Song: Take care of you - Ella Henderson

Zayden comes by my house to pick me up. I decide to wear my jeans with a black long sleeve shirt because he said there was no reason why I should dress up. However I feel like I shouldn't wear something with a logo or band shirt so hopefully I will not go wrong by where all black. I know it's not red or green, nothing Christmasy but honestly I just don't look good in either one of those colors. The funny thing is when I come down the stairs to greet him, he is wearing jeans and a black shirt as well. He smiles when he sees me. I hear that couples tend to do this all the time without even planning to do so, so deep down this makes my heart happy.

I run my hands down my sides and towards my jeans and make this silly face. "You said not to dress up so hope this is ok," I tell him with a slight giggle. When our eyes meet again he is smiling back at me and I see a sparkle in his eye. I think he is impressed just as much as I am about us wearing basically the same thing.

We leave to go to his mom's place which is a little farther away than I thought it would have been. They live in this small neighborhood where all the house looks the same. I don't know how they know which is which and they are so close to each other it is almost suffocating. All the yards are trimmed nicely and decorated as if they all got together telling each other what to place in their year. It looks almost like a winter wonderland.

When the car stops in front of the one house, I inhale as I take it in. It's a light blue house with only the one floor. The shutters are a darker blue as well as the front door. The house is covered in Christmas lights and a big wreath on the front door. The drive as well as the side walk to the front door is light up with candy canes and lights galore. The yard has a few Christmas figures just like all the other houses on this street.

I feel his hand grab mine. "You ready," he asks me.

I exhale and turn back to him. I can tell that he is a little worried about taking me in to actually meet them. I sigh, "Well we are here...let's get this over with." Then I lean into him and kiss him swiftly on the lips before opening the car door.

He takes my hand when we get out of the car and we walk up the lighted sidewalk. My eyes keep looking down around at all the lights. I can only image what the inside must look like. He knocks on the door and we wait, standing there looking at each other. I have never thought about knocking on front door and it feels a little weird for him to be knocking knowing that his family lives here but I don't say anything about it. I run my hands over my arms and feel myself starting to bounce around to shake off the cold. He was just about to wrap his arms around me, when the door opens and there is a young girl standing there looking back at us.

"Wow...you are actually here I don't believe it. I thought you would have died by now....and you brought a girl. MOM!" she yells loud enough so that the whole street could hear her. "Zayzay is here." She turns around and goes back into the house. We follow in behind her and she goes over to the couch to flop down beside another girl who I assume is her sister.

I look over at him. "Zayzay...how cute." I tease as I nudge him in the side.

"Shut-up." He nudges me back knocking me off my balance. I was about to fall into the wall with the pictures but he grabs me and pulls me into him.

Then a woman, his mom, I assume the way that she looks comes out from another room. She has on an apron and is wearing a pair of jeans as well with a red sweater. Her hair is all pulled back and she looks really tired from cooking. However when she sees him she starts crying and she hurries over to him with open arms.

"Mom stop," Zayden tells her.

She wipes her face with the dish towel in her hand then proceeds to hug him. When she steps back she keeps looking him over. "I have missed you so much...you have changed." Her hand holds the one side of his cheek while the other brushes his hair out of his face. She stares back into his eyes for a second to get a good look at him.

"No I haven't....I'm still me." He let's out as he takes a step back and grabs a hold of my hand again.

Some guy walks in behind her and wraps his arms around her waist. I assume this must be the step-dad. He is a little bigger than his mom and sports a nice size beer belly. My hand starts to tighten around Zaydens' hand. When he sees Zayden he lets go and walks to her side. "Well...well...well look what the cat drug in. And who do we have here." He is talked to Zayden but looking right at me. I feel a lump starting to climb up in my throat.

He turns to look at me and holds my hand up with his. He kisses my knuckles ad smiles back at me. "This is Coralie...she is my girlfriend."

"Wow...the boy actually has a girlfriend, I'm impressed." He makes this little smirk and something about it turns me off. I can hear Cora daring him to take a step closer to me.

Zayden gets super quiet and I know he is trying to hold in whatever he wants to say. So I do the talking or should I say Cora in the moment. I even hold out my hand to shake his step-dad's hand. Yes the one with the ring on it. "Yes...I am Cora...Coralie...it's nice to finally meet you."

He shakes my hand and then looks down. He turns my hand over to admire the ring. He looks up at Zayden. His mom then notices the ring and she starts crying again.

"Are you two married...what is this...you didn't even invite your own mother," she gasps and lets out another sob. She quickly grabs the dish towel and covers her mouth to hold back the tears.

"Mom we are not married," he tells her.

"Yet." I finish the statement as I look over at him and wink.

His step-dad smirks again. "You sure you want to marry him...I don't see him being your type."

"Type?" I say a little confused; what the hell. This guy doesn't even know me so what gives him the right to say that Zayden is not my type. Zayden has a lot of potential and is the best thing in my whole entire universe and for him to treat him like he is nothing pisses me off.

Zayden grabs my hand away from him. "Precious...he is saying you're just too pretty and too good for me that's all because I am a loser."

"No you're not!" I scuff. "They must not know you the way that I do. You see..." I turn to look at his parents, "Zayden has saved my life several times without him I would be dead by now...literally...Zayden is the nicest person I know. You just don't know him like I know him."

"He may be for now...and that's if he is not using but believe me sweetheart it won't last that long. If he is not now he will be so you better watch out," he says it as a warning.

I get a little defensive, "Well you're wrong because he gave all of it up."

His mom looks at him me and then at him. "I told you that you changed. I can see it...you look happy."

One of the girls buts it, "Hey where are all your ear-rings...you not wearing them anymore."

I haven't thought about it much but since he talked with my dad months ago he gradually stopped wearing the one in his nose and his eyebrow. I never really asked about it but I know it had something to do with my dad. He just looks away not even answering her. He seems really annoyed right now.

There is an awkward moment of silence and his mom finally breaks it. "Well...let's go eat before the food gets cold," his mom says and we all follow her into the kitchen.

Dinner was fine but really awkward when his dad kept asking me questions about myself. I don't feel like I need to explain anything to him and Zayden could tell that he made me nervous so he changed the subject and started asking his mom about how things were going. He grabbed my hand under the table and squeezed it to let me know that everything was going to be fine.

Afterwards we make our way back to the living room where they have a fake tree. Homemade ornaments take over the tree so much that you can't even see a branch. My mom would have died if she saw this tree. Our tree has to be freshly picked and all the ornaments must match perfectly as if coming off a showroom floor. My mom loved her Christmas tree and would go all out to make sure it was the best. I can't seem to get my eyes off so many ornaments here that have been made by the kids and I wonder if any have been made by Zayden.

They start opening presents. The girls are ripping into the paper and paper and ribbons are flung all over the room. I am shocked that they are not even taking turns. At our house my mom would let Cater open one then I would and we would go around the room all taking turns and admiring each other's gifts. She would even take a few pictures. Here is totally opposite and it's a tad overwhelming. I am sitting there watching all of the go at it like wild animals when his mom leans over towards me and hand me a present.

"Sorry...I didn't know what to get you; hope this is ok."

I look up at her in shock. I really didn't think they would even bother giving me anything. "Its fine really...you didn't have to get me anything." I open the small box and in contain a mall gift card. I smile at her and tell her, "thank you."

"I thought you could get whatever you needed. Sorry I just didn't know what to get you after all I really wasn't expecting you to come today or Zayden for that matter."

I hold the card up and smile. "Really its fine...thank you again."

Zayden got a few presents, mostly gift cards and then she gave him some money on top of that saying that she hoped that it would help with the rent or any other bills. He kept telling her thank you and really he was fine living on his own. When everyone one was finished opening gifts we left. He made the excuse that I had to get back home which technically wasn't a lie.

On the way home he keeps apologizing for the way they were acting. "I'm sorry for the way they kept acting. My mom is always giving me money and he can't stand it. I'm sorry for the way he kept interrogating you like that. Thanks for putting up with that shit; I promise I won't make you deal with them again."

I reach over and grab his hand. "Hey...its fine...really parents are just weird like that."

"Still...he has no right to look at you like that and I have a feeling you were trying hard not to come unglued."

"Really now, I think I can handle myself."

He takes his eyes off the road for a split second to look back at me. "I know you can."

When he drops me off, he stands outside on the front porch with me. He pulls me in close to him and I lean my head back to look up at him for him to kiss me lightly. "I better get in. I will see you tomorrow right?"

"Of course, God I love you. Thanks again for going over there with me."

"Any time, I love you." I kiss him again before going inside.

Then next day is Christmas and he comes over early. My mom likes to open the gifts first thing in the morning and then eat lunch. Zayden comes over to join out celebration. We wait till everyone is here and we settle down close to the Christmas tree. This year Carter and I picked it out and decorated it before mom could say anything. I watch her reaction every time she looks at it. She is happy with it and why wouldn't she be its decorated with all her expensive ornaments.

Everyone takes a turn and of course there is my mom taking pictures. My dad already has a sack to the side to place the ripped up wrapping paper, bows and ribbons in there each time. This way by the time everyone is finished opening their presents the area is also cleaned up. I look over at Zayden and he is taking all of this in like he suddenly stepped into another dimension. It's crazy really how our two families are completely the opposite.

We are almost done with Carter hands Natalie another gift. She unwraps it but nothing is in the box...like nothing. She keeps looking around as if she might have missed it or dropped whatever it is. We are all watching this take place. Carter looks so nervous but when Natalie turns back around to look at him he is already on his knee and is holding the ring for her to see it. She starts crying immediately. "Miss...Natalie Cantrell...will you do the honor of marrying me...be mine forever."

She squeals, "Yes! YES!!! I will marry you." The rest of us clap and then congratulate them.

When I hug her I tell her, "Welcome to the family...sis."

We all eat and this is nothing like his family. The whole table that sits the six of us is full of food. There is a nice golden turkey and honey ham. My mom has been cooking for almost two days to get this all ready. I will say she always out does herself. There are bowls full of mashed potatoes, gravy, green bean, macaroni and cheese, dressing and rolls. He looks over at me. "Dear lord...does your mom think we are starving there is so much food."

I laugh. "She loves this holiday sorry she gets a little carried away." I don't bother telling him about the desserts that are on the kitchen counter.

"No it's fine...just never seen so much."

Afterwards the guys going into the den to watch the game like they always do. I help my mom clean up. Natalie is already washing dishes and I decide to help her out. We are half way through when I feel arms come around me while I am washing dishes. "Let me help you."

"You don't want to watch the game?" I ask him.

"I would rather watch you," he says with a grin.

Natalie laughs. "Oh my goodness you guys are just too cute...I'm out of here." And she turns to leave me washing the dishes.

"Well guess you better get busy rinsing because there went my help." I tell him.

And he does just like that. Every now and then he would splash the water on me and smile. "I got you something."

"What...you already gave me plenty...I don't need anything else." I tell him as I hand him the last dish.

He quickly rinses it off and places it on the drying rack. He turns to look at me while he reaches in his pocket and pulls out a small box. "Here...open it."

I slowly reach over and take it from him. I keep looking down at it and debating if I should open it right there and he nudges me softly. I slowly open it. There are diamond stud earrings 3 of them...on the note it says... 'One of life's most treasured gifts is too share the dream...I love sharing with you!' There are a pair and then one off to its self that is for him to wear.

"Oh...my...I love it...this is so freaking awesome," I say excitedly. I take them out and put them in my ears and he takes out the one and puts in his. "You are amazing you know that." I tell him and kiss him madly.