DISCLAIMER: I do not own Sky High or any of its characters.
Reviews are always welcome even if they're negative and/or mean.
It was the last day of school before Christmas vacation. Everything at Sky High was relaxed; even Boomer was a little easier on the students. Students who didn't plan on seeing each other over Winter break exchanged presents and holiday greeting cards. Those who did plan on getting together just sort of enjoyed the calm environment.
Meanwhile, although he didn't show it, Warren Peace was going crazy. There was only one week to go before Christmas Eve, the time that he and his mother exchanged gifts. If he was only buying for his mother things wouldn't have been so stressful, but this year Warren was also giving a gift to his new girlfriend - Layla.
Warren wasn't one to go out of his mind with worry over anything. He was usually very calm and at ease. This was their first Christmas together, though, and he wanted to make it a good one. Layla had told him over and over that she didn't need a gift and that just being together was good enough for her. He didn't buy it.
Layla was stressed, too, and for the same reason. She'd been trying to collect clues and hints as to what a guy like Warren would like for a Christmas present. Gift certificates and gift cards were an obvious solution to this problem. He would be able to use either one to buy something he really did like. They were, however, completely impersonal and that wasn't the kind of gift Layla wanted to give.
"Man! You are gonna love it." Zach gushed over his gift for Magenta. He'd spent hours fighting crowds at the mall just to get it and he was certain that she'd love it. Magenta would have liked anything he gave her, and Zach knew that, but he was sure that she would adore this gift. Magenta smiled, rolling her eyes playfully at her boyfriend.
Ethan's new girlfriend, Katie, sat on his lap, trying to become a part of their friendly group in the cafeteria.
"Did you buy me a gift?" She asked in a sickeningly sweet tone of voice, looking right into Ethan's big brown eyes.
"You know it, baby." He grinned, pecking her on the cheek. "Only the best for my girl."
Layla smiled at the two couples, wondering where Warren was as he was noticeably absent from their lunch table. That night she and her mother were trimming the tree. Her mother, who seemed to like Warren almost as much as Layla did, suggested that she invite him to help decorate. She didn't know how Warren would react, but just thinking about spending the night with him, sipping some hot drink, maybe getting close… She would have been lying if she had said that her thoughts were strictly PG. Layla never really thought that she had a dirty mind until she'd met Warren who, even when she was dating Will, was a regular star in her dreams and fantasies.
"What'd you get Warren?" Magenta slid closer to Layla, speaking to her as an aside girlfriend-to-girlfriend.
"I didn't." Layla frowned and sighed. "Not yet, I mean. I don't know what to get him."
"Yeah, I know how you feel. I still have to get Zach his gift." Magenta softened her voice on purpose so Zach wouldn't hear. "It's like… I know him, but I don't know what to get him." She shrugged. "I'm sure we're not the only ones suffering from this dilemma." She smiled sympathetically, putting a hand on Layla's shoulder.
"Mr. Peace," Mr. Medulla's voice woke Warren up. "Catching up on lost sleep, I see. In my class, too."
Warren, although he was generally apathetic about school, hardly ever let himself fall asleep and when he did sleep he made sure that it was in a class that wasn't taught by anyone who would care all that much. And Mr. Medulla…? He cared.
"Sorry." He mumbled, gathering up his things.
"If it wasn't so close to the holidays I'd put you in detention. Be grateful for your sense of timing, Mr. Peace." Warren nodded, making his way out of the classroom and down the hall to the cafeteria. Mr. Medulla had waited to wake Warren up, leaving him with only five minutes to eat lunch. Wonderful, he thought, deciding that he would just eat later on that day.
Warren, still a little red in the eyes from sleeping, breezed into the cafeteria. Layla caught his eye with a tiny wave of her hand and a smile. He returned the smile, nodding so she knew that he saw the gesture. She didn't know it, and he wouldn't tell her, but she was the reason that he had slept in Medulla's Mad Science class.
He'd spent the greater part of the night before on the internet. He had browsed just about every single website out there on botany and environmentalism, trying to figure out what to buy a girl with a green thumb.
"Hey, there." Layla walked up to him with a bright smile. "I was wondering where you were. You okay?" She tilted her head, slightly concerned.
"Yeah, I sort of fell asleep so…" He trailed off with a shrug. "No worries."
"I wanted to ask you…" She hesitated, not really sure how to go about things. "I mean, if you're free and it doesn't totally bore you… I mean…" Layla sighed, frustrated with her inarticulate speech. "You wanna help decorate for Christmas? It could be fun and there'll be hot chocolate, or cider if you prefer, maybe with cookies, too." Her cheeks flushed a bit at the realization that she'd been rambling.
"Well, if there's hot chocolate…" He smiled warmly, a rare treat. "I'll be there. What time?"
"Six is good." Layla was so glad that he agreed to join her. Warren smiled at her reaction and walked with her, hand in hand, over to their lunch table to sit for the remaining five minutes of lunch.
Layla and her mother lugged in box after heavy box of trinkets and decorations from the garage. There may have been only two stockings to hang, but they had enough tinsel, lights, and ornaments for a family of twelve. Frosty The Snowman was on the television and, since Ms. Jones had put the volume on full blast, the sounds of the cartoon were blaring all throughout their house.
With grunts of effort, Layla put up the artificial tree all be herself. Her mother sprayed the tree with pine-scented air freshener to add a sort of realism to the display.
Then, at the sound of the doorbell, Layla's face lit up like the Christmas tree they were about to decorate. Layla shuffled over to the door and opened it, thrilled to see Warren standing there.
"Hi!" She moved to the side so he could step inside. Warren planted a light kiss on her forehead and entered the Jones Residence. Once he was inside he sniffed the air, smelling the fragrance of pine trees.
"You have a tree?" He scrunched his forehead slightly, only glancing at the tree standing in the living room.
"Oh, it's not real." Layla explained, pointing to what could have easily been mistaken as a genuine pine tree. "We don't believe in chopping down living things just for decoration during the holidays. It's artificial and," She picked up the can of air freshener. "It smells real and it won't kill the ozone layer!"
Warren smirked. It would figure that Layla came from a long line of tree hugging hippies. He just hoped that she'd never have to learn about his own lineage. He came from a long line of villains, excluding his mother, of course. He couldn't imagine someone as pure and sweet as Layla getting along with his father. Not even he really got along with the infamous Baron Battle.
"Where do we start…?" He looked at the floor surrounding the tree. In one corner was a long string of lights which, it seemed, would be hopeless to untangle. Right beside it was a box full of shiny tinsel and beside that was a box of Christmas ornaments. Warren had been expecting something simple and fun, not a mountain of a task to take on.
"Lights first, then tinsel, and then come the ornaments." She nodded with her hands on her hips. That was how they did it every Christmas.
"Right…" Warren looked over the sea of Christmas decorations, then stooping to gather the string of lights that he needed to untangle.
"I'll take one end and you can take the other." Layla then proceeded to stoop down and pick up one end of the string but wound up bumping heads with her boyfriend. They both laughed softly at their own awkwardness, smiling at each other and making sure they hadn't done any damage to each other. Somehow during all of this they managed to untangle the lights. Layla smiled at their success and, with Warren's assistance, began to cover the tree in bright shiny lights.
"Darn!" Her mother shouted from the kitchen. Both Layla and Warren raised their eyebrows, wondering what had gone wrong.
"Sweetie," She peered out from the kitchen to look at the two of them. "I need to go out and buy cinnamon and cloves for the cider. Can I trust her with you, Warren?" She smiled knowingly while her daughter blushed bright red.
"I… guess." Warren shrugged, wishing she'd never asked. Ms. Jones nodded with a tiny smile, heading out to the grocery store. Even though Frosty The Snowman was still blaring loud and clear, it seemed like it was dead silent and not one of those good silences either. Layla blamed her mother for it. After a short pause (which seemed much longer than it actually was), she smiled and held up the garland of tinsel.
"Time for tinsel!" She chirped happily, breaking the silence. Both she and Warren reached for the sparkling garland at the same time, nearly crashing heads together once more, but this time they didn't pull away. Warren leaned in closer, placing a tender kiss on his girlfriend's lips and let the tinsel fall to the floor.
"We haven't even put up the mistletoe yet." She murmured, staying close to Warren and returning the kiss.
"Who needs mistletoe?" He gave a devilish smirk and continued to kiss Layla. He deepened the kiss, sucking gently on her lower lip then massaging her velvety tongue with his own. Layla wrapped one arm around him, pulling him as close as he could get. She placed her free hand over his heart. Feeling it beat was more of an aphrodisiac than she had expected it to be and she found herself pressing against him harder, even lifting her leg to wrap around his hip.
Warren sighed a hot breath onto Layla's lips and she moaned softly in delight as he teased every single bit of her mouth. Layla moved so that she was seated on the living room sofa and Warren took it as his cue to position himself on top of her. She ran her fingers through his thick, disheveled hair pulling it away from his face so that she could kiss him more easily.
The two of them smiled contentedly. Neither of them had thought that a night of Christmas tree decorations would turn into this, but it had and they were both grateful for it.
Warren hand slid under Layla's shirt caressing the part of her breasts that wasn't covered by her bra. She smiled in ecstasy, arching her back slightly and running her own hands under his shirt and over the skin of his back.
As Warren's kisses went a bit south, Layla tilted her head to the side to allow easy access of her neck. He traced his lips just below her jaw and then nipped at her earlobe lightly. Both of them were in paradise and just when they had forgotten all about Christmas trees and ornaments they were jolted back into reality by the sound of the door opening and shutting.
Both of them immediately hopped to their feet, tripping over themselves and each other, and straightened out their crumpled tell-tale clothing. Layla smiled awkwardly, looking over to take a look at Warren, then shouting in that cheerful voice.
"Back so soon?"
Her mother just walked in, toting a small paper grocery bag containing spices for mulled cider. She cast a glance in her daughter's direction with a smile.
"Sweetheart, the grocery store is practically next door. Where did you think I was going? Mexico?" She laughed lightly and set out the things she'd need to make hot cider.
"I hope that you two worker elves have worked up a thirst, because I'm making hot cocoa and hot, mulled cider!" Her mother smiled, blissfully unaware of the naughty things going on under her roof.