Two years later, Juju's pov
I smile as Everett rushed into my room Christmas morning, excited about presents.
"Juju, Jules, come on, I want to open presents!" he said, his smile wide and happy. "Put your phone down and come out!"
I chuckle, setting my phone on my desk as Everett grabs my hand and pulls me out of the room. "Mom and Dad said they have a really, really good present for all of us this year!"
I raise my eyebrows, looking at my mom, who's sitting with now eleven year old Grayson, who has a present in his lap, and two year old Indigo in her own lap. Dad is on the other side of Grayson, a medium-size box sitting next to him.
"What's this about a special present?" I ask, sitting down with them all.
"Uh-uh, you can't open that until everyone else gets here," Mom says, a glow in her eyes.
"Very suspicious," I respond, but I grin. "Hey, Indie, Merry Christmas!" I tell her.
"Merry Christmas!" she replies as well as she can in her toddler voice.
We're not the best of friends, and sometimes I do still wonder what my life would be like if she wasn't there, but we get along. Well, as well as a two year old can get along with a fifteen year old. She's closest with Grayson, who does magic tricks and plays with her stuffed animals with her.
I'm closer with Everett, who likes to cook with me and sometimes even color, although our artistic interests are rather different. He loves anything to do with the outdoors or cars, while I draw calmer things, such as scenes or sometimes people.
"Mama, can we open the presents now?" Everett asks, eagerly looking at a present under the tree with his name on it.
She laughs, nodding. "Course," she tells us, smiling at Dad. "Go ahead, everyone, open your presents!"
I smile, grabbing the one closest to me. It turns out to be a very nice set of colored pencils, something I needed. "Thank you," I tell my parents, grinning.
"You only reminded me ten times," Dad says, chuckling.
"I really need them, though. How else do you expect me to color in my drawings?" I say, although I'm joking. Mostly.
"You'd find a way," Mom reassures me.
After we finish opening presents, we put on a Christmas movie while we wait for family to get there. We were having a party, with all of the Christmas cookies and treats you could imagine. We had invited pretty much everyone, and most had accepted. Preston was coming, with his sister, brother, and mom. We had invited Callie, but she was going to spend it with her family, although promised to come by on her way home.
Even Scarlett and Noah, Archie's stepchildren, were coming with Lynn. The pair were no longer together, Lynn having broken it off after finding out Archie was cheating on her. Scarlett and I had walked into the house one day, finding him in a rather compromising position with a woman neither of us knew. That led to me spending much less time there, and now I only visited once in a while, never seeing Archie. It seemed as if he had left town, and I had to admit, it was for the best.
"Are you sure you can't tell us what the special present is?" Everett asks, taking his chance once more.
My parents look at each other and laugh, shaking their heads. "We're very sure, Rhett," Mom says.
"Sureee?" he tries again, making puppy dog eyes.
"You'll know soon enough, buddy," Dad tells him.
"But soon enough isn't now," Everett whines, although a smile remains on his face.
"Yeah, Mommy, can you tell us now? We won't tell anyone else, we promise," Grayson adds, trying to stick a holiday bow onto the cat as she walks by.
"Well…" Mom starts teasingly. She looks at Dad out of the side of her eyes, raising her eyebrows. "No. We couldn't possibly," she says, grinning.
"But Mom," Everett whines.
"No, Rhett, you'll just have to wait like everyone else," Dad tells him. "Don't worry, Brooke, Lincoln and Chelse have to wait too."
Everett sighs, knowing it's no use trying to pry it out of our parents. Instead, he takes to trying to balance another bow on Indie's head as she runs around, playfully chasing the cat and ripping up the wrapping paper even more.
It felt like we waited forever, especially with whatever the Christmas present was that we wouldn't know about until later hanging over us. But eventually, the family all made it over. We had breakfast before opening presents we had gotten for each other.
Finally, there was only one more for us to open - the one in the small box that now sat on the fireplace.
They get all of us kids seated on the couch, the adults all behind us, a few sharing knowing looks, a few seeming just as curious as us. Dad grabs the box from the mantle, holding it so we all can see.
"Now, as the oldest cousin, I think Juju should get to open this," Dad says, handing me the box.
I look down at it, studying how intricately the bow was tied. I look up at Dad, asking for final permission before I undo the bow. Dad nods, and I look back at the present in my lap. I take a deep breath and untie the bow, lifting the lid off the box. Inside, there's a few more boxes, all much smaller than the box they're held in.
"More boxes?!" Everett says, looking up at out parents who are standing behind the couch.
I pick one off the top, seeing each has a name tag for one of us.
"Link, here, this is yours," I say, passing my cousin Lincoln a small box. I sort through them all, passing them to each respective kid. Even Indie has one, although I don't think she'll know what's going on.
Once all of us have a box, we can all open them together. Everett rips into his, very eager to see what this surprise present is. I move quicker with this than I did with the bigger box, not wanting the surprise to be ruined by my little brother.
Inside the box is a slip of paper and a small keychain. I look at the paper first, realizing it's a plane ticket. "Hawaii?" I ask excitedly, spinning around to face my parents. "We're going to Hawaii?"
Mom's smile is wide as she nods excitedly. "Yeah! Are you excited?" she asks.
I nod, looking at all my cousins, all of whom are having a similar reaction. "Oh, this is gonna be so fun!" I exclaim, examining the keychain with the word Hawaii written in cursive.
"Look, Juju!" Indie says happily, showing me the way her keychain has a bit that spins.
I look at her, smiling. "Hey, she's cute and all, but please tell me this trip isn't going to end with another surprise pregnancy announcement," I tell my parents, reminded of the Disneyland trip three years ago.
My parents laugh, shaking their heads. "We didn't even plan that, Jules," Dad says. "But you have our word. No surprise pregnancy announcements on this trip," he promises.
"Well…" Veronica says. Her arm is around her fiance as she's cuddled with him in a large chair a few feet away. "Maybe this isn't on the trip, and it's not your parents, but there may be a surprise pregnancy announcement…" she tells us, grinning happily.
Mom's jaw drops. "Oh my god. V, are you serious?" she asks, rushing over.
Veronica nods, her smile growing larger. "Dominic and I are having a baby!" she announces.
Her announcement is met with more cheers and hugs for the couple, who both seemed overjoyed with the idea of having their own family with kids.
Around thirty minutes later, Preston arrives with his family, and I quickly go over to him.
"Pres, guess what?" I say, smiling. He's gotten much taller in the past few years, and is practically a head taller than me at this point. Not quite, but almost.
"What?" he asks, returning the smile.
"I'm going to Hawaii!" I tell him, jumping like a toddler.
"Oh my god, that'll be so fun! You're sending Callie and I all the pictures you take, okay?" He reminds me.
I nod, not forgetting. "Of course. I'd never dream of not sending you two every picture I take in Hawaii," I agree.
"Good," Preston says, then looks at the large group of people gathered in the living room, none paying any attention to us as we talk in the doorway. "Can you come outside a moment? I have a present for you," he says.
"Sure," I agree, stepping out the front door he opens.
We walk to the side of the house, so we're not in direct view of the party happening inside. Preston takes a jewelry box out of his pocket and hands it carefully to me.
I glance at him before opening it to see a silver necklace with a small, diamond encrusted heart as a charm. I gasp, looking at it glisten in the snowy sun.
"Preston, it's beautiful," I tell him, looking up and smiling at him.
He smiles softly. "Want me to help you put it on?" he asks.
I nod, and pull my hair out of the way as he takes it out of the box and carefully attaches it around my neck. I feel the cool metal on my skin, and reach my hand to touch it softly. "Thank you," I tell him as he walks back to the front of me.
Preston grins, a spark of nerves in his eyes. "Also…" he says, his eyes flickering to my lips for a second.
"What?" I ask softly, having an idea of what he was about to do. I look at his lips, softly parted and appealing. "What?" I repeat, a tinge of laughter to my voice this time.
Without another word, Preston leans in and kisses me softly, his hand wrapping softly against my neck. I let myself dissolve into the kiss, feeling a strange tingling in my stomach. His lips are soft and gentle, and I find myself not wanting to break the moment.
It has to end eventually, though, like every good thing does, and we spend a moment looking into each other's eyes.
"That was wonderful," I say, a gentle smile forming on my mouth.
"I hoped it would be," Preston tells me, the worry gone from his eyes. "Jules… you're beautiful."
He's enchanting, standing in the snow with a warm sweater and blue jeans, a scarf around his neck, his hair at a perfect length, his nose and cheeks slightly pink from the cold. I don't know how to put into words just what I want to say, and insead, I take his hand in mine, intertwining our fingers and holding it up to shoulder height.
"Merry Christmas, Preston," I tell him instead.
"Merry Christmas to you as well, Jules," Preston responds. He looks up as the snow begins to fall, tiny snowflakes landing on our clothes and hair.
"This feels perfect," I whisper, watching as the snow swirls to the ground.
"It really does," Preston agrees, his eyes on me.
We watch the snow together for a few minutes, not caring about how cold we're getting from it. Shivering, I take a step back, letting my hand fall out of Preston's.
"We should go inside before anyone worries," I say carefully.
Preston nods in agreement. "You're right," he says, and leads the way back inside, where we slip easily into the party going on.
The day is full of laughter and love, all of us having an amazing time together. As we all gathered around the Christmas tree to take pictures together using the automatic setting on the camera, I was filled with so much happiness I felt I could explode. At the last second, before the picture was taken, I grab Preston's hand, smiling quickly at him before returning my gaze to the camera.
Callie came over later, as people were beginning to filter out. We exchanged gifts, talking about our Christmas celebrations.
"We're going to Hawaii," I tell Callie happily. "In January, my whole family. Like Disneyland a few years ago, except the surprise pregnancy announcement already happened."
"Huh? Are your parents having another baby?" Callie asks, confused.
I laugh. "They said no, and I'm holding them to that."
"Who's having a baby, then?" Callie asks.
"My mom's friend Veronica," I reply, smiling. "I'm very excited for her. She's wanted a baby for so long, I know it. And now she gets one."
The three of us smile, giddy with Christmas joy.
Soon, and with many leftover cookies, Callie had to head home, and it left Polly, Matt, their daughter Chloe, and Preston, whose family had already left, but he had stayed for a bit longer.
The pair of us slip back outside, this time to the backyard to sit on a porch swing together.
"This has been the perfect Christmas," I say, grinning at him. "I never want it to end."
Preston smiles shyly, meeting my eyes. "All perfect things must end sometime, or we'd find ourselves terribly spoiled," he says thoughtfully.
I sigh, breathing in the crisp and cold air. "I know. It's a shame though. If I could, I'd want to spend forever in this moment, watching the snowflakes fall as we talk," I say, looking out into the snow-covered yard.
"If I had to be in one moment for eternity, this wouldn't be such a bad option," Preston agrees, his hand moving towards mine.
I look back at him and smile, my eyes landing on his lips. I lean closer, our lips touching and holding on, butterflies swirling around my stomach again as I feel the perfect connection we made that day.
"That made my day even more perfect," I tell him softly after we break away from the kiss.
"Glad to hear it," Preston replies, taking my hand in his once more. "I do have to agree, though. I wish this moment could last forever."
I nod, carefully pulling my legs onto the swing and resting my head on Preston's shoulder.
"This will have to do for now," I say, feeling very much at home.
Okay, first of all, I published two chapters of stories in a day and I'm very excited about that. Second of all, this is the end of the story. I hope everyone enjoyed it! I'm sad to be leaving these characters for good, but I'm excited to move onto new stories. This universe I've made has been a big part of my life for a long time, and I had the most fun bringing it to life. I appreciate everyone who read, followed, favorited, and reviewed this story. I thank you all for supporting me as I write this.
Also, little fun fact, this story between Juju and Preston wasn't in my original plans, but I like how it goes. It feels like a very good way to end this story, at least in my opinion. Anyways, I wish everyone a really good day.
-Z :)