James the Christmas Grouch

by Ivy Smoak

  "Not at all."

  "It's actually pretty good," James said.

  Mason elbowed him in the side. "You would like nuts in your mouth." But then he ate his. "Eh, it's alright."

  "Not bad," Matt said. "What's next?" He stared at me expectantly. He seemed to be enjoying this the most. I had a suspicion that he wasn't a huge fan of anti-Christmas.

  "Do you guys want to go ice skating?" I asked.

  "Ugh, why are you torturing us?" Rob groaned.

  "Rob, you asked if I wanted to go earlier today."

  "That was when I thought you'd be bringing some of your hot single friends."

  Right. Before he found out that I hadn't made any friends. Except for these guys. And damn it, I was going to force them to have fun tonight if it was the last thing I did. "Ice skating. Now." I said it with way too much authority. It made it sound like what I was forcing them to do wouldn't be any fun at all. I pointed to the Rockefeller tree when no one moved.

  They all groaned and pretending like I was torturing them. Was I? This wasn't the night they had planned.

  "Are they going to hate me after this?" I asked James as we followed them toward the ice.

  "Are you kidding?"

  I looked up at him. "No? It seems like I'm torturing them."

  "What? They're having a blast."

  "They're literally groaning."

  He laughed. "They're just messing with you, Penny. If they weren't having fun they would have gone back to the bar. When we left, Rob even said, 'if this blows, let's just head back to the bar.' But they're all still here."

  I smiled. "Are you having fun?"

  "I'm having the best Christmas Eve ever. Now let's get you in a pair of skates so I can watch that perfect ass of yours continuously fall on the ice."

  "I'm a good ice skater," I said.

  "Well I'm not."

  I laughed as he wrapped his arm behind my back. I snuggled into his warmth as we followed our friends.

  Mason was standing there watching Rob and Matt lace their skates.

  "Aren't you going to join us?" I asked.

  "Actually, I should get going. I have a couple errands to run."

  "You sure, man?" Matt said. "It's going to be just like old times. We used to do this with my mom when we were little," he said to me.

  Maybe I was the only one that saw it, but Mason looked sad. I knew he was fighting with his parents. I knew this Christmas was hard for him.

  "I'll catch you all later," Mason said and started to walk away.

  No Merry Christmas. No cheer at all. He just walked away. But he didn't get far before I caught up to him.

  "Mason!"

  He turned around.

  "I'm sorry, I didn't know you used to do this with your parents."

  He parted his lips like he was about to say something, but then he closed them again. He didn't have to say anything. I knew he was hurting.

  "Come to our house tomorrow for Christmas," I said. "James and I would love to have you."

  "I don't want to impose..."

  "You wouldn't be imposing. I know you like to look like you're made of steel, but I know you're all warm and fuzzy on the inside. And guess what? Earlier today, Rob made fun of me because I haven't made any friends in New York. But do you know what I told him? That I made friends with you."

  He smiled. "But Christmas is for family."

  "I left my family behind in Wilmington." It hurt to say out loud, but it was true. "But do you know what I've been learning? Friends are family that you choose. Come tomorrow. We can miss our parents together."

  It was almost like he thawed in front of me. "Yeah, I mean...if you're sure."

  "I'm sure." I wrapped him in a huge hug. "Merry Christmas Eve, Mason."

  "Merry Christmas Eve, Penny."

  This time when he walked away, he didn't look so sad. He even turned around and waved.

  "What was all that about?" James asked when I ran back over to him. He already had his skates laced and was holding a pair out for me.

  "I invited him over tomorrow. I hope that's okay." I sat down and started lacing my skates.

  "Of course it's okay."

  "I like your friends, James."

  "I'm pretty sure they like you too."

  I looked out at the ice and laughed as Matt pushed Rob. Rob fell right on his ass.

  "Shall we?" James said and put out his hand.

  I slid my hand into his and let him guide me over to the skating rink. New York was truly starting to feel like home. I even had this new amazing family. I smiled again at Matt and Rob fighting on the ice.

  Whatever I remembered about ice skating was completely wrong. Because I landed on my ass almost as many times as James. Partially because I kept insisting on holding his hand, though. So whenever he fell, he took me with him.

  "Race you!" Rob yelled.

  I picked up my pace and quickly realized I didn't know how to stop. I did the best I could to slow down before colliding straight into James.

  He laughed as we tumbled onto the ice.

  "Ow. I think you're trying to break my back," he groaned.

  I smiled and placed a soft kiss against his lips. "No, I like you in one piece, thank you very much."

  A smile spread across his face. Pure Christmas joy.

  "What?" I asked. I wanted to know what caused that smile. Because I wanted to see it over and over again.

  "Penny, it's snowing."

  Just as he said the words, I saw a snowflake land on his forehead. I looked up at the sky. Flurries were falling slowly. It felt like a Christmas miracle. Snow! It's really snowing!

  "If it wasn't freezing, I could stay in this moment forever," James said.

  I smiled down at him. "And why's that?"

  "You. That smile on your face."

  I swallowed hard. "I guess we need to get you some hot chocolate to warm you up." I lifted my finger and tapped the tip of his nose. "Boop." As soon as I did it, I was completely mortified. God, did I just do that? I just booped James Hunter on the nose. Who boops James Hunter on the nose?

  "Did you just boop me on the nose?" he said with a laugh.

  "Um, no. I think you imagined that."

  He tickled my side as I tried to climb off of him and I slipped on the ice, landing beside him. "Fine. I booped your nose. I confess." I couldn't help but laugh.

  "That was the cutest thing ever."

  I didn't even mind him describing me as cute tonight. It was Christmas Eve. And Christmas Eve was always perfect. Besides, I didn't just boop James Hunter's nose. I booped my fiancé's nose. It was good that we were learning all the weird things we did.

  ***

  "So...did I succeed?" I asked as we all blew on our hot chocolate.

  "I'm a believer in Christmas miracles," Rob said sarcastically. "I'm officially done with anti-Christmas." That sounded more serious. "But really, we should still all get together on Christmas Eve. But we should do this stuff instead."

  Matt smiled. "I'd be down for that. This is a much better tradition."'

  James pulled me into his side. "Count me in too. Christmas Eve only comes around once a year. We might as well celebrate it in style."

  I felt like my smile couldn't get any bigger.

  "And you guys should come over tomorrow whenever you can," James said. "Mason's already coming."

  One big happy family. It felt like my heart definitely grew. There was no Grinch in me whatsoever. And as I looked around at all of them, I was pretty sure I didn't see one Grinch.

  "We should probably get going though," James said. "It's getting pretty late. It'll be Christmas before we know it."

  We said our goodbyes and walked hand in hand back toward our apartment. The snow was picking up, making our shoes leave a trail in the snow.

  "This is magical, isn't it?" I said.

  "It really is." He looked up. "I can't remember the last time it snowed on Christmas Eve or Christmas."

  "I only remember it happening once. My fam
ily always went to midnight mass. And one time, we walked out afterwards, and snow started to fall. It felt like the clouds had been holding their breath and only released it once we were ready to see it. It was magical. Just like this."

  "We could make a service. If you want to." He stopped me outside our apartment.

  I shook my head. James wasn't religious. And I had stopped going to church every Sunday once I started college. "Actually, I want to give you something. If you'll open one of your presents early." I raised both my eyebrows, hoping he could tell how excited I was.

  He got a boyish grin on his face. "I'm not going to complain about that."

  The way he said it made it seem like he was expecting sex. I shouldn't have looked so overwhelmingly excited, but I couldn't help myself. I pulled him onto the elevator. I just hoped he reacted differently toward the book than Mason had reacted to ice skating. Please don't be upset by this.

  We walked into our apartment and I turned on the Christmas music. I scanned through the songs until I found Let it Snow. I grabbed the book from under the tree and turned around.

  He wasn't even looking at the present. He was just looking at me.

  "Do you know how loved I feel when you look at me like that?" I asked as I stepped toward him.

  "Like you're the most loved human being on this planet?" He tucked a loose strand of hair behind my ear. "Because you are."

  His words were making me tear up. But I didn't want to cry. I never wanted to stop smiling. "I love you just as much." My words weren't eloquent, but I meant them. I thrust the present into his arms. "Open it." It was the first Christmas present I had ever given him. It felt momentous. I bit the inside of my lip as he tore the paper off.

  A smile broke over his face. "This was the exact edition my dad used to read us." He untied the bow on the front of the book and opened it up. "How did you know?"

  "Rob told me it was a pop-up book. And that it was blue. I found this really cute used bookstore and the woman that owned it said this book had just come in today."

  He ran his finger along the little paper wheel that spun the sugarplums on the page. He laughed and looked up at me. "Penny, this is amazing. I can't believe you found it."

  "Do you want me to read it to you?"

  He laughed. "No, you've got to experience it for yourself. I'll read it to you." He grabbed my hand and pulled me over to the couch. He balanced the book on his knee and put his arm around my back.

  As the snow fell outside and as the lights twinkled on our tree, he read to me. We only paused to play with the interactive pop-ups. And even though it was a story for parents to read to their kids, it didn't feel that way with us. Him reading it to me just made me feel loved. Like he wanted to share one of his happiest memories with me. It made me feel so close to him.

  "Happy Christmas to all, and to all a goodnight!" James said in a very deep voice.

  I smiled up at him. "You really liked it?"

  He kissed my temple. "I loved it. This was the most thoughtful gift anyone has ever given me."

  I put my hand on his chest and felt the thudding of his heart beating. "We should probably get to bed so that Santa can come."

  He laughed.

  When I didn't say anything, he narrowed his eyes at me.

  "Wait, are you serious? Penny we need to have a serious conversation. Santa isn't..."

  I put my finger against his lips. "Don't say it, James. Don't say it until you wake up tomorrow and know for sure." I grabbed one of my notebooks off the coffee table and handed it to him. "Write down what you want from him and I'll get the milk and cookies."

  "Baby, this is..."

  "Awesome? Fantastic? The best thing ever?" I came back out carrying a plate of cookies and a glass of milk and set them down on the coffee table.

  He laughed. "I was going to say ridiculous." But he ripped out the sheet of paper he had written on from the notebook and put it down next to the cookies and milk.

  I grabbed the stockings I had stashed under the tree and hung mine up on the mantel of the fireplace. "Hang up your stocking too." I held it out to him.

  He smiled as he got up off the couch. Our stockings had our names embroidered on them. I had been lucky that they had ones with our names left in the store on Christmas Eve. He shook his head as he hung up the stocking. "This really is ridiculous. But thank you for the stocking."

  I grabbed the notebook, quickly wrote what I wanted, and placed the letter beside James'. "We'll see who's ridiculous come morning."

  He lightly slapped my ass as he followed me up the stairs.

  "Oh, actually, I'm thirsty," I said when I reached the top of the stairs. "I'm going to go grab some water. You can start getting ready for bed." I kissed his cheek and watched him go into our bedroom before I sprinted back down the stairs.

  I pulled out the bag I had hidden under the Christmas tree. James was going to be so surprised when he woke up. I put the small presents I got for him inside of his stocking. I had bought a few random items for myself too, just to make it look like Santa didn't hate me. I tossed those into my stocking and then turned toward the coffee table. Even though I wasn't hungry, I quickly stuffed the cookies in my mouth and downed the milk.

  I couldn't help but take a peek at James' note. I smiled when I saw that he had actually addressed it to Santa.

  Dear Santa,

  What is my Christmas wish? Well, that's an easy one. My wish to you is for Penny to truly feel like this is her home. For her to adjust to the city and be happy to be here with me. That is my Christmas wish.

  -James

  I held the sheet up to my chest. I am happy. And tomorrow I'd make sure he knew it. He wasn't the only one who had asked for something sentimental. I had asked Santa to give James the Christmas spirit. Because if there was anyone I knew that deserved the joy of Christmas in their heart, it was him.

  I hurried back upstairs before James could suspect anything. As I crawled into bed after brushing my teeth, I snuggled into his side.

  "Merry Christmas Eve, James," I whispered.

  "Merry Christmas Eve, baby."

  I closed my eyes. It had been years since I had been this excited for Christmas morning. When I finally drifted to sleep, the last thing I remembered was wondering if this was how my parents felt when they pretended to be Santa.

  Chapter 4

  Christmas

  Just like every Christmas, my eyes flew open early. I turned toward the alarm clock. It was only 7 am. But I couldn't wait another second. I tried to hide my squeal of excitement as I slipped out from underneath James' arm and tiptoed to the bathroom.

  I opened up the drawer in the bathroom vanity where I had stashed the naughty Mrs. Claus outfit. After I finally managed to clasp every little hook on the back of the corset, I turned around. I smiled. It was even better than my red dress from last night. Actually, it was way better. My boobs nearly reached my chin. James almost always woke up with morning wood. And this morning, I was going to use that to my advantage.

  I zipped up my thigh high boots and finished the outfit with a Santa hat. This year I was the ho in ho, ho, ho. I walked out of the bathroom and over to James' side of the bed. "Merry Christmas, James."

  He started to yawn but it sounded like more of a gasp by the time it was over. "Holy shit, Penny." He wiped the sleepy out of his eyes. "You have no idea how many times I wished I could wake up to this on Christmas morning growing up."

  I laughed.

  He blinked, like he thought he was imagining me.

  "I heard you've been a little more naughty than nice this year."

  "So I was sent you?" He pushed the covers back and sat up in bed.

  I moved closer to him, putting my hands on his knees. "Mhm."

  "Then I think I should be naughty more often."

  "You could be naughty right now. Merry Christmas, James."

  "This feels more like my birthday than Christmas." He slid off the bed and moved around me, effectively sandwiching me against the side
of the bed. "How naughty are we talking?"

  "As naughty as you want. When on the naughty list, I say live it up."

  "You know, I probably do deserve to be on that list." He slowly trailed his fingers up the inside of my thigh. "Rumor has it I slept with one of my students."

  "That's very naughty of you."

  He pushed my thong to the side but didn't touch me. God, he had a way of making me go crazy with want.

  "Oh you haven't heard the half of it," he said.

  "Then tell me more." My head dropped back as he lightly brushed his finger against my wetness.

  "I fell in love with her."

  "More," I moaned.

  "I asked her to marry me." He thrust a finger inside of me.

  "James!"

  He moved his hand faster. "Baby you have no idea what you do to me." Another finger joined the first, stretching me wide. "And do you know the naughtiest part?" he whispered in my ear.

  My breath caught in my throat as I waited for his response.

  "I still get hard when she calls me Professor Hunter."

  I was seconds away from shattering.

  "I need to taste you," he said and removed his fingers.

  I wanted his mouth on me. The was no better feeling than his tongue. But this wasn't about me. This was a gift for him. And damn it, Rob was right. James clearly wanted head. And I wanted to give it to him.

  "Naughty boys don't get what they want," I said and dropped to my knees. Before he had time to react I wrapped my fingers around the base of his cock and circled my tongue around his tip.

  "Penny," he groaned.

  I wrapped my lips around him and took him all the way to the back of my throat.

  "Fuck." His fingers tangled into my hair, knocking my Santa hat to the ground.

  He let me set the pace for a few more seconds before guiding me. I loved when he did that. When he used me for his pleasure. I loved how I could make him lose all control.

  I tightened my lips.

  He groaned again and quickly pulled my head back. "Hands on the bed and spread your thighs, gorgeous."

  I followed his instructions. I was done with the role playing. He could have me however he wanted. He pressed down on the center of my back, making me lift my ass higher into the air.