"Pick up... come on pick up...." I stare at the screen as I wait for the other side to answer the video call. My sister's bleary eyed face pops up on the screen and I sigh in relief.

"What the hell Alex?" Beth mumbles as she glares at me.

"He told me he loves me. Isn't it too soon? What if it was just the power of the moment or something? Aren't I too young to know if I love someone or not?" I rambled on a mile a minute as she stared at me in shock.

"Alex..."

"What if I just think I love him but it's really just hormones..."

"Alex..."

"Or I might just really like him? Maybe it is just really strong sexual ur..."

"ALEX. Shut up!" She yelled at me and I stopped rambling long enough to see her holding her head in her hands and practically steaming mad.

"Sorry." I mumbled.

"You are over thinking things. Like you always do." She reasoned with me. I nodded and chewed on my thumb.

"Uh huh." I said around it.

"Take a deep breath and close your eyes." She suggested. I did as she told me, for once. "Now picture it."

"What?" I said confused.

"Picture the moment again in your mind. Exactly how it happened." She instructed.

"Okay... now what?" I mumbled, feeling stupid.

"Do it again. Only this time, think about how you felt and what you were thinking." She mumbled. I scrunched my face up as I tried to think back.

"Okaaay." I pursed my lips and scratched my chin.

"At any moment... did you think 'shit, I don't love him' or 'hey I'll just tell him I love him because it'll make him feel bad if I don't'?" She asked me. I scoffed and opened my eyes to glare at her.

"No, who would do such a thing!?" I whisper shouted at her. She grinned at me and nodded.

"Welp, there's your answer lover boy. Now fuck off so I can go back to sleep." She ended the call abruptly and I sat staring at the screen until it went blank with the screen saver. My own face stared back at me and I realised that I looked relieved.

"Maybe... maybe I really do love him." I mumbled to myself. I laid down on the comfortable guest bed with a conflicted feeling in my head and a warmth in my chest. I stared at the ceiling and wished I was still wrapped up in his arms.

I hadn't felt so uncertain when I was there.

*

"We need to get over to Charlie's to catch their boxing day sale. I got a card from my aunt and she always asks to see what I got with it." Vincent was acting normal. I was acting like an idiot again. I blinked to try and stop staring at him. I couldn't really help it. I liked staring at him. I was being creepy though.

"Can we go to the jersey store? I want to see if the one I was looking at is on sale." I asked to cover my thoughts. He grinned and nodded.

"Sure thing babe." His voice was so fucking sexy. I pretended nonchalance but really I was picturing sucking him off in the back seat. Whoo, my inner gay beast was raging today. I grinned at the thought and looked away out the window. "What are you grinning at?"

"Nothing, babe." I teased him with an eye roll. He put him hand on my thigh and gave it a squeeze. I felt my crotch shift and groaned internally. Down boy. Easy now. We have an afternoon of shopping and we can't be having these issues.

Man, I was pathetic. I was having a chat with my crotch now. Who does that? Oh yeah, nearly everyone at some point in their life. Never mind.

"Holy crap this place is packed." Vince murmured as he circled the parking lot.

"Try and get one down the right side." I pointed to the rows of cars that way and glanced through the mirror at the line up behind us.

"Keep your eyes sharp...." He turned down a lane and I perked up in my seat.

"There! Grab that one just leaving." I pointed ahead and to the left. He just about peeled out as he raced over to it and snuck in just in time. The other car drove by and shot us the finger.

"Gotta love the holiday spirit, eh?" Vincent said sarcastically as we got out and he locked the car.

"What? I love the smell of sales fever in the morning." I grinned and joined him to walk into the busy mall. It felt like we were just here getting Christmas gifts and now we were back again using up his gift cards.

"Better this than getting gifts I don't want. My aunt tried once to actually buy something and it was a disaster." He chatted with me as we strolled along. I smiled with the happiness that was brimming inside my chest. Just listening to him tell me about his family and past Christmases, well it was for lack of a better word... nice.

That is until someone literally bumped into us and ruined my happy mood. It was so fake, I wanted to stamp it 'Sharknado' and roll my eyes. He stuck out his hip and then turned with a look of surprise, flicking that red hair out of his eyes like a teenage girl.

"Oh I am so sorry! Vincent? Is that you? How nice to see you so soon after Christmas. I hope you had... er, fun. I'm sorry, what was your name again?" He sounded like a mean girl in the worst way. Shut up, it's not a gay thing, I have sisters. I smiled in a way that probably looked more like a grimace.

"Alex. I'm sorry Peter, we were just heading to the food court to grab some food. Could you excuse us? Vince and I are famished." I held back my grin at the look of disbelief on his face and the laughter swimming in Vincent's eyes as we walked past him.

"Oh damn that was hot. I wonder if he even caught the Spiderman reference...?" Vincent murmured as we walked out of the store we were just in.

"You know what is really hot?" I asked him as he followed me down the aisle.

"What?" He said nearly in my ear so I had to repress a shiver.

"The fact that you've been holding my hand this whole time." I glanced over my shoulder at him and winked as he unconsciously gripped my hand tighter in his. I pulled up to flame grilled pizza place and took a deep breath to steady myself. "Want to split a large one?"

"Fuck." Vincent broke out in laughter and I looked at him like his head was on backwards. "We really need to work on your timing."

"It's not my fault you took that wrong." I rolled my eyes at him and read through the kinds of pizzas again. "How about meat lovers." He snickered and I hit him on the abs. Rock hard, sexy, firm, delicious abs. I was drooling. I'll just blame it on the pizza.

"Vincent? Hey there! You didn't call me back on Christmas day." It was Jo. She was pouting as she stood next to Vincent and grabbed his sleeve.

"Sorry. I was busy with my family. You know how it is." He replied with only half his attention. "Yeah, I'll share with you babe. Get whatever you like."

"Okay, meat lovers it is." I smiled and waited for my turn. Jo was staring at me for a second before she turned to Vince with a big smile.

"Andy is having her usual New Years Party again this year... You are coming right? We haven't missed one since, like, fifth grade." Her attention was one hundred percent on my man, and he seemed a little uncomfortable with it.

"I don't know, Jo. I haven't talked to Andy about bringing Alex and I really wanted to do something romantic with my new boyfriend." He said to her.

"I'm sure it would be fine. You know Andy believes the more the merrier. It would be super romantic. You can chill with all your friends and there's going to be catering from The Top Hat." She was pleading with her hands clasped together and I could see Vincent's will power to refuse crumbling.

"Well, you can text Andy after lunch and see if it is alright with her, then we can consider stopping by." I suggested to smooth things. Vincent looked over at me with a bit of surprise and I felt his thumb rub my hand.

"Are you sure babe?" He asked with a serious look.

"Of course. They are your friends, and I wouldn't want to mess with tradition." I smiled at his look of relief and then turned to order the pizza. Jo was looking at me like I was suspicious now.

"Thanks babe. Well, you heard the man. I'll check in with Andy and let you know."

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