I hadn't exactly been expecting for my Christmas morning to start off with a call from Lily, but that was what happened anyway.
Either way, I answered the phone, because I was not about to find out what would happen if I ignored her.
"Hey Lily," I said, trying to clear the sleepiness from my voice, as I sat up properly in my bed, and rubbed at my eyes.
"Merry Christmas, Selina!" she said to me.
"Merry Christmas, Lily," I said, unable to stop myself from smiling as I heard her voice on the other side of the line.
"How are you doing this morning?" she inquired.
If I didn't know better, I would expect that she needed something.
Then again, this was Lily I was talking about, here.
"I'm tired," I said.
"Oh shoot! Did my call wake you up?" she asked me.
Well, admittedly, yes.
I used to wake up earlier on Christmas day, but I supposed that had all changed recently, given that I had been staying up so late to read books for the classes that I would be participating in after the break, and yeah, you heard that correctly.
Mr Jones' final words to me before I had left for the holidays had been that I would be able to secure an A on my assignment if I simply took it upon myself to study more. Well, he had included that in his speech to me, and recommended me to read a little more, and participate more, too, apparently.
Perhaps I could take some confidence from my friends, who all seemed to have it in bounds.
"Nah, you're all good," I replied to Lily's question, eventually, realising that my thoughts were drifting rather rapidly.
"Awesome. Well, anyway...I needed to ask you for a small favour," she informed me.
I smirked, as I sat there with my phone in hand.
"A small favour?" I inquired.
"Well, okay...maybe a little more than a small favour. Still, my father and I had a disagreement, and I don't know...I promised that I would spend some of Christmas day with him, but would it be cool to meet up with you later? I know that our houses aren't all that far from each other," she said.
Well, I supposed that she did have a point there.
A half hour drive wasn't what I could call that far, even if she wasn't right next door.
"That should be cool," I said, almost hesitant to believe the fact that I had just said that.
Regardless, though, I had told Lily that I would be there to help her when she needed it, and be there I would be.
"You're a great person, Selina. Thank you. Have an amazing day. Say merry Christmas to your family from me," she said, then.
"Of course! You too," I replied.
Once she ended the call, I hurried to my bathroom to begin to get ready.
After I had done that, combed through my hair, and brushed my teeth, too, I wandered over to my wardrobe to pick out my outfit for the day- a red sequin sweater.
This was especially for Christmas, of course.
After that, I placed on some comfortable dark leggings, and wandered downstairs to meet with my father first of all, who was already all dressed.
He had always been more of a morning person than the rest of us, though.
"Hey, merry Christmas, dad," I said to him, as I wandered closer to hug him.
"Merry Christmas, kid," he replied.
I didn't think he would ever stop calling me 'kid', despite me now being part way through my adult years.
Regardless, I didn't really mind it. It was something that had grown on me over the years/
"Hey!" Violet exclaimed then, as she began to head down the stairs.
Her hair was tied up into a messy bun, and she was still in her dressing gown.
For Christmas, she had re-dyed the ends of her hair red, as she thought that would appear more festive.
Originally it was supposed to be a brown-red shade, but it had ended up bright red.
Violet had ended up mortified, but I thought it was a pretty cool look.
She hadn't been all that amused, though, when I had joked that maybe we should now rename her Red.
She simply stated that my jokes were worse than my father's.
I thought that was an insult to him, so I wasn't about to tell him that much.
"You guys didn't open presents without me, did you?" she asked then, with slight concern in her gaze.
"No," I told her, "I thought that I should donate them to a more charitable cause, though, so they're all gathered in my room now."
Violet narrowed her eyes at me, momentarily, but upon realising that I was in fact joking, she eased up a little.
"Hey!" she said excitedly, then, completely disregarding my previous teasing of her, "It's snowing!" she stated.
"Really?" I asked her, turning to glance out the window, momentarily.
I unfortunately found that it wasn't actually snowing.
Then again, I hardly expected it to be.
I didn't think that we had a white Christmas in a long time.
"You're mean," I said to her.
She just gave me a wink, and then wandered into the living room.
Soon after that, my mother began to walk down the stairs towards the both of us.
"Hey you," she greeted me, and wrapped her arms around me for a moment, embracing me in her hug.
She really did look beautiful today. She had braided her dark brown hair, and the green eye shadow, that she had chosen to wear for the occasion, made her eyes stand out a lot more than usual.
"Good morning, mum. Happy Christmas," I told her.
"Thank you, Selina," she replied.
"Presents guys!" Violet yelled to us.
I just smirked at that, and wandered into the living room to join her, as she began to sift through the present pile, which were perfectly wrapped in red, gold and green wrapping paper by yours truly.
"These are all mine!" Violet said excitedly.
I swear, she was like a little kid on Christmas, but I could hardly blame her.
It was nice to see that some of that childhood excitement had crept into the adult years.
She began to open them up, and found that she had been gifted new clothes, handbags, perfumes and makeup.
"Did I get books?" I joked.
"We wanted to get you something different this year, Selina," my father announced then, "I just hope that you'll like it," he stated.
"Okay..." I trailed off.
Steven headed out of the room for a moment, and soon arrived with some car keys.
"Wait! You got me a car?" I asked him, in astonishment.
"We did indeed," he stated.
I almost felt like crying, as I walked over to hug him again.
"Se agapo. I love you both," I told them, as I looked between him and Jacqueline.
"Hey, I chipped in too," Violet said then.
"You too, Vi!" I told her, as I hugged her, too.
Once we had opened up all of the rest of our presents, we wandered out into the very fresh air.
My dad then walked me over to my new car, a little red Renault.
"Thank you!" I said to them all again.
"You're very much welcome, Selina," Jacqueline replied.
"It's freezing, so, yay Selina! Can we go eat now?" Violet asked.
We chuckled at her, but nodded in agreement as a cold breeze drifted by, and we all quickly headed back into the house.
Once we were inside, my father went to continue cooking up the dinner, with the trusty support of the rest of our family, of course.
Soon enough, it was done.
The four of us went to sit around the table, and then proceeded to eat up our Christmas meal.
"Kalá Christoúgenna," my father said, then, his Greek accent slipping in as he said it.
We all chimed in to copy him, and then returned to eating our turkey with potatoes and various other vegetables.
I loved all of them, and didn't really care what was on my plate, apart from the Brussels sprouts.
They were a crime against human kind, but I doubted that the rest of my family would agree with me there.
"You never grew out of that phase of hating them, huh?" my mother asked then, with good-natured humour in her gaze.
"I've said it before and I'll say it again, they're evil," I stated.
Violet just raised an eyebrow at me.
"I want wine," she stated.
"I'll come and help you open a bottle," Steven stated, and the two of them proceeded to wander into the kitchen.
A few moments later, they returned, and Steven poured some of the wine into each of our glasses.
It wasn't too long after that we decided to close the curtains, because it was already getting cold again, and the clouds just seemed to be becoming heavier in the sky above.
My mother and Violet flicked on a few of the lights, and I helped them clean up a little, too.
Soon after that, though, there was a ring at the doorbell.
Jacqueline turned to Steven and Violet, at first.
"Did you invite any guests?" she inquired.
"I may have said that it was okay for Lily to come around," I said then.
My mother and father looked towards each other momentarily, then, with looks of curiosity.
My dad spoke first, when he turned back to me.
"A friend of yours, I presume?"
I nodded.
At least, you could say that.
"I'll answer it!" Violet said, bolting for the door.
I sighed.
"Wait, Violet!" I said, as I headed after her.
We soon opened the door, together somehow, and sure enough the slightly-ruffled blonde-hair of Lily was the first feature I observed, before turning my attention back to those grey eyes of her.
For the first time, Lily appeared almost shy.
"Hey, come in, come in. It's cold out there," I said, and hurried her inside.
"Merry Christmas!" Violet said.
Lily smiled towards the both of us, as she took her beanie and scarf off, before proceeding to remove her pink button-up jacket, too.
"Thank you. Merry Christmas," she stated.
"It's nice to meet you, Lily," my father chimed in, then.
"We're just about to have dessert. Would you like to join us?" my mother asked.
It took me by pleasant surprise, and I was relieved all the same to have an incredibly welcoming family.
Lily appeared quite relieved, too.
"That would be amazing! Do you have mince pies?" she asked, then.
"We certainly do," Violet told her.
"That's perfect," she said.
Thus, all of us wandered back into the kitchen, and I helped my dad to serve up the desserts.
We ate until we were all stuffed.
At least, as much could be assumed, Lily had certainly appeared hungry.
However, when I asked her about it after dinner, she had told me that she had eaten dinner with Lina, Lance and Luke, her father, before getting the taxi this way.
Lily could drive, unlike me, but the roads were icy, which put her off travelling by herself for now.
"So, did you have a good Christmas in the end?" I asked her.
She gave a nod of her head, and smiled along with it.
"I did. I know it was a little impulsive of me to just come over here but...that's what I do," she stated.
I smirked at that.
"Yeah, you can be pretty unpredictable, but it's cool," I stated.
Lily moved forward a moment, then, and her eyes brightened a little, under the ceiling lights.
"You're cool. Well, sometimes, I'll admit," she said.
I was amazed that she had paid me a compliment, but I would take it, of course.
"Thank you, Lily. You're not so bad yourself," I replied.
The corner of her lips twitched up a little, making a dimple in her cheek visible.
I hadn't noticed it before, but now that I had, I hardly wanted it to go away.
I soon looked up for a second, and saw where we were stood, swallowing a little nervously.
"What is it?" Lily inquired.
I just pointed to above us.
"Oh," she chuckled, "Well, I mean..." she trailed off, then.
"It is tradition," I stated.
"Yeah, of course. You're right," she replied, with amusement evident in her expression, but then her eyes widened slightly, and her lips parted a little.
I had my attention drawn to the subtle pink gloss, she was wearing on them.
"Well, should we keep tradition?" I suggested.
"You know, if you wanted me to kiss you, you could have just asked," Lily replied, and simply stepped forward to press her lips against mine.
The kiss only lasted a few moments, but that familiar warmth filled my chest again, and I never wanted it to go away.