Our First Christmas (2 page)

Presley

I never had so much fun putting up a tree before. With my parents and Trevor, it’s so different. Mom usually picks whatever color is in style and hires someone to decorate. Then we would just stare at it. Most of the time, it looked like it was suppose to be in a storefront window and not in someone’s home.

With Victor and Levi, they have ornaments from Levi’s childhood and some that Victor had with his wife from when they first got married. The one I love the most is the one Victor gave Amanda on their first Christmas. It brought tears to my eyes. Levi looks just like his dad, but has Amanda’s eyes. You can see their love for each other in their eyes from the homemade frame and bad handwriting that said, “Our First Christmas”.

Levi is unusually quiet, and Victor helps until he gets tired. When the tree is done, I make everyone lunch. Victor and Levi are arguing about their NHL teams and who will make it to the playoffs. Of course, I have to agree with Levi, but that is because we both love our Pittsburgh Penguins.

After lunch, Victor looks worn out, and Levi helps him up the stairs to take a nap. I curl up at the end of the couch when my phone begins to ring.

“
Presley Marie, you will be home for Christmas.” I barely get ‘hello’ out before my father’s voice booms.

“
Daddy, I have never gone against you, but this time I am. I’m staying with Levi and his dad this year.”

“
This conversation isn’t up for debate. You
will
come home. Period.” My father’s stern voice is the worst sound that I could think of when he’s upset. I feel like I should crawl into a corner and hide. However, this time, I’m going to stand my ground.

“
Daddy, I can’t spend every single holiday with you all. Someday, I’ll spend it with my own family and you’ll need to get used to that. I’m not coming home. I’m sorry if you are upset, but I’m staying here.” Then I do the one thing I never thought that I would do in my life. I hang up on my father.

I stare at the phone, thinking that my father will call back and yell at me, but after a moment, nothing happens.

“Wow, Smarty, I’m impressed.”

I look up and see Levi leaning against the wall with his hands in his pockets.

“Didn’t think you had it in you.”

“
I didn’t either.” I look back at my phone, but there are no notifications on it. I’m not sure how to react.

“
Hey.” Levi sits next to me and puts his arm around me. “If you want to go home, you can. But I’m being selfish when I say that I would rather you be here with me. I mean,”  he looks down and collects his thoughts. “We just got back together, and I’ve missed you so much.” His blue eyes look back at me, and I know that there is nowhere else I want to be.

“
Levi,” I bite my lip. “Want to take a nap?”

“
Huh?”

“
Do you,” I lean closer to him. “Want to,” I brush my lips against his. “Take a nap?” I gently peck his lips as a small smile forms his lips.

“
I would love to nap with you because we haven’t napped in a long time.” His eyes drink me in, and I can’t help the blush on my cheeks. He grabs my hand, and we quickly, but quietly, head up to his room.

He quietly shuts the door and gathers me in his arms. His kiss is hard, and I kiss back just as hard. I miss his lips so much. Levi quickly tugs on my shirt and pulls it over my head, and I do the same to his.

"I've missed you, Presley." Levi's breath is ragged as he leans down and looks me in the eyes. My heart beats faster with the look he gives me. He gave me the same look when we first had sex. It’s the look of the lion coming in for his prey.

"I've missed you too." He is guiding me over to the bed. My knees bump up against it and I sit down. I bite my lip as I undo Levi's jeans and pull down his zipper.

"You know I have trouble being quiet, right?"

"You'll have to try."

I smirk at him as I pull his pants all the way down. "Guess I've got to figure out a way to be quiet."

"Smarty," he groans my name as I take him in my mouth. He grips my hair as I dig my nails into his hips. He guides me to go faster, and my tongue works his shaft. He groans louder, and I feel myself becoming more turned on.

I can feel him tighten up and in a blink of an eye, he pushes me onto my back. He rips off my jeans and underwear with brute force, and I can't help the flutter of anticipation of what is to come. I need him and I want him. He grabs a condom from the nightstand and rolls it on. I push myself further up the bed as Levi's body covers mine.

"Levi," I breathe out his name as he cradles himself in between my legs.

"I love you." He pushes into my core as he words still hang in the air. My body is tight and there is a slight ping of pain, but it goes away soon as he rocks harder into me.

My nails dig into his back as I say his name over and over. He covers my mouth with his lips and gently bites my bottom lip. I don't know what it is about him biting me that drives me crazy, but it does.

I'm getting louder, but I can't help it. Finally, Levi releases my lips and slams into me harder. He looks deep into my eyes and I can't help my emotions. I need more of him as I raise my hips.

I can feel my body grow tighter, as Levi covers my mouth with his hand. At the same time, he bites my neck. That is my trigger. My yell is muffled by his hand, as my body releases onto him. He grunts my name as I feel him relax around me. He uncovers my mouth as we both try to catch our breath.

"I've missed you," Levi whispers in my ear. "And I love you so much."

"Levi." I look deep into his eyes. " I don't want to be anywhere else, but right here. I love you."

Levi

Today, Presley and my dad are sitting in lawn chairs, bundled with blankets to keep warm, watching as I hang some lights on the house. Every couple minutes, one of them stops me to say I’m doing it wrong, whether I am or not. They are enjoying themselves entirely too much, but it’s great to see them both happy. I finish this strand, step off the ladder, and start to move it over.

“
Levi,” Pops starts. “Turn on those lights, so we can see them.”

He chuckles, whispers something to Presley that causes her to laugh, and I wonder what they are talking about. I do as he asks, turning the lights on, and nothing happens.

“What the hell?” I mumble.

Presley and Pops both start laughing hysterically. “Don’t you know that you’re supposed to check the lights before you use them?” Pops says between laughs.

“Why didn’t you mention that before?” I ask.

“
It’s funnier this way.” He shrugs.

I glare at them as they clutch their stomachs, laughing harder. This is bullshit. Now I have to take them all down! It’s not until I move the ladder back to where it was just a minute ago and climb up it, that my father speaks again.

“What are you doing, son?”

“
I have to fix it.”

He starts laughing once more and says, “There isn’t anything wrong with the lights. That I know of anyway. You just need to go flip the switch so the outlet will work.”

“Pops! You’re a cruel man and if you two don’t sit over there and keep quiet, you can both go inside,” I chide as I glare at them. “I try to be nice and this is how y’all repay me?” I shake my head and ignore their laughter.

A couple hours later, I’m all done. There’s a wreath on the door, the lights are strung, and a little inflatable Santa is in the yard. We head inside for supper. Presley’s phone rings a couple of times, but she ignores it. Afterwards, it rings again. This time, she answers and leaves the room. I look over to Pops, who is watching me carefully.

“I told her I would take her home if she wanted to go, Pops. I’ve told her more than once too. She’s choosing to be here.”

“
Okay,” is all he says. He doesn’t like getting too involved, but I can tell that he’s worried about Presley and how this is going to affect her relationship with her parents. I’m worried about her too, but I don’t know what to do about it. I don’t think I can. Not right now anyway.

“
What’d I miss?” Presley says, entering the room.

“
Nothing, Smarty. How’d that go?”

“
Fine,” she answers, sitting beside me on the couch. “It was just Trev.”

My dad changes the channel and we start watching
Frosty the Snowman
. “Amanda always loved watching all the Christmas shows.”

“
Me too,” Smarty says, snuggling into me. “This is my favorite.”

“
Mine too,” I whisper before I kiss the top of her head. The rest of our evening is spent watching movies and TV shows all centered around the holiday. When ten o’clock rolls around, I help Pops to bed. He’s starting to get irritated from my help. Too bad. I can’t have something else happen to him and if he needs a little help, then he’s going to get it. By the time I go to my room, Smarty is laying in bed with her eyes closed.

“
Asleep already?” I ask, even though I know she’s not.

“
If I was, would you feel stupid that you asked? I mean, I’m laying in bed with my eyes closed.” She opens one of her eyes and smirks.

“
Yeah, but you were tapping your fingers. Do you do that in your sleep?” I grin, pulling my shirt over my head. Both of her eyes are open now as I take off my jeans and change into a pair of pajama pants. “Drooling isn’t attractive, Smarty.” I laugh.

“
Shut up, Levi. I wasn’t drooling.”

Her eyes follow me as I turn off the light and crawl into bed beside her. She snuggles up to me and I wrap my arms around her.

“I have to ask, so don’t glare at me, okay? It’ll be the last time, promise.”

Presley leans back to look at me, her eyes wary. “What is it, Levi?”

“Are you sure you want to spend all of break here? You could do half here and half with your family.” I push her hair away from her face. “I don’t want to make things worse, Presley.”

Her arms squeeze around my waist. “It can’t get any worse than it already is. Besides, here,” she buries her face in my chest, “is exactly where I want to be.”

Her words warm my heart and all I can do is whisper that I love her and listen as she tells me the same thing. I hold her tight as I drift to sleep.

~ ~ ~

“Levi! Wake up!”

I roll over to see Presley looking out the window. “What?” I groan.

“It’s snowing!” She grins at me quickly before looking back outside.

Laughing, I say, “It’s not Christmas morning and it’s not like we’ve never seen it before, Smarty. We live in the North. Snow isn’t uncommon.”

“I know that, but I love when it snows in the morning, especially around the holidays. Don’t be such a grinch, Levi.” Presley’s smile is breathtaking in combination with her crazy bed-hair. “What are you grinning about, Carr?” she asks, coming over to the bed.

I grab her wrist and pull her down on me, causing her to giggle. “I’m grinning because you’re beautiful and all mine.” Quickly, I kiss her. “You should go get dressed.”

“Why?”

“
So I can take you outside where you can play like a little kid.”

“
Are you going to play with me?” She raises an eyebrow and I chuckle.

“
We’ll see.” We get dressed, head downstairs, and find Pops in the kitchen. “What are you doing?”

“
What does it look like I’m doing? I’m fixing you lazy bums some breakfast.”

“
Are you sure you need to be doing all of this?” I ask, which earns me a glare.

“
C’mon, Levi,” Presley says, pulling me outside. “He’s fine,” she adds when we walk outside. “He won’t overdo it, so don’t worry.”

I nod, keeping my thoughts to myself. Presley kneels down and picks up some snow, molding it in her hands. I look around at the houses nearby, all decorated for the holidays. Something hits my shoulder and I look down at the remnants of snow, then to Presley who is grinning widely.

“Oops. It slipped from my hands.” She smiles.

“
And flew across the yard?”

Smarty nods.

“You’re going to regret that, Smarty.” I bend down, pick up some snow to make a snowball, and throw it at her. Quickly, I make another as she does the same while running for cover. Soon, we’re in a full-blown snowball fight and she is losing terribly.

“
Levi,” Presley calls out from behind her pitiful cover of a tree. I’m behind my SUV. “I’m cold, hungry, and ready to surrender.”

The front door opens and my father announces that breakfast is ready.

“We’ll be in soon, Pops. Presley was just surrendering.” No way am I going to let her give up, especially when she got the last hit. I have to throw at least one more.

“
Son, you let her come in. I know you better than you think.” He turns to where Presley is hiding. “He’s going to get ya one more time, pretty girl.”

“
Is that true?” she yells to me.

“
Of course, it’s true,” Pops answers. “Now, Levi, you are going to stay right there and let her come in. Understood?”

“
Sure,” I lie.

“
Hands in the air,” he says.

“
What?”

“
You are sneaky, Levi. Hands in the air.”

“
Fine,” I groan, holding my hands up. Pops motions for Presley to come inside and she runs into the house. No worries. I’ll just have to plan a sneak attack.