Okay, so this is my first story, so no flames please! Constructive criticism is great, but don't just flat out flame it. Please. So I got this idea from listening to Our First Christmas Together by Celtic Thunder. (You should really check it out- the second video on YouTube and it is sung by the love of my life, Damian McGinty) So anyways, on with the story!
Disclaimer: I'm waiting for my rights to Percy Jackson. They must've gotten lost in the mail with my letter to Hogwarts.
Travis Stoll and Katie Gardner were approaching a very important date in their relationship. It was a date that could define that relationship and their understanding of one another. A day they couldn't wait for. Literally. (No, really- Travis had a mental breakdown in Target when he realized that there were in fact two weeks, not one until he and Katie's first Christmas together.)
For most young couples hopelessly in love like Travis and Katie, first Christmases meant… canoodling as Katie preferred calling it. Apparently it was thought of as romantic, to which Travis replied, "Yes, because I find hormonal girlfriends with craving for foods no one has actually ever heard of and huge stretchy stomachs that make scary noises andmove to be totally romantic."
He got slapped for that, but secretly Katie couldn't agree more. She had heard things about morning sickness and decided that very quickly that she wouldn't be a fan. Therefore, Travis and Katie decided to wait until they were married to "canoodle".
Katie also, being very traditional, believed things of that nature should wait until a couple was officially bonded to each other… for better or for worse till death do you part bonded. Travis also had a surprisingly mature reason for wanting to wait. Growing up, Travis obviously didn't have a dad. His mom was the best mom a kid could ask for, but she worked two jobs to provide for Connor and him, so she wasn't around a lot.
He wanted any child of his to have the best, most safe and wonderful life they possibly could, and he knew that as teenagers, he and Katie couldn't give a kid that. Travis did know, however, that this Christmas had to be Katie's best one yet, and he was going to do everything in his power to make sure she got that special Christmas.
Black Friday Madness (Part one in Travis' many adventures to make Katie's perfect Christmas-
"OH MY FREAKING GODS! ALL YOU PEOPLE ARE CRAZY!" Travis screamed as he fought his way through a massive crowd filled with mortals hopped up on enough caffinie to kill a Pegasus. All he wanted was two Nerf guns for Katie and him to have a playful fight with that would hopefully end in kissing, but according to the Internet he had to be at ToysRUs at 1:00 in the freaking morning to even make it into the stores!
Now normally Travis would've just snagged two snipers on one of his many trips to ToysRUs with Connor, (What could he say? Travis was still a child at heart. And seriously, who could resist the addictive power of Pokemon cards?) but he wanted this Christmas to be an honest-to-goodness real Christmas, which meant no stealing whatsoever.
No stealing no matter how much torture or how many bruises he would gain from this insane holiday. As for why he had chosen to do the unspeakable (leave the house without some sort of weapon on Black Friday) he was a struggling college student who really couldn't afford $80 worth of violent, foamy fun.
He was literally crawling to the toy department on his hands and knees and thanking the gods that Connor couldn't see him now. This would be perfect blackmail material, and although Travis was the King of Blackmail, Connor was a close second. Travis could see it now- "STOLL BROTHER DISGRACES HIMSELF AT THE GIRLIEST HOLIDAY OF THE YEAR…BESIDES VALENTINE'S DAY!" He couldn't let that happen! It would ruin his reputation he had spent years of pranking and blackmailing and cheating people building up!
"OW!" he shrieked as some lady in really, really pointy leopard print heels stepped very hardly on his fingers. He looked up at said finger crusher and cringed at her caked on clown makeup. She looked worse than he did when the Aphrodite cabin had put permanent makeup on he and Connor…for a MONTH! And that was bad. Really bad.
Anyways, this lady was even worse. Her cherry red lipstick was smeared all over her botoxed cheeks and her purple sparkly eye shadow stretched far above her skinny, plucked eyebrows. Her hair was stringy, greasy, and had been dyed an unattractive bleach blonde. All in all, she looked like one of those monsters from Toddlers and Tiaras had gone to town on her face with a pack of Sharpies.
"Hello there, little demigod!" "Fudge!" thought Travis. Why couldn't he buy his girlfriend a simple Nerf gun in peace? "Need some help up?" she continued in a sickly sweet voice pinched with venom. Her features began to morph in those of an empousa.
"You know," Travis began as he yanked his leather cord necklace that became a deadly celestial bronze sword off his neck. On the cord there was a silver caduceus, for Travis' father, Hermes. "The donkey leg and the flaming hair actually improve your appearance!"
With that, the empousa let out a bloodcurdling scream and launched herself at Travis, who simply held his sword tightly in front of himself and let the empousa impale herself on its point. With a shrill squeal, she disappeared into a cloud of smelly mustard-colored dust.
"SIR!" a haughty voice boomed through the store. Travis turned, his heart sinking as he recognized the voice of a very angry employee. "Sir!" the voice came again, and now Travis could see who it belonged to. A squat, balding man waddled as fast as his chubby legs could manage towards Travis and the pile of clown empousa dust.
"Sir! What have you done to this poor woman?" The man shouted, spitting wildly into Travis' face. Sometimes, Travis really hated the Mist. According to the spitting man's account, Travis had knocked out an innocent young woman who was holding some clearance merchandise.
"I am going to have to ask you to vacate the premises immediately, and never come back!" "But-" Travis began. "No buts! That was completely unacceptable young man!" Travis had one last-ditch attempt in his repertoire, and if this didn't work then he didn't know what would. It was time to turn on the Waterworks.
He worked up some fake tears and began his sob story in the most pathetic voice he could muster. "I'm- I'm so sorry, sir. It's just," he sniffed loudly and wiped a tear. "my mother. She…She's in the hospital. A-and my dad isn't ever around. A-a-and my little brother… I just wanted to give him one small moment of happiness in this dark, sad time. Just a bit of kindness. That's all I'm asking for!"
Technically, Travis wasn't lying. His mom had punched a brick wall while watching football yesterday and had broken her hand. She was currently at the hospital with Connor, who, contrary to popular belief was actually a year younger than Travis, therefore, technically his little brother. And it wasn't like Hermes just "dropped by to say hi" all the time.
With that last line, Travis curled up in a ball on the tiled floor and began sobbing. He peeked his eyes open to look at the manager's reaction, which was still as cold as ice. "OUT!" the little man shouted, shattering anyone in a 30 foot radius' eardrums. Travis got up laboriously and wiped another fake tear.
"I hope you find a way to live with yourself. All I asked for was a little compassion. And I was denied even that. What is this world coming to?" "OOOOUUUUTTT!" the manager roared, his face turning a very Vernon Dursleyish purple.
Travis trudged out into the cold night/morning/whatever it was. He had no idea what he was going to do for Katie's fun aspect of Christmas now. He just made it out the doors when he felt a hand grab his shoulder.
His fingers instantly reached for his necklace before he realized the hand belonged to a little old mortal lady. Her eyes were warm and filled with concern. "Sweetheart," she began in a thick southern accent. "I couldn't help overhearing your conversation with that rude man. I feel just terrible about the predicament ya'll are in and I was just wondering if I could do anything to help."
Travis was floored. The worst performance of his career, and she never doubted it for a second! He sniffled tragically and looked at her with the most "I'm just an innocent little boy who just want a good time for his little brother who cries all the time because our dad is never home and Mommy might die in the hospital" look you ever saw.
"W-w-well, there is one thing…" he began. Within 30 minutes, the lady had returned with the two best Nerf guns ToysRUs had to offer as well as a $50 gift card. "Here you go, darling." She said, handing over the goodies. Travis' eyes were shining with thoughts of all the Pokemon cards he could buy with $50.
"Thank you so much ma'am! My little brother will love this so much. Maybe I'll be able to convince him to eat the stale cat food we've been surviving off of now." (Hey! He might as well try and get as much out of this lady as he could!) The woman's eyes welled up as she pressed a $50 bill into Travis' hand. "Y'all use that to buy some decent food now, ya hear?"
"Oh of course ma'am! It would be my pleasure! Thank You so much!" Travis cried while backing away with the guns and $100. He turned his back on the woman and tucked the gift card and money into his pocket. He grinned at the prospect of Connor's face when he showed him that he finally had the Metagross card! Phase one of Operation Give Katie the Best First Christmas Together Ever (or OGKBFCTE for short) was complete!
Okay… It wasn't awful? Was it? Oh well, who cares? It's Christmas after all. On that note all I want for Christmas is some reviews! Please, please, please! If you want to give the greatest gift of all (joy), all you have to do is write a few simple words on what you thought of the story! Not that hard!
Anyway, I know there wasn't that much fluff in this chapter, but I find Travis just so adorable to write! And I love writing how devoted he is to Katie! I mean, come on, together they're cuter than a puppy! Heck, they're cuter than 100 puppies!
Lots of love and Christmas Cheer!
Gwen