Christmas is the same as every other. Owen is visiting until the end of January. In the morning they exchange gifts and then go to church. Arriving home around one p.m. they cook Christmas dinner together with festive songs playing in the background. Jamelia visits later on for their gift exchange but is soon distracted when she sees Lilly the bunny.
'Oh my Gosh! She's so cute!' She gushes, running to the hutch and watching the blondish-brown furred rabbit run around inside. 'Can I hold her?' she begs, and when Bobbi nods her head she excitedly opens the hutch door and holds the little animal to her chest. 'Oh my God...' she gushes again but with her teeth gritted, looking like she wants to squeeze the rabbit from her cuteness. In fact, she has a tear of happiness in her eye as Lilly sniffs her lips, and she holds her like a baby, kissing her. 'She's so adorable! I love her.'
'Do you want me to open your present if you're busy with Lilly?' Bobbi smirks, ecstatic to see Jamelia love Lilly.
Bobbi relates to Jamelia's mood as she was immensely excited this morning when she saw the hutch and bunny after she rushed downstairs. She woke up at five a.m. – she was that excited. She jumped up and down and shed one or two tears as she ran to the hutch and took Lilly in her arms. She felt like she was falling in love with the pet again, and Lilly loved her. Her heart was full of joy and love. Instant love is true under certain cases. They played together all morning, bonding and building trust.
When the girls exchange gifts, they snuggle up on the couch with a fluffy blanket, drinking hot chocolate with whipped cream and mini marsh mellows and watching Christmas movies. Both girls are happy with each other's presents; Jamelia's gift to Bobbi is a designer handbag, which is leather blue with gold studs underneath, and Bobbi bought Jamelia a Pandora bracelet. It's a silver charm bracelet with a heart clasp, along with it a feather charm and a purple-pink orchard flower charm. She loves it as she adores the Pandora collection.
Jamelia updates Bobbi on her mother's pregnancy, saying she wishes she was due soon to buy the baby gifts for Christmas, as she walked through baby stores and found the cutest and adorable clothes and toys, but her mother won't be due for another couple of months.
New Years Day, Lucas, Owen, and Bobbi go out for a fancy dinner and come back home with full, satisfied stomachs. The moment Lucas and Owen plop down onto the couch, there's a knock on the door. Bobbi wonders who it could be as she lays on the living room floor, petting Lilly whilst she rests on her stomach. She doesn't think she can ever get over her. Gets up and puts her back in her hutch, seeing her dad nor uncle is getting the door. They reach out for the Vinyl record player on the coffee table and head for the kitchen. Owen bought it for Bobbi for Christmas. She loves it, but maybe Lucas and Owen love it more as Lucas took out old records from the attic and they reminisce -again- whilst playing old classics, nostalgic.
At the door, she swings it open and she's quite startled to see Roberto, snow falling around him. His hands are shoved in his navy blue coat, his nose and cheeks are red, and his eyes water from the wind. All in all he looks rather adorable. Bobbi gushes at the sight. She immediately notices his hair cut; it's still the same style but shorter. At this moment, she believes it when people say absence makes the heart grow fonder.
'Miss me?' A cheeky, boyish grin spreads on his face.
Her heart pounds rapidly in her chest that she can hear it in her ears, but she rolls her eyes at him. Of course those would be the first words to say instead of a greeting. 'Yeah,' she says with sarcasm, but it's absolutely undeniably true. She longs to jump in his arms and kiss him whilst running her hands through his cut hair and stay in his embrace. Like a girlfriend would. She genuinely wonders how long her feelings will last, if she'll always feel this way or if she'll get over it.
Instead of acting out how she prefers to greet him that played in her mind, she grabs his arm and pulls him inside, shows him Lilly.
His face softens, lips parted from surprise. 'You actually got a pet? So cute! Can I hold him or her?' Bobbi tells him the rabbit is a girl and her name is Lilly. She tells him he can hold her, and so he opens the hutch to do so. 'Aw... she's sooo... cute! And so soft!' He holds her on his chest and snuggles the side of his face on her fur. 'Who's a cutie?' he gushes in a baby voice, cradling her in his arms and stroking her forehead, which she seems to enjoy.
Oh damn, Bobbi thinks, watching on and needing ice cold water thrown over her. Three or four times. This is probably the greatest thing she has ever seen, coming in second place after she saw him in nothing but his underwear; she feels so blessed. She breathes in a heavy breath and then exhales to steady herself. Yet, her heart melts watching Roberto play with Lilly, her hormones going wild.
'I got you a present,' she suddenly blurts, and she's focused again. Not entirely sure what it is she's focused on, but she composed herself rather than being in her own world drooling over him –not literally- whilst watching him with such adoration, her mind creating different love scenarios in her head.
'Really?' His head snaps over her way, perplexed. 'Do you even know what I like?' His eyes may be on Bobbi, but half of his attention is still on Lilly as he pets her. The bunny starts nibbling at his neck and then licking, causing Roberto to wriggle his neck around whilst giggling. 'That tickles.'
Bobbi laughs along and bites onto her lower lip. 'It means she likes you.' She did her research on how to understand rabbits, and Lilly did this to Bobbi countless times over Christmas. She can't wipe the smile off her face, it's such a sweet sight, and she can't help but wish she was at his neck the way Lilly was. Her mind shifts back to inappropriate thoughts with Roberto and it's hard to shake them off, so surprised at herself.
'It's because I just gave her the best forehead massage.' He pets her one last time and puts her back in the hutch. Once she's insides she flops down; she really made herself at home in the Thompson household. It was hard to settle her in at first, but with many cuddles she relaxed.
'What's this present you got me?' he questions, wiping his hands down his jeans.
'It's a surprise. I hope you'll like it. Why don't you wash your hands in the kitchen while I go get it? By the way, my dad and uncle are in there just to give you a heads up when you hear old folk music. You'll understand when you go in.' She chuckles and waves him off, heading upstairs to her room to get his present.
Excited yet nervous, she runs downstairs with the gift and sees he's nowhere in the living room. Entering the kitchen, she finds Roberto huddled with her dad and uncle around the vinyl; it's a Steepletone 1960's vinyl record in red.
'My papa plays the Bee Gees,' Roberto says, flicking through some old records.
'I have them somewhere,' says Lucas, rummaging through the box for the record.
Bobbi clears her throat and then calls Roberto's name. She likes to see him get along with her family, but for some reason she feels awkward giving him his present in front of them. Roberto's eyebrows raise at her quiet voice, and he sees her at the door with a small box. She nudges her head into the living room and he catches on, so he tells Lucas and Owen it was good seeing them, shaking Owen's hand whilst saying it was nice to meet him, and he walks out with Bobbi.
'That the boyfriend?' Owen's question is heard behind the door, barely.
'I don't think so,' Lucas says, their voices low but Roberto and Bobbi hear and ignore it.
She adamant to act like they didn't say anything, rubbing her forehead, eyes closed. Quick, get back to the situation at hand. 'Now, I hope you like it because I didn't know what else to get, so, yeah, here.' There's an awkward smile on her lips as she puts the box out to him, hoping what her father and uncle said isn't on Roberto's mind. Brings her balled up hands under her chin, grimacing as she hopes he won't think it's pathetic.
He unwraps the box and takes off the lid, and his eyes light up as he smiles widely. 'Whoa, thanks Gold!' he exclaims, setting the box on the table and taking out the snapback. The crown of the snapback is black and the brim is a dark purple.
'You said black is your favourite colour so I got you that one. I thought it could go with your collection. I noticed your wall of snapbacks when I brought a drunk you home,' she explains, shy. She holds her hands together in front of her and keeps her eyes on her shoes.
'Bobbi, that's so kind of you. I really like it. Thanks.' He takes her in for a hug, but furrows his eyebrows, probably trying to recall the night he was on the roof.
Letting go, he clears his throat and rubs his right shoulder, his sign of being anxious or nervous. 'I got you something too.'
'You did?' She blinks at him, confounded. What more can this boy do to me? She keeps her feelings in line, knowing deep down she wants to freak out. It's difficult for her not to. Come on, his smile is endearing, which make his lips appear irresistible. He slowly licks his lips, all but teasing her even with her eyes not completely fixated on his lips, but she sees it. 'Where is it?' she stutters, fiddling with the neckline of her sweater.
He answers with an oblique reply: 'In a place.' His pale greyish-blue eyes move vacantly around the room and his lips are thinned in a line, coming across suspicious. 'Are you free right now so we can go?' He asks, putting the snapback on.
She nods her head frantically, excited. Yells into the kitchen to her dad and uncle that she's going out for a while, but they're probably still engrossed with the vinyl record, talking about when they were teenagers. She had an earful of that when they first set up the vinyl. Kept saying things like, 'When we were your age we didn't have iTunes and iPods' and, 'when we were your age, we didn't have flat screen TVs in the living room and other TVs in all the bedrooms. You were lucky to have just one TV.' Their sentences always started with 'when I was your age...' It was a pleasant evening for Bobbi. The only sentence that was different was Owen's when he said, 'Gracie, dear, this music you're hearing right now, this is called music. It's real music. These days it's all gibberish, singing and rapping about parties only. These were the times when singers had things to sing about.' She couldn't disagree.
'It's a bit of a walk, so I hope you don't mind,' says Roberto, and Bobbi shakes her head.
They walk for twenty minutes, and Roberto takes the time to tell her all about Italy and what it was like being back home. From how he describes it, Italy seems like such a beautiful country and she puts it on her bucket list to visit one day. Maybe one day she'll go to Roberto's hometown and he can show her around and tell her stories. He could show her the school he went to, the place where he and his friends like to hang out the most, and more. It all sounds fantastic to her. It could happen.
They walk into the parking lot where the New Year's Carnival is located south of Kylemore.
'A carnival is my Christmas present?' she asks, confused, not quite sure if she understands. She tilts her head to one side and furrows her eyebrows.
'Well, it's one part to the present.'
At this, she tilts her head to the other side, more confused as the edge of her top lip curls up, scrunching her nose. Behind him, a rollercoaster rises up the tracks, some people raising their hands. It's the one ride she has to go on first.
'My Christmas present to you is the childhood you never got to live. I remember a while back you said you spent your childhood taking care of your ill papa, and although I admire you so much for it, I also believe everyone should have a good and fun childhood. And it's not too late to create that. You deserve it, Bobbi Grace.'
Tears gloss her eyes before they fall, one after the other, as she stares gobsmacked at him. I don't deserve this, she thinks. Her heart melts, she's so touched she leaves a hand on her chest. Her breathing unsteady, she can't find words to thank him or say anything, her mind blank and she's speechless. Lost for words. She's so shocked and caught up in her emotions, she covers her mouth with her hands. He's so selfless. This is one reason why you like him. His gift is so thought out and generous. She can't stop crying as she wipes under her eyes. Can't help but get emotional over it. She's full of joy, alongside being surprised, grateful, and overwhelmed. No one has ever done something like this for her.
With a slump of his shoulders, Roberto's eyes are full of regret. 'I thought something like this would happen. It would either go good or bad, and I'm an idiot for taking that risk.' He holds the bridge of his nose, his head down. When he looks up he says, 'Bobbi, I'm so sorry. I didn't want this to upset you even though I knew there was a chance of it happening, but I was willing to take that risk to see you get so incredibly happy and excited.' She shakes her head in disaccord, but he continues. 'I even made a list of things we can do for the week. I really thought you would've liked it. Please don't be angry with me.' He moves towards her and rubs her arm in hopes to make her feel better.
She smiles weakly, and says in a soft voice, 'No. These are happy tears. They're good tears... Thank you tears.' She pulls herself together, taking one deep breath. 'This is the sweetest thing anyone has ever done for me. You're so wonderful.' Tears line her eyes again but she blinks them away.
Roberto sighs in relief, a hand on his chest. 'Phew! I'm glad you like it. You don't know what I got in store for you.' He narrows his eyes, slowly raising his hands under his chin. His shoulders rise up as he tents his fingertips, and he laughs in a sinister voice, 'Mwahaha!' Bobbi laughs right before he takes her hand and runs into the carnival. 'Come on, this is gonna be so much fun!'
As they run in together, Bobbi wonders if he brought her here partly for himself, too. She smiles, amused by her thought. She loves his present just as much as she loves seeing him happy at the moment. Inside the carnival, they're instantly attacked by the screams of people on rollercoasters, laughter, and Christmas music.
Once Bobbi takes in her surroundings, she bounces up and down in excitement. Leans into his ear and confesses, 'You know, I've never been to a carnival before.'
He shoots his head in her direction, eyebrows skyrocketed, but then he thought it might be rare for Kylemore to set up carnivals for the New Years. There is a carnival outside of Fenton up north, but it takes a three hour drive for Bobbi and Lucas to get there.
'I've actually never been to a cinema either,' she admits. 'When I was with Nick, we just rented out movies and bought snacks. It was cheaper that way. The way you set up your living room like a cinema room when you invited me over, it really felt like I was in at one and I enjoyed it.'
He stares at her dumbfounded. Takes out from his back pocket a small pen and a piece of paper. 'I'm adding that to the list,' he mutters, jotting it down.
She gasps dramatically. 'Is that the list?'
'Yup.' He folds up the paper and places it back into his pocket, and also the pen. 'And you can't see it,' he sings teasingly, sticking his tongue out after.
They begin their walk and go on everything they see. They jump on the rollercoaster to begin with and ride in the bumper cars. They go inside the Horror House -Bobbi holding tightly onto his arm, her body tense- and after they go on The Drop, and then into The Crazy House where they have to complete obstacles to get out on the other side and slide down a spiral slide to the exit. They win tickets from playing shooting games and throwing small bags at bottles, and with them they buy food; Bobbi eats cotton candy whereas Roberto eats walnuts. There's a water rollercoaster they go on next, and halfway through the evening Bobbi comes to a halt when she spots a ride.
Knows instantly she wants to go on it for a joke and to annoy Roberto. Points at the ride and pleads Roberto to join her, but he refuses. He's adamant he won't go on it, but after many pleads, and telling him 'It's a ride we can't miss. This is the whole point of your present, you gotta live the childhood dream', he reluctantly caves in. She laughs victoriously as she grabs his wrist and runs to the teacups ride for kids. He hides his face for the whole ride from humiliation, but she yanks his hands away and holds them down so he won't cover his face again.
There's a game where you float on water in a bubble, and they stand inside their own bubbles and try run around on the water, a game they both say is their favourite by far. The last ride they go on is a very big, steep, and bumpy slide. They climb the stairs with their mats in hand, and at the top they decide to race each other down. The loser has to do something embarrassing the winner tells them to do. Bobbi pumps her fist in the air when she wins, and this time it's her turn to tent her fingers and laugh menacingly. She taunts him by saying she'll think of his punishment on their walk out.
As they walk, Bobbi spots the crazy golf course and decides to play.
'But first,' Bobbi pipes up, holding her finger out in front of him before she goes first. 'Your punishment-'
'Aw crap,' he wails, shoulders slumping. Already regrets what he doesn't know what he has to do.
The wicked grin on her can't be removed. 'While playing this game, you have to play bad and throw a complete tantrum and go overdramatic with it, at all times. I wanna hear you complain, screaming at the ball, face going red, throwing the golf club, all that jazz. You have to get people's attention.'
His eyes close, rubs his forehead and smiles nervously. 'Bobbi, no. Please,' he begs, discouraged.
'Consider this as part of my Christmas present, but don't swear. That's foul language, and kids are around us.'
His shoulders slump and he hangs his head low, grunting. 'Fine. I can swear in Italian though.'
'Yes!' she exclaims, eyes wide with excitement. 'That's even better!'
With a sigh and a scoff, they play and Roberto definitely meets her expectations. He gets angry that his face turns red, he shouts at the littlest things, stomps his feet, and every other thing makes it look like he has anger issues. He complains to the ball – not about it, but to it when things don't go his way. He swears in Italian, huffs, and grabs other people's attention. One kid, who looks five, has to tell him it's only a game and to relax, but Roberto gives him a dirty look and turns away, muttering, 'It's a stupid game and a stupid ball. He's just a kid, he doesn't understand.' The whole time Bobbi holds her hands over her mouth to force down a laugh, but it's hard when he sees she tries to control herself, so he takes it up a notch. He makes it somewhat his mission to make her crack and hear her laugh, and he accomplishes it a couple of times.
When the game is over, Roberto hides himself from public humiliation whilst Bobbi gives the golf clubs and golf balls back. She erupts into laughter when she walks over to Roberto, and this time his face being red is from embarrassment. She's pretty smug since he once said he doesn't get embarrassed. He grabs her hand and scurries out of the area and outside the carnival. She laughs the whole time, telling him her favourite dramatic moments.
'I hate you, Bobbi Grace.'
'Aw... I hate you too!' she gushes, slapping a hand to her chest, touched.
He throws her a deathly stare before walking to an empty bench beside the parked cars. He tells her he needs to rest before walking again, so she sits beside him and watches the stars above her. Roberto twists his upper body to one side, away from Bobbi, and crosses off "Go to the carnival" on his list.
'By the way,' he says, 'I wasn't even swearing in Italian. I was just naming foods. Zucchero just means sugar.' It is a word he used quite frequently.
She chuckles, looking at the stars above, thinking about how she had such an amazing time.
**
Roberto's Christmas present goes on for the rest of the week. They have so many things to do to create the best childhood Bobbi wants and deserves. They splash in puddles, play hopscotch, finger paint, and blow bubbles. One day, they stand at the top of Roberto's stairs with his mattress at the edge of the stairs and they sit on it, Roberto behind Bobbi. She holds her knees up to her chest, and his chest is to her back, caging her in with his long legs. They lean forward and slide downstairs, laughing on the way down and she screams at one point, squeezing her eyes shut.
The mattress downstairs, they decide to build a fort, so they grab all the cushions and blankets in the house and create it in the living room. Lucky his parents are out for the day, but they probably wouldn't mind it if they were home. Inside it, they make it homely and lay down, talking about anything, until Camilla and Matteo join them, and they have lots of fun together.
Other things they do is tying a rope to a tree to make a swing, have mud fights, they rollerblade, ride down steep hills on bikes, and go to the cinema to watch the latest comedy. After the movie, Bobbi jokes about getting Happy Meals from McDonalds, seeing as his gift is to give her everything children do, and he takes it seriously and buys her one before they go home. On that same night they lay out blankets outside her backyard and snuggle under another blanket they throw on top, as they search for constellations. From the joys of the day, they snooze for a while. Lucas and Owen do peak out between the blinds in the kitchen to check on them sometimes, mostly Roberto, but it's nothing but an innocent and friendly night.
Friday afternoon, Roberto knocks on Bobbi's front door, ready to bring her to the last present on the list. It's being held in his house.
Upon opening the door, expecting him, she jumps up and down enthusiastically and is eager for the next present. 'What are we doing today, huh?' Still jumps up and down, excited like a little child, which deems to be acceptable considering their circumstances. 'Huh? Huh? Huh?' she urges him, a wide goofy grin on her face.
It has been such a wonderful and fun-packed week for her, and she loves every little bit of it. Her favourite activity the most was sliding down the stairs on Roberto's mattress and the stargazing last night. The night was beautiful and perfect for stargazing. Lots of stars covered the dark night sky, the moon slightly bigger, like the sky knew they were going to stargaze and wanted to make it worthwhile. Unfortunately, neither of them saw a shooting star. For the night, they talked endlessly about anything and themselves.
They learned they had many things in common, such as music taste, movies, and opinions on matters in the world. Also, their favourite season is autumn, they're ambitious, and they both prefer acoustic guitars over electric. A deep similarity about them both is they fooled themselves into being someone they're not. Funny, that is. Roberto admitted he wants to be a doctor, and he regrets getting into fights in school because he wants to help people not hurt people. He said his father was bragging to his friends back home that Roberto would be the best doctor Liguria would have. He often wonders about going home to practice being a doctor, maybe in a couple of years for two years or such because he wouldn't want to be away from his sister or brother. Bobbi told him if he decides that then he should tag her along and show her his hometown. It sounded like an interesting plan to him, he'd love to give her the tour of Italy, and so they shook hands on it.
When the conversation became serious, they came up with the idea to ask each other random questions and they had to answer with complete honesty.
'Okay, favourite Britney Spears song,' Roberto said, his turn to ask. His hands rested beneath his neck, his feet swayed from side to side, as he stared at the sky.
'Sometimes,' she answered without a second to think about it. She admired the pretty sky.
Roberto didn't recognise the song, so she sung the chorus to help him out and he nodded his head once he remembered. 'Good song... but you can't sing,' he teased.
Her jaw dropped wide open, insulted. 'Alright then, name your favourite song by her and sing it!' she retorted. She huffed with her arms crossed over her chest when she sat up.
He sat up and met her eyes, a confident smile grazed his features. 'No problem,' he said all too conceitedly. He stood up, arrogant, and wiped his hands whilst he cleared his throat and faced her. She rolled her eyes at him, remembering he had a good voice so she knew she was in for one hell of a show. He shot his hand up in the air whilst he looked up to the sky, and it took her by surprise. As he slowly brought his hand down to his side, wiggling his fingers, he bopped his head, and sang, 'You drive me crazy!' in a terrible voice.
She snorted a laugh and quickly covered her mouth. He's such a joker, she should've known!
He shook his head before he tilted it and put his hands by his left cheek, in a prayer position, as he sang, 'I just can't sleep.' With his pelvis, he stuck it out, in, and out again whilst he sang the line, 'Oh, whoa, oh.'
Bobbi guffawed at his dancing, and when he saw this, he shimmied his shoulders whilst he moved closer to her as he sang. He danced ridiculously as he got closer and closer to her, and stuck his pelvis out, in, and out again as he sang again, 'Oh, whoa, oh.' She covered her eyes as she laughed hysterically.
'So innocent, but you know you love it.' He lifted up his sweater, bit onto his lower lip seductively, and he rolled his stomach like a belly dancer. He went on to sing the chorus of Crazy and danced like an idiot. She fell back onto the blanket, tears in her eyes from laughing so much. It was such an absurd night.
'Well?' Bobbi asks again, less enthusiastic this time when she steps out of her house.
'You know I never tell.' He smiles, but swallows hard.
They walk to his house, Roberto quiet the whole time. Seems to be lost in his thoughts, his behaviour the opposite it has been all week when he brought her to the surprises. Bobbi furrows her eyebrows at his demeanour, not knowing what to expect -as usual- so she remains quiet, too.
In his house and outside his bedroom door, he takes a deep breath as he holds the doorknob. He rubs his right shoulder from nerves, Bobbi awaiting for him to open it.
'Okay, everything we've done this week was fun and great and I hope you enjoyed it.' He's serious as he speaks, making her wonder what could possibly be in his room. 'I wanted this to be last on the list and I hope you will... um...' He scratches the back of his neck and clears his throat. His eyes are soft yet serious, and he looks at her whilst licking his lips.
He clears his throat another time and leaves his eyes on the floor.
'You mentioned before that... when you took care of your dad when he wasn't well—' he swallows hard—'you didn't have time to mourn for your mama so...' he trails off, opening his bedroom door, and Bobbi's eyes go wide at what she sees.