-nineteen-
Kate
My release was obvious because my body started convulsing with pleasure. He smirks and keeps going. His release is obvious because his strokes become slower and his body is much more relaxed beneath me.
We quickly put our clothes back on and just lay in the seats, catching our breath. I look over to my left and I see him breathing quickly with a smile on his face. I let out a small laugh and he turns and looks at me. "What?" He asks with a hint of amusement. I shake my head. "I love you is all." He smiles. "Love you too baby girl." I smile wider and clean up the mess we'd made with some subway napkins I'd found in the glove department. He laughs at me the entire time and I just shake my head. Finally, we're on the road again, fixing our hair. He pulls into the all too familiar driveway of the last place I was able to hug my dad. Tears fill my eyes to the brim. I take a few deep breaths calming myself down. He parks and we get out, deciding to just get the baggage later. He takes his house key and unlocks the door.
"Knock knock, we're home." He shouts. They immediately come running out of the kitchen with smiles on their faces. "Oh, I can't believe how much I missed you guys!" Anna says running into Stryder's arms. He laughs as they collide. Lee comes over to me with a big smile on his face. I open my arms and we have a really big bear hug, my favorite. Then we swap parents, gosh I didn't know how strong Anna was. I laugh to myself as they pull us to the kitchen. "Even if it's not Christmas just yet, I wanted to make a big dinner for your guys return." We sit down at the table next to one another. "You didn't have too, but it'll be a nice change from the food I've been eating," Stryder says with a smile. I nod quickly in agreement.
"Strya," I hear come from a little girls mouth. We both quickly look to our left and see Delilah up and walking around. "Oh my god," I say breathlessly. Stryder's eyes widen and he smiles so wide. He quickly gets out of the chair and lifts her into his arms. They spin around in a circle and she giggles like crazy. "I can't believe how big you've gotten! You can walk and talk now!" He says excitedly. Anna has the world's biggest smile and Lee just chuckles. I get out of the chair and walk up to them both. "Hey Delilah, remember me?" She looks at me with big eyes. But nothing. Everyone laughs. Stryder hands her over to me and I sit down with her, tickling her little stomach. Loud giggles come from her and everyone can't help but smile.
I put her in her high chair and we all take a seat around the table. Anna had made a whole chicken, mashed potatoes topped with chives, broccoli that tasted better than I ever imagined, and a salad. My mouth watered at the smell. "Dig in!" She excitedly says. I quickly start putting a spoon full of broccoli and potatoes on my plate. I put some salad in the little bowl in front of me then looked up at Stryder with puppy dog eyes. He looks down at me and sighs. "You want me to cut you a piece of the chicken don't you?" I nod and then lean closer to his ear. "Remember about an hour earlier how you said you'd do-" He laughs and quickly starts getting me a slice of the chicken. I sit back in my seat with a smile.
"This enough?" I nod and he sets it on my plate. I give his arm a hug. "Thank you." He laughs. "Whatever." We both had started eating our food when I looked up and noticed his parents staring at us. I quickly chew and swallow my food then take a sip of water. "Everything okay guys?" At the sound of my voice, Stryder looks up from his food. He notices their stare as well and he quickly finishes off the chicken in his mouth. "Yeah, everything's good. I've just never seen either of you so happy. I've seen you separately and in a different relationship. I've never seen you so happy." Anna replies with a wide smile. My face burns as Stryder smirks and Lee laughs.
"Well thank you, we appreciate it," Stryder says. I nod and quickly fill my mouth with food. After we finish we quickly get our bags and bring them up to Stryder's room. Before we leave Lee stops us. "Uh-uh. I don't care what you do outside the house, but you need to sleep in separate rooms here." Inside I was dying. "Yes, sir," I say with a small smile. I get my bags and go across the hall, setting them on my bed.
He nods in approval and we start walking down the stairs. We all gather on the couch. "I figured mint hot cocoa and Christmas movies are the move for tonight and tomorrow." We all happily nod. I sit next to Stryder on the love seat. Anna, Lee, and Delilah all share the big couch. I pull my feet to my chest and lay on his shoulder. He puts his arm around me, rubbing my back. Anna turns on Elf and we laugh at the funny parts and our hearts ache at the heart-warming moments. Of course, this reminded me of my dad. But I keep a smile on.
After four movies it was around nine and for me, it was eleven so I was pretty tired. I get up, stretch, and yawn. "I think I'm going to go to bed," I say with a soft smile. They nod and yell goodnight. Stryder gives me a quick peck on the lips so we wouldn't get in trouble. I walk up to my room and lay under the covers. I was tired as fuck, but I was going to wait until Stryder went to bed so I could sneak in there. About ten minutes later I hear him close the door and say goodnight to his parents. Someone was fiddling with my door handle so I quickly pretend I'm asleep. "See look, she's in her room and he's in his. They're respecting your rule." The door closes and I wait about five minutes. I get up, go into the hallway then quickly run into Stryder's room. I quietly close the door. He's already passed out. I shake my head with a smile. I get in next to him and lay on his chest. I get under the covers and just fall asleep.
We wake up to the sun shining in our eyes. His arm was around my body, keeping me close to his. I smile and snuggle closer to him. I hear a woman clear her throat and my heart starts beating faster. We both quickly sit up and look at the door. "I'm fine with you guys sharing a room because obviously, all you did was sleep, but Kate, you might want to get back to your room before Lee sees you." I nod with a smile. I get up and go back to my room. "Thank you," I whisper and she just laughs down the hall.
I get ready for the day, taking a shower, doing my makeup, and dressing in a nice Christmas dress. Today, a bunch of Stryder's family was coming over for a Christmas Eve dinner. I was excited to meet them all because I haven't met anyone but his parents and Delilah. After an hour I'm done. I walk out of my room at the same time Stryder does. I look at him weirdly. "It took you an hour to get ready?" He throws his head back and laughs. "No, when you left I meant to get up too, but I fell back asleep for about forty-five minutes." I laugh, nodding. That sounded more like him.
We walk down both flights of stairs into the kitchen. "We're here and ready to help with whatever," Stryder says with a smile. Anna turns around and nods. "Kate, can you please do these dishes and set up the table?" I nod and walk over to the sink. "Babe, could you please mow the grass, wash the patio, and set up some tables and shade covers?" He nods, taking off his jacket and going outback. Before I can put the gloves on my stomach starts to turn. I quickly run to the guest bathroom and grip the porcelain bowl with my hands. Out comes the dinner from last night, along with some hot cocoa. Once it's all out I wipe my mouth and wash my mouth out with water. What the hell?
I come out of the bathroom and Anna looks at me worriedly. "Oh dear, you puked too?" I look at her curiously. "This morning Lee puked and that's why he's not out here. Something must've been up with the food yesterday, I'm so sorry dear." I grab her hands with a smile. "It's okay Anna. It's nothing you did on purpose." She nods. "I suppose so." I smile and get back to the dishes. After washing all those I follow Anna's directions to a linen closet. I grab two large tablecloths, thirteen special plates, thirteen cloth napkins, and the special forks and knives. I lay one tablecloth down then the other. I put each plate down in front of a chair. I fold the napkins into small rectangles, putting them right next to the plates. I put a fork and knife on the napkin, next to the plates. After each spot was perfect I start helping Anna with the cooking.
***
The clock hit four and the first knock comes from the door. "I got it!" I yell, not wanting anyone else to have to stop doing what they're doing. I open the door and put a smile on my face. They walk in the door and look at me confused. My cheeks start burning and I'm starting to get nervous. "I-I'm Stryder's girlfriend. We've actually been best friends since I was born." They look at me and smile awkwardly. "I'm sorry, I'm sure you didn't want to hear all that. Anna is in the kitchen." They laugh lightly and all go into the kitchen. I follow them and after everyone giving hugs Anna introduces me. "Come here, dear." I nod and stand next to her. "This is Nolan, Lee's brother. This is his wife Sofia and their two kids Chandler and Isabella." I shake all their hands. "My name's Kate, nice to meet all of you." They all say the same and Anna tells them where the backyard was. I look at Anna and pout. "I completely embarrassed myself in front of them." She laughs getting back to work.
I start helping her again and twenty minutes later another knock sounds from the door. I go to the door and open it with a soft smile. I wouldn't scare these folks. "Hi, Anna's in the kitchen." The two adults nod and the kids didn't even look at me, they were on their phones playing some game. I close the door and follow the little family into the kitchen. After all the hugs I stand next to Anna again. "This is my sister Darlene, her husband Brian, their two boys Alexander and Henry." I wave to the parents. "My name's Kate." The boys finally look up from their phones and then they start staring.
My eyes widen and I start laughing. Stryder comes out behind them and slaps the back of their heads lightly. "Eyes off, she's my girlfriend." Both boys laugh. "Sorry dude." He smiles and gives them both hugs. He gives his aunt and uncle a hug as well. He leads them to the back with the other family. Lee comes down the stairs and into the kitchen. "I'm feeling much better, the medicine and nap really helped." Anna smiled, giving him a big kiss. "Good, now go talk to the family." He sighs but nods. She slaps his butt as he leaves and he laughs loudly. She gets back to cooking and I wore a big smile on my face. They were too cute.
The clock hits five-thirty and Anna announced dinner was done. Everyone came into the house and took a spot at the table. I sat next to Isabella and Stryder sat next to me with Delilah on his right. We all filled our plates and thanked Anna numerous times. All the adults were talking about their jobs. Stryder was talking to the other three boys, messing around and having fun with them. I looked at Isabella with a smile. "Hey, Isabella." She looks at me and smiles. "Hey, Kate." I return the smile, trying to think of something to talk about.
"How old are you?" She drinks her milk and looks back at me. "I'm fifteen." My eyes widen, she was too beautiful to be only fifteen. "You're absolutely stunning, how are you fifteen?" She laughs and her cheeks redden. "Thank you, but I got to say, I'm nothing compared to you." My mouth drops in a playful manner. "No way. But thank you." She laughs. "So how old is your brother?" She makes a look of disgust, I laugh quietly. "Seventeen, same with the twins." I knew they looked too similar to be just siblings. "That must've sucked to grow up with, basically three brothers of the same age." She nods. "You have no idea!" I laugh, she's right, I don't. But I could imagine.
"Plus, you're the youngest, what did you do at family gatherings?" She looks at Stryder. "I think Stryder always felt bad for me so he always hung out with me." We both laugh quietly because he had glanced in our direction. "Well, he's interesting, to say the least. It must've helped." She nods. "As I've gotten older though I usually just hang out with my mom, aunt Anna, and Darlene. Stryder usually hangs out with the boys because they're basically the same age." I nod. "Well, I'm planning on staying for a long time so now you have me." Her eyes brighten and she smiles. I give her a smile back and we get back to our food. I look over at the boys and they were eating now. Which means Stryder probably is too.
Once everyone finishes, Isabella and I take all the dishes to the sink, we clean up all the trash, then do the dishes. I high five her and thank her for the help. She goes out back with everyone else. As I take off my gloves and take my hair out of the pony I'm pushed against the counter. I immediately recognize those big hands. I turn around and try to say something but can't because he takes over my lips. My hands are in his hair and his are on my face. He pulls away and smiles madly. "What was that for?" I ask, my face red. "I heard what you were saying to Isabella and I really appreciate it." I smile. "It was nothing, she's actually really cool." He pulls me into him by my waist. He leaves kisses all over my face and I start giggling as he tickles my stomach. "EWW!!" The three boys yell in unison. Stryder pulls away and we both laugh.
"We came in to tell you, the s' more making is starting!" Yells Chandler as they all run back outside. Stryder engulfs my hand with his and pulls me outback. We all sit around the fire and make s'mores with smiles on our faces. I lean in so I could whisper into Stryder's ear. "This is one of the best Christmas Eve's I've ever had, thank you for inviting me." I pull away and he looks at me with a warm genuine smile. "Of course babe, come here." He pulls me into a hug and we make a few more s' mores.
***
Everyone leaves around ten and we were all too lazy to put the chairs away so Stryder just put out the fire then we all went to bed. Anna had convinced Lee to let us sleep in the same bed so I excitedly followed him up to his room. I undress and throw on one of his shirts. I get into the bed and get comfortable. He takes his shirt and pants off getting into bed with me. We lay under the comforter snuggling. I quickly fall asleep.
I wake up to Stryder jumping up and down on the bed. "It's Christmas babe! Wake up!" I slowly sit up, rubbing my eyes. "What the hell Stryder?! It's five in the morning!" He jumps onto the ground and his laughter fills the room. "I've done this with my parents every year from the day I understood who Santa was. I figured, now that I'm eighteen, why not give them a break?" I shake my head and get out of bed. I quickly pull on a pair of his clean boxers then walk downstairs with him.
We go into the living room and sure enough, there were presents under the tree and envelopes in it. Stryder pulls me to the couch and we just sit on it, waiting for his parents to wake up. About thirty minutes later I hear their footsteps. Delilah was crying. They both plop onto the couch. They hand Delilah to Stryder and he cradles her until she's asleep once again. "I'll never know how you do it." Anna mumbles. We all laugh quietly. He gets up and puts her back to bed when he comes out he's wearing a big smile.
He looks between the tree and his parents. Lee shakes his head. "You're eighteen son, eighteen." Stryder shrugs. Anna gets up and gets all of Stryder's presents gathered into a pile. She points to it. "Here babe." He runs to it and sits in front of it. Anna shakes her head and sits back on the couch. I get up, run to my room, gather all the presents, then run back downstairs. I put Stryder's on the love seat. I hand Anna and Lee theirs.
"Awe, honey you really didn't have too." I smile and shake my head. "For everything you've done for me and given me, this the very least I could do. It's a thank you for taking care of my dad and I, helping me through his death," I stop and look at Stryder happily opening a present. I look back at them with a smile. "And for giving me Stryder." Anna starts tearing up and I give her a hug. "Go ahead, open it!" She does so and her gasp tells me she likes it. She pulls the silver bracelet out of the small box and her tears are doubled. I laugh. "Why are you crying?" She looks at me and shakes her head. "You're too sweet. I'm so happy Stryder has you in his life."
I smile and then look at Lee. He opens his and smiles so big. "Stryder told me how you've had the same tools since like college and that they were starting to get useless." He pulls me into a hug. I laugh and hug him back. "You're amazing, thank you." I nod. "Of course, you guys have given me so much. I'll always try to give back." They smile. Anna's about to say something but Stryder excitedly yells, "New clothes!" At first, I'm confused why he couldn't just buy his own, but then I remembered, he cut himself off from his parent's money. He wants to make his own. He works at a restaurant right now, he's a waiter. He always gets tipped pretty nicely because one, his looks, two his manners. Lucky bitch. None of those jobs had called like they said they would so I had to find even more job openings.
I laugh and watch him open the rest of his presents. Then once he's finished and admiring his stuff I bring my presents over to him. "For me?" He asks with a cute little smile. I nod. He opens the box. I turn around and make sure his parents weren't looking. As he pulls it out of the box his eyes widen. He puts it back into the box and quickly covers it. Then he looks at me with a smirk. I shrug my shoulders. He shakes his head and grabs the second present. They were really expensive headphones, Autumn helped me. His eyes widen even more. "These are nice as fuck," He mumbles. I smile, glad he likes them. He puts his boxes to the side, giving me a really big hug.
"Definitely using the lingerie tonight." He whispers, sending shivers throughout my entire body. He leans back and looks at me with those bright brown eyes. They sparkled. I laugh and sit back on the couch. I close my eyes relaxing. I wasn't expecting any presents, but before I knew it, there were a bunch of presents next to me and three faces eagerly waiting for me to open them. "You guys really shouldn't have." They all ignore me and watch me with smiles. I grab Anna'a first. As I open it, there's multiple different scented lotions, two body scrubs, four candles, and then a gift card to bath and body works. I look at her with adoring eyes. "I'm in love with all of this." She laughs. "I know, Stryder told me." I smile and thank her. I look at Stryder who's just smiling. I shake my head and grab Lee's present. But before I can open it, my stomach turns. I stand up way too fast and race to the bathroom. I'm back to hugging the toilet and throwing up everything I ate the night before. Stryder comes in and holds my hair back for me, rubbing my back until I'm done.
I use some toilet paper to wipe my mouth. I flush the toilet and lean against the bathtub. He squats down and pushes the hair out of my face. "Is that it?" He asks quietly. I slowly nod. He helps me stand up and I wash out my mouth. I come back into the living room where Anna and Lee were anxiously waiting for me. "Dear, do you think you might have food poisoning?" I nod. She pouts and stands up. "Come on, let's get you to the hospital." I nod and Stryder gives me his hoodie. I put it on and he wraps his arm around my shoulder, we follow Anna and Lee to her car.
Stryder sat in the back with me as my head started pounding. I laid down and started getting colder by the minute. "I-It's s-so c-cold," I say, my teeth chattering. "Stryder babe, feel her forehead please." He does as his mom asks and he gasps. "She's on fire." Anna nods. "She definitely has food poisoning." But that's all I heard because I passed out from being so cold.
I wake up to hospital lights blinding me. I look around and everything is hazy. I think I see Stryder in a chair next to me. I look to my left and see Anna and Lee in chairs. "G-Guys?" I ask, my voice groggy. Stryder's attention is immediately on me. He smiles. "You're all right, you're in the hospital." I nod. "What'd they do?" He laughs and sits back down.
"Because you passed out and couldn't do things on your own, a few doctors had to set you on a toilet and just let everything come out." My eyes widen. Oh my god. "It was about a two-hour process." My face reddens. He smiles. "So now you're hooked up to the machine, it's replacing all the fluids you lost when you, well were shitting yourself." We all laugh and then a doctor comes in. "Good, you're awake. How are you feeling." I smile. "Well, I'm definitely not cold anymore." She laughs. "Good, you'll have to stay overnight but you can leave anytime you want tomorrow because you're of legal age." I nod and thank her. I look at the clock and realize it was eight o'clock. "I'm sorry I ruined Christmas guys."
Anna stands up and walks over to me. She grabs my hand and smiles. "Not you're fault. I'm sorry I gave you food poisoning." I laugh with a smile. "It's okay." She kisses my forehead and then Lee stands up. "We're going to go home and get some rest, Stryder are you coming?" Stryder looks at his dad as if he's crazy. "No way. I'm staying right here, as long as she needs." I look over at him and my heart aches. They both nod. "See you guys tomorrow." We nod and then the door is closed. I turn my head and smile. "You don't have to stay babe. I'm a big girl." He laughs. "I know, but I want to, besides, what would you do without me?" I shake my head.
"I guess you're right." He nods with a smirk. I'm about to say something but four familiar faces burst through the door. "Oh my god babe are you okay?" Alicia asks, running over to me, Autumn right behind her. I let out a loud laugh. "Yes, I'm very okay. What are you guys doing here?" Noah and Ryan smile. "Well, we heard what happened and wanted to be here with you and make sure you were okay." I look up and Noah and nod. "Well thank you," Ryan smirks and pulls a chair over to the bed.
"I brought board games." Everyone cheers and I fix my bed to where I was sitting up. "I figured we could start with Scattergories to see who's learned the most." Everyone smiles and nods. "Three, two, one, START!"