The clock was counting down to the final seconds, the opposing team's point guard was driving towards the hoop, he faked a shot, but then quickly tried to pass it away, but Zed was ready. He lunged forward, cleanly intercepted the ball, and dribbled back to his side of the court. The buzzer rang out before he could shoot, but he smiled hearing the crowd's roar of excitement. The Mighty Shrimp had just won again, 50-44. Zed gave the ref the ball before rejoining his teammates to head to the locker room to debrief, while he heard Bree and Addison leading one final cheer for their victory.
By the time Zed left the locker room, Addison was already waiting by the basketball bus. At the away games Addison would ride the cheer bus down so that both she and Zed could focus on the game, but then she would ride with Zed and all the players on the way back, after making sure that all the cheerleaders were good to go. Being the captain had some perks.
"There you are, great job tonight." Addison hugged him outside the bus.
"Thanks, and you were amazing, like always."
"I had to do my part to make sure you won."
"You know every shot I make is for you."
"Just as much as every cheer I do is for you too."
"Hey Zeddison, some of us would like to get on the bus tonight." Ryan called out as the rest of the team exited the school, many of them laughing.
"Sorry Swagner. We better get on Gorgeous."
"After you."
They walked onto the bus which was currently about halfway full of players.
"Hey Addison, you guys did a great job tonight. Every game I feel like I have to tear my eyes away from you all and pay attention to the game." Coach congratulated her.
"Thanks, Coach, we're all happy to be there too."
Zed and Addison walked to the very back of the bus and went into their normal routine, Addison sitting by the window, and Zed by the aisle. They shoved their bags under the seat, but not before Addison pulled out a lunchbox filled with food for Zed, since he was always starving after games and no one wants a hungry zombie. And like always Zed would immediately reach for the Reese's cup at the bottom, and Addison would remind him to eat his fruits and vegetables first.
Pretty soon they were on the road back home and after Zed finished his snacks, they cuddled up together, Addison leaning her head against Zed's shoulder, holding hands. Their favorite part of basketball games besides watching each other performing on the court and on the sidelines. In the dark bus, no one could tell them to separate, or if they did, they knew it would be pointless. Ryan probably could have, but he was doing the same with his girlfriend in the next seat over.
"Are you ready for Christmas break to start?" Addison asked.
"Definitely, with all the tests I've had this week, I am so ready for two weeks to let my brain reset. And of course, spend as much time as possible with you."
"Me neither. But thanks to you and Bonzo's help, both Bree and I are confident we passed the Zombie-Tongue final with flying colors."
"Yeah, but I have no idea how I did on the chemistry test."
"Yeah, he really made that hard, I think I either did super well on most questions or I was totally guessing."
"Same."
"How would you like to come over tomorrow? You can bring Zoey and help us decorate our house."
"Oh yeah, she would absolutely love that. She pretty much demanded that we put our tree up the first day of December, so she'll be raring to go tomorrow morning. You know I'll wait till tomorrow to tell her or else she'll wake me up at 6 am and we'll be at your house by 6:30."
"Probably, but I can hardly wait either, it will be so much fun. And is she excited to start school in Seabrook after New Year's?"
"Beyond excited, even more than I was. But I haven't told her my surprise yet."
"Her eyes are going to pop out her head when you do it, I wish I could be there with you to see the look on her face."
"I am kind of worried though, what if all the other kids or the teacher hate her for being a zombie?"
"Considering what you have planned I don't think the teacher will have a problem with zombies. And as for the kids, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised."
"You're probably right. Like always. So besides decorating your house, and you coming to mine for Christmas Eve with our friends, what else do you have planned for break?"
"You are invited to come to my house Christmas Day, and don't worry, it will just be me and my parents. But as for the rest of break, you'll have to wait and find out." she couldn't stop a small mischievous smile from breaking out.
"Wait a minute, I know that look, you have something planned. What is it?"
"I'm not telling, you have to wait until Christmas."
"Oh really?" Zed leaned over and pressed his lips to hers. "How about now?"
"Still not telling, and you're not going to break me this time."
"Is that a challenge?"
"No we're on a school bus, and it's a Christmas surprise."
"Fine, I can wait, but only because you're so gorgeous."
"Trust me you're going to love it as much as Zoey will love your surprise."
"That good huh? Can I guess?"
"No, I refuse to give anything away."
"Is it another peanut butter umbrella? Because I could use another one, I ate it all in like a week."
"No, I'm not saying anything until you change the subject. And seriously do you know how long it took me to tape them all on there and get them to actually stick. Not to mention I don't think anyone could eat that much without getting sick."
"I guess it must be another zombie power." Zed joked. "Is it another Zed the football star T-shirt? Or a puppy of my own? Ooh I know, I bet your parents have to go out of town, and you shouldn't be home alone, so either you need me to stay with you, or to help set up a bunch of booby traps to make sure no one robs your house."
Addison just kept up her poker face, not giving anything away.
After a few more minutes of lighthearted badgering, Zed gave up. "Fine, so Christmas decorating, what time should we come tomorrow?"
"Probably sometime before lunch, so that you can help carry everything up from the basement. If my dad doesn't do it first."
"Sounds like a plan. Will lunch be provided?"
"Of course, it will, we don't want any hungry zombies." She teased.
Soon they were back in Seabrook and after emptying their lockers they walked hand in hand to Missy waiting in her car outside the school to give Zed her congratulations on winning the game and a ride home.
The next day, Zed, Zoey, and Puppy walked over to Addison's house, there wasn't any snow on the ground yet, but there was a chill in the air, so they were both bundled up. Zed did wait to tell Zoey about it that morning. So he was able to sleep in, but once he did she was standing by the door tapping her foot in impatience until he was ready to go.
Zoey rang the doorbell and Addison quickly answered.
"Hi, Zoey are you ready to decorate?"
"Definitely, and Puppy's ready to help out too aren't you Puppy?"
"Bark!"
"Well come on in and I have something to help Puppy get in the holiday spirit."
They walked into the house and took off their coats and shoes, boxes were already spread randomly around the room. Addison grabbed something and placed it behind Puppy's ears. "I saw this and I just thought it was so cute I had to buy it."
It was a headband with reindeer antlers and Zoey squealed so loudly both Zed and Puppy had to rub their ears.
"That is so adorable! Thank you Addison. Now let's get started."
Addison and Zoey got to work, Zed was happy to let them take over, they built and decorated the tree, and both tended to ignore or shut down any of his suggestions, so he mostly took over Puppy duty and just happily watched them work and sang along to the Christmas music that was playing, at least until they had to ask him to put the star on top.
Then Zoey and Addison ran around the rest of the house, wrapping garland around the staircase, stringing bows and lights everywhere, hanging the stockings, soon it looked like Christmas had exploded all over the Wells' home. They took a break for lunch, and that led to them making Christmas cookies in the kitchen. Both Zed and Zoey had a big appetite for the cookie dough, so they had to make an extra batch to have enough cookies to take home.
When they left Addison promised to bring them more cookies the next time she came over. Zed, Zoey, and Puppy walked back to Zombietown before it got dark, but Zevon was exasperated that they were too full of cookies to want any dinner.
A few more days passed, with Zed and Addison spending as much of their free time as possible together along with the rest of their friends and soon it was Christmas Eve. They all gathered at Zed's house to exchange gifts and celebrate the holiday.
Addison and Bree arrived together, carrying their gifts, they knocked on the door and Zoey quickly let them in.
"Merry Christmas!" She said, giving both girls hugs as soon as they entered.
"Merry Christmas Zoey. Are you excited?" Addison asked.
"Yeah, Christmas is so awesome this year. I'm so happy you two are here."
"We're just as excited to be here with you too Zoey." Bree said.
They walked in and set their presents under the tree. Everyone else was spread around the living room, both girls finding spots by their boyfriends and Zoey sitting on Addison's other side.
"Merry Christmas everyone, I brought cookies." Addison announced, placing them on the coffee table.
"Great we ran out three days ago." Zed said.
"We made all your cookies three days ago."
"Exactly." Zed said, grinning and reaching for a cookie.
"Can we open presents now?" Zoey asked after she ate her own cookie.
"I don't see why not, who wants to start?" Eliza asked.
"Uh Me, duh!" Zoey said.
"Zoey how about you grab everyone's presents for them?" Zed suggested.
"OK!" Zoey began running around everyone, gathering the gifts, and reading the tags, so soon everyone had a small pile sitting in front of them.
Zoey took the first one off the top of her pile, read the tag, "To Zoey, From Addison." and ripped it open. Inside were a pair of pink and green pom-poms. "Awe thank you Addison these are great!"
"You're welcome, Zoey and you're going to use them a lot."
"Why?"
"When you start going to school in Seabrook after break, you'll be able to join the Mini Shrimp practices like all the other future cheerleaders, and every cheerleader needs a good set of pom-poms."
"Thank you, Addison are you for real because that sounds so fun, I can finally be on a real cheer team!"
"And I know you'll do great. Who's next?"
"Can you all open mine? I want you guys to see my great presents."
"OK Zoey." Addison laughed.
Everyone carefully unwrapped their gifts from Zoey, and all of them smiled in delight. Everyone had gotten a personalized drawing from Zoey that was remarkably detailed. Addison and Bree's pictures showed each of them cheering with Zoey in front of a smiling crowd. Zed's had him dribbling a basketball down the court. Bonzo's showed himself in his marching band uniform, proudly playing his unique horn. Eliza's showed her dancing in Zombietown from the day of the Block Party.
"Wow, Zoey you are a great artist. I think Bonzo has some competition." Bree gushed.
"Really? What do you think Bonzo?"
"Thar Grutiful Zoey. Verry Good."
"Thank you everyone I'm glad you like them, who's next?"
"I think it's you again Zoey." Zed told her.
"OK," Zoey opened her next gift, this one from Bonzo and Bree, and looked a little confused. "It's a Mighty Shrimp…something? What is it?"
"It's a Seabrook costume for Puppy so he can be a cheerleader too. When I saw it in the store I thought it would be the cutest thing." Bree revealed.
"You're right. Puppy!" Zoey called out, he walked right up to her, loyal as always, still wearing the reindeer antlers, and now Zoey put his new outfit on and he didn't fuss at all. Soon he was looking quite dashing and adorable in his new threads. "You're so cute aren't you Puppy?"
Everyone decided to keep going in the same order and each opened their gifts from Bree and Bonzo. They all got skillfully crafted, hand-painted mugs along with hot chocolate mix, marshmallows, and a big bag of each of their favorite candies. Reese's for Zed, Hershey's for Addison, and Sour Patch Kids for Eliza.
Eliza's gifts were mostly the same for everyone. They all got repaired and refinished headphones. The girls' were shaded in Seabrook pink and green, while the guys' were green and silver to match their Z-bands and phones. Eliza also gave Zoey an Eliza-repurposed iPod so she could have her music on the go as well.
Zed and Addison's gifts for everyone were all unique. Zed got Zoey a Seabrook cheer shirt and as a joke one of the football shirts with his face on it. She was much more appreciative of one of them over the other but still thanked him for both.
Bree opened a card addressed to her and Bonzo from both Zed and Addison. She shook out two tickets to something and she looked up at Addison, confused. "What are these for?"
"In a few weeks, the Seabrook community center is going to be holding a series of painting classes, and we thought those could be a few fun date nights for the two of you."
"Oh my gosh, you're right, I was thinking about getting these myself for us to go to. Thanks, you guys."
"You're welcome, but I do have to give Addison most of the credit for that one."
"Grazias, Zed, Addiska. Clazes sarnd funz."
"My turn now I guess, is this one your idea too Addison?" Eliza asked.
"Actually Zed came up with the idea, but it took both of us to get it, and trust me you are going to love it."
"Alright." Eliza started to carefully unwrap it, but once she caught a glimpse of what was under the paper she froze and looked up at Zed. "Is this what I think it is?"
"Maybe." Zed said with a smile on his face.
Eliza completely tore away the remaining wrapping paper and let out the largest smile any of her friends had seen on her in years. She hugged it to her chest in her excitement. "I can't believe you got my computer back!"
"You're welcome, it took some convincing but in the end we got my dad to agree there isn't any reason you shouldn't have it."
"You two, may have honestly just made my Christmas this year. Thank you, guys." Next Eliza shocked everyone by giving both Zed and Addison a hug. "I hope they didn't do anything to it."
"Actually my Dad said they tried for weeks and no one on the Z-Patrol could crack your firewall."
"Then how the heck did the Aceys do it in a day? Oh well, it doesn't matter, all that matters is I have it back. Seriously guys, thank you."
"You're welcome Eliza." Zed said.
"You know I'm just going to focus on my computer for a little bit because only you four are left and I know all of you are about to get super sappy. Zoey I recommend you cover your eyes if you don't want a cavity."
Zoey jokingly followed Eliza's directions but was peeking through her fingers giggling to herself.
"Of course you would say that, you're the only person that knows what everyone's is." Zed whined.
"Only because all of you acted so panicked and clueless a few weeks ago." Eliza shot back.
"Well, here you go Bonzo, I hope you like it. Merry Christmas." Bree said, ignoring Eliza's teasing for the moment and pushing her gift closer to him.
Bonzo eagerly tore the paper and his eyes widened in delight, seeing the new palate, brushes, and canvas, along with a set of DVD's.
"It's Bob Ross, I thought we could watch them and paint together."
"Breezka ez armargzing. Grazias."
Now Bonzo moved his gift closer to Bree. "Merry Grizmaz!"
"Grazias Bonzo," Bree said before carefully opening the present. It was a mostly blue blanket, and as she unwrapped it, she gasped, on one side it showed a hand-embroidered scene from Halloween night, where Bree and Bonzo were holding hands and softly lit by the golden glow of the lights in Zombietown. And both were looking at each other with eyes full of emotion. "Bonzo…I don't know what to say, its so beautiful, how long did this take you? Did you embroider this yourself?"
"Gra, Zince Hallowzgra, gor gru, Guzta?"
"Gra, me guzta, I love it, I'll sleep with it every night so I can always see your handsome face the first thing in the morning. Merry Grizmas Bonzo." Bree gave him a kiss on the cheek to show her gratitude, for the moment she felt like they were the only ones in the room.
"Hey! No kissing unless there's mistletoe!" Zoey shouted out, bringing them both back to reality.
"Oh no, Zed, should I be on the lookout for mistletoe?" Eliza asked.
"Maybe, but unless you're Addison, I would give you a warning."
"Do you have something planned buster?" Addison asked.
"Maybe, but you still haven't told me whatever it is your planning."
"Just wait until tomorrow morning and you'll be rewarded for your patience."
"OK, but for now I suppose you can open my gift."
"Yeah, how about we open them at the same time."
"Deal." They swapped gifts and each slowly opened their boxes, both had their eyes darting between their own gift and their beloved's face, not wanting to miss a second of their reaction.
They finally glimpsed their gifts at the exact same time, and both of their eyes were shining with emotion.
Zed delicately lifted the silver chain necklace, which now, instead of just a Z, had a Silver AZ, with the shape of a heart in between the two letters. Along the backside was delicately engraved We Belong Together.
"It's beautiful Addie, just as beautiful as you. Thank you."
Addison's eyes were shining over her gift, it was a silver charm bracelet, with several different charms attached. "Yours is so beautiful too. What do all the charms mean?"
Zed gently took the bracelet and held it up for everyone to see, and pointed to each charm in turn. A is for Addison and how Amazing you are. Z is for me, to remember that I'll always be with you. Pom-Poms because you are the best cheerleader I have ever laid eyes on. No offense to anyone else in this room. I'm obviously biased. A Fist for our first punch, and how you are always willing to fight for what you believe in. A lightbulb for the light garden and our first date. And finally, a siren for the saferoom, our favorite place in the world, where we first met, first kissed, and first said Gar Gar Gaza. I love you Addie, Merry Christmas."
"Merry Christmas Zed, Gar Gar Gaza." Both leaned in for a kiss, which was quickly interrupted by Zoey.
"Gross, go find your mistletoe!"
"Don't tempt me Zoey." Zed smiled at her comically disgusted expression.
Addison just smiled, "So now what do we want to do?" As she took her new bracelet back and wrapped it around her wrist.
"How about we watch a movie?" Zoey suggested.
Everyone agreed and Zoey chose to watch Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Everyone chowed down on Christmas cookies and popcorn. After it was finished, Zevon came and took Zoey up to her bed and everyone else began to gather up their gifts to take them home.
Zed pulled Addison away into the kitchen and whispered. "You know I just realized something."
"What is it? "
"You are just like Rudolph, you're different and people chose to be mean and judge you for it but someday, they will all know just how amazing you are, you are going to find the reason that you are your beautiful, wonderful self, and you'll use it to change the world. Someday, you'll be the most famous reindeer of all." Zed joked.
"Thank you Zed, you always know how to warm my heart. Merry Christmas."
"Merry Christmas and hey look up." Zed whispered.
"What is it?" Addison looked up to see a strand of mistletoe hanging above their heads. Her eyes twinkled in laughter. "You actually put that up?"
"Of course, it's all part of my master plan to make give me my only Christmas wish."
"Who says I will?"
"You have to, it's tradition."
"Oh, I suppose then, just this once." Addison giggled before standing on her tiptoes to meet Zed's lips with her own.
"You just made my Christmas."
"Just you wait until tomorrow."
"You still won't tell me?"
"No, and stop asking unless you want to be on the naughty list."
"Oh no, anything but that."
"Merry Christmas Addison."
"Merry Christmas Zed, goodnight."
"Goodnight."
Addison joined Bree outside the door who had just finished her own heartfelt goodbye with Bonzo and together they walked back to Seabrook as snow softly fell and sparkled on the sidewalks.
The next morning Zoey woke Zed up bright and early by jumping onto his bed in her excitement to see what Santa brought. Zevon came out of his room as well and was happy to watch both tear into their gifts.
Zoey received lots of cheer gear and a new backpack for when she starts school in January. And also more toys and other things for Puppy. Zed opened his to reveal more Seabrook apparel, a new basketball and football, and a bunch of gift cards to different restaurants at Seabrook.
"Thanks, Pops. Merry Christmas." Zed whispered while Zoey was distracted by Puppy.
"Merry Christmas son, I figured the best thing I could give you was something you could use with Addison. So now you have an excuse to have a few date nights."
"Again thank you, now open yours.".
Zevon carefully opened his gift intentionally slowly.
"Daddy hurry up I want to see it!"
Zevon just chuckled and continued his pace. "Have some patience my little zombie angel." He finally lifted it up to show off his new Seabrook Dad sweatshirt.
"Thanks, Zed. I'll be sure to wear this to all your games now."
"Oh wait maybe this was a bad idea." Zed joked.
"Too late now, you bought it for me. Thank you, son. Merry Christmas."
After they ate a hearty homemade breakfast of French toast and scrambled brains, Zed was ready to head to Addison's house to spend Christmas Day with her. As he was putting on his shoes to leave, Zevon stopped him to wish him luck.
"Have fun today, and don't get too excited."
Zed recognized the look in his eye, "Wait a minute, whatever Addison's surprise is, you know about it don't you?"
"Yes, and trust me you're going to love it. So you don't need to worry about asking for my permission or anything like that."
"Aw man, whatever this is, is going to be a big deal if she already told you about it. So, any hints?"
"Nope, you get to go find out on your own."
"Fine, I guess I'll see you tonight then. Bye."
"Bye Zed."
Zed walked quickly to Addison's house, his anticipation was through the roof for whatever the surprise was, Zed had absolutely no idea what to expect. When he got there he rang the doorbell and Missy soon opened the door.
"Merry Christmas Zed, come in."
"Thanks, Missy, Merry Christmas to you too."
He said hello to Dale as well before nearly being tackled in a hug by Addison when she came downstairs. "Merry Christmas Zed!"
"Merry Christmas Addison." Zed could see her practically bouncing from foot to foot. "Have you had too many cookies? Because you seem really fired up this morning."
"I'm just so excited about your surprise. Mom, Dad, can we tell him now?"
"I suppose so since it looks like you'll explode if we don't." Dale laughed.
"So Zed, since Thanksgiving, my parents still aren't talking to us nor apologized to Addison, and most of our family usually goes to their house for a few days for the holidays."
"OK?" Zed said slowly, still not sure where this is going, and still wary of bringing up the whole Thanksgiving episode.
"So instead, we've decided that the three of us are going to take a vacation to a ski resort in the mountains, we'll be leaving tomorrow and staying until after New Year's."
"Oh, OK." Zed tried to keep his voice steady, but he felt down on the inside, he knew zombies weren't normally allowed to leave Seabrook, much less go on vacations. He was lucky to get permission to travel to away games. This would be the longest he'd have to go without seeing Addison since the first day they met.
Addison just smiled at him, already knowing what he was thinking. "And just wait until they get to the best part." she whispered.
"What is it?"
"You're invited to come with us Zed. I've already approved your travel request." Dale told him.
"Really?"
"Yep, a whole week outside of Seabrook in the mountains. Just the four of us. I can teach you how to ski and a whole bunch of other stuff." Addison said.
"That sounds great, and so much fun I can't wait. So that's why Pops already knew about it."
"Yeah, we had to get his permission for you to come with us."
"Plus we knew if we only took Addison, she would be glued to her phone talking to you the whole time, we figured both of you would enjoy this much more."
"Thank you, Dale and Missy, Merry Christmas."
"Merry Christmas Zed."