It's Christmas Day and I know I should be looking forward to it but the reality is I'm not that excited. It's not just the fact Christmas is usually more exciting for younger kids, it's more the fact that I won't be with the girl I want to be with on Christmas. No one knows about my girlfriend and I dating so she can't exactly come here to visit and I can't really go to hers either. Well I mean she does live alone so that wouldn't be a problem meeting there but what excuse do I have for leaving the house on Christmas day when the whole family stays at my grandparents' house and we all have dinner there. I really wanted Brittany and I to spend our first Christmas together but we can't.
I'm just getting changed after taking a shower when I hear my phone beep so I quickly look at it and open up the new text message I have. Once I open it I'm met with a picture of Brittany dressed in a Santa suit with a Santa hat on with the message underneath, 'merry Christmas baby'. I laugh because she looks so cute all dressed up in the Santa outfit. I text a reply and no later than two seconds, Brittany sends another text.
To Brittany: Aw you look cute
From Brittany: Thanks. Just wait until I see you tonight, sexy Santa makes an appearance. X
I frown because I'm slightly confused, I'm not going to be able to see Brittany tonight so why is she telling me that I will.
To Brittany: What do you mean? I won't see you tonight because I'm stuck at my grandparent's house all day and night with the family
From Brittany: Yes you will, I have a plan
To Brittany: ok cool, what is it?
From Brittany: well I'm going to my dad's house soon so I thought we could meet up around the corner from your grandparent's house and exchange gifts before I go. Then later on once we've both had dinner with our families, maybe I could sneak into your room.
To Brittany: are you serious about sneaking into my grandparent's house, won't it be too risky
From Brittany: not if we're careful. Are you able to meet me around the corner in fifteen minutes?
To Brittany: yeah I should be
From Brittany: ok cool, I'll be in my car waiting. We can talk about tonight when we meet up.
To Brittany: ok, see you soon.
I quickly dry my hair and get ready to meet Brittany around the corner. Hopefully I should be able to sneak out without anyone knowing I'm gone because everyone tends to have a longer sleep on Christmas morning nowadays since none of us are kids anymore so everyone should hopefully still be in bed. Back in the day the whole family would stay at my dad's parent's house and on Christmas morning we'd all get up really early and open our presents together. It was a big family thing, I'm talking about aunts, uncles, cousins, siblings, everyone would be at my grandparent's on Christmas Eve and we all spent the night and woke up on Christmas morning and opened all the presents. This year is no exception so I'm hoping no will see or hear me leave and that everyone is still fast asleep.
As soon as I am ready I sneak out of the house and walk to our meeting place. Brittany is parked alongside the kerb when I arrive so I quickly get into the car because it's too cold not to. "Hey" I say while shutting the car door.
"Hey babe, how are you?" Brittany asks while kissing me on the cheek. "Wow your face is freezing."
"Yeah I am a bit cold" I say. "What about you, how are you?"
"Yeah I'm good, I just wish there was an easier way we could be together today" she says with a sigh. "I suppose we can at least be together for a little bit later on tonight. How long do you have just now?"
"I don't really want to be away for more than twenty minutes because I'm sure everyone will be up within the next half an hour" I tell her.
"Ok well we'll just need to make the most of it" she states.
"We will but tell me more about tonight, how can we meet up?" I ask.
"I've got dinner at my mom's house around four o'clock so we should be finished eating by six and then I think I should spend some time with the family" she says while putting her thinking face on, it's adorable so I can't help but smile. "Perhaps if I snuck into your grandparents' house at eight and maybe I could just hide out in your room and leave early tomorrow morning" she suggests.
"Do you think it'll work, will we be able to pull it off?" I ask.
"I hope so otherwise I won't see you again until a few days" she says.
"That is true, we'll just need to be very cautious" I say.
"Anyway enough about tonight, we are running out of time just now so how about we get started on exchanging the presents" she suggests.
"Ok sure but I've only brought a couple of your presents, I thought I could give you the rest later since we're seeing each other again today" I say and Brittany smiles. It turns out she had done the same thing and was going to give me most of my gifts later.
"So do you want your gift first or are you giving me mine first?" she asks.
"I don't mind" I reply.
"Ok well I'll give you your gift first" Brittany says while reaching into the back and grabbing a gift bag with a few presents in it and handing it to me. "Open any one you want first" she says with a smile.
"Ok" I say returning the smile. I open the first present and its expensive perfume I have been dying to get for ages. "Aw thanks babe, at least I know you listen to me" I say jokingly because I have been going on and on about how much I wanted that perfume. I open the next present and it's a gift card for one of my favourite clothing stores so I'm happy about that. I then start to open the last present in the bag, "Have I kept the best until last?" I say, joking again.
"I would say that's accurate" Brittany responds.
"Ok cool" I say, still trying to unwrap the gift. "You've got it tightly wrapped babe, I can barely get into it" I say.
"Well I didn't want anything to damage it so I might have went crazy and wrapped it in lots of paper and made sure there was plenty of tape on it" she tells me. Once I finally get the wrapping paper off, I realise it's a box so I open it up and my jaw almost plummets to the ground. "Babe you didn't need to do this, it looks so expensive" I state while staring at the white gold necklace in front of me.
"It's no trouble, plus I wanted to give you something special to mark our first Christmas as a couple" she tells me.
"Well thank you" I say while leaning in to kiss her. "It's your turn now but to warn you, there's nothing as nice as this necklace in there" I really didn't expect Brittany to get me something so nice, I feel bad now for not getting her anything as expensive.
"I'm sure whatever you have gave me will be nice" she states while opening the first present.
In the next ten minutes Brittany opens all her gifts from me and thanks me for them. It's almost time for me to go back inside so we're just finalising the plan on how she will sneak into my grandparent's house tonight. My family are sticklers for traditions so usually at eight on Christmas evening we've already eaten dinner so we'd be playing charades or something else boring so everyone should be in the living room. Therefore I'm thinking tonight will be similar so I could excuse myself to go to the bathroom at eight but really I will run to the back door and let Brittany in and take her upstairs.
"I need to get back inside now but I'll text you later on ok" I say while opening the door.
"Ok, no problem. I'll see you later" she says while we quickly lean in and kiss before I go back inside. It's going to feel like a long day until I see Brittany again but it can't be helped when it's our choice to keep our relationship a secret. After all it would cause some problems if my parents found out I was dating a twenty year old when I'm only fifteen.
The morning dragged on painfully slow and it didn't help matters when my parents insisted on no phones at lunch either since it was supposed to be family time. I'm usually ok when I'm at school or Brittany's at university and we don't see each other a lot but today I just seem to miss her even more. I think it's due to the fact Christmas is supposed to be a happy and joyful occasion and I know I'm at my happiest when I'm with Brittany.
Dinner wasn't much better either so I'm just praying the next hour goes by quickly. As usual we're getting started our game of charades that I really could do without. There's just something incredibly boring about playing it with my family, they don't follow any of the rules and half the time my grandpa ends up talking to give us clues which you're not supposed to do when playing a mime game. I don't know how many times we tell him you're supposed to act it out not use verbal language.
"Your turn Santana" my mom tells me.
"Can't someone else on my team act it out?" I ask.
"No it's your turn so grab a card" my mom says so I reluctantly pick up a card and start acting out the movie.
After a ridiculously long hour, I see the clock hit eight o'clock so I discretely stand up and I excuse myself and quietly leave the room. As soon as I am out of sight of everyone I run through to the kitchen and open the back door. Ok that's weird, she's not here.
I step outside, "Brittany" I whisper but get no response so I check my cell in case she's text me to say she's running late or something. She hasn't text me either so I walk round the side of the house, "Brittany, are you there?" I whisper again. I just about crap myself when I see a flash of blonde hair come from around the corner.
"Hi" she laughs. "Did I give you a fright babe?"
"Just a bit" I say while clutching my chest.
"I'm sorry" she says while pecking me on the lips.
"It's ok but we really need to get you upstairs now before everybody wonders what is taking me so long" I say while pulling Brittany inside. We head upstairs and I show Brittany where my room is. "Ok I need to spend a bit more time downstairs because they'll wonder why I'm going to bed so early so are you ok amusing yourself for just now?" I ask.
"Yeah it's all good, I'll just borrow your laptop and do some work on it" she replies.
"You're doing work on Christmas day?" I ask, rather her than me.
"Yes, this sexy lady never stops" she smiles.
"Alright well I'll be back up soon ok?" I say smiling back and she nods. I then go back downstairs and join in the game of charades again.
"Everything ok sweetheart" my mom asks as I sit back down.
"Yeah it's fine, I was just giving Bruno some more water" I say, making a mental note to actually give my grandparent's dog more water next time I go to check on Brittany.
Every so often after a few acts of charades, I check on Brittany. I just wish the game would end and I could spend time with Brittany but it's like it's just never happening. It's also starting to get a bit embarrassing now when I keep leaving the room because my mom seems to think I am dashing off to the bathroom either feeling sick or with an upset stomach.
"Oh my god finally" I say while throwing myself to the bed much to Brittany's amusement.
"Hard day babe?" she asks while placing the cushion under my head.
"You don't know the half of it" I reply. "Don't laugh so loud though babe."
"Sorry" Brittany says. "So do I have the pleasure of your company all night now?"
"I'm all yours" I reply.
"That you are" Brittany says while pecking me on the lips.
"I really wish we had more time together today" I say.
"I know this isn't ideal by any means but it's the only way we would get to see one another" Brittany tells me.
"I know it is my fault things have to be this way" I tell Brittany.
"It isn't babe" Brittany assures me. "I respect that you don't feel ready to tell anyone and being in a relationship is a new thing for you" Brittany kisses me softly. "I would do absolutely anything for you Santana so please don't feel like your choices are wrong."
I sit up on the bed slightly to face Brittany. "Britt, I really need to tell you something" I say.
"You can tell me anything babe" Brittany says gently pecking my cheek.
"I know I have never had a boyfriend or girlfriend before so I don't really know the full extent of how a relationship works" I admit. "However what I do know is that I am in love with you." After a period of prolonged silence I begin to feel like I have said the wrong thing. "I'm sorry if you're not rea…." I say but get cut off by Brittany's lips covering mine.
"I am in love with you too Santana" Brittany confesses smiling. "You have no idea how long I have wanted to tell you that, I just got nervous that I would freak you out or something."
"You wouldn't have freaked me out" I say. "Nothing you could ever do or say would make me not want to be with you."
"Ever since we left summer camp, I knew I was in love with you" Brittany tells me. "No one has ever made me feel the way you make me feel. You make me happier than I ever thought I could be."
"You make me happy too" I tell Brittany hugging her.
"Merry Christmas babe" Brittany whispers with a kiss to the side of my lips.
"Merry Christmas Britt."