by Ashley Royer
I respond, saying that I’m home. All alone. On Christmas Eve. I am not in the Christmas spirit.
Delilah:-) ok:) i’ll be over soon!
At least someone didn’t forget about me.
A few minutes later, the doorbell rings. I open the door to see Delilah standing there with a big smile on her face. Lucy waves to me excitedly.
“Hi, Levi!” Lucy shrieks. “Merry Christmas Eve!”
“Hi, Lucy!” I say, sounding equally as excited.
“Why are you so happy?” I ask, laughing at Delilah because she won’t stop smiling.
She shrugs and doesn’t say anything. Delilah moves aside and looks out to the driveway. All of a sudden, two people walk out of Delilah’s car. Two very familiar people. It’s my mum and Caleb.
“No way,” I whisper. I feel my heart drop and butterflies erupt in my stomach.
“Merry Christmas!” Delilah says.
I run out of my house, which gets my socks all wet from the snow on the ground, and run to my mum and Caleb.
My mum instantly starts crying, and I hug her tightly.
“Hi, Levi,” she says, not letting me go. “Are you still growing? How have you been? Is everything okay? I missed you so much!” she says quickly. I almost respond, but remember I can’t just yet. I have to wait for the right moment.
I laugh and walk over to Caleb. He’s standing with his hands in his coat pockets, and he looks freezing.
“Hey,” he says, hugging me. “You have no idea how much it’s sucked without you.”
I smile widely, and the three of us just stare at each other. None of us can stop smiling.
“Yeah, all right, just leave all the bags to me! Don’t worry about the poor guy in the background!” Aiden says, carrying four giant bags in his arms.
Delilah laughs and helps him get the rest. Caleb offers to help, but Aiden refuses to let him carry anything. My dad gets out of his car to help. I didn’t even notice that his car was here too.
“You guys wanna go inside? You must be freezing!” Delilah says.
My mum and Caleb nod. They follow us all inside and awkwardly stand at the bottom of the stairs, unsure of where to go.
“You can follow me upstairs,” my dad tells them.
Delilah pulls me away for a second. “You haven’t spoken to them yet, right?”
“No, I was planning on doing it today.”
“How do you want to tell them that you’re talking?”
I shrug. “I have no idea. Did you do all this?”
She nods. “We can talk about it later though. You have to tell your mom and Caleb that you’re talking. You have no idea how worried they’ve been about you. Do you wanna do it now or wait?”
“Now. I don’t think I can wait.” I hug Delilah tightly. “Thanks for all this.”
I want to start talking to them as soon as possible. I don’t want to have to wait a few hours, because we could be having lots of conversations in that time. I want to just announce it now and get it over with.
We walk back to where everyone else is. Aiden and my dad lead them to the couch, and are now asking them if they want anything to drink or eat. I sit in between my mum and Caleb. My mum smiles sweetly. Lucy reaches up to me, so I pick her up and put her on my lap. I bounce my knee, causing her to laugh.
“Are you Levi’s mommy?” Lucy says, looking at my mum.
My mum nods. “You’re Lucy, right?” My mum must remember her from video chatting.
Lucy nods. “That’s me! You have a voice like Levi. Did you know that?”
“Huh?” my mum asks, looking as me, confused. I shrug and pretend I don’t know what Lucy’s talking about.
Lucy begins to stand on my legs and wraps her arms around my neck. She giggles as I try to get her to sit back down.
“That’s a very cute Christmas tree!” my mum says.
I open my mouth to respond, but then shut it again. I nod and smile.
Delilah clears her throat. She eyes me conspiratorially, and I nod.
“So, uh, Levi has something he wants to tell you,” Delilah says, smiling.
My mum scrunches her eyebrows in confusion. “Is everything okay?”
I put Lucy down for a second and stand up so I can look at my mum and Caleb. I clear my throat and nervously rub my nose. I can feel my heart beating a mile a minute. I have no idea what to say. “So, um, I’m talking now. Merry Christm—”
I’m cut off by my mum jumping up and hugging me tightly again. She starts crying all over again too. Lucy starts clapping, which causes Caleb to laugh.
“How long have you been talking?” she says, stretching her arms out so she can look at me.
I shrug. “A few weeks?”
“And you didn’t tell me?” she says, laughing.
“It was gonna be your Christmas present! I wanted to surprise you.”
She hugs me again. “I love you so much.”
“I love you too, Mum,” I say, laughing.
Caleb’s smile almost stretches his entire face. “Man, I never thought I would ever hear your voice again. Someone went through puberty!”
I hit Caleb’s shoulder. “Hey!”
He shrugs. “Well, you have to admit that I’m right!”
Delilah laughs, and we all sit back down. My mum holds my hand and won’t stop looking at me. I think she doesn’t want to ever let go, she’s holding so tight.
We talk for over an hour. I tell them about Maine, and they tell me about what’s been going on in Australia. It’s really nice to have them around. I’m so happy they’re here for Christmas. I’m surprised Caleb’s parent’s let him come over the holiday.
They’re staying for the next two weeks. Delilah, Aiden, and my dad planned everything, which is pretty amazing. My mum is going to stay in the guest room, and Caleb will stay in my room. They debated getting a hotel, but my mum didn’t want to have to leave me while she was here.
“How do you live with such cold weather?” Caleb asks, hugging his arms around himself.
Aiden laughs. “We’re used to it.”
“Levi’s not used to it,” Delilah laughs. “He usually just wraps himself in blankets.”
“I do not!” I say.
“Yes, you do,” Delilah says.
“Okay, maybe I do.”
My mum and Caleb laugh, and I cover my face in embarrassment.
My dad calls from the kitchen. “You guys must be starving. We have all sorts of food in here if you’re hungry!”
We all get up to eat, and because it’s three o’clock I’m not sure if this counts as lunch or dinner. My dad didn’t make any of it—he got it all at a restaurant because he is not a good cook. Wherever he got it, though, it’s really good.
I sit next to Caleb and my mum while we eat. Delilah sits across from me, and I kick her under the table. She jumps and rolls her eyes once she realizes it was me. She sticks her tongue out at me, and Caleb eyes me suspiciously. I feel my cheeks heat up.
My mum asks the usual mother questions to catch up with me. Caleb asks random questions too. It’s nice to actually be able to talk to them again. They probably never expected we’d have a conversation like this. I can tell how happy it’s making them. It feels like I never even left them now that they’re here.
Lucy pokes my arm to get my attention.
“Yeah, Lucy?” I say. She motions for me to lean closer, which is hard because she’s not directly beside me.
“Who is that?” she whispers, pointing to Caleb.
“That’s my friend Caleb.”
“Oh, okay. He talks like you and your mommy.”
“Yeah, he does.”
“Except he doesn’t look like you. He has a big nose.”
I start laughing, and, thankfully, Caleb couldn’t hear her. Delilah starts laughing too.
“Lucy, that’s not very nice,” Delilah whispers. She can’t stop giggling.
“Well, it’s true.” Lucy shrugs. She continues eating, which ends the conversation about Caleb.
Once we’re all finished eating, we sit around the Christmas tree to open presents. Since Delilah, Lucy, and Aiden will be with their families tomorrow, we decided we should give each other our presents today in case we don’t see each other.
Mitchell is supposed to be here too. He texted me, saying he was on his way a few minutes ago. I knew his family doesn’t do much for Christmas, so I invited him over.
The doorbell rings, and Mitchell walks in nervously. He waves shyly to everyone.
“Mitchell, that’s my mum and my friend Caleb,” I say, introducing them.
“H-Hi, nice to m-meet you,” he says, shaking my mum’s hand.
“Nice to meet you too!” my mum says.
“Cool hair, dude,” Caleb tells him.
Mitchell smiles. “Thanks.”
Mitchell sits next to Aiden and nervously bites his nails.
“Is everyone here?” Caleb asks.
I nod.
“Present time! I love presents!” Lucy shrieks. She’s taken a position on my lap again.
Delilah passes Lucy a present, which is from me. Lucy quickly unwraps it, throwing the paper all over the place.
“It’s a giant Olaf!” she yells. She hugs the huge Olaf stuffed animal I got her, and she can’t stop smiling. “I love him, I love him, I love him! I will never ever let him melt!”
She moves so she’s facing me and hugs me tightly while still holding on to Olaf. “Thanks, Levi!”
“You’re welcome!”
“Can he open the present I got him?” Lucy asks.
Delilah nods and passes me a box. “You didn’t have to get me something!” I tell Lucy.
“I made it very special, just for you!”
I open it and it’s a picture of Lucy and me. I didn’t even know this picture existed. It’s from Thanksgiving, I think, when I first met her. She decorated the picture frame with stickers and glitter.
“I love it,” I tell Lucy. “Thank you very much!”
“Yay! He likes it!”
Everyone laughs while Lucy beams. She stays quiet once she starts playing with the Olaf. She’s whispering stuff, but I have no idea what she’s saying. It’s cute seeing how happy she is.
I give Aiden the present I got him. It’s a giant banana pillow, since he’s always eating bananas. I also found a signed picture from his favorite football player.
“This is so cool!” he says, holding it up so everyone can see. “Where’d you find this?”
“Online,” I tell him.
“This is awesome. Thanks, Levi!”
I open Aiden’s present, which is the newest FIFA game.
“Wait, you got him the new FIFA? That’s sick!” Caleb says, straining his neck to look at it. “I don’t even have that yet!”
Mitchell hands me a very badly-wrapped present, which causes me to laugh.
“I’m n-not very g-good at wr-wrapping gifts,” Mitchell says, blushing.
“That’s okay, me neither,” I tell him.
I open it up, and it’s a Modern Baseball T-shirt. I told him a while ago that it’s one of the only bands I actually like. I thank him, and he opens up my gift to him.
He grins when he opens it. It’s a movie all about bands and their stories. I thought he’d like that.
“Th-This is so c-cool!” he says. I can tell that he’s really excited. He runs his fingers over the edge and reads the description.
“No way!” Caleb yells, walking over to Mitchell and looking at it. “Levi, where did you get this?”
“I found it online,” I tell him.
Caleb points to me. “You better have gotten me something like that,” he says, laughing.
I shrug and laugh.
Delilah and I decided not to exchange gifts today. We promised to see each other tomorrow. I thought bringing Caleb and my mum here was her and Aiden’s gift to me, but apparently not. It’s already the best Christmas I could’ve asked for.
“Who wants to sing some Christmas carols!” my mum says once we’re done opening presents.
“Mummmm. We’re not singing Christmas carols!” I say, putting my face in my hands.
“It’s a Christmas tradition, so we have to!” she says, laughing. “Go play some songs for us, Levi.”
I blush and shake my head. “I haven’t played in months, Mum.”
“C’mon,” she says, pushing me toward the dusty piano that’s in the corner of the room. It’s always been there, I’ve just never played it.
“You play piano?” Delilah asks quietly.
I nod. “Not very well.” I took lessons when I was younger, but it’s not something I do a lot.
I sit down at the piano, even though I don’t want to. Delilah sits beside me. I slowly place my fingers on the keys, trying to remember a song to play. I haven’t played the piano in what feels like forever.
I start playing “Winter Wonderland,” because it’s the only one I can remember right now. Once I start playing, it feels like I never stopped, which is weird. I thought I would forget everything, but I don’t.
“You’re really good,” Delilah tells me.
I shake my head. “Not really.”
I continue playing a few more songs, only because everyone begs me to. Delilah leans her head on my shoulder as I play.
I thought this would be an awful day, but it’s turning out to be one of the best ones yet. I have everyone here with me, and it finally feels like Christmas.
Chapter Forty-Three
LEVI
Merry Christmas,” my mum says quietly as she opens my bedroom door. I smile and sleepily rub my eyes to shield them from the bright morning light.
“Merry Christmas,” Caleb responds groggily, putting his face in his pillow. “What time is it?”
“It’s nine,” my mum responds.
Caleb groans. “I barely slept all night. How am I supposed to get used to the time zones?”
I laugh. “You’ll get used to it.” I slowly get out of bed and quickly tug down my T-shirt, which went up slightly while I slept.
“Breakfast is ready when you are,” Mum says, leaving my room.
I quickly try to make my hair a little more presentable, even though it’s going to be a mess no matter what. Caleb refuses to get out of bed, and I’m pretty sure he fell back asleep, so I throw one of my pillows at him.
“A few more minutes,” Caleb mumbles, barely moving.
“C’mon, Caleb. I can smell pancakes and bacon. If you don’t get up, I’m going to eat it all.”
Caleb slowly sits up. “Okay, fine.” He runs his hands through his hair and yawns. He follows me to the kitchen, and I can hear him yawning every few seconds.
My mum tells us to sit at the table, so we do. She brings us our breakfast, which consists of eggs, pancakes, toast, and bacon. I don’t remember the last time I actually had anything other than cereal for breakfast.
We both quickly eat, and my parents wait patiently for us to finish since they must have already eaten. My parents have always remained friendly, I think for my well-being, but it’s always nice to see them having a normal conversation and not fighting.
It sort of feels like a dream, or maybe even a Christmas miracle, that both of my parents and Caleb are here. I thought it would just be my dad and me, and that Christmas would be really boring.
“Is Delilah coming over later?” Caleb asks with his mouth full.
I nod.
Caleb smirks. “What’d you get her?”
I shrug. “It’s not that great.”
“Well, what is it?”
“I got her a necklace. It has, like, heartbeat lines on it connected to a heart. You know, like, the lines on a heart monitor,” I tell him, feeling my cheeks heat up.
“Girls love stuff like that. Good choice.”
“Are you boys ready yet?” my mum asks.
I nod and quickly finish the last of my breakfast. I sit down in front of the tree, and Caleb sits beside me. My parents sit on the couch.