Chapter Eight: A Very Merry Christmas

Stephanie's POV:

"I can't believe I found this!"

I had been cleaning my room when I found a note that looked old. I had opened it, thinking it was an old love letter that Steve wrote for DJ, but it was a love letter that had actually caused quite a mess, making me think that Rusty was in love with me, Cindy think Joey was in love with her, Becky think Danny was in love with her, and Kimmy think that Jesse was in love with her. And sometime along the way, Rusty kind of got the idea that DJ was in love with him. As if.

It was signed Hot For You, aka Rusty. I had been severely upset when I had believed Rusty was in love with me back then, but the thought of him being in love with me now made me feel warm and fuzzy. This letter reminded me of so much. It held so many memories. Years from now I would look at this and probably remember everything. And it was then that I had such a wonderful idea that I just had to act fast or I was going to forget.

Placing the letter in an envelope, I knew just the right gift for Rusty. I got up and grabbed my purse, stuffing the note, my wallet, and some other stuff in it. I decided to frame the note, and write a new love letter for Rusty, one not framed that I could frame some other time. I rushed out of my newly clean room and downstairs.

"DJ, can you drive me to the mall?" I asked her as I got downstairs. She was in the kitchen with Steve. They were staying until New Years then going back to college. It was nice having DJ here. I really did miss my older sister, alot.

"Sure, why?"

"I have to get a Christmas present for Rusty, and Christmas is only a week away." I explained. "You don't have to stay, actually I'd like it better if you just dropped me off and left me there for an hour or two, it's kind of private."

"Steve, I'll be right back okay?" She told him, then she went outside with me and we got into the car and left.

"So what are you thinking of buying Rusty?" DJ asked me as we drove. It was only about a ten minute drive, but being alone with DJ felt nice. DJ had grown up so fast, and I was only fourteen.

"It's the old love letter he wrote as a prank seven years ago. Remember?" I told her. "It's kind of stupid, and silly, but it brings back so many memories, you know?"

"I understand." DJ said. "When I was fifteen, Steve wrote a love letter for me, but it was before we were dating. His friend gave it to me anyway, and it embarrased him so much, but I felt the same way, and that was pretty much how we started liking each other."

"I never knew that!" I said. "I thought you just developed a crush on him over time, and he felt the same way, and so he asked you out, and that was that! Why didn't you tell me?"

"You were younger then, and you wouldn't have understood." DJ told me. "But I suppose your old enough now to know, huh? You're fourteen, and your boyfriend is, what, sixteen?"

"Yeah, he is." I admitted. "But he's not too old. Besides, Steve is two years older than you, too, he flunked a grade, didn't he?"

"He flunked seventh grade, when I was in sixth grade."

We talked for the remaining five minutes that we drove, and I felt genuinely happy. It wasn't often that I could feel genuinely happy. Whenever DJ was away, I felt there was a missing part of me, which is why I felt so vibrant and energetic when she was here. When she wasn't, I had to go to Aunt Becky or Vicky for "woman problems", and it was slightly less embarrasing when I could go to DJ, who would understand better, of course.

We arrived at the mall, and DJ drove in front of Sears, where I got off.

"Thanks, Deej." I said, thanking her. She smiled, then I closed the door to the car and she drove off. I was left alone with a mission. I turned and walked in. I walked across the store, but towards the end I ran into Mitchie, a girl from school.

"Hi Stephanie!" She said, coming towards me.

"Hi, Mitchie."

"I hear you're dating Rusty."

You see, Mitchie is supposed to be a sophomore, but she's a junior, because she skipped a grade. She was my friend back in third grade, when we used to play together at recess. Since then I know I can count on her to help me out when I'm having problems with someone older.

"Yup."

"That's is so cool!" She said. "He's like, two years older! Woah!"

"We knew each other back when we were kids."

We changed the subject then, and talked for a few more minutes before I remembered the whole reason why I asked DJ to bring me to the mall.

"It was nice seeing you, Mitchie, but I''ve gotta go." I told her. "Do you mind?"

"No, no, not at all! See you around!" She waved and walked off, and then I exited out of the store. I decided to buy a really nice frame so that it wouldn't look like I was giving him something that was originally his, which it kind of was.

I knew there was a store somewhere that was called Francine's Fancy Frames, because I had recently gone there with Gia to buy a frame to put a picture of her boyfriend in. But I wasn't quite sure where it was, so I looked at the map of the mall that was set up every where, and found that I was pretty close. I found my way there easily, and engaged myself in finding a beautiful frame that wouldn't look cheap, but would cost less than sixty dollars. It was a good thing that I had saved all the money I got from Becky for baby-sitting Nicky and Alex every so often.

I wanted something black or brown, made of wood. After looking at dozens of frames, I decided on a black wooden frame that the letter would fit in perfectly. I grabbed it and took it to the cashier, where I paid the fifteen dollars it cost, and then left the store.

I realized I hadn't quite had much time to myself lately, between going on dates with Rusty, taking Michelle places, spending time with my friends, and making the most of my time with DJ, I hadn't really done anything by myself, and it was about time that I did.

I checked my watch. I had really only been here for forty five minutes, I had a little over an hour left until DJ picked me up. I might as well splurge on some more christmas gifts, I had enough money left.

I decided to buy Gia and Mickey's gift first. I went to one of their favorite stores and bought both of them some super cute earrings that were on sale. They would totally love them!

Next was Michelle. Her gift was simple. I went to the bookstore and bought her poem book she had been wanting for awhile. There was only Joey left, I had already bought everyone else's gifts last week to be prepared.

I thought about Joey's gift for awhile. He was usually easy, after all, he was happy with a Tom and Jerry poster! But he had grown up a bit ever since he started getting serious with Roxy, his girlfriend. Roxy was a comedian, too, though, so they were only as serious as two cartoon freaks could get!

Finally I decided on a Scooby Doo action figure. He would love it, it was Shaggy, and he had all of them except Shaggy. I honestly didn't understand Joey sometimes, but he was fun!

After I was done, I had twenty dollars and thirty minutes left, which I decided to use to buy myself something. I headed to my favorite store, which sold all kinds of cute clothes and jewelry.

I looked around. There was a pretty necklace I liked, but it was too expensive. I looked around some more. There was so much I wanted to buy, and I narrowed it down to those that I could afford. Then I narrowed it down to those my dad would let me buy. Finally, I had two options left: a heart charm bracelet, or some peace earrings. I had to think for awhile, but I finally decided on the charm bracelet, because I just had this feeling that I would need it.

I felt content and peaceful. I was so happy. I practically skipped back to the exit, where I waited for five minutes before DJ came and stopped right in front of me. I jumped in the car.

"Hi, DJ." I greeted her, smiling. I threw my bags in tne back.

"Wow, you really needed to buy that much for Rusty?" DJ said, her eyes wide.

"Only one thing is for Rusty, I bought christmas presents for Gia, Mickey, Joey, and Michelle, plus a little something for myself." I explained. I leaned back. "I'm happy." I said, sighing happily.

The rest of the car drive was silent.

DJ drove up to the driveway, and I got out. I opened the door to the back seat and got my bags. I had a lot of bags, but I hadn't bought really big things so they were small bags.

"Thanks, Deej." I said, and walked into the house. I ran up to my room because I wanted to make sure that nobody saw their gifts yet. I had some wrapping paper in my room because that was where I had been doing my christmas stuff.

First I wrapped Michelle's gift, and put the rest of the gifts in a gift bag. Then I gingerly took the love letter out of my purse and unfolded it. I opened the frame and put the note inside, finally. Then I closed it and turned it around to see how it looked.

It looked beautiful. I wondered if Rusty would hang it up on his wall...probably not. The last thing his mom would want to be reminded of was how she used to date my dad.

Then I went over to my desk and took out my best stationary, blue with a rose on the top left corner. I took out a black ink pen and wrote:

Dear Rusty:

I can't believe we're dating. Seven years ago if anyone had told me I would one day fall in love with you I would have kicked them in the shin and then thrown up. Of course, that was when I was seven.

I didn't know what to get you but the old love letter you wrote to origjnally trick DJ into thinking Ricky liked her which Michelle thought you said to give to me, Back then I was extremely upset when I thought you loved me. Now if you didn't love me, I wouldn't be writing this, would I?

I hope you like this gift, because I really like it. I just hope that you love it, too! This holds tons of memories, doesn't it?

Sorry for the stupid gift, Love your stupid girlfriend.

Love,

Stephanie

Satisfied, I folded the new letter and put it into a pale blue envelope, taping it to the back of the frame. Then I wrapped it with some special gold wrapping paper I bought myself for my special gifts that needed special wrapping paper.

I honestly couldn't WAIT until Christmas!

Christmas Day, 1996

The Christmas Party

Rusty's POV:

I walked into the Smash Club with Stephanie's gift in a small bag. I was overwhelmed by how many people were there. I did see some kids from school, like Stephanie had said. Alot of other non-Tanners were there, as well as all of Stephanie's family.

I searched around for Stephanie. I saw her standing with Michelle, wearing a red and black christmas dress with her hair pulled back in a long braid. She looked pretty. I walked over to her.

"Hi Stephanie, Hi Michelle."

Michelle glared at me then walked away. For such a little girl, she sure had some real big problems.

"Don't mind her, she's mad because her friend Denise didn't show up." Stephanie said, rolling her eyes. "She is sooooo annoying!"

"I have your present." I said, holding it out.

"Oh, I have yours here somewhere. She looked around. "Aha, here it is." She took it from under a chair. It was a medium sized square. It was obviously not a book, because I had made it clear to Stephanie I detested reading. But then what was it?

"Go ahead, open it." Stephanie urged. She started opening hers, too. I slowly unwrapped it, and smiled when I saw what it was. It was the love letter that for all intensive purposes, had started everything.

"This is a great gift." I admitted. I took the blue envelope and put it into my pocket, planning to read it later. I reread the letter. I smiled because it was funny. I was such a dumb kid back then.

"Oh, Rusty, this is beautiful!" Stephanie said. "It's perfect because I just got a bracelet that will match perfectly!" She put the necklace on, smiling. "Merry Christmas."

She said.

"Merry Christmas."

We hugged. I held Stephanie tight.

Stephanie's POV:

I was glad Rusty liked my gift, because I honestly thought that he wouldn't like it. But he said he loved it, and he would put on his nightstand the minute he arrived home that night. It was nice to know he would do that.

Uncle Jesse and his band were playing Christmas carols on stage. Viper seemed crushed seeing DJ with Steve. And he should be, because they were kissing and snuggling. It was utterly disgusting. Even Rusty and I weren't doing that!

Another member of Jesse's band was Mongo. Mongo was crazy. He was dancing wildly on stage. To Deck the Halls. Mackenzie, who was a back-up singer, was doing great.

Michelle was running around with Denise, who had made it after all, and Karla, Derek, and Teddy. They looked like they were having fun. I heard Derek liked Michelle, which was cute. Soon they'd get to middle school, and maybe they could even date! That would be awesome.

We stayed at the club for a few hours, and then everyone decided to head to our house, which we did. Rusty drove me in his car, and my dad said if there was any car accidents, he'd kill Rusty. Luckily, we got home safely.

We decided to go up to my room for awhile to get some quiet.

But Michelle had to ruin it.

Rusty and I were kissing when Michelle and her little friends peeked into my room.

"Eww." Karla said. "That's gross!"

"I know." Michelle said.

"Please go away." I said.

"Why?"

'I'll give you a penny?" Rusty offered.

"That used to work with Steve." Michelle said.

"MICHELLE!" I yelled. "LEAVE!"

"Fine."

She and her friends walked off giggling.

But we still had a good Christmas anyway.

A/N:

I feel so happy that anyone would bother even reading this. I honestlyy thought that when I put this story online, everyone would say, "Who the hell is Rusty? I don't remember him!" But you guys obviously do, so thank you!

I want to thank someone who I don't remember their EXACT penname right now, but they were the one who gave me the idea to have Stephanie frame the old love letter and give it to Rusty. Did you guys like this chapter? It was a long one! It's hard writing long chapters. Short chapters give me a chance to have more chapters!

This just started flowing the moment I started typing. The love letter in a frame was a really good idea, Princesakarlita411! (HA! I remembered!) Thank you so much for the idea! Without you, this chapter would not exist, so anyone who likes this chapter, let's give her a round of applause, shall we?

*********APPLAUSE********APPLAUSE********APPLAUSE********APPLAUSE*********APPLAUSE*********APPLAUSE********APPLAUSE*********APPLAUSE*********

THANK YOU!

Alright, so back to business...

I hope no one cares I wrote the Christmas chapter in October:-) but I just had too, you know? Well, lets pretend its Christmas for a minute...MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Should I write the New Years chapter? If so, should Stephanie and Rusty go out, or spend the night with the Tanner family? I treasure your opinions deeply, and want to know what you guys and gals out there think! (By the way, can you tell me if you're a boy or a girl? If you're a boy I can take the romance down a notch and maybe some more action...)

Best wishes,

ALW