If any was to ask me what my favourite time of the year was, I would answer Christmas, straight up every time. At least that would have been my answer three years ago. Three years ago was when my love for the festive season came to a grinding halt. After working hard on Christmas Eve, I returned home just before five to find my best friend at home with my boyfriend, they were on the sofa watching a film as they drank lager together. I wasn't too concerned at this point, we were having a few friends around that evening for a party anyway, I figured Grace had just turned up early. Well, I was wrong. I caught them later that evening in our shared bed. So, when my new partner's sister asked me to spend Christmas with their family I was very uneasy about the situation.
I arrived Christmas eve, I arrived on time, not early. I had a habit of never arriving early after that Christmas. Nervously, I stood at the front door as I waited for someone to open the door to me. After about half a minute, the door opened and there stood my partner's sister, Johanna.
"Genevieve, I can't believe you made it," she greeted me before pulling me into a hug. "How did you get here?"
"Taxi," I raised my eyebrows as I held up the bag I had brought with me that was full of gifts. "Do you have anywhere I can put these?"
Johanna smiled, "Of course, come in."
I followed her into her family home. I looked around as I entered the hallway, it was quite grand and beautifully decorated. You wouldn't have known there was children living here, well for a second until I heard the screams before the two girls ran into the hallway and threw their arms around me. "Genny!" They both yelled in unison.
Sophie, the youngest one at the age of six grinned at me. "Are you spending Christmas with us?"
"Yes, I am," I assured the young brunette as I knelt down giving her more of a hug myself, my right arm placed around her sister, Kiara who smiled at me.
"Are you sleeping in my room?" Kiara asked with wide eyes as she flipped back her red hair. She had her mother's red hair, unlike her young sister. Kiara was ten and it was obvious she was on the way to becoming a teenager.
Johanna laughed as I got back to my feet, the two girls standing by the wall. "Your room is safe," she assured her daughter before Kiara nodded and headed away. "Are you going to help, Sophs?"
Sophie nodded as she reached for my suitcase, "I can take this."
I reached for the suitcase, "It might be a little heavy for you darling." I handed her my handbag, "Maybe you could carry this for me instead."
She happily grabbed the bag and headed up the stairs, Johanna looked at me and laughed. "She's full of beans, she's so excited about tomorrow."
XOXOX
Sitting on the sofa that evening, the two girls had gone to bed leaving me with Johanna. She reached over and filled my wine glass up and smiled at me, "Hopefully he will be here soon."
"What does he think he's coming for?" I asked her as I held the glass tightly in my right hand. In my left hand, I had my phone, I had been messaging my partner, Sebastian but under the pretence that I was at my mother's home ready for the morning.
Johanna grinned widely, "Well I asked him to come and stay the night so he could be here to see the girls open their presents in the morning. Surprise them." Her phone bleeped loudly distracting her, she picked it up and checked it. "Sounds like he's not going to swing by until the morning now."
I looked at my phone, before looking back at Johanna. "That's a shame," I was disappointed but I wasn't going to let her in on just how much I was feeling it. "It's okay," I managed a smile as I held up the wine. "We can have fun without him."
She grinned widely, "I have an idea." Getting to her feet, she fished her hand into her jeans pocket before pulling out her car keys. "Take my car, surprise him."
Everything in my gut twisted as I thought of the words she said as she chucked the keys in my direction, my hand catching them before I got my feet. "Oh shit," I giggled as I put the wine glass down. "I can't drive to his, I've already had two glasses."
Johanna laughed as she realised she'd drank a few too. "Me too," she laughed as she flopped back down on the sofa. "I'll just ring him," her matching German accent coming out the more she drank. I smiled at I sat next to her and watched as she pressed his name before putting it on loudspeaker.
"Was willst du, Johanna?" Sebastian's accent was thick when he answered the phone.
I smiled when I heard his voice. Every time I heard him it made me feel all gooey and mushy inside. If I am honest, I never want that feeling to go away.
"I forgot to pick up," Johanna started to say but then went quiet as she looked at me for help. I picked up the controller and pointed to the battery compartment. "A remote?" My eyes widened at her stupid guess before I shook my head and took the lid off, my fingers touching the batteries. "Batteries, I forgot batteries," Johanna quickly corrected herself.
"I'm going to sleep, Johanna. I have no idea why you decided to move Christmas by one day but unless there is a present for me to open tonight then I will see you in the morning." He was short with his sister as he spoke.
Looking at my phone, I stifled a laugh when I saw it was only nine in the evening. My gaze returned to Johanna who shrugged her shoulders.
"Come on, Seb. I know the girls would love their uncle to be here in the morning. Besides, I could do with your help making Sophs' bike, if we do it whilst she's asleep then she won't have to wait for us to build it." She tried a different approach with him, knowing how he doted on his nieces.
In the background of the call, there was a door creaking before he let out a sigh. "Fine, I am coming over. I'm not happy about it though, Jo."
"Thanks Seb," she smiled before she ended the call. She looked up at me and smiled wickedly. "You heard the man, he wants a present, lets wrap you up."
I laughed as I got to my feet, "What does that even mean?"
Johanna raised her eyebrows, "The bike comes in an abnormally large box. If we empty it all out, you can hide inside and I'll stick a bow on the box."
I'm sure it wasn't a great idea but being a little intoxicated made everything sound incredibly good. We pulled the box into the living room before emptying out all the bike parts and looking into the empty box. I bit my lip as I looked at Johanna, "How long have we got?"
She shrugged her shoulders, "Not long. He's literally around the corner." As she finished speaking, there was a knock on the door. Johanna looked at me and giggled, "You better get in."
Rolling my eyes I took my shoes off before climbing into the cardboard box, "I'm not happy about this right now."
Johanna closed the lid, "You are doing great. Just hang in there." She put some tape over the top before I heard her tap the top of the box.
I closed my eyes as I listened to her walk away, my breathing was quiet as I tried to stay as still as possible. I heard Sebastian's voice alongside his sister's as they entered the living room. "Why didn't you call me earlier? The last thing I want to be doing at this time of night is building a bike." I listened as Sebastian complained to his sister.
"What else did you have planned?"
"Well if you must know, I was going to put in a call to Gen before going to bed," he confided in Johanna as I listened to them move around the room. "I know that she's going to her brother's tomorrow, so I wanted to catch up with her tonight."
I honestly wanted to hit myself in the head right now, I mean seriously, what was I even doing? I was laying in a god damn cardboard box waiting for my unsuspecting partner to open it to surprise him. It sounds pretty stupid because he honestly has no idea I am listening to him talk about me right now.
"I'm sure you'll get to speak to her," Johanna assured him as I smiled, it was easy to smile knowing she knew where I was.
Sebastian sighed, I knew it was him, we might have only been dating for a year but I knew him more than he thought. "I'm sure you'll get to speak to her," he mimicked his sister before I heard clattering of metal. "Are we building this bike tonight then?"
"Well," Johanna announced loudly. "I have a present for you first."
"I was kidding, Jo." He spoke, "I'll just open it tomorrow when the girls open their presents."
"No!" His sister was forceful in her approach. "Please, it's just a little something for you to open tonight."
Listening I heard footsteps coming closer to my box, I held my breath as I smiled under my hand that covered my mouth. "Seriously," he said before speaking in German for a moment then I heard the tape ripping. "This better not be some kind of joke gift."
My hands were shaking when he finally opened the box flaps and looked down at me, his lips instantly curled at the ends as he stared at me. "Gen?" He offered me his right hand which I took as I laughed.
He helped me to my feet and I just grinned at him, "I hope this was well worth coming over for." I put my arms around his neck and pulled him close to me.
I felt his hands wrap around my midsection, his touch like a drug as he kissed my right cheek. "This is the best gift I could have asked for," he admitted as he held me tightly. "I thought you were going to spend Christmas with your family?"
Pulling away and looking at him, "This is family of some sorts." I stared at his dirty blonde hair which was a mess. I guessed he'd been in bed before Johanna managed to convince him to come over this evening. His blue eyes sparkled in the light as he took my hands and held them as he looked down at me. "How could I say no to spending time with you?"
Sebastian's hand were calloused against mine as he held them, everything about how made me feel safe and secure. "And you and Johanna thought this all up by yourselves?" He teased as he winked at me.
"I'll have you know this was all Johanna's idea, I just went along with it," I told him with a smirk. "Kinda like the time you left Hockenheimring to come and see me," I reminded him of a time he decided to surprise me.
He kissed my forehead as he smiled, "Don't tell me it wasn't worth it."
I stared up at him with wide eyes as I realised what he was referring to, my cheeks reddening as I tried to hide the smile that crept on my lips. "Sebastian," I playfully slapped his chest. "That was different."
"Worth it though."