's there to do around here? We've got reservations at the Hyatt through the twenty-seventh. We want to make the most of our time here with you all."
Alec and I shared a knowing look at the mention of the Hyatt.
"Come on, guys, I'll give you the grand tour of our apartments," Alec chuckled, leading everyone down the hall to his.
"What a one-eighty, huh?" Carlie said, dumbfounded behind me.
All I could do was nod, still shocked out of my wits. I'd expected my parents' first visit to Seattle to go more along the lines of "do you have any idea how many volcanoes there are in the Cascades?" and numerous other nitpicks about the area. That must've been one fucking hell of a talk that our parents had had.
Alec finished up the tour and we all gathered in his apartment for a nice family dinner, talking and laughing, enjoying each other's company. At one point, Alec told me he felt like we'd crossed over into the Twilight Zone. It was going to take some getting used to, everyone getting along, but it felt so damn good to finally stop worrying about the wrath of everyone's opinions. The longer we talked and the more time we all spent together, the more comfortable we became with each other's families. Mr. and Mrs. Shaffers' attitudes had relaxed tremendously since their somewhat judge-y entrance earlier and I was beginning to actually enjoy their company.
Christmas came and all of us enjoyed the holiday together as one big happy family - something I'd never thought we could achieve.
Jake and Carlie had started spending time together again, as I'd predicted to Alec. They'd disappeared on a romantic stroll when all of us had taken a walk down by the harbor to see the sailboats and yachts all covered with light strings and colorful decorations. When they returned quite a while later, they were holding hands with grins plastered across their blushing faces like Cheshire cats. I spent the rest of the evening teasing and egging Jake on until he finally manned up and asked Carlie to be his girlfriend. She squealed so loud, I had to cover my ears.
Everyone headed back home on the morning of the twenty-eighth and Alec and I had our apartments to ourselves again. We decided to leave our decorations up until a week after New Year's since we hadn't gotten to enjoy them for most of the month of December.
On the thirtieth, Alec surprised me with a spur-of-the-moment flight to New York to see the infamous ball – or as he called it, the gonad – drop in Times Square. Alec gave me my first New Year's Eve kiss under a shower of fireworks and confetti while Sinatra's New York, New York played in the background. It was like something out of a movie.
"I want to give you all the fairytales you've ever dreamed of," he'd said as he kissed me again, smiling against my lips.
At that point, I was convinced that Prince Charming did, in fact, exist, and he was my boyfriend.