Christmas Morning At Devon's

Soft Christmas music flowed from the many speakers suitated around Devon's living room as I sat, curled up, under a blanket on his couch Christmas morning. I was waiting for him, he was rattling around in the kitchen, making us some hot chocolate, before we opened the few presents that rested on the floor beneath the tree we decorated a couple nights before.

Closing my eyes, I leaned back into the cushions and thought back over past Christmas', I couldn't think of one where I was as much at peace as I was sitting in his living room. It was a strange thing - being at peace in the home of the man who caused so many sleepless night - but it felt right.

I heard his footsteps, heard the mugs as he placed them on coasters on the table in front of the couch and then I felt the cushions move as he lowered his body down next to mine. "Janie," he whispered softly as his hand brushed my shoulder. "You aren't sleeping, are you?"

I smiled, shaking my head as I opened my eyes. He was leaning in over me, his eyes were the first thing I saw. I lifted my hand to his cheek, my fingers tracing the shadowy outline of his stubble. "I'm just relaxing," I told him as he turned his head towards my hand, his eyes partly closed.

"We can open presents later," his lips moved against my hand as he spoke, "if you wish."

I shook my head, reminding him that we had lunch with his parents and then supper at Amber's house later. "This is the only chance we'll get to do it before we head out."

It was cute, his little growl of protest, as he turned to look at the tree. "Hmm," he turned to me, a smile on his face. "Let's just sit here, sip hot chocolate and admire our handy work," he told me as he moved to hand me one of the mugs on the table.

I laughed, "didn't we do that the other night when we decorated it?"

He gave a little shrug as he took a sip from his mug, "don't you think it's worth admiring again?"

Devon didn't wait for me to agree with him, he leaned back into the cushions, his shoulder brushing against mine as the rest of his body, from his arm to his thigh rested against me. "This is nice," he stated as his eyes drifted shut.

Taking a sip of the rich and creamy hot chocolate, I took a moment to observe him while he relaxed next to me. Devon was a good looking man, sucky thing was that he knew it and he used that to his advantage for years. I'll admit that it was his looks that first attracted me to him but there's something about him, something I just can't explain that kept me coming back for more when he repeatedly cheated on me.

Maybe I was crazy. Maybe I was naive. And maybe I'm setting myself up to get my heart crushed once more but I do believe that he's changed. He doesn't seem to be the same guy he was even a couple months ago; that guy wouldn't have gone out of his way to make Christmas special for me nor would he be there for me as much as he has been.

My eyes travelled from his closed eyes down to his lips. Mmmm, those lips. How many times have they sent shivers down my spine? I took a sip of hot chocolate and wondered how much better it would taste if I were licking drops from his lips. I bit my lip to stop from groaning out loud as I told myself I had to stop before the warmth spreading through me took control of my body and made me do something I shouldn't.

"I can feel you watching me," he opened open eye to peek at me before he closed it again and smiled.

"I was debating whether or not to kick you," I told him.

"Yeah right," he laughed. "Why would you want to kick me?"

"It's Christmas morning!"

He raised a brow and turned to me, his eyes wide open now. "Merry Christmas, here your kick?"

I nodded.

He looked offended.

"I wouldn't kick that hard," I explained, "Just enough so you know I wanna open presents."

"A kiss would work as well," he informed me.

"I know," I slipped off the couch and made my way over to the tree. "But you wouldn't stop at a kiss," I glanced over my shoulder. "You couldn't stop at a kiss."

"Oh, no, no, no, no, no!" He jumped off the couch to join me. "You," he tweaked my nose as he spoke. "Couldn't stop at a kiss; you can't control yourself around me, you want my body." With that said, he pulled his shirt up over his head, pushing his chest out and shaking his body, "you want it don't cha baby? Don't cha?"

"Stop it!" I cried out in laughter. "You're such a freak!"

He drop his shirt and grabbed for me, wrapping his arms around me as I stood side on to him. "Yeah, I hear you love me freaky baby! Muah!" He kissed my cheek.

I shot a questioning look at him.

"I'm allowed my delusions, it's Christmas afterall."

Laughing, I placed my hand against his cheek. His arms tightened around me as my gaze met his briefly before I turned away.

"Janie," his hand left my waist, travelling up my arm until his fingers gripped my chin as he turned my face towards him again. He was mere inches away, the aroma of hot chocolate drifted by my nose with every breath he took. "Janie," he sighed, his thumb tracing the outline of my bottom lip. I thought he was going to kiss me, I parted my lips, tilted my head back and waited. But he didn't, he just smiled and said, "Presents?"

I felt stupid as he pulled away from my to sit on the floor in front of the tree. And if the feeling stupid wasn't back enough, I started to wonder if he was even interested in me at all.

"Come on, sit down," he urged as he gathered the presents.

I stood there like a moron, watching him.

"This one..." he trailed off as he looked towards me and realized I was still standing. He leaned back, tilting his head all the way back as he looked up. "This is new for me," he said jokingly but when I didn't laugh, he sighed. "I'm trying to be a gentleman."

"What? Why?" I frowned, I didn't ask him to be one.

He shrugged, "I was told I was rude and crude?"

"Who told you that?"

Once again, he shrugged. "No one?" He chuckled but stopped short when I just stared down at him. "Look Janie, I'm trying really hard not to take you, right here under the tree, so cut me some slack and get your cute ass down here so we can open presents!"

My eyes widened, that was the Devon I was use too - telling me what to do, not asking. I knew how to deal with that Devon. I was about to say something to him but he had to go and throw me for a loop - he pouted and said, "Pretty please baby?"

I laughed, I didn't know what else to do. He didn't seem too upset at that though, he grinned and moved over so I could sit down in front of the tree with him.

"This one is from..." he opened the tag on the gift bag, "...my parents, to you."

"To me?" I was surprised, I didn't expect them to get me anything.

"Yes, to you," he poked around in the little pile until he found a matching gift bag. Checking the tag he announced that he found his from his parents. "I'm hoping for socks."

I shook my head, turned to the navy box on my lap, that I pulled out of the gift bag, and froze as I read the white writing. "Devon..." I adsently grabbed for his arm. "This box..." I looked up at him, he was halfway into his gift but stopped long enough to ask me what was wrong. "It's a Ralph Lauren box!"

"Yeah," he shrugged, "so?"

I stared at him. "So? That's all you have you say?" He nodded and told me that it was a store like any other. "No it's not," I exclaimed. "It's a freaking expensive place and..." I shook my head in disbelief. "You parents didn't have to get me something from there."

"Oh don't worry, it's probably socks."

I laughed, "What's with you and socks today?"

Grinning, he told me that's what he asked his parents for. "They never get me socks though." He turned back to his gift and I hesitated. He must've saw for he poked me and told me to open it and enjoy. "My mom loves Christmas because it's the one time of year dad doesn't freak out when she shops - open it, love it and wear it today when we go to lunch."

My eyes narrowed, "You know what she bought me!"

"Well she did ask me clothing sizes," he said with a shrug and ripped the cover off his box. "Damn it!" He sighed, turning the box towards me, "No socks."

"What did you get?" I went to poke around in his gift but he pulled it away, telling me I could see his after I opened mine. "Ok, fine," I started to open the box. "But they didn't have to get..."

Devon leaned over and kissed me.

"...me anything," I said against his lips.

"They like you, they want you to like them." He smiled, "They also want me to settle down," he kissed me again. "They know how I feel about you."

"Devon, I..."

He laughed and pulled away. "They aren't bribing you Janie! They just wanted to get you something nice. It has nothing to do with me."

I didn't believe him but I let it go. To be honest, I was stoked that they got me something for Christmas and really over joyed that it came from Ralph Lauren, I never owned anything from there, I didn't care if it was socks.

Of course, it wasn't sock. No, his mom and dad gave me a black slim-fit cashmere crewneck sweater and a pair of white pants.

"What did you get?" I asked breathlessly after spending a good ten minutes going on about how much I loved what his parents gave me, how soft the sweater was and how excited I was to wear it when we went to see them.

"Well..." he reached into the box and grabbed something. "I got socks!" He waved the black socks in front of my face and told me that he was set for Christmas now, that I could have all his other presents.

"What else did you get?" I laughed.

He glanced at the box, pretended to look embarrassed and whispered, "Underwear."

"Oh? Can I see?"

"Later," he grinned, "I'll model them for you."

I ignored that comment as he pulled out the rest of the stuff his parents gave him - a blue striped polo shirt, white chinos, a light brown cashmere crewneck sweater, and a plain white dress shirt. But out of all that, he held the socks by his side the entire time we were opening presents.

There were just four presents left under the tree - the ones from Amber and Reed for us and the ones we had for each other. "I'll be right back," he jumped up and jogged towards the bathroom, returning moments later with a box of tissues.

"Are you getting sick?" I asked when he said down. He told me no. "Are you going to cry?" I asked him jokingly.

"I might," he said as he pulled out the gifts from Amber & Reed. "Here you go baby," he handed me a box that had to be a foot squared and then picked up his tiny gift box from them. "I'm trying to figure out why mine says, 'and especially from Alexis'."

"Open it and find out," I answered as I untied the green ribbon that Amber had tied around the pretty solid red giftwrap.

While I carefully opened the gift from Amber, Devon ripped the ribbon and wrap off his. He pulled the inside box open and pulled out a piece of paper and read, "Alexis walked around the store with these in her hands the whole time were we shopping." He looked puzzled as he tugged back the tissue paper to reveal two different picture frames, one had child like writing that said 'Uncles are the coolest' with some little pictures (car, hammer, planet, baseball, saw, etc) and inside the frame was a picture of Alexis and Devon. "Hey, that's the day care," he said in disbelief. The second frame was a double frame with a picture of Alexis when she was a baby in one side and a poem in the other. Devon read the poem outloud, it spoke of having fun together and being buddies forever.

"Hmmm," he stared at the frame once he finished reading it.

I waited, to see if he would say something else but he just sat there staring at the frame. I asked him if he was ok, he nodded and motioned to my present. I reluctantly turned my attention back to the box on my lap and he finally lifted his head a little. He took a deep breath, let it out and finally turned his wet, red eyes my way.

"What did you get?" He asked, trying to get my attention away from him.

I lifted the lid off the box and pulled back the tissue paper. "Ohhh...." my breath caught in my throat as I my eyes misted over almost so that I couldn't see the picture of me as a little girl on the front cover of the scrapbook. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the tissue box inching towards me. I laughed and cried as I took them from Devon. "You knew about this?"

He nodded.

I dabbed my eyes with the tissue and then asked him what Amber did as I pulled the book out of the box. I got my answer on the first page, she had written me a note. "Janie, I know that this month has been a difficult one for you; not only did you lose your mom, you lost all the special mementos of the time you shared with her and of the important events in your life. I know that nothing can ever fill that void you feel but I hope that this book of 'memories' will help ease the pain over time. I hope you like it. Merry Christmas my friend, I love you, Amber."

I started to flip through the pages and I was surprised to see so many pictures of me, my parents, my old friends and places that were special to me. I was shocked when I came to my school years and found a copy of the inside cover of our yearbook and a brunch of messages from all my old classmates. "How did she...?"

"I believe Amber called every single person she could think off to make this for you."

"Wow." That was all I could say. I started to bawl all over again, thinking about how much trouble she went through for me. And then I started to bawl because seeing all the pictures and stuff made me miss my mom.

For the longest time, Devon held me and let me cry. When I finally calmed down, he handed me a new tissue and jokingly told me we had to get Amber back for making me cry. I smiled at him and asked to be excused for a moment, I wanted to go and splash some water on my face.

I felt a lot better when I returned to the living room a few minutes later. "Ok," I sat down next to him again. "Let's open more."

"Ok," he handed me his present for me before picking up mine to his.

"Wait," I held my hand over the little hole that he had just finished making in the paper. He looked up, puzzled. "I just wanted to tell you that it's not much and I will make it up to you."

"Janie," he shook his head. "I don't care if you spent lot on it or not, that's not what's got me excited."

"It's not socks," I told him with a grin.

"Oh damn," he chuckled. "I was hoping." He removed my hand from the gift and told me to open mine.

I was watching him as I ripped the paper from the box in my hands.

"Oh hell yeah!" He exclaimed when he pulled the lid off the large rectangle tin to reveal all his favorite cookies.

"You like it?" I asked nervously.

He nodded and pulled a peanut butter cookie out of the tin, "This is better than socks!" He took a bite and I swear his eyes rolled back into his head. "Heaven," he moaned as he chewed. I watched him eat the cookie, his eyes didn't open until the last bite was gone. "I gotta have another one," he told me as he picked out a shortbread.

"I'm glad you like it," I smiled as he nodded happily. "I wasn't sure they would turn out but your mom did tell me that you loved them."

"You made these?" His hand stopped in mid air, his cookie was almost touching his lips.

"Yeah," I shrugged. "Amber helped me but I did most of the work."

He dropped the cookie into the tin suddenly and shoved the tin aside. I started to question what he was doing but when he took back the present he gave me, I felt terrible. "I'm sorry you..."

Devon pulled me off the floor and unto his lap. There was no time to react, his mouth claimed mine and my toes curled! His kiss was that passionate! When he released me, I had to hold on tight to his shoulders for I feared I would float away otherwise.

"You really like it," I grinned stupidly.

"Yes, I do," he chuckled. He pressed his lips against mine once more and then told me it was easy to buy a present but to make one was really something special. "I never had anyone make a present for me," he told me. "Let alone spend hours baking, just for me."

"Well," I ran my fingers from his temple to his ear and smiled, "You are pretty special."

"So are you Janie." He gave me a squeeze, "Now open your present!"

Laughing, I pulled the box towards us and opened it. "Ummm...wow, thanks Devon." I smiled but really I was wondering why on earth he would give me a set of 4 glasses for Christmas.

"They are really cool," he told me. "Check them out."

Even thought I didn't want too, I opened up the box of glasses for him. "They are..." I looked at him. "What's that?" I was pointing to the smaller box nestled between the four glasses.

"I don't know," he smiled.

"Sure you don't," I chewed nervously on my lip as I pulled the jewerly style box from the middle and set aside the glasses. The velvet cover of the box lifted off easily, its removal revealed a brownish colored tissure paper. I glanced at him, he kissed my cheek and motioned towards the box.

"You can breathe," he whispered as I unfolded the tissue paper.

"Ok," I flashed him a smile as my fingers gently pulled the cotton covering from the box. "Oh!" I gasped, almost dropping the box.

"Careful," he slipped his hand under mine, holding me steady. "Do you like it?"

"It's beautiful," I took a breath. "I love it but you didn't have too."

"I know," he reached around me with his other hand. "Want me to put it on you?"

"Yes," I reached up to pull my hair away from my neck as he took the jewelry box in his hand and carefully lifted the white gold rope chain from its cotton bed; the little heart pendant swung gently as he brought it to rest against my chest. "I love the little diamond sitting at the bottom of the heart," I said as my fingers touched the pendant. "It's so beautiful Devon," I looked over my shoulder and he met my gaze. "I love it, thank you." I turned towards him and wrapped my arms around his neck. "Thank you for making this Christmas special."