A/N: Happy Monday and Happy Holiday Season! I couldn't let the Christmas season go by without including at least one holiday chapter in a fic - even if it's set in the summer. I really hope you all enjoy it!

The rainy weather seemed to last longer than necessary. Video games could only entertain Kim, Vanessa, and Hailey for so long, so they went out on the weekend to buy a few things to keep them busy until the rain passed. They looked for a few things they used to do while at school together like coloring books and word searches and also grabbed a couple puzzles.

"Will this even get them off the TV?" Kim asked.

"I highly doubt it," Hailey breathed as they walked up the stairs together. It seemed like every night the guys came home from work, they gathered around Jay and Mouse's apartment to play some sort of game that required lots of yelling out of competitiveness and many bottles of beer.

She did like watching Jay play. She couldn't quite figure out why, but watching him be so focused on something that seemed so silly was kind of cute. If he sat in his recliner, she'd lean against his legs as he played. When he laid on the ground with a pillow once, she sat on the backs of his thighs to trace random letters and patterns along his back. There was something calming about it despite how loud he tended to get with his friends.

Sure enough, when Vanessa pushed open the guys' apartment door, all four of them were sitting in the living room playing their latest game.

Kim rolled her eyes and said, "Your place?"

Hailey hummed and said, "Yup." She led the way into the apartment and asked, "Anyone want some wine?"

"I'd love some," Vanessa said while walking to settle on the couch, "I'd also love for the rain to stop. I miss the sun."

Hailey shot her a small smile and said, "Getting restless?"

Vanessa sighed and said, "After your little adventure with Jay, Kevin said he'd take me on a sunset date too, but the rain keeps getting in the way."

"That'll be so fun once you do go, though," Kim assured. She caught the bag of chocolate Hailey tossed her way then sat next to the coffee table. "They're so romantic."

"I'll actually agree with that," Hailey said on her way to join them with the three glasses of moscato in her hands.

Vanessa teasingly gasped and said, "You do? You think something is romantic? I'm shocked."

Hailey rolled her eyes and said, "So funny."

Kim laughed softly and slid her the coloring book she'd picked out at the store. "He's wearing you down."

Hailey couldn't help but smile as she settled on the floor with her friends and breathed, "Yeah. He is."

Vanessa hugged her to her side and said, "I'm so happy for you. This is all so freaking cute."

Hailey waved her off with a laugh and said, "Thank you, but you don't need to do all that. It's not like this is my first relationship."

"No, but it's your first real one," Kim said. She popped a small chocolate bar in her mouth then asked, "How deep are your feelings?"

"Sorry?" Hailey said, pulling the coloring pencils closer so she could start on her page filled with flowers.

"Are you…" Kim trailed off to look at Vanessa.

Vanessa smiled slightly and touched Hailey's arm before asking softly, "Do you love him?"

Hailey blushed instantly.

She'd decided that yes, she did have very deep feelings for Jay that resembled love. She had also decided, though, that she wasn't ready to tell anyone yet - Jay included. She'd never really been in love before, at least not the real kind, so she wanted a chance to soak this all in and evaluate her feelings logically. She also knew that she wanted Jay to hear the words from her when she was ready to say them. If he heard them from Kim or Vanessa or even one of the guys, she didn't know if she'd be able to survive that.

So she took a deep breath and shrugged, but still clearly had a smile on her face. "I have…strong feelings for him, yeah," she softly admitted, "I'm just trying to figure them out."

Kim smiled and said, "Very fair answer."

Vanessa began coloring her pages filled with various shapes and asked, "Any thoughts on how he feels?"

"Um," Hailey trailed off and focused on coloring a big daisy in the middle of her page. "He likes me," she eventually said as she started using a blue color pencil, "He said that. We both said it, actually, when we were watching the sunset that night."

Kim's eyes widened and she said, "So we're just keeping that a secret like it means nothing?"

Hailey laughed slightly and shrugged before looking up. "In my defense, you both were a bit distracted."

"We would have stopped to listen to you!" Vanessa said, "This is huge! You have feelings for a guy, and he has feelings too!"

"And not just any guy," Kim added, "A good guy! Jay! You and Jay have real feelings for each other."

Hailey's cheeks blushed red again, but now she couldn't help but smile through it. "Yeah," she admitted, "We do."

Vanessa squealed and hugged her tightly before Kim joined them a second later.

"You did it," Vanessa said softly, "You let a guy in, and it's worth it. You're worth it."

Kim nodded and said, "All the happiness in the world. It's perfect."

"Oh, we're not perfect," Hailey quickly argued, "We are far from perfect, trust me."

Kim rolled her eyes, but still seemed to nod as she said, "But you're perfect for each other, and that's all that matters."

Hailey smiled again and nodded. "I guess so," she said.

Vanessa clapped her hands quickly before holding up her glass of wine and saying, "To Hailey for finally finding a guy that's worth her time."

"And for having feelings that are much deeper than just 'hey, this guy is decent and cute,'" Kim added.

Shaking her head, Hailey rolled her eyes and said, "You two are ridiculous, but thank you." She tapped her glass to theirs, took a long sip of wine, then added, "Jay is cute, though."

"That goes without saying," Kim said through a laugh, "They all are. We got lucky."

"Hell yes," Vanessa said, "I love that for us. Three hot girls with three hot boyfriends. We're amazing."

Hailey laughed and shook her head again, though she couldn't help but agree: they were amazing.

Jay wasn't into coloring with Hailey, but he was interested in doing her puzzle with her, so they set it up in his living room on his beer pong table and spent their nights working on it even if it wasn't raining outside. Most of the time, they stayed rather quiet for a good chunk of time before talking softly about their days or whatever crossed their minds. It was peaceful even if Mouse decided to join them and accidentally throw them off their tracks for a little bit.

"What's your favorite holiday?" Jay asked Hailey on what was sure to be the last night of them working on their space puzzle.

Hailey glanced up and answered, "Christmas, you?"

"Thanksgiving," he replied while examining two pieces of dark navy that looked incredibly similar to each other.

Hailey smiled and asked, "Why?"

"My mom's an awesome cook," Jay answered easily. Once he stuck one of the pieces in the correct spot, he looked up to meet her eyes and said, "She used to crush it. We'd have some family over and just eat all day while watching the parades and football. It was a lot of fun."

"Sounds like it," Hailey said, her smile widening, "She does make some really good food."

Jay chuckled and said, "You wanna come over for dinner tomorrow? I'm pretty sure she said she wanted to make nachos. I'm not sure why she's suddenly craving them, but I'm not going to complain. She goes all out for Mexican food."

"Oh, really?" Hailey said with a laugh, "Okay then, I don't know how I can pass that up."

Jay smiled and nodded. Looking back at the puzzle, he said, "St. Patrick's Day was always a ton of fun too since we're Irish, but Thanksgiving just felt extra special. What's up with you and Christmas?"

Choosing not to answer right away and instead focus on the puzzle at hand, Hailey thought over her answer. It might have seemed basic to say Christmas because everyone said they loved getting gifts. There was also, of course, the decorations and the food, and those were all great, but she knew they weren't the reasons behind it being her favorite holiday.

"It's the one holiday my parents didn't ruin," she said softly, "I don't ever remember them fighting on Christmas or even Christmas Eve. I don't know if they ever even fought during the entire month of December. It was nice." She easily placed three pieces together to form Saturn and smiled down at it, relieved she'd finally figured it out.

Jay's eyes didn't watch her movements the entire time, though, and his hand twitched on his lap before reaching over to squeeze her thigh. She looked up to see him staring at her, so she blushed and looked away again only for him to drop a couple puzzle pieces and set his free hand on the side of her face so that she had no chance but to meet his gaze.

"I'm really sorry to hear that," he began softly, "But also, whenever you say something like that, it reminds me of how strong you are. Have I told you that before?"

Hailey weakly laughed and felt tears come to her eyes. "Once or twice," she breathed.

Jay knowingly smiled at her before leaning forward to kiss her cheek softly. "You wanna tell me about any of it?" he asked.

Hailey tilted her head into his hand and considered his question. He could have meant two things: tell him about Christmas or tell him about all the holidays her parents had destroyed because they were drunk or fighting or both.

Something about the puzzle in front of her made her want to tell him about the bad memories. They were sitting there in his living room with no other people around. It felt like the safest place to be vulnerable with him, and she realized even more than that that she really did want to tell him some of those bad memories. Maybe talking about the bad stuff would make room for more good stuff, and she wanted a lot more good stuff with Jay than she wanted to hold onto the bad family stuff.

So she set her puzzle pieces to the side and sat back on the couch to take a deep breath.

"It wasn't every year on every other holiday, but it was a lot of them," she began softly, "I think it just depended on if there was a lot of stress surrounding the diner or money or whatever parents worry about."

Jay smiled slightly and nodded.

"My dad drank a lot, and so he'd just go out without telling my mom. It's how he dealt with his stress. My mom obviously didn't like that, so there'd be fights when he'd come home at ungodly hours. When we were really little, they'd try to hide them, but as we got older, they didn't care. It was like they knew they'd already ruined our childhood, so no point in hiding it any longer." She sighed and sat back further on the couch to pull her legs up underneath her. "The worst would be when he hit her. Holiday pictures aren't fun to take or look at later when your mom's hiding a black-eye underneath purple eyeshadow. She never figured it out."

Jay's head tilted to the side and his mouth opened, but then he settled on closing it and nodding.

"What?" Hailey asked quietly.

Jay shook his head and dug his fingers into his sweatpants.

"Ask," Hailey breathed, "Tell me."

Jay let out a breath and Hailey could tell he really didn't want to say whatever was on his mind. His jaw seemed to twitch, and he looked like he was about to rip a hole into his pants by how much he was pulling at them. Finally, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath before asking, "Did you ever figure it out?"

She didn't need him to clarify.

In truth, she did, though she didn't need to use her 'skills' often. She could remember three times throughout her high school experience and living with her dad that resulted in her having to cover bruises or marks on her face with makeup. The first time, she knew it looked pretty bad, but the Internet was a great place for finding any information she needed. She learned all about color correcting, so that the next time she needed to hide her bruised cheek, she was actually proud of herself.

Thankfully, once she got to college, she no longer needed to hide bruises on her face…she just began hiding them on her neck. Vanessa had watched her do it a couple times before asking how she was so good at it. It was like now with Jay – she'd felt comfortable and safe enough with her that she let the truth out. It'd felt pretty good to admit.

So she nodded and bit her lip. "Yeah," she said softly, "I figured it out."

Jay's eyes flashed in anger before his face seemed to crumple right in front of her. Shaking his head, he looked down at his hands and whispered, "I wish you never had to."

Hailey nodded slightly and moved closer to him. Brushing her hand over his hair, she said, "I know, but it happened and…and I'm okay now. Well, I'm not perfect, but I'm also happy now. Vanessa helped and Kim and you."

Jay glanced up at her with a small smile on his face and said, "Yeah?"

"Yeah," Hailey repeated softly. She leaned closer to kiss him slowly before resting her forehead to his and saying, "More than you know."

His smile widened and he nodded. Pulling her into his arms, he took a deep breath and kissed the side of her head.

Hailey let him hold her for a moment because she knew he needed it more than she did. She set her head on his shoulder and smiled to herself as his hands rubbed over her back until he sat back.

Clearing his throat, Jay took a second to pull himself together then said, "I think we need to finish this puzzle."

"I think so too," Hailey said with a soft laugh. She scooted back closer to the puzzle and said, "What should we do when we finish it?"

"Frame it and hang it for sure," Jay answered as he quickly put two pieces together.

"Where?" Hailey asked.

"We can put it in my room," Jay said, "I don't know if it'll match yours."

Hailey laughed and shook her head before returning to work on the puzzle as well.

It only took them another half an hour to finish, but once they did, they were both rather proud of what they'd done. Hailey took a picture of it and said, "Well worth our time."

Jay laughed and stood up. "Completely," he said. Clapping his hands together, he said, "I'm gonna pick it up. Take a picture of this."

Hailey raised an eyebrow and said, "No, you won't."

"Yes, I will," Jay chuckled. He stared at the puzzle as he debated what to do then slipped his hands under the edge.

"Jay," Hailey warned.

"I've got it," he said before slowly straightening up with the puzzle hanging from his grip. "Hey!" he shouted through a laugh, "Look at that!"

Hailey couldn't help but laugh with him as she took his requested picture of him holding the puzzle.

"Send it to my mom," Jay said.

"You're so weird," Hailey laughed, but happily did as he asked.

When she'd first gotten Cathleen's phone number, Jay had no idea. Cathleen had approached her a couple weeks before when Hailey was waiting for Jay to go to the bathroom before they left their house. She passed her a small piece of paper and whispered, "If you ever need anything." Hailey had been shocked at first, but appreciated the offer. She managed to get the number in her phone without Jay knowing, but he found the piece of paper on her nightstand two days later and asked her about it. Since then, he hadn't mentioned it until now. She wasn't sure if he was bothered by the fact, but based on the way he was smiling and wanting to see the text she sent, she doubted it.

"All right, how do I put it down?" Jay mumbled as he stared at the puzzle in his hands.

"I have no idea," Hailey said, holding back a laugh, "You're the one who picked it up."

"I know, but now I'm feeling like it was a mistake," Jay chuckled. He stared at it for a moment then tried flipping it onto the table only for it to shatter the second it hit the surface. "Dammit," he whispered.

Hailey let out a loud laugh and fell back onto the couch. The pieces were everywhere, their hard work was completely gone, but it was the funniest thing she'd seen in days. Jay started cleaning up all the pieces while swearing underneath his breath, and it just spurred on her laughter.

"There goes that," he mumbled once all the pieces were back on the table.

"Do you want to fix it?" she asked as she settled down.

"No," Jay sighed, "We already did it. We can just get another if we want."

"Mhmm," Hailey hummed while looking at him. She could feel another giggle bursting at her lips because of the disappointment evident on his face, but tried stifling it with her fist.

Jay looked up at her then said, "Really? You're still laughing?"

To his disappointment, she laughed in response and said, "I'm sorry. I'm really sorry."

A smile slowly spread on Jay's face before he began laughing with her and sat next to her on the couch. "I guess it is funny," he admitted.

"Very," Hailey said and turned toward him. Another laugh slipped from her lips and she said, "Sorry."

Jay chuckled and kissed her quickly before saying, "You suck."

"I do not," she argued through her laughter.

Jay shook his head and pulled her on his lap. She was still laughing as he kissed her, and she was doing a horrible job at stopping it. Even as he laughed with her and tried distracting her with soft kisses down her throat, she struggled to quiet down. It was just a reminder of how deep her feelings really were for him: she loved what he did to her and how he physically felt whenever they were together, but she loved how happy he made her feel even more. She liked who she was when she was with him, and she couldn't ever imagine not being that person. She wanted Jay around for a long time.

Hailey loved sleeping in the same bed as Jay. He was warm and sturdy and his arms were really good pillows when they weren't holding her tightly to his chest. His cuddles were the perfect cure to nightmares and insomnia, and she loved when he'd crawl back into the bed after sneaking out for a bathroom break and sleepily tug her close to hold as he fell back asleep.

However, she also loved sleeping on her own. There was something about sleeping in the middle of the mattress that felt very freeing. She had so much room to spread her arms and even slept sideways every once in a while. It was one of her favorite ways to spend the night.

It felt even better when she was woken up by fingers running through her hair.

"Vanessa?" she mumbled as she opened her eyes.

"Sorry, not Vanessa, just your boyfriend."

Hailey sleepily smiled and blinked until she could focus in on Jay. "It's okay," she said while sitting up, "You're much - what the hell are you wearing?"

Jay chuckled and looked down at his plaid pajama pants and Christmas sweater. He shrugged then said, "It's July 25th."

Hailey raised an eyebrow and said, "Okay?"

"Christmas in July," Jay explained.

The air got stuck in Hailey's lungs, and she breathed, "What?"

"Come on," Jay said while standing up from her mattress, "I made breakfast."

"You…you what?" Hailey asked as she stumbled out of bed. Grabbing Jay's hand, she said, "What the hell is happening?"

He laughed and simply tugged her out of her room. When he pulled her from the apartment, she gasped at the Christmas wreath hanging on his door.

"Are you serious?" she whispered.

"Okay, close your eyes," Jay said before standing behind her. Placing one hand on his doorknob and the other over her eyes, he said, "Are you ready?"

Her heart was racing, and she felt extremely discombobulated about everything that was happening so soon after waking up, but she just nodded and closed her eyes against his palm.

Jay kissed the top of her head then opened the door to lightly push her inside. She was met with the smell of waffles and hot chocolate and the soft sound of Christmas music before he said, "Open," and released his hand.

Blinking slowly, Hailey took a second to register the decorations in the dim apartment, but once she did, she couldn't believe what she was seeing. Jay had strung strands of rainbow lights around the apartment, set up a Christmas tree in the corner, and made a pile of waffles that was now sitting on the counter next to two mugs of hot chocolate.

"Jay," she whispered as tears came to her eyes, "You did this?"

"Yeah," he said softly and came to stand next to her, "You said Christmas was your favorite holiday, so I thought it'd be fun since we both have the day off. That okay with you?"

Hailey nodded quickly and spun to hug him. "It's perfect," she whispered in his ear.

He smiled and kissed the side of her head. Pulling back, he said, "I thought we could hang some ornaments and maybe bake some cookies if you'd like."

Hailey sniffled out a laugh and said, "You're crazy, but I love it. This is…this is really sweet. Thank you."

Jay's smile widened and he brushed her hair behind her ear. "Wanna eat breakfast?" he asked.

"Yes, it smells delicious," Hailey said softly as she settled at the counter.

"Hot chocolate isn't spiked since it's so early," Jay explained and slid a mug closer to her, "But if you want to spike it, I'm not gonna judge."

Hailey laughed and took a sip of it. "Spike it with what?" she asked.

"Baileys," Jay said as he filled a plate with waffles for her. Passing her the butter and syrup, he said, "My mom actually has this recipe for it-"

"Baileys or hot chocolate?" Hailey asked.

Jay chuckled and said, "Both, actually, but I was talking about hot chocolate."

"Your mom has a recipe for baileys?" Hailey clarified, beginning to prepare her waffles.

"Yeah," Jay laughed. He grabbed his own plate and sat next to her. "I think it was actually my grandpa's. It's really good, though. We'll have to make it some time."

Hailey smiled and said, "I'd like that."

Jay winked at her and began eating.

Hailey took a bite of waffles herself, but couldn't look away from Jay. There was something about him randomly planning a 'date' day for them that was super sweet. It had to have cost virtually nothing, as well, and there was something even more special about that.

When they'd spent Fourth of July together, it was fun as they celebrated with their friends by eating too much junk food and drinking too much beer. They all watched the fireworks from the roof like they'd planned, but, at the time, things were still tense between Kim and Vanessa, so, while being drunk helped, it wasn't as stress-free as Hailey would have liked.

This felt stress-free.

Even when she started sweating while putting ornaments on the tree because Jay had her go change into winter pajamas like him. She was laughing the entire time and couldn't remember the last time Jay had looked this happy either. She swore it was the magic of Christmas. He told her all about the random ornaments he and Mouse had collected over the years. There were a lot of plain, plastic bulbs that his mom had bought the two of them, but there were also a lot of random items or silly ones that had inside jokes embedded within them. It all made Hailey that much more excited to really decorate for Christmas in her apartment with Vanessa.

In their dorms, they had a tiny tree barely two feet tall that they liked to set up along with some lights they would hang around the room. They had a few random Christmas decorations like signs and snowmen that they also set out, but it wasn't anything crazy. This year was their chance to go all out, and Hailey was thankful that Vanessa loved the holiday just as much as she did.

Just as they had finished decorating the tree, Hailey took a step back to stare at it and asked, "Do you have a star or an angel?"

Jay looked up from putting a hook in an ornament and hesitated. "Um," he said quietly as he placed the last ornament on the tree, "We do, but it's Mouse's from his parents, so-"

"That's okay," Hailey said quickly and waved him off, "I totally get that."

Jay shot her a small smile and said, "Thanks."

Hailey smiled back and sat in the recliner. "He told me your family helped him out a lot when they died," she said softly.

"Yeah," Jay replied, "My parents really like him. They stepped up when they didn't have to. Even my dad, it was kind of shocking, honestly."

Hailey raised an eyebrow and said, "Really?"

"Yeah," Jay said while letting out a breath. He came to sit on the arm of the chair and said, "He got really protective of Mouse and helped him figure a lot of the money stuff out. I'll admit, I got a little jealous because I didn't get why he was treating some other kid way better than he'd ever treated me, but Mouse needed it."

Hailey nodded and set a hand on his thigh. Thinking back to the day she'd spent in the hospital with Jay's family, she said softly, "Your dad is really protective."

Jay smiled and looked down at his hands. Nodding, he said, "Yeah, he is."

Hailey chewed her lip then said, "He…he told me he'd never go to my dad's diner."

Jay's eyes widened and he looked up to meet her gaze. "Are you serious?" he asked.

Hailey nodded again and rubbed her hand in small circles. "It's okay, really," she said, "I kind of liked it – at least, it was nice to hear that someone else cared. He wasn't just swearing off Greek food, he was saying he didn't support him for what he'd done. I hadn't heard that before, especially not from another parent."

Jay softened and breathed, "Oh."

Hailey shrugged then added, "I know he's rather rough around the edges, but he does seem to care underneath all of that."

Jay smiled slightly and nodded. "Yeah," he said softly, "He does care; he just has a weird way of showing it sometimes."

Hailey grabbed his hand to squeeze it tightly and said, "I really like your family. Thank you for letting me meet them."

Jay kissed her forehead softly and said, "Thanks for being willing to meet them."

She caught the undertones of the sentence, and her stomach sank slightly. She didn't like the idea of a girlfriend not wanting to meet her boyfriend's family. Even when she dated Garrett, she'd gone to see his family a few times. They weren't bad, she liked his younger sister, but they weren't like Jay's. They viewed her as a girlfriend, an outsider, and didn't exactly welcome her with open arms. Thankfully, Jay's family wasn't like that at all.

She kissed the side of his arm and rubbed her thumb over his knee before deciding to return to their date, not wanting Jay to get too lost in his memories that she unintentionally messed up his planned day, so she asked, "What's next? You said cookies?"

"Yeah," Jay answered and got off the recliner. Walking into the kitchen, he asked, "Do you have a good sugar cookie recipe?"

Hailey jokingly scoffed and said, "No. I'd just look online if I needed one."

"All right," Jay chuckled and pulled his phone out as he leaned against the counter.

Together, they slowly made the cookies together. Jay needed to continuously reread the recipe, but Hailey thought it was cute rather than annoying. She liked watching his face scrunch up as he tried figuring out the rather easy directions. It was like she found something he wasn't great at, and it brought her a lot more joy than she imagined it would – especially when he needed to turn the apartment lights on to read his measuring spoons better.

When they finally had dough mixed together in the bowl, Hailey stepped around Jay to pinch off a piece and toss it in her mouth.

"Whoa, hey, what the hell?" Jay asked, "You can't-"

"Just did," Hailey interrupted with a smirk, "And I don't regret it."

"You could die," Jay said.

Hailey laughed and pinched off another small bit. "Here," she said, "Open up."

"No, I don't eat raw eggs," Jay said while taking a step backwards.

"Oh, shut up," Hailey laughed. She reached forward to grab his arm with her free hand then pushed up on her tiptoes so she could press the cookie dough to his lips.

"No," Jay argued despite the laughter that was bubbling within him.

"You can't say no to me," Hailey joked and closed the distance between them. Smiling wider, she said, "Eat it. It's good for you."

"That's such a lie!" Jay laughed.

Hailey shook her head and said, "Nope. It's good for the soul. I swear to you."

Jay smirked and nudged her hand away from him with his nose. "No," he repeated.

"You're just scared," Hailey sighed and stepped back. She ate the piece of cookie dough and hummed softly. "Delicious," she said.

"You do you, but I'm not cleaning up your vomit later," Jay said as he began covering the cookie dough with plastic wrap.

"You would," Hailey said. She stepped around him to start washing off everything they'd used to make the dough.

Jay smirked and shook his head.

"You would," she repeated, "And I'd do it for you, promise."

"You sure you want to make that promise?" Jay asked with a laugh.

"Of course," Hailey said. She turned to watch him set the cookie dough in the fridge then grabbed the beater from the mixer. "Last chance," she said while holding it out, "There's a little bit of dough on here. You know you want to."

Jay raised an eyebrow and said, "I'll get sick."

"You will not!" Hailey laughed exasperatedly, "Just eat it. You'll be fine. If you get sick, I'll clean it up, promise."

Jay shook his head, but still leaned forward to lick a chunk of dough from the beater she was holding.

Hailey smiled and said, "Good, right?"

Jay chuckled and shook his head again before saying quietly, "Yeah, it's good."

Hailey patted his side then tossed the beater in the sink with the spatula they'd been using. "I'm glad I got you to loosen up. You need to live a little," she said.

Jay laughed harder then grabbed her around the waist. Spinning her around the kitchen, he said, "I do not need to loosen up. It's a known fact that you're not supposed to eat raw cookie dough."

"Oh, bah humbug you Scrooge," Hailey said.

Jay gasped softly then brought her to the couch just to drop her on it and climb on top of her. "Take it back," he said.

Hailey smiled up at him and said, "Nope."

Jay tickled her sides and shouted, "Take it back! I'm not a Scrooge."

Hailey laughed and kicked against him. "Fine, fine!" she yelled until he slowed down, "You're not a Scrooge."

"Thank you," Jay chuckled and sat back on his heels to look down at her.

"You're just a Grinch," Hailey said.

"That's it," Jay laughed and began tickling her again, "You're being rude!"

Hailey's laughter filled the apartment as she fought against his hands darting along her sides. "You suck!" she yelled and gasped for breath.

Jay hummed and smiled down at her. His hands slowed along her sides until he returned to sitting back. Squeezing his legs around her waist, he asked, "Will you call me a good Christmas name?"

Hailey laughed softly and asked, "Like what?"

"I don't know," Jay chuckled, "Just something better than Scrooge or Grinch or else I'll tickle you again."

"Don't," Hailey said and tried kicking against him again. Smiling, she said, "Should I call you my Ruldolph since your nose is burnt again? You really need to work on sunscreen, babe."

"Oh, ha ha, you're so funny," Jay chuckled. He poked her stomach then said, "I'm sorry my hot girlfriend distracted me from taking care of myself the other day."

"I'm hot?" Hailey teasingly asked and pushed up on her elbows.

"The hottest," Jay said, smirking down at her.

Hailey hummed then jokingly fanned herself off and said, "It's actually true. This Christmas sweater is killing me."

Jay laughed and shook his head before climbing off of her. Before she could move, he reached down to tug her sweater over her head then pulled his own off as well.

"Better?" he asked.

Hailey smiled and sat up completely. "Much," she breathed, reaching forward to tug at the waistband of his pajama pants.

Chuckling softly, Jay stepped between her legs and asked, "What're your plans?"

"My plans?" Hailey asked, her fingers ghosting along his waist, "I was thinking I could open my present."

Jay snorted and said, "That's so cheesy."

"Hey, you set up the whole Christmas in July thing," Hailey laughed, "It'd feel like a missed opportunity if neither of us made a sex joke."

Jay laughed with her and shook his head. "That's fair," he said, "But I do have a present for you if you want to open it."

Hailey hesitated and sat back on the couch. "What?" she breathed.

Jay nodded and stepped back from her. "You want to open it?" he asked.

Hailey's mouth gaped for a moment before she nodded slowly. She watched Jay go to his bedroom and worried that maybe she should come up with something to give him real quick. Then again, she hadn't even known they were going to celebrate this silly holiday, so she should hopefully be fine.

Jay returned a second later with a wrapped box in hand, a big red ribbon tied around it. He smiled and sat next to her. Setting it on her lap, he said, "Merry Christmas in July."

Hailey weakly laughed and picked up the present, listening to something shake inside. "You didn't have to get me anything," she said softly.

"It's something for the both of us," Jay said, "Promise."

Hailey slowly nodded then unwrapped the present. The second the wrapping paper was at her feet, she let out a soft laugh and looked up at him. "Really?" she asked.

"Yeah," he chuckled, "I'm sorry for breaking our last one."

Hailey laughed and turned back to the puzzle in her hands. This one wasn't of space, but of a sunset at a beach. It looked very similar to the sunset they'd watched a couple weeks before and made her heart flutter at the memory.

"It's perfect," she said softly, "I can't wait to do it."

"The colors kind of match your room too," Jay said, "We can hang it up once we finish it."

"I love it," Hailey said then kissed his cheek, "Thank you."

"You're welcome," Jay hummed.

Hailey laughed softly as she set the puzzle on the ground. She looked up at him and raised an eyebrow before climbing on his lap. "You want your present now?" she asked.

Jay laughed and grabbed her waist. "While you certainly didn't have to get me anything, I'm not going to complain."

Shaking her head, Hailey smiled and kissed him. She was reaching back to undo her bra when Jay pulled back and said, "Oh."

"Oh?" Hailey repeated.

Jay carefully pushed her off of him then hurried over to turn the lights off so the Christmas lights were the only source of light in the room again. He then grabbed his phone, and, a moment later, a video of a fireplace was playing on the TV.

"Gotta set the mood for Christmas sex," he explained.

Hailey laughed and put her hands out. "Come here, you weirdo," she said.

Jay chuckled and returned to her side just to pull her on his lap and hastily kissed her. She gasped against his lips as she tangled her fingers in his hair.

It was the best Christmas sex she'd ever had even if it was ninety degrees outside.

With Jay in her life, there were several things Hailey did that she hadn't done before: go to a wedding, drive to Michigan on a whim, celebrate Christmas in July, and roll out sugar cookies dressed in her boyfriend's t-shirt.

It felt like a much better option than putting her Christmas sweater back on given the heat outside, and she didn't regret it. It was kind of freeing and felt like she was breaking the rules by walking around in the kitchen to bake without wearing pants. If her mom could see her then, she didn't know what she'd say. It wasn't like she was Jay and not even wearing a shirt – this was fine. It was July anyways. And a holiday. There were no rules.

While the cookies baked, the two of them settled on Jay's recliner together to watch A Year Without a Santa Claus. Hailey's favorite Christmas movie was Elf, but Jay had already given her so much that she wanted him to have this. Plus, she figured they could watch her movie when everyone else came home from work – it was a good compromise. And right now, while sitting on Jay's lap, she was glad they were watching Jay's pick: he knew almost all of the lines and occasionally whispered them in her ear much to her amusement. She couldn't stop laughing when he sang the entirety of the Heat Miser's song to her and made a mental note to get him something related to the movie for Christmas when it came for real in December.

Mouse came home first just as the movie was coming to a close and yelled at them both to put on more clothes on his way to go change into his own Christmas pajamas. When he came out, he stared at the tree for a while before silently putting his big gold and silver star on the top. He shot Jay a smile and a nod once it was secure then went to start another pot of water for hot chocolate.

Hailey had invited Kim and Vanessa over to watch Elf with them, but she hadn't expected them both to show up with their boyfriends all clad in Christmas pajamas and sweaters as well. As everyone started drinking their spiked hot chocolate and began decorating the sugar cookies, she realized they had to have all been in on Jay's plan. Vanessa had braided tinsel in her hair, and Kim brought a few boxes of candy canes that Adam happily worked his way through. She was once again shocked at her boyfriend's actions. He'd pulled together the best surprise she could have asked for.

The surprise she didn't want, though, came closer to 8pm.

Everyone was rather tipsy as they debated which new Christmas movie to put on from their circle in the living room. Kim wanted to play a drinking game to a Hallmark movie while Kevin argued for something more classic like Home Alone. Hailey was trying to find even playing ground by searching for a drinking game to go along with Home Alone when her phone started buzzing in her hand.

She stared at the name on her screen and tilted her head to the side.

It couldn't have been right. She had to have been more than just tipsy if she was going to see that name on her phone.

She ended the call, but also set her phone on the ground and stared off in the distance for a moment. It was probably a butt-dial if butt-dials were still a thing with smart phones. It wasn't real.

"Hails, did you find something?" Vanessa asked before finishing her third hot chocolate. She held her mug out for Jay to refill it then grabbed another cookie to eat.

Hailey blinked slowly and looked over at her. "Sorry?" she asked.

Vanessa raised an eyebrow and repeated, "Did you find something? A game for Home Alone or even another old movie?"

"Maybe The Santa Clause has one," Adam suggested as he wiped frosting off Kim's lip with his thumb.

"Oh," Hailey breathed and picked up her phone again just to see that same name lighting up her screen.

Jay glanced over her shoulder and quietly choked on his cookie.

Mouse slapped him on the back and said, "Forget how to swallow?"

Hailey stared down at her phone and whispered, "What do I do?"

Jay worked to clear his throat then coughed out, "Answer it?"

Hailey barely nodded then tapped her thumb on the screen just as Kim leaned closer to see what was happening and gasped as well.

Lifting the phone to her ear, Hailey slowly stood up with a hand on Jay's shoulder. "Hello?" she said.

"Hailey! Hi, buttercup, are you home?"

Hailey breathed in shakily and said, "No."

"Oh, shoot, I was just getting a drink with my friend Mary Anne and figured I was close to your place. I called Michael, and he gave me your apartment number. I'm here now."

Hailey could feel everyone's eyes on her as she walked through the kitchen. She hesitated then placed a hand on the door to steady her when she looked through the peephole.

"Oh," she whispered at the sight of her mom standing outside her apartment.

A/N: What do you think? You're actually going to have to wait a couple weeks for the next chapter since I'll be focusing on Christmas for the foreseeable future, but come January 9, CWP will be back :) Until then, enjoy your holidays and I hope you all have a great start to 2023!