Chapter 21, A Very Florida Christmas
It had been almost a year since Zack and Kimi got married, and seven months since they graduated from college, moved to Pittsfield, and Zack got a job as a database programmer at Deminuon Solutions, while Kimi got a job as a nurse in an eye doctor's office at the Medical Arts Building, relocating closer to where at this point, Tommy and Chuckie were going to school, just forty-five minutes away from them in North Adams, and unknown to them at the time, they lived in the town where Tommy's future wife, Silvia Weller, resided. However, with Tommy and Chuckie being extremely busy with school, and Zack and Kimi being extremely busy with work, get togethers were very slim. But at Thanksgiving in 2033, Zack and Kimi got invited to come spend the Christmas holiday with Lil and her husband of six months, Jesse Barrow, so they put in for time off work, and decided to head down to Florida for the Christmas holiday.
They arrived on the evening of Christmas eve, where Jesse and Lil treated them to dinner at Munchy's, the restaurant where Phil was working, and since Zack and Kimi would have to head home on New Years Eve, their one year anniversary, Phil made them a complementary chocolate cake to celebrate their wedding anniversary a few days early.
"To Zachary Michael Wehrenberg, and Kimi Watanabe Finster Wehrenberg, happy one year anniversary to you two." Said Phil, as he placed the chocolate cake down on the table in front of the couple.
Everyone who was still in the restaurant at this point, including Jesse and Lil, clapped and cheered for Zack and Kimi, as they cut into the cake, and split it up amongst everyone at the table. However, Phil split his piece of cake into another quarter.
"What are you doing Phillip?" Lil asked.
"I'm saving some for Dil. He had to work late at Radioshack, with it being Christmas eve, so sadly, he couldn't join us this evening, and I had already told him about this." Phil went on to explain.
"And you wanted Dil to have a piece of cake." Kimi added.
"Yep." Phil replied, as he took his first bite of cake, licking his lips.
He was finished with his job for the night, so could sit back, relax, and enjoy their out of town guests, which, while Zack and Kimi were staying at Jesse and Lil's apartment, since Phil is Lil's twin, and Dil was his boyfriend, they were just as much a part of this as well, since they had known Zack and Kimi most of their lives.
Once everybody was finished with their dessert, Phil headed off to get Dil from work, while the other two couples headed home to get some sleep, in particular, Zack and Kimi, who were exhausted from a long day of traveling. They dressed into their pajamas and curled up in the guest bed together.
"Merry Christmas Zachary." Said Kimi quietly to Zack, as she got comfortable on her side of the bed.
"Merry Christmas Kimi." Zack replied in a low whisper, as he, too, got comfortable on his side of the guest room double bed.
They drifted off to sleep, and before they knew it, Christmas morning had arrived. For the first time in ages though, they slept until noon, being able to enjoy a morning of sleeping, and no responsibilities, something they hadn't done in years, between having internships on Christmas, or last year, when they were vigorously cleaning their apartment in Boston, to get ready for their wedding. Once noon time came though, Lil and Jesse were starting to worry if their guests were ok, so they went in their room to wake them up.
"Rise and shine you two." Called Lil in a very loud voice, startling Kimi and Zack half to death.
"Lil." Kimi grumpily said, rolling her eyes at the brounette, who no longer put streaks of color in her hair, now that she was a grown, matured woman.
"I was wondering if you two were ever going to show!" Lil replied.
"We're coming we're coming." Kimi grumbled, as she sat up in bed, pulled on her bath robe, and made her way into the kitchen, where breakfast sandwiches were served.
Zack soon followed, after he pulled on his dark blue bath robe, and sat down at the table, to partake in a belated feast of breakfast sandwiches, which were ham, swis cheese, and scrambled eggs in between two biskitz for the slices of bread.
"Mmmm!" Zack and Kimi exclaimed, upon taking their first bites.
"You like them?" Jesse asked, who was seated at one end of the table, sipping on a glass of milk.
"Uh huh." Zack replied, after finishing his first bite of sandwich.
"Thank you, though it was my brother Phil who taught me how to make them." Lil commented.
"Wow! You mean Phil managed to teach Lil something, without the two of them arguing, not finishing the job? My have they grown up a lot." Zack thought to himself.
"So, who's up for an afternoon at the beach?" Jesse asked, as he finished his milk and cleaned up from breakfast, or more so, technically, brunch, since it was lunch time.
Zack and Kimi nodded, as they had never gotten to go to the beach on Christmas, and thought this would be lots of fun. As soon as everybody was finished with their breakfast, everybody put on their bathing suits, and headed to the beach, where to their pleasant surprise, Dil and Phil were also there, Phil was taking pictures, while Dil was trying to sculpt an alien out of sand.
"What are you doing Dil?" Kimi asked, upon seeing his oddly shaped sand sculpture.
"Making the first sand alien." Dil replied.
"I see some things, haven't changed." Kimi thought to herself, as she lay a beach towel on the ground, set up a beach umbrella, and lay down to get some sun.
Zack looked down at his wife in the sand, who looked so cute, that he couldn't help himself. Without saying a word, he started picking up sand, and burying Kimi in it. Soon, there was nothing showing but her head.
"Hey! Help! Zack's burying me!" Kimi cried playfully, as Zack continued to cover her up, causing at this point, nothing but her one long ponytail she was wearing that day to show.
Phil, Lil, Jesse and Dil all looked over at where Kimi was buried, and started laughing. Zack smiled and laughed too.
"Hey!" Kimi cried, as she stood up, causing the bulk of the pile of sand to land on Zack's head.
"Well just for that, here." Said Zack, as he wrestled his wife to the ground, and they rolled around in the sand, like they were little kids again.
"What are we doing this for? We're grown adults!" Said Kimi.
"Come on Kimi, it is Christmas, and very close to our one year wedding anniversary. Loosen up, and have some fun!" Zack said with a smile, as he sat up in the sand, taking Kimi's hand.
Kimi relaxed and smiled, as she let herself go, squeezing Zack's hand tight. Later, they collected seashells, made a sandcastle, and just as the sun was setting on the Pacific ocean, before they needed to head back to Jesse and Lil's to change before going to Dil and Phil's for Christmas dinner, they shared a tender kiss, and exchanged their Christmas gifts to one another. Zack gave Kimi a necklace with a snowflake pendent on it, while Kimi gave Zack a new brown leather wallet, as his old blue wallet he had been using for years, was in bad shape, and seriously needed replacing.
"Thanks for the necklace Zachary." Kimi said, as she took it out of the box and put it on her neck, letting Zack do the clasp for her.
"You're welcome Kimi. Thanks for the wallet." Said Zack, as he placed the wallet into the pocket of his swim trunks.
"You're welcome." Said Kimi, as they turned their attention back to the setting sun, and watched it go down.
Unknowing to them, Phil took a picture of this to send to them at a later time. Once it was dark, the three couples left the beach, ran home to change, and reunited at Phil and Dil's small apartment for a Christmas dinner unlike any other. The dinner consisted of fish tacos, Spanish rice, and spinach and mushroom casarole. To everybody's surprise, Dil made the spinach and mushroom casarole, and it was edible, while Phil made the other dishes.
"Mmmm! Delicious!" Exclaimed Zack and Kimi in between bites of food.
"Glad you like it." Phil remarked.
Everybody enjoyed the rest of their dinner, making small talk, catching up on one another's lives.
"So Kimi, seeing you and Zack live closer to Tommy and Chuckie now, do you ever get a chance to see them?" Phil asked.
"Nope. With our hectic work schedules, and their busy school schedules, we hardly get any time to see one another anymore." Kimi replied, looking sad.
"I heard Chuckie was going to visit Nicole's family for Christmas with her." Said Jesse.
"I take it you looked at Facebook earlier?" Lil asked.
"Well, technically, I saw something about this posted on Nicole's facebook wall." Jesse replied.
"What's Tommy up to for the holidays?" Lil asked.
"I didn't tell you that T was going home to visit mom and dad? I would have gone, but couldn't get any time off work. Mom and dad do send their love, and I did get a Christmas card in the mail." Said Dil, who showed everyone the Christmas card he had received from his parents.
"Yeah, my aunt sent us a Christmas card, and told us to have fun in Florida." Said Zack.
Everyone smiled, as they finished up dinner and had some apple pie for dessert that Jesse and Lil had made. Soon, it was late at night, and there was nothing to do but to head home, but Phil wanted to do something the gang hadn't done together in years.
"Let's watch a Christmas movie together. Say, I'll be Home for Christmas, starring Jonathan Taylor Thomas?" Phil asked, as he went into his living room and approached the DVD player.
"Oh wow, I haven't seen that movie in years!" Said Lil.
"Me neither!" Added Kimi.
Zack and Dil nodded in agreement, so Phil put on the movie, and everybody curled up on the couch that could fit, while Dil and Phil sat in a couple of easy chairs on the opposite side of the room, as they all sat back, and enjoyed the movie together.
As soon as the movie ended, Zack and Kimi decided they wanted to go for a walk, as it was warm enough in Florida, to take a walk at night. They went outside, and silently holding hands, they took in the warm night air, as they had a little stroll down the neighborhood sidewalk, silently enjoying one another's company.
"You know what Zack, this has to be by far, the best Christmas we've had together, in a very long time." Commented Kimi, as they were making their way back to Phil and Dil's front porch.
"I agree. It's also been quite relaxing too." Commented Zack.
"And that afternoon on the beach, gosh, I can't remember the last time I laughed like that." Said Kimi.
Zack smiled and nodded in agreement, as they turned to see a full moon in the sky.
"Look, the moon." Zack whispered.
"Uh huh." Kimi replied.
They stood there for several minutes, gazing at the full moon, before heading back inside to Phil and Dil's place, where air mattresses were set up in the living room, as Phil had pulled out some drinks, making Jesse and Lil feel uncomfortable about driving home, so the two couples stayed at Phil and Dil's for the night, however, unknown to Zack and Kimi, Dil decided to have some fun. When he set up their air mattresses, he placed down two woopy cushions.
Zack, still sipping on a beer, sat down on his side of the double air mattress to take off his shoes and socks, when he sat on top of the woopy cushion. This sent him, as well as everybody else in the room into explosive laughter, as the sip of beer he had recently taken, came out of his mouth, drizzling everywhere. Likewise, Kimi went to sit down on her side of the air mattress, to take off her necklace and get comfortable, when she, too, sat on a woopy cushion, causing the laughter to only get louder, and for Kimi, to nearly wet her pants.
"Merry Christmas!" Said Dil, as he stood on his head, getting a picture of Kimi and Zack laughing histarically with his iPhone.
And this, ends chapter 21. What will happen the following year? Find out, next time.