The lady cashier asked her question, but Ron and I looked at each other confusedly for a moment. We both shook our heads and at the same time said, "No." We looked at each other again and the three of us started chuckling a bit, before Ron paid the bill with Will's cash and gave me the bag with my new red dress inside. I took it and we exited the shop, going to the second level, where all the little elves and boxes and Santa's we're up.

I went from shop to shop, sometimes going forward and back, comparing prices, the appearance of decorations and the sizes and weights. Hours passed by the time I managed to get gifts for everyone I knew at the base. Nothing like maintaining relationships even with strangers.

Regarding the gifts, I bought Nicole, Sam, Sarah and Will little dancing Santa's, and I bought Annabelle a fluffy red and green toy decorated with white polka dots. I got Epps a little green elf and all the cars little Christmas tree air fresheners. I didn't know if some of them liked them or not, but regardless, I left no one without a gift.

As Ron started groaning and complaining at the amount of time we were spending there doing `pointless errands`, I decided it was time for us to go to the base and join the party. As we made our way towards the exit, I saw these 'friends' of mine from my high school, though we were really acquaintances. We all chattered around in school, though I didn't give much thought on my friendship with them. I really didn't know two things about them, especially because all we ever did was occasionally have small talk between periods and were in the same class together, but that was as far as it went.

They left the café as the exit door of the mall opened before us and Ron and I got out. We were making our way towards Ironhide on the parking lot, when a yell behind me made me turn me around.

"Melissa!" One of the girls said with a voice filled with fake excitement.

"Uh, hi?" I said as I turned around. In the moment that I was caught off guard, I couldn't remember what her name was. Ron stood beside me as the two other girls approached us too. They didn't seem very genuine.

"You remember us, right, best friend?" She nudged me and winked at Ron. I was immediately disgusted by how obvious her flirting with Ron was, but I didn't let my disapproval show. I couldn't remember the girl's name for the sake of me. "It's me, Mariah!" She said excitedly. "This is Nadia and Eleanor!" She grinned and they all looked at Ron, almost wanting to eat him how much they wanted him. "So who's this hot guy you got here?" Mariah said in a voice that made me a bit… jealous, I guess? I'm not going to let those girls near Ron.

"Um… this is Ron. He's my… um?" Should I tell them he was my guardian? It would sound very weird, though.

"I am her guardian." Ron suddenly said in his deep voice. The girls wanted to die from happiness because he had just spoken to them. They didn't even pay attention to what he just said.

"So are you two like…?" Nadia was pointing to us being a thing. I knew where this was headed and if I didn't do something right now… I have to get them off my back.

"Like a thing?" Nadia finally finished. I looked at Ron, who looked at me befuddled.

"Like together?" Eleanor said. They all moved a step closer to him. Okay, this is over the line. First of all, they have no right to question my relationships with whoever and we don't know each other well enough to say such things. These girls were utterly repulsive. I didn't know if it was because I was growing angrier or more protective, or whatever, but I didn't want them around Ron. I mentally smirked, ready to do the leap of faith and just do something I never did.

"Yes, actually, we are." I put my arm around his waist. I wouldn't let them get the best of me, but I felt the feeling of excitement and uncertainty rise in my chest.

"Oh?" They looked at me and then to Ron, not at all buying it.

I felt a warm, strong arm around my shoulders and I looked at Ron, he was grinning one of his rare, utterly charming grins at me. I wanted to melt, but I had to contain myself and play it cool, as if I was already used to this, even though I wasn't. The excitement was flowing through my veins, increasing my heartbeat. It kinda made me happy, in a very odd way.

"Yeah." I said. I was under his left arm and I moved closer to him, leaning my head on his shoulder.

"No way." They gaped. I rolled my eyes and wanted to move on, but at the same time didn't. I liked being under somebody's wing. "Prove it." They smirked as one of them said it.

Oh no.

I already wanted to argue with them. "I don't have to prove anything to yo-"

"If you must." Ron cut me off before I could finish my thought. I still had to keep it cool, so I didn't let my face fall. Crap. Shit. Holy fucking shit. No. Ron, you can't kiss me. Heck, I can't kiss you.

My mind was screaming at me to stop with this. Ron turned around and cupped my cheek with his hand. I looked at him in his entrancingly blue eyes. He winked at me with the eye the girls couldn't see. He wasn't really going to kiss me. Was he? I wanted him to kiss me, sure, but at the same time it would make things so much more complicated, and...

He leaned in closer and I could almost hear the girls gasping for air with anticipation. Ron kissed the side of my lips, basically my cheeks, but it was so close to the lips it actually looked like he was kissing me for real. He put his forehead onto mine, as we gazed in each other's eyes. I couldn't believe this was actually happening. My heartbeat, filled with excitement, echoed in my ears as I smiled at him, and he did the same to me. We stood there, the warmness of our skins gently caressing both of our foreheads. For a moment, everything disappeared and it seemed like it was just the two of us. The chemistry between us was undeniable.

Oddly enough, as we were standing just next to Ironhide, I could faintly hear the truck purring its engine. Was Ironhide actually enjoying this?

The girls talking broke up our moment.

"Uh huh, I see... you're uh… pretty close…" One of them said pretty disenchanted. I could still barely take my eyes away from Ron's. He was so close to my face, and I really wanted to just press my lips on his, to feel their warmth and softness, to get a taste again…

"I guess you're taken then…" Ron was the first to break the eye contact. That's when I looked back the girls, feeling a kind of odd glee in my heart. Their faces fell apart as we both looked at them, arms still around each other. It felt so good to be in his embrace.

"I'll see you later, Marquiza…" Nadia said. Marquiza? Where the hell did she dig up that name? I'm Melissa, damn it!

They turned around and walked away with their shoulders plopping down as they continued talking about the mysterious ways of how I ended up with him. Yeah, I could hear them discussing it.

I sighed a sigh of relief and moved my arm away from Ron. He did the same and we got back to what we were supposed to do, which was to put the bags full of Christmas gifts in Ironhide. I gently patted Ironhide's fender and we both got into the seats and put the seatbelts on.

"Whew, that was close." I said as I rested my arm on the armrest.

"Very." He said as he put Ironhide in gear. I just realized he misjudged it. Whatever, both things, the kiss on the forehead and the girls practically drooling all over him, have been very close.

"You're really at good improvisation." I told him honestly.

"Thank you." He said. "You weren't so bad yourself."

"Thanks, though I think you overdid it." I said.

"Me? They wanted proof so I gave them some."

"Right, use them as your excuse." I chuckled.

"What would you do?" He asked. The cab became silent for a few seconds as I prepared my answer.

It was a good question. What would I do?

"I think I would have done the same." I said and he shifted his shoulders as in saying 'what else could I have done'. "So are we going to the base now?" I asked and he nodded in return. We drove for about half an hour with the radio playing soft country music in the background.

"If I may ask," He said all of a sudden. Since when did he need permission to ask anything? "Why does this 'holiday' or the one for 'New Year' have to have anything to do with an overweight elder with impossibly white chin hair and red clothing?"

At first, I didn't understand what he asked me. But when I replayed his question in my head, I just stared at him. Then I burst out laughing, bending over and clutching my stomach. "Overweight elder? Chin hair? God, Ron, you make it sound like you're from another planet!" I started laughing again. He cleared his throat, which was a sign for me to stop. I did as 'told' and explained it to him. "It's got something to do with Saint Nicholas, thus the name Santa, as in Saint, and Claus, as a nickname for Nicholas. So you get-"

"Santa Claus." He said.

"Exactly."

"But what is his function?" He queried.

Again with the overly formal speech. Nonetheless, I went with it. "He's a made up character that was supposed to-"

"Made up by who?" He asked.

"I don't know. Look, I'm not a history book, I just know the basics, not the details."

"Continue." He said with a nod.

"He was made up a long time ago and when we were kids, we were told by our parents that if we didn't behave well, Santa wouldn't give us presents. If we were good, then we would get presents under the Christmas tree but only if we were good for the whole year."

"I see." He didn't sound too interested about the topic anymore. "And what are the children's reactions when they learn that Santa Claus does not exist?"

"Well, don't tell them, cause they'll cry a lot and not trust you anymore. Don't tell Annabelle that he doesn't exist. That's up to her to figure out when she's older." He hummed in acknowledgment as I saw the entrance of the base. The gate opened up and let us in and Ron drove to the main hangar, the one in the middle of the three, and we got in. When we did… It was like a lightshow everywhere.

Red, green, blue, yellow, white, whatever color you wanted to see, it was there. It wasn't flashing or anything, but it was everywhere. Around the ceiling, the entrance… Heck, it was even around Sideswipe's parking spot.

I saw my uncle and some soldiers in the middle of the hangar, chatting around peacefully. They noticed me and Ironhide, so when Ron parked Ironhide in its designated park place, clearly restricted by little light wires, I ran out of the truck and leaped onto my uncle's back. I tackled him from the back, but I guess military training and all, I found myself head over heels and my butt on the ground. It honestly didn't hurt as much, since he semi-knew that he was on the base where nobody would really attack him, but instincts kicked in before the brain did.

"Oh Mel, I'm so sorry." He said with a look of shock on his face as he held my hands to raise me up. "I didn't expect you to be-"

"Easy, uncle Will, I was just playing." I said mirthfully. He still seemed unsure whether he had hurt me or not, but laughed regardless.

"You alright?" He asked as I nodded in turn. "Come on, get up." Ron came towards us with my bags in tow. He handed them to me and I quietly thanked him. He walked away elsewhere, leaving me with Will.

"Will, where are we going to celebrate? Where is the Christmas tree?" I looked around, but didn't see any. He chuckled and motioned with his hand to someone outside, as if to bring something in.

I turned around and found that beautiful flame decaled semi-truck hauling in a tree that was tied to a trailer that the truck was pulling. Soldiers came over to the tree and started untying it from the truck's trailer, and when they did, they hauled it away somewhere to the far end of the huge hangar.

Night was starting to fall.

"Okay, everyone, into the main room!" Will hollered throughout the whole base and all of the soldiers, which I noticed were wearing civilian clothing, moved in with all the talking cars that I was introduced to.

I walked over to the main room and looked around. I still had the bags full of presents with me, so I started looking around for people to give the presents to. But then again, it would be better if I just put them under the tree that the soldiers were decorating. I took every box out with a clear name tag on them and put them under the tree. There were many presents there, so I didn't bother looking at them at all.

A pat on my arm made me turn around. I saw Nicole all dressed up for the occasion. We hugged and I noticed that we had very similar dresses.

"Oh my God, I have the same dress!" I said in excitement. She grinned at me and laughed, figuring she was a Christmas person, too. "Is there some place I can change into my dress?" I asked. Sadly, she shook her head.

"No, you'll just have to change inside Ironhide." She chuckled. I shrugged and smiled at her, as I got the bag, with my dress inside, and made my way towards Ironhide.

"Hey Ironhide, you wouldn't mind if I changed my clothes inside your cab?" I asked in a polite voice.

"Not at all." The radio replied. I got inside, but as black as the truck was, I thought the windows weren't very tinted and I didn't want random people looking into the truck and seeing me in my undergarments. Somehow, it seemed that the truck caught my reluctance. "Something the matter?"

"Well, I don't know about you, but… these windows seem awfully see-through." I blushed slightly as I said that. "Could you… um… darken the windows? If it's not too much to ask?" I sheepishly asked. The windows went jet black in a matter of seconds and I thanked the truck. I took off my jacket, gloves, hat, scarf and all of my clothes, except for my socks and undergarments. I examined the sparkly, hot red dress I bought and I absolutely loved it. The cab was big enough for me to stand, albeit hunched over. I gathered the dress on the ground and put my feet in, pulling it up to my waist. Then I pulled it up to my arms, putting my arms in the straps as I let it flow down my body. It went wonderfully with my figure. For once, I was grateful to have a lean body, because this dress looked perfect on me.

I got out of Ironhide and closed the door, then patted it. My jacket and all of my winter clothing was left in his backseat and I just noticed was still wearing thick white socks and I couldn't possibly go in boots with this dress. It would completely ruin the outfit. Nicole appeared by my side in no time.

"Here, I got these on a sale, they'll… Oh my God, the dresses are perfect!" She said, grabbing my dress by the end and touching the material, liking the softness of the fabric and cotton ends. "Ooh, it's good. Here take these." She took a box which contained two pairs of identical Santa hats, and under them, white, sparkly high heels.

"Um… Nicole, this isn't really my thing." I said, though I did put the hat on, that was my thing. Heels, on other hand… not so much.

"I know, I know, they're not mine either, but Bee suggested it and I didn't want to be the only one wearing them… So these are like a present! From me to you!" She grinned. I let out a coo, in order to match her personality and to not seem asocial, and we hugged. She was wearing sneakers and so we both got into Ironhide and changed our footwear. We took our socks off and put on the white, shiny, sparkly heels.

Honestly, when I stood out of Ironhide, I felt pleasurably weird. Whatever that meant. Wearing heels this tall was foreign to me, but it felt good. Nicole and I looked at each other. We were both very nicely built, though I had more muscle on me, but we were both in the terms 'hot'. We smiled at each other and got each other by the hand. We looked like twins, for goodness sake. It was funny how warm and open she was to people and how accepting she was. I really liked that about her and that was one of the main things that got me into being close to her in a matter of days.

Both of us were wearing the same red dresses with fluffy cotton on the ends, white high heels and red Santa hats, with a little, white fluff ball at the end. Nicole suddenly remembered something.

"Bee!" She called her guardian boyfriend, or whatever. A few short seconds after, the sound of screeching tires echoed through the base as Bumblebee raced towards us. The yellow Camaro was coming onto us at a great speed, and just when I started lightly pulling on Nicole's hand to move her away, Bumblebee drifted to a stop just in front of us, ending with an engine rev. "Showoff." She smiled at him and rolled her eyes. "I brought this awesome makeup in my bag, I'm going to put some on you…"

"I… don't really wear makeup." I shyly said.

"Don't worry, it's just for one night, we'll take it off later." She said as she started powdering and putting the eyeshadow on my crease. She was already dolled-up, which I failed to notice. After an annoying 5 minutes of standing, she made me sit on Bumblebee's hood. For another 25 minutes she did my whole face and even perfumed me. Crazy Nicole. But she's grown on me, what can I say? You don't find that many positive and good-natured people.

We got each other by the hand again and moved to the main room with Bumblebee slowly driving behind us. Bumblebee revved his engine extremely loud, making everyone cuss a bit and look in his direction. Nicole and I froze, because everyone started looking at us. Nicole actually whacked his hood.

"You!" She barked. He backed up away from her in mock fear. This really pissed her off.

"I'm sorry!" His radio sang. The base laughed and Will came towards us.

"Wow, Mel, I didn't know you had it in you. You really look nice." He smiled. I smiled back and bowed my head. Nicole stopped bashing at Bumblebee and came back to me.

"Come on, let's open up the Christmas presents!" She excitedly said.

"Let's go!" I returned the enthusiasm and we moved towards the Christmas tree with all the presents tucked neatly beneath it. I saw three strange women standing near the tree, all in black leather suits. I moved towards them while Nicole went wherever. "Hey, there." I greeted the three ladies. "I'm Melissa, who are you?" I smiled.

"Don't you recognize us?" One of them asked. I shook my head and made an apologetic face.

"It's Elita One, Chromia and Arcee?" Another said. That seemed to click in my mind. They were wearing shirts of the same color as their motorbike paint, oddly enough.

"Oh, so you're the owners of the bikes?" I asked with a smile.

They laughed at me. "No, we are the bikes." Elita One said.

Uh-huh.

"Right…" I said, searching for a way to move away from them.

"Yeah, but Ratchet made us holoforms, so that we could blend in with the humans." I think Arcee said it.

"Oh." I said. This would need a lot of thinking. Like, what are holoforms to begin with? All of a sudden, Ron came and stood next to… Chromia, I think it was, judging by the blue shirt she wore under the black leather jacket. They moved some distance away from the rest of us to talk in private.

"Everyone!" Nicole hollered, making everyone's heads turn towards her. "I have a special surprise!" She said as she held her hands behind her back. Soldiers that stood behind her back suddenly looked at her back and started moving away from her, because they obviously saw what she was hiding behind her back. I wondered what she hid behind her. Arcee, Elita and I backed up as well, following the trend, as for some reason, Chromia and Ron were too deep into their talk and were completely unfazed by what was going on. By the looks on their faces, they were talking about something very serious. I think Ron was explaining something to her.

Out of nowhere, Nicole pulled out a small branch with some green plant sticking out at the end of it, along with two red balls on it.

"Mistletoe!" She squealed, I grinned and the base laughed. Realization seemed to dawn, as I saw her put the mistletoe right above Ron and Chromia.

Oh.

Oh, no.

Why does everything just have to be so… complicated?

"Come on guys, you know what to do." Someone said, though by the looks of it, this someone was smirking. He was lean, incredibly attractive, tall and muscular. I haven't seen him before, but he had a deep voice and short black hair, but not like Ron's. He had blue eyes, a silver jacket and jeans. And did I mention he was incredibly attractive? But I didn't care about him. I cared about Ron and whether he was going to kiss Chromia. But I was just starting to catch feelings for Ron… Why did Nicole have to put the mistletoe right above them? Why couldn't she just put it above herself and her car boyfriend instead?

"Who's that?" I asked Arcee as I forcefully smiled, trying to hide my insecurity and anxiety. I prayed to God that Ron wouldn't kiss Chromia. I liked Ron more than I realized. My heart started beating more quickly as I couldn't stand the waiting around and seeing what was going to happen.

"Oh, that's Sideswipe. You can call him Sides." Arcee said.

"If he gives you the permission to, though." Elita chuckled.

This was all a joke to them. Nobody took this seriously!

"Come on, you two, we haven't got all day!" Nicole said as she was bored of holding the branch. More soldiers chuckled around them.

Ron and Chromia looked at each other and shrugged. I could just lipread from Ron's lips 'this doesn't change anything' as she moved in and kissed him on the lips.

My heard sank as everybody around them clapped and wooed. I felt ill, because I knew I felt something for him. Now, I couldn't deny it.

Was I really in love?

I didn't get to answer my own question as I silently looked their way, seeing him standing still. He didn't kiss her back. Their kiss broke and I heard whistles and claps and I saw Ron looking at me. The soldiers scattered somewhere and nobody seemed to pay attention to us anymore. Arcee and Elita left somewhere with that Sides dude.

"Melissa…" He said as he approached me, his tone almost apologetic.

"Don't. Just, don't. I don't need your excuses." I put a hand in front of myself. I moved towards Ironhide.

"Do you really think I did this on purpose? They made me!" He justified himself.

"And you just couldn't say no, now, could you?" I glared at him as my vision blurred from the tears. I wouldn't let them fall. Not in front of him. How could he kiss her? Maybe he never felt anything for me after all. Maybe all of this was just a farce. Perhaps, it was just all in my head.

"What is it with you? You sound like you actually care." He said, raising his eyebrow at me.

"Because I do!" I yelled at him, but it went unnoticed on the base. My tongue was quicker than my brain.

"Mel…" He softly said and took a step towards me.

"Leave me alone. I need to be alone." I took a step back, grabbing Ironhide's door handle. I couldn't even think straight. "Right now, I think I trust Ironhide more than I do you." I opened the door and looked at him once more as tear escaped my eye, leaving a black trace of wet mascara on my cheek. What I just said visibly hurt him. Maybe. I turned around too quickly to notice.

I got inside Ironhide and let the stream of a tears fall from my eyes onto my lap and dress.

"Oh, Ironhide…" I moaned. "I don't know how to react around him anymore… Please, can you talk to me or something? I need someone to hear me out." An assertive purr of the engine told me to go on, that he was really listening. "It's Ron, Ironhide. One time we're having fun in the snow and laughing, then we're at the mall and he almost kisses me and now he's gone kissing with some holo-something motorbike human named Chromia! I don't know what to do!" I whined to him.

He didn't say a thing, but I knew he was listening.

"Why me? Why do I always have feelings for complete idiots?"

"He asked you to stay, but you wouldn't listen. You left before he had the chance to say the words that would mend the things that were broken. But now, it's far too late, you've gone away."

"No… It wasn't like that and you know it." I told him.

"Every night you cry yourself to sleep, thinking why does this happen to me, why does every moment have to be so hard…?"

"I know, but… why did he do that? I thought he cared about me…" I cried more. I got the tissues out of the glove compartment, but sat in the back of the cab, trying to rub out the black mascara trails on my hands and cheeks. I was so foolish, falling for this random guy who probably never even felt anything for me.

"Hard to believe it."

"It doesn't matter, it's over." Whatever 'it' was, I didn't want to have anything to do with Ron anymore. He should just be my guardian if he has to be, and that's it.

"It's not over tonight. Just him one more chance, he'll make it right. He may not make it through the night, he won't go home without you."

"He can't go home without me, because he's my guardian." I retorted as I blew my red nose into a tissue. My eyes were starting to sting so much as mascara probably fell in my eye too. I tried picking it out with my finger, even though it wasn't really hygienic.

"Of all the things he felt, but never really shown."

"Well, he's clearly shown it for her." What does she have that I don't? Is it because she's his coworker, or something?

"It's over between them… and now she knows it." A radio station said.

"Fine, if you say so. But, I'm still going to be wary around him." I don't want to get hurt. "I don't want to be-"

"I don't want to be the brokenhearted girl…"

I smiled despite myself. "Yeah. You're like a mind reader, you know that, Ironhide?"

A purr of the engine greeted me in turn.

"Yeah… Thanks, big guy. I owe you one. You always manage to lighten up my day, no matter how ugly or sad it is."

"Glad I could be of service." The radio said as I yawned.

"Can you just please take me home? I… want to drink some tea. I'm… not feeling well." Ironhide turned his engine on as we moved out. "Thank you, Ironhide."

"Anytime."

Songs:

Maroon 5 - Won't Go Home Without You (although I changed some minor lyrics to my satisfaction)

Beyoncé – Broken-Hearted Girl