To say Rey was as bad as a little kid on Christmas morning was an understatement.
Take the craziest Santa-obsessed six-year-old in the world, and multiply it by ten.
She was ready to roll at seven A.M, dressed in a God-awful reindeer onesie, and woke up the rest of her roommates by blasting holiday music over the speaker. To be fair, she had steaming hot waffles ready for them when they came out of their room to complain about the noise, as well as mugs brimming with peppermint-flavored coffee.
Their small house looked like something out of a Hallmark movie. A real tree, nearly ten feet tall, wrapped in golden lights, dotted with glittery ornaments and silver tinsel, and topped with star. The tree skirt, though now hidden beneath piles of gifts, was a deep forest green color with golden swirls sweeping across the fabric. Christmas-themed décor idled on every available surface, ranging from novelty snowmen to creepily intense nutcrackers. Red and green blankets were placed on each couch, as well as reindeer-centric throw pillows.
The exterior of the house was a light show in its own respect, with twinkling icicle lights strung on the gutter and multi-colored lights on the railing and wrapped around the birch tree in their front yard. A glowing Santa and sleigh was stationed in the middle of the front yard, surrounded by a small army of lit-up garden gnomes to act as elves.
Poe thought it was ridiculous, Finn found it endearing, and Ben loved it because Rey loved it.
It was their first Christmas as a couple, and he was terrified he would do something to ruin her favorite holiday. His parents certainly hadn't set the best example on how to act, almost every year ended with the two of them screaming at each other and one—typically his father—storming out into the cold, snowy night. Ben was stuck to figure out what to do on his own.
His roommates had plenty of ideas, as usual, ranging from "Mistletoe in every doorway", to "Take a shot every time Rey makes a Christmas pun."
Ben decided against both, though the first didn't sound too bad.
Instead, he opted for a present scavenger hunt around their house, with each gift being something she had off-handedly remarked about wanting. He knew she would like that sort of thoughtful gesture.
Rey found the first gift when she opened the fridge to make breakfast that morning, cleverly hidden behind the orange juice jug. It was a medium-sized package, the shape of a small notebook, with her name written on it in scribbled script. She opened it to reveal a tin of watercolor pencils, something she had spotted at a bookstore several months before. A goofy grin spread across her face, and she set about getting the ingredients for waffles.
_SW_
By midday, Rey had located most of her presents, amounting to the pencils, a leather-bound journal, a small scrapbook with pictures of all four of them, and a cellophane sheet filled with pressed flowers.
They ate an early dinner around two pm, opening the rest of their gifts soon after. (Rey found another three of her gifts, concealed in a kitchen cabinet, the bathroom vanity drawer, and under her pillow—an embroidery kit, a coffee mug with watercolor succulents painted on it, and a small book of encouraging phrases.)
Poe received a set of pots and pans from Finn, who constantly nagged him about little cooking he did for the four of them. He also got a salt lamp and essential oil diffuser from Rey, and a pair of tickets to a 1975 concert from Ben.
"I mean, I really appreciate these," Poe said upon opening the envelope that the tickets were sealed in, "but how the hell am I supposed to choose one of you guys to go with me?"
Ben adjusted the fleece blanket around his shoulders and sipped his hot chocolate, looking like the epitome of cozy as the plush couch nearly swallowed him whole. "I wasn't expecting you to take one of use with you. I thought you could invite you know who." He raised a brow, and smirked at Poe's blushing face.
"Wait, what?" Rey leaned forward, as if to improve her hearing abilities. "Who is 'you know who'?"
"Yeah, I'd like to know, too." Finn crossed his arms and frowned, looking rather silly wrapped in a penguin-embellished quilt.
Poe's cheeks flamed an even deeper shade of crimson. "It's nothing. Forget it."
"Uh, yeah, if nothing's name was Jess Pava from his Advanced Engineering class." Ben smirked and dodged a wrapping paper ball that was chucked at his head. "They're in loooove."
Rey leapt from her seat, nearly knocking over nearby stack of presents. "Oh my gosh, you're kidding! We're partners in the Mechanics course! She never said anything about dating my roommate and best friend!" She paced in front of the couch, practically bouncing with excitement. "Why didn't you tell me? Or Finn? Are you guys, like, serious? You're not gonna move in with her, right? 'Cause that would kinda ruin the great dynamic we have going here."
"Slow down!" Poe released a heavy sigh. "This is why I hadn't told you guys yet. So many questions to answer at one time. We aren't serious in the least, we've only gone on a couple dates. And no, I don't plan on moving in with her, unless you plan on continually bombarding me with questions."
Finn leaned back on the loveseat, shaking his head remorsefully. "I knew something was up when you changed the password on your phone. You've had the same one for the past two and a half years and then out of the blue, you switched it to something else." He perked up slightly after a moment. "Well, at least now you're not the only single one in the family."
Poe rolled his eyes and hurled an empty box at his friend's face. They continued opening presents, with only the occasional jeer about Poe's love life being thrown out.
Finn got several board games and puzzles from Poe, a new laptop shell and dual speakers from Ben, and a gold-plated watch from Rey. She had attached a note reading, 'This isn't nearly as nice as the one I wanted to get you, but that was insanely expensive, and I thought you might like this instead. You always raved about one day having a real gold watch, all your own. I hoped to help you get a little closer to your goal.' He hastily wiped at runaway tears as he scanned the letter, embracing her in a bear hug and noticing she had unshed tears of her own.
Ben had never been the best at opening presents. He didn't have a very good poker face, so he could never hide the fact that he didn't like something. It was always a cause of great anxiety around his birthday and Christmas. He soon found he had no reason to worry, as his friends knew his taste better than he thought. Poe, who had been like a brother to him his whole life, gave him a black leather jacket, with his initials stitched on the innermost pocket. ("I had to add your middle name; otherwise it would have read as B.S, which would have worked, too, I guess.") Finn got him a really nice—really expensive—pair of headphones, as well as an external hard-drive for his computer, because his projects for his Business major took up tons of space on his PC. Rey had timidly handed him a small, thick package, wrapped with a red tulle bow. She bit her lip as he slowly untied the ribbon and peeled back the paper, tensing in anticipation of his reaction.
What he saw behind the glass face of the picture frame completely floored him.
It was an eight-by-six inch hyper-realistic drawing of the two of them, based off a photo from one of their first official dates. They had gone on a hike at a county park on a Saturday afternoon in May, ate lunch, and then stuck around to watch the sun set. The piece showed their two faces, flushed and glistening with sweat, with a dazzling array of orange and red hues behind their heads, almost perfectly mimicking the colors from the sunset that night.
"I started working on it a couple months ago," Rey explained, the words seeming to spill out in response to his silence. "I thought it was a really cool picture and I wanted to recreate it, so I did." She gnawed on a hangnail while waiting for a response. "Is it—I mean, do you like it?"
Ben almost couldn't speak. His throat felt thick, like he wouldn't be able to push the words past his lips and out into the open air. He took a deep breath, trying to keep it together. "Like it?" His voice was weak, and he couldn't help himself; sparkling tears slipped out of his amber eyes. "Rey, I love it. I love you. This is the coolest thing I've ever gotten. You must have put so much work into this, I can't even imagine. It's amazing."
"Thanks." Rey was crying, too, her voice thin and breathless as she brushed tears away with the sleeve of her reindeer onesie. "I hoped you would like it."
A retching noise broke into the middle of their little moment. "You guys aren't gonna, like, kiss or something, right?" Poe asked, a disgusted look clear on his face, earning him an elbow jab from Finn. "I mean, I totally support you guys, you're just a little too sappy sometimes."
Rey laughed, still blotting away twinkling tears. "I have no idea what Jess sees in you."
"Me neither, to be honest."
She rolled her eyes and took a deep breath. It was her turn.
Finn gave her a huge book of drawing references, filled with everything from human anatomy to ladybugs, as well as an oversized ivory sweater that, for some reason, made her tear up again. ("It's similar to the one you wore on your very first day on your own, free of the foster system and all that shit. I remember you said that you lost it a year or so ago.") Poe got her a couple of Jane Austen novels and a pack of Micron pens, which were her favorite to draw and write with.
"Okay, there's one last gift from me," Ben announced, standing and moving toward his room. "I had to hide this one super-secret, otherwise you would have found it, as you are the nosiest person I know."
"That's not true! Besides, I stopped looking after gift number seven. You spoil me too much."
Ben tsked as he returned to the living room, one hand behind his back. "Close your eyes."
"What? No, Ben, come on. This is silly." She objected.
Poe laughed aloud. "Says the girl sporting Rudolph's face on almost every inch of her body."
"You have to, or you don't get the gift." Ben smiled as she finally relented, and shot disapproving looks at Poe and Finn as they whispered to each other and chuckled quietly. They both knew what the present was, and he didn't want them to make Rey suspicious with their stifled giggles. He sat beside her on the couch, took a deep breath, and said, "Hold out your hands."
She begrudgingly obliged, her eyes scrunched shut, her nose wrinkled as well.
A moment later, something slightly fuzzy, boxy, and light in weight was placed in the cradle of her two palms. Slowly, half expecting a gag gift, she opened her eyes, and her heart practically exploded.
Nestled in her hands was a velvet ring box, propped open, with a small gold band situated in a slit on the cushion. Awestruck, she gently lifted the ring from its perch, examining it from every angle. It was a glistening gold, with thin vines wrapping around the circumference of the band. She glanced from the ring to Ben, from Ben to the ring. "I can't—I don't—" Words eluded her. She just kept turning it over in her hands, as if she believed it would disappear in a matter of seconds.
"I know we only started dating about a year ago, but I've loved you much longer than that. Even the day when you knocked into me in the hall, the very first day we met, I knew there was something insanely special about the tiny girl who called me an asshole at eight-thirty in the morning. I was an idiot for a really long time and ignored how I felt about you, because I never thought in a million years that you could feel the same way. You have made my life better in every single way. I smile every morning because I know I'll get to see your beautiful face, and be surrounded by the light you radiate. You are my everything." Ben shifted from his spot on the couch to a kneeling position on the floor. Poe started recording on his phone. Rey couldn't speak. Finn was already crying. "Rey, the stunning, sweet, smart-ass light of my life, would you make me the luckiest guy alive and marry me?"
"Yes, yes, a thousand, million times yes!" Rey practically tackled him to the ground in a hug, crushing empty boxes beneath the weight of their bodies. Both were crying, and laughing, mostly crying, as their two best friends clapped and cheered. Ben slipped the ring onto her left finger—"so we don't lose it!"—and the couple was enveloped in an embrace from Finn and Poe.
After several laughter-filled moments wrapped in a tangle of limbs, the first distinguishable sentence was, "I think I sprained my wrist when I jumped into the dog pile." It was Poe who spoke, of course. He managed to hold his cell phone, still recording, in the other hand.
"Great," Rey commented, her face flushed from the excitement, "I definitely wanted to spend Christmas night in a hospital room."
Finn rolled away from the pile and sat up with a grin. "That's the price of having a family, girl. Especially a family as crazy as ours."
Rey grinned and pressed a kiss to Ben's cheek, gazing at him in pure adoration. "Yeah, I know. I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world."
A/N: wow. what a wild ride this story has been. i didn't plan on ending it here (then again, i never plan out any of my stories), but every attempt i've made to add another chapter has just felt forced and i don't want to put out pieces i'm not at least 86% in love with.
thank you so much to all the people who encouraged me throughout this long-ass process and kept reading and reviewing, making this my most popular story! you guys mean the world to me and i wouldn't be here without you.