(Christmas Day 2014 (Thursday December 25))

It was just before dawn on Christmas morning, and for the time being, the vibe in the apartment seemed to fit the "not a creature was stirring..." cliché that was made famous in one of those old holiday stories. But that would soon change as 20-year-old Freddie Benson suddenly awoke. As he sat up in his bed, barely awake and with his eyes slightly open, he was about to head for the living room to open his presents when he saw a note on the nightstand next to his bed.

There was an envelope with a card inside underneath it, but something deep down urged Freddie to look at the handwritten note first. As he turned to his left and let his feet hit the floor, he then reached over and grabbed said note. Based on the handwriting, he already knew that the note, and presumably the card, was from his best friend and roommate, 21-year-old Trina Vega. But even though the note seemed simple, he had no idea that the note would speak volumes about how the rest of the holiday would turn out for him.

Hey Freddie,

Good morning and Merry Christmas. I know that you're probably ready to open everything under the tree with your name on it, and I couldn't blame you, because I'm ready for that too. But before you do that, there's something really special that you might wanna check out first. Just come to the room and you'll see it.

To my best friend, with love. Sincerely, Trina.

No sooner than he finished reading the note, the red-sweats-clad ex-tech producer headed from his room to Trina's. He opened the door and walked in, only to find that she wasn't in there, or so it appeared. Still, it didn't keep Freddie from wondering, "how am I supposed to find out what this 'something really special' is if Trina isn't in here?" Once the thought crossed his mind, he then called out to his friend, "hey Trina, are you in here?"

"I'm over here, Freddie," Trina said just loud enough for Freddie to hear, as she stepped out from behind the folding screen between her dresser and closet.

"Oh. My. GOD," Freddie replied, looking on in shock, awe and happiness at the sight of Trina and her get-up. She had on a makeshift tube top/bra constructed from the leftover roll of red gift-wrapping ribbon - and underneath, a pair of gold-colored bows that served as pasties. Then she was also wearing a red thong with very short and very thin skirt-like lace that covered the top of her butt, and to complete her look, she had on a pair of black multi-strap open-toed boots. It was pretty much a pointless question, but Trina still felt the need to ask Freddie what he thought of her current appearance.

"So, what do you think?" Trina wondered aloud as she turned herself around so Freddie could get a full look. "Do you like it?"

"If I said I like it, then I would be understating it so badly," Freddie answered. "I'm definitely glad that you're doing this, but I gotta ask, why exactly are you doing this?"

"Well... it's like this," Trina began, feeling somewhat nervous about what she was going to say, and about how Freddie might react. "Lately, I've done some thinking, and for a long time, I've been holding something in, and long story short, I like you. In the good way. I've felt this way almost the entire time that we've lived together, but I never said anything because I didn't know what or how I could tell you, and I didn't think that I would have any chance with you."

"Okay, why would you think that you wouldn't have a chance with me, and better yet, what made you like me in the good way?" Freddie asked, flattered but also confused and surprised by what Trina had just said to him. "What's so great about me?"

Trina wouldn't have been bothered by or thought much of the question if she thought of it as a simple joke. But she heard a tinge of doubt when Freddie spoke, and her still somewhat undeclared love for her friend/roommate, along with a drastic change in her attitude and demeanor were the only things keeping her from overreacting.

She had began running her hands on his arms as she then asked, "what's not special about you? You're smart, you're handsome, you're funny, you're strong, you're considerate. I could probably go on all day about how great of a guy you are if we had the time, but my point is that there's a lot of special things about you. You're special yourself, and from what I've seen and what you've told me the last couple of years, you deserve better than what you've been through and who you've dealt with."

To her credit, Trina was right about Freddie and his past experiences before and since they moved in together. In the two years or so that they already had with each other, Trina had saw Freddie deal with his fair share of less-than-deserving females.

Some were around him simply because they wanted to go out and hook up with the former tech producer from "iCarly", and had little if any desire to actually learn about him. Then there were others who had no business around Freddie or any guy like him, because of their attitudes and the way they carried themselves. If it wasn't a issue of how easy they were or may have appeared to be, then it came down to them being egotistic, self-absorbed, conceited and just generally full of themselves. It hit close to home because it had reminded Trina of how she had been growing up, particularly in her Hollywood Arts days, and it made her wonder how she ever acted like that, and also to promise herself to not fall back into that pattern of behavior.

In the rare event that Freddie had hooked up with any of them (whether he brought them back home or stayed out at their places), she tried as best as she could to brush it off or ignore it altogether, and simply looked at his late-night activity as nothing more than a physical fix. Still, it bugged her to see her new "bestie" walking around with "ganks, grunches and slut-tastic skanks", especially if it meant that he was risking having another Carly and Sam on his hands, and Trina was all too aware and plenty pissed off about what they had put Freddie through when he was in Seattle.

Meanwhile, back in her bedroom, Freddie took a few seconds to take in what Trina said to him, before he himself began to say, "listen, I'm glad that you think and feel like this about me, but - "

"No, no, no, Freddie, listen to me. I don't know what you might be thinking, or what you were gonna say, but listen, I don't want you to doubt yourself or think that you're not good enough," Trina insisted." I'm serious about what I just told you, and it's important to me that you understand that."

"No, Trina. I get it, and I appreciate what you said, which is what I was trying to say. But in all honesty, between the both of us, you're the real catch."

She had briefly looked away once she finished talking, but once Freddie said what he did, Trina had her eyes locked in on the former tech producer. It wasn't so much that he simply complimented her, but in the regard that he did so. As rare as it may have seemed, Trina did hear someone call her hot or sexy, and every so often, a guy might have taken the chance to use a vulgar pick-up line. But she had never heard anybody tell her that she was a catch, let alone the real catch like Freddie had just said to her. Outside of her parents and other family members calling her and Tori a princess, among other things, as young girls, there hadn't been many great words spoken to or about Trina, especially once she and her "baby sister" made it to Hollywood Arts. And her luck with guys, if she had any, was borderline nightmarish. But even if he never said it, at least outright, Freddie knew what kind of woman his roommate was.

Having been caught off guard by what she had just heard, Trina then asked Freddie, "do you really mean that? Do you think I'm a great catch?"

"I wouldn't have said it if I didn't," Freddie replied with a small smile on his face. "I know you didn't get much of a chance from people, especially other guys, but I also know how awesome you are. You're beautiful, you're smart, and you are talented. Your parents should have been better with you and Tori, and other people should have treated you better. I know people said that you used to act conceited and kind of ganky, but I see that there's a lot more to you than that. I know you said that Jade used to tell you all the time that no one likes you, but I like you, as a friend, and even in the good way. I don't know what might happen with us after today, but whatever it is, I'm ready to face it. If we're boyfriend and girlfriend, we go back to just being friends after today, or even if we're friends with benefits, then I'm gonna go through with it."

Hearing Freddie talk her up touched a nerve in Trina, so much to the point that it almost drove her to tears. Before the waterworks could truly form, though, she then said to him, "well, you might want to brace yourself, because when we do whatever we might do, I don't think that we could go back to being just friends. But hey, maybe now since we've had our talk, we could go unwrap those gifts, huh?"

"Are you kidding, Vega?" Freddie asked with a laugh. "After the conversation that we just had, wouldn't it make more sense if I unwrapped you first?"

"See, I had a feeling you really were smart, Benson," Trina replied in the same manner.

"Well, I'm not dumb." In a matter of seconds, Freddie and Trina were kissing, and he was in a mad dash to "unwrap" his friend, roommate and potential new girlfriend.

Before either of them truly realized it, it was around noon, and at this particular stage in time, Trina was on top of Freddie as they were in her bed, with the sheets barely covering their laps, and both of them having worked up plenty of a sweat. As he took note of the time, Freddie then asked Trina, "do you think your folks would be mad if we showed up late?"

"They can wait. Besides, I just told them that we might come by," Trina answered. "I didn't say what time we would get there if we went there."

"Fair enough. And speaking of coming..." Freddie then went to his patented "hip-pump" move, which he had tried on the previously mentioned less-than-stellar girls, and now, as evidenced in her moans, Trina was already a fan of it in her first encounter with the technique. There was no such thing as Santa Claus, but if there was, would have had to put the 20-somethings on both of his lists, because like the duo themselves, what they were doing was "Naughty And Nice At The Same Time".

I just winged the hell out of this. I was just trying to write something for Christmas, and this is what I came up with. Bon voyage, people, and Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays. Later.