Lost In Purple
Chapter 33: Christmas Eve (Epilogue)
Johnny's POV
Melanie fell asleep in my lap after I grabbed her blanket from upstairs, which at this point was about four hours ago. It was kind of funny having her and Bruiser just lounging around the place as if they were little monsters we were babysitting. Evelyn even checks in on the two of them every few minutes, only to notice that Bruiser was drooling like a waterfall and has Chip help her reposition him so that he didn't flood the place. He somehow didn't wake up after the five consecutive minutes of moving his hefty ass a couple of nanometers to his right, making it so that if anyone from outside the house could look in and see his ugly face as he sleeps, they'd run away in terror. I know I could never say that out loud because Melanie would most definitely murder me, but there is absolutely no way anyone considers Bruiser to be good looking in any shape or form. Yes, he might be 'cute' when acting like a child, but he's not good looking in general.
As for Melanie, she looks beautiful like always. I don't know how she manages to mesmerize me even in her sleep, but she does. Although if I were in her shoes, I wouldn't be able to sleep because of the food that's being cooked smells like it was made in heaven. I don't think I've been this excited to eat food in years, which makes me feel accomplished that both Melanie and Evelyn agreed to cook all of this. I hope that we'll be able to do something like this many more times in the future.
The past few hours has also been filled with conversation led by Evelyn. Instead of us wanting to know more about her, she asked all about our families. Well, she asks about Chip, Javier, and Bruisers. She hasn't gotten the chance for me yet, but that's because there is a lot to Javier's story, and quite a bit to Chip's story regarding his mother.
"I'm so proud of you three! I never would have guessed you all went through that. I'm so happy you all ended up becoming such amazing young men," She soothes.
"Yeah we're all lucky we ended up being friends," Chip adds, "Things would have been different otherwise."
She stands up, presumably to go check on the food. "Well I'm glad. And I'm of course happy that you all met my little Melody too." With that waddle of hers, she perambulates to the oven and checks on the Casserole, Ham, and Turkey. The pies have been finished for a little while, and I'll admit that it's been difficult to not devour them entirely, especially since Melanie is the one who made them.
"Yeah unfortunately she was kind of forced to meet us because of our stupidity," Chip admits.
Evelyn shuts the oven and straightens her spine out of confusion. "Pardon?"
"Sorry, that sounds aggressive when out of context. As I'm sure you know, Johnny met her by coincidental chance because of a drunk student. As for Bruiser, he quite literally crossed paths with her on the second week of school, like literally collided with her. Javier and I ended up pulling he into a dumb fight we had with an other fraternity. In reality, we all met her because of dumb college drama," Chip explains.
"You two got into a fight? Like a physical one?" Evelyn gasps, only to watch both Chip and Javier nod, "Doh, you kids and your rivalries. I'd suggest making up before someone gets severely injured."
I sigh and put my hand on my forehead in slight frustration. "As much as we'd like to do that, that will depend on them wanting to listen to us, and trust me when I say that they won't."
I hear a couple of steps behind me, noticing that Evelyn is going to stand behind me, but then feel her head rest atop mine. "Oh Jonathan, there's got to be some way to make you're friends happy again."
"Nope. They were never our friends anyways," I reply unenthusiastically.
"Now why is that? I can't imagine you being someone to hate," Evelyn asks while starting to massage my head, noticing my anger beginning to rise.
"Well it's all because of this guy called Re-"
My explanation is cut off by the sudden opening of the front door, revealing Ronan who looks exhausted from his work day. His mane looks rugged and messy, and his uniform is streaked in dirt and oil. He must have had to fix a door that was absolutely destroyed.
"Oh Ronan honey, it's so good to see you!" Evelyn screams before jumping into his arms.
"OOOHkay! Calm down Lynn, you know my back has been killing my these days," Ronan grunts.
Evelyn helps him take off the jacket he has put on over his uniform, while also taking the beanie he always wears when he leaves the house. She gives him a heartwarming kiss on the cheek and guides him towards the couch next to me to rest. Their relationship is so perfect that it's not even funny.
"You doing alright Mr. Everett?" I greet.
Ronan leans back onto the couch with that fatherly groan, followed by his head, and closes his eyes. "Could be better…I'm assuming you're doing fine?"
"You guess correctly," I smirk.
He opens his eyes, and looks at Javier, Chip, and Bruiser. "I wasn't expecting to see you Mr. Worthington," He sighs, "or your…fraternity buddies."
I look down to see Melanie still sleeping soundly and chuckle. "Yeah sorry, Melanie wanted to see me again, so I surprised her by not only bringing myself, but these three idiots as well."
Javier and Chip growl with narrowed eyes. "Rude," Chip grumbles.
"Hmmmmm," He says with a slight smile, "Based off of what Melanie has told me, I can tell that that's Bruiser," He says while pointing to the giant green blob, snoring on the other couch.
"Ugh…yep. I tried to tell him to not embarrass himself, but that conversation clearly meant nothing to him," I say while putting my fingers in between my eyes. I really hope I don't put dents or something there because I've been doing by that a lot lately.
"He's fine. From what I've heard, he's a very nice young man, even if he can be a little…much. I'd also rather he catch up on his sleep before he spends his nights studying non-stop," Ronan dismisses.
Ronan then leans upwards, giving Javier and Chip his attention, who are still sitting on the couch to the left of him. "I haven't been told about you two though. Are you more of Melanie's friends?"
Javier reaches his hand out for a handshake. "Sí Señor Everett. Javier Rios, pleasure to meet you."
"Oooooooo, love the accent. Are you by chance from Hexico?" He asks.
"Yes sir. I was born there but moved here when I was very little," Javier answers.
"Cool, and you are?" Ronan asks changing his target from Javier to Chip.
Chip follows Javier's lead and reaches his hand out for a handshake as well. This time, however, it seems more casual. "Chip Goff."
I watch as Ronan gets to know Javier and Chip a little better, but I soon drift off into my own little world when I look back down to Melanie. She must have been dead tired to just sleep through all of this excitement… and that amazing smell from the kitchen. I slowly pull her up higher so that I can rest my head on hers, and close my eyes. My Scaring abilities have clearly sharpened because I can coherently hear her steady breathing along with her heartbeat that does nothing more than calm me into a meditative state. For some reason, whenever I'm this close to her, I feel the most comfortable I've ever felt in my life. All stress dissipates, all frustration vanishes, all sadness melts away like ice on a hot day.
When I open my eyes, my hearing returns to its original state, letting me understand the conversation that Javier and Chip are having with Ronan. They're talking about Ronan's job, all of which I've come to learn during my time here at the Everett's. I simply close my eyes again, and drift off into pure bliss with Melanie in my arms. It feels like I start dreaming for a little while when I see Monstropolis draped in an aura of various purples. There's a comforting breeze that lightly shakes the branches on the roadside trees, and several groups of birds fly along the gusts, making me wish that this was a view I had for the rest of my life. That dream is unfortunately halted very quickly when my senses return to hearing Ronan, Javier, and Chip, along with the sudden remembering of everything that's going to happen once school starts up.
The internship that I'm being forced to take and the relationship that I'm going to be forced into… how the hell am I going to fix this? How will I tell Melanie? Will she hate me? Will she understand? Is it going to feel like my life will end if the worst happens? I really don't know how to handle all of this at all; I couldn't be forced into a worse nightmare even if I tried. By going against my dad, I'll pretty much lose my future and the respect of my family, and by going against Melanie, I'll never be happy again. I've got one of the worst ultimatum's any monster has been faced with.
I feel a light amount of movement on my chest, causing me to open my eyes once more. Melanie looks up to me like she doesn't know what's happening, but has an epiphany after a few seconds. She moves her hands underneath my sweater, catching me by surprise when her claws graze through my fur. Like usual, her hands are freezing. "Sorry John, I didn't mean to fall asleep on you," Melanie whispers.
I don't respond, and just put my forehead against hers, lightly purring when she starts scratching my chest.
"Ah, Sleepy Beauty finally awakens," Ronan says to Melanie.
Melanie smiles, and somehow just then realizes that her father is home, jumping over into his lap. "When did you get home?! Why did nobody wake me up?!" She wonders.
"I got home just twenty minutes ago, but Mel, you get angry when people wake you up so we just let you keep sleeping," Ronan answers calmly.
Melanie scoffs. "Do you guys think I'm that much of a witch?!"
All four of us lean upwards and wave our hands from side to side, dismissing that claim while yelling, "NO NO NO!"
At that moment Bruiser jumps awake, eyes still drooping while nearly falling off the couch, flailing his arms. While Melanie jumps down to catch him, we all start laughing, clutching our chests in pain. She wraps her arms around his head apologizing on our behalf for waking him up. He grunts while rubbing his eyes.
"Man, you all haven't been getting any sleep have you?" Ronan asks.
"Nope," Chip manages to say behind his laughter, "Perks of being an MU student."
Bruiser rubs his eyes a little more before getting a kiss on his right eyeball and drowsily regaining his dumb smile. It's nice to see Melanie care this much for all of us, and I wouldn't trade her in for anybody else, even if I were offered a trillion dollars.
"Hey boys, the family will be here in just a few minutes. Be prepared for the little ones to swarm you all," Evelyn sings from the kitchen.
Both Melanie and Ronan jump to their feet and start scrambling. Ronan jumps over the couch and basically sprints to the second floor while Melanie wraps her entire body around my head. "HOLY FU- MELANIE!" I scream nearly falling backwards off the couch.
Chip grabs his head with both hands and starts shaking it. "Dude, what is happening?"
"HOW WOULD I KNOW?!" I yell back, grasping onto Melanie's hips, making sure she doesn't somehow face plant. "I'M JUST OUT HERE TRYING TO SURVIVE APPARENTLY."
I feel Melanie's head rest in between my horns, and I can only assume she has a somewhat serious, and somewhat scared expression since Bruiser looks at her in worry. "They're demons I tell you, DEMONS! I'M NOT READY! Mom, can you tell them I'm tired or something while I go to my room for the rest of the night?!"
Evelyn scoffs and roll her eyes. "Sorry boys, those two are so overly dramatic that it's not even funny. Melanie's cousins, like all little monsters, have a lot of energy whereas Melanie and Ronan do not," She states before looking to Melanie with strictness. "You will talk to them, and you will be nice to them. I also would also appreciate it if you would stay here with your friends. Understand? "
Melanie groans while constricting my breathing further. I start tapping her shoulder as if I was tapping out of a wrestling match. "Mel…Mel…Mel please."
She loosens her grip, sliding back down onto the couch with me. "Sorry."
"There's…ow…no way the rest of your family is that crazy, like there's no way their worse than mine," I state while rubbing the back of my neck.
"They're NOT. Melanie is just being dramatic," Evelyn growls from the kitchen, now taking out the casserole which blasts the house with a heavenly smell. She then switches from the disciplinary mother to the happy, bubbly mother that I've come to know. "Jonathan, there's about a half an hour left on the Turkey, it looks amazing!"
I clear my throat, trying my best to forget about the agonizing hold that Melanie had on me. "Is it golden brown?"
Evelyn takes a position next to the window of the kitchen, overlooking the front yard. "Yep, but I think it could be cooked for a little bit longer. I'm not going to lie, I'm so tempted to take it out now and have it all for myself."
A couple of loud thumps come from the staircase, revealing Ronan who looks at Melanie with a serious yet stressed look. "They're here Mel, get ready!"
"Oooooo, the Everett brethren are here?" I ask with a smirk, "Couldn't be more excited even if I tried."
"Trust us Jonathan, you're going to collapse within the next 4 hours after being around all of them," Ronan sighs, sitting on the couch next to me and Melanie.
The way they both talk about their family members is almost insulting. It's like they think they're criminals, capable of hurting us in unimaginable ways that we're previously thought to be impossible.
"Melanie, please tell me you're both over exaggerating," Javier implores.
She lets out a light chuckle. "Yeah. They're not actually bad, but it's overwhelming because there's 20 people constantly bombarding you with questions and stories and…all sorts of things."
"Thank god, now we know we can just be ourselves," Chip announces.
Evelyn shouts, "Here they come! Oh they all look so adorable!"
"Adorable?" I ask before hearing the front door open and 7 little monsters come flying in like they're coming in from recess at school. They all bounce of the walls like a dog that has got the zoomies, shouting and laughing while chasing each other. Some jump up onto the couch, giving Melanie and Ronan the biggest embraces they can muster, while others continue racing through the house, and there's one that nervously keeps their distance from all of us. I notice that they all look kind of dirty as well.
I see quite a few adults that walk in slowly after, all of them giving Evelyn hugs and all being of wolven ancestry which makes me realize that all of the men are most likely Ronan's siblings. This reminds me that Evelyn's parents passed away when she was a teenager, and has no family left. Here's to hoping she's used to that, cause if I were in her shoes, I would feel somewhat lonely and isolated. It's kind of funny as well, seeing how Ronan's siblings are all different colors of the rainbow. While Ronan is blue, the other wolves are Red, Yellow, Green, and White.
I turn my focus back to Melanie and Ronan who now have their hands full, controlling the erratic behaviors of all seven children. They all try their best to jump into their arms or use them like a jungle gyms, attempting to get as much attention as possible from them. Melanie tries her best to hide her frustration but all of us are able to pick up her subtle signals. Javier and I have one of those moments where our minds connect and we know exactly what we're thinking: Help Melanie. We stand up and walk over to her; As I take a seat, Javier stands tall over near Ronan.
"Who do we got here?" I ask while taking one of the hyperactive boys off of Melanie's head.
Melanie laughs uncomfortably and says, "That one, is Axel. He's the trouble maker."
Axel has light red fur, and a set of small horns at the top of his head. His teeth stick out of his mouth and are also all sorts of messed up, considering he has a pretty crazy side bite. "Heeey! I'm no twouble maker!" Axel shouts in response.
I laugh while setting him down gently on the couch. "It's fun causing mayhem isn't it?" I say with a smile and narrowed eyes.
Axel laughs back. "…Yeah."
"That's ok, I'm a trouble maker myself. May I ask what you do to make your cousin angry? I might join you in messing with her," I ask.
Melanie punches my shoulder, making a couple of the children laugh.
"I don't know, she just gets mad at me," Axel shrugs.
"Oh don't lie to us Axel, you know what you do. You know what, how about you go see your Auntie Evelyn, she's missed you," Melanie suggests.
Axel nods his head and leaps off the couch to charge into the kitchen. He gets picked up by Evelyn and showered by her love. I guess Evelyn feels like she's always been a part of the family.
Melanie nudges my side, directing my focus to Javier who is now carrying one of the cousins. "Now the one that Javier has is Fenix. She's the… diva, of all my cousins," Melanie says pointing to the golden wolf with a long mane that looks at Javier like he's the coolest person ever.
"Seems like she likes him," I state with a smile.
"Yeah…usually she doesn't care for people, so that's amazing to see. I think it's kind of fitting too though since she's very elegant like Jav," Melanie responds.
Melanie then points to the two children sitting in Ronan's lap. "The neon green one is Leif, he's the 'nerd,' and the grey one is Soren, he's the sporty one."
She turns her head to find one of the children over by Bruiser, and they seem to be quietly talking amongst themselves. "That's an interesting combo… then again maybe not. That one is Valdis, she's the one who lives and breathes music, she's in fact labeled a musical prodigy at the school they all attend out in the farmlands."
I kind of agree with Melanie though. Valdis is probably the odd monster out since she has black fur amongst a family of many colors, and a pair of wings that look like a bats. She has some crazy sharp claws as well, making her look almost like a wraith.
"You play the violin right?" I inquire.
Melanie nods her head. "I did a couple years ago, why do you ask?"
"Mmm, just wondering if you were the one to get her into music," I reply while crossing my arms and legs, "Anyways, why is that an interesting combo?"
"Oh, because Valdis is selectively mute," Melanie sighs due to her instant exhaustion.
"Woah what?" I ask after violently turning my head to Melanie.
"Yeah. I mean it's not like she doesn't talk, but it's very…VERY, rare for her to talk to someone outside the family. I'm just surprised she's decided to talk to the craziest one in the house," She answers. "Now where are the other two?"
I look around to see no other children, which is weird because I remember seeing a pink one and a pure white one. Melanie then points to one of her uncles with the red fur. "Oh the one in my Uncle Alden's arms, that's Taliesin, he's Axel's twin brother. You might be able to assume that since he's the pink one, he's stereotypically become the artistic one," Melanie chuckles.
I see Melanie put her hands to her cheeks and close her eyes while smiling. "Is he your favorite?" I question while raising an eyebrow. I don't really understand why Melanie would choose favorites among them all because I personally like all of them.
"Um… I mean I love them all equally, but I can say that he would make every kid seem like a demon. He's is quite possibly the most well behaved child…EVER," Melanie answers.
"Oh, yeah, makes sense. He's probably really fun for you to hang out with since you both are artists," I assume.
"Yep, but he does have some competition," Melanie states.
This surprises me. "Huh?"
Melanie looks down to the open space on the couch in between us. There's a tiny white wolven monster that's nervously shaking, doing nothing while everyone else is happily reuniting. I can see that her eyes are a pearlescent white that almost make her look blind, and she has surprisingly long, skinny antlers that are spotlessly clean compared to her dirty fur. She wears a lovely white dress that reaches her knees, which heavily contrasts the black fur underneath her eyes that makes it look like she's been crying tears of black. I'm not going to lie, this child is the scariest of them all. I feel almost no emotion coming from her, and I can't quite tell what she's thinking. Not to mention that she looks like she's undead… I don't know, she makes me skin crawl which is something that hasn't happened since I was 12 years old.
"This is Juno. She's the shy one, almost never does anything without permission, and is always afraid of meeting new people," Melanie says quietly. "I think she likes you though."
Juno turns her head to take a peek at me, but turns away when she notices that I'm looking at her, hanging her head in shame and embarrassment. She's lifted up by Melanie, and put into my arms which causes her to shake a little bit more than before. She pushes herself as far away as possible, and keeps her eyes on the adults in the kitchen.
"Stay with her for a minute would you. I should go say hello to my uncles and aunts," Melanie says.
"Sure," I reply while watching Melanie saunter over to her family members all gathered in the kitchen.
"A-are you M-Melody's friend?" Juno stutters almost silently.
I look down to her, and see that she's too afraid to keep eye contact with me. I guess being overwhelmingly nervous runs in the family, because this reminds me of Melanie when I first met her.
"As a matter of fact, I am. I met her at school earlier this year, and we've been inseparable ever since," I answer calmly.
"O-oh, are you and M-Melody…M-married then?" Juno asks.
"Married?" I question while feeling my face become hot.
Juno nods her head. "Y-yeah. My daddy says that-that when two monsters love each other, they get m-married."
Yeah, Evelyn was right, this family is adorable. However, I feel like Juno has become my absolute favorite child without a doubt and I have this sudden urge to become protective of her. That might be too weird to ever say out loud when I start thinking about it.
I chuckle lightly and reposition my arms to make Juno more comfortable. "Unfortunately no, but I am dating her," I answer.
"What's that?" She asks innocently.
I don't think it's the best idea to talk to her about all this grown up stuff at her age, which is likely around 6, so I try to avoid the topic by saying, "It's one of the steps before getting married."
"Oh. D-does that mean you don't live together?" She continues.
"Uh, well, within a couple of weeks we will," I say satisfying her curiosity.
Melanie coincidentally finds her way back over to us and sits down next to me. "You doing alright Juno? Do you need water or anything?"
She shakes her head, and then finally lays her head down onto my chest which makes my heart almost explode from happiness. With her chin flat against my chest, I can see how her eyes go from a chromatic blue to chromatic pink; A gradient of the most mysterious colors.
"Has John been fun to talk to?" Melanie asks sweetly, "He'd better not have scared you."
Juno assures Melanie that I've been fine, and asks her the same questions she just asked me. Melanie gets a little more flustered than I did, which makes me uncontrollably laugh at her when she stammers, unable to find the right thing to say. Juno joins in with a couple of heart-melting giggles, watching the both of us with great focus.
"I-is he a Scarer too Melody?" Juno asks.
"Why yes he is," Melanie replies with that exaggerated tone you give children to make them feel happy and safe, "In fact, he's the best Scarer at our school. It's said that he's going to be a record holder one day."
I don't really know where Melanie heard those rumors, because they most certainly aren't true. Nobody has ever said that about me. However, I let it slide since it seems to make Juno extremely interested in me. "He is?" She questions while looking at Melanie.
"Mm-hmm. Within the next year, you'll probably be seeing him in the newspapers," Melanie responds while petting her head.
Juno's tail starts wagging, and she looks at me like I'm her new hero. Honestly, I think this is the first time I actually cared about being 'important.' I also feel like this gives me even more reason to become one of the best Scarers ever.
"Enough about me, what do you do princess?" I ask Juno.
"Um… I like dancing…and singing, b-but I also like Scaring because Melody is one," She answers with uncertainty.
Melanie chuckles lightly. "She's the thespian. We've tried getting her to a talent agency but she's too nervous. I would be too."
Before I'm able to give Juno that inspirational lecture about being whatever she wants to be, and how there's plenty of time to figure out want she wants to do, Evelyn's voice echoes through the house. "Jonathan, sweetie, help me with Turkey please."
Melanie's POV
After Johnny whispers a little bit to Juno, he passes her over to me so that I can carry her. I watch as he walks into the kitchen and puts on a set of oven mitts.
"You want to see what Johnny made for us Juno?" I ask.
She nods her head cautiously, putting her thumb into her mouth while staring at Johnny as he and Mom slowly take out the culinary masterpiece they created just a few hours ago. When they both manage to pull it out, my Uncles and Aunts all gasp in amazement, making it obvious that they've never seen something like that before. It's funny too because I can see my Uncle Alden and Axel drooling and sniffing without stopping. They're both probably trying to think of ways to steal it and eat it all by themselves. Little do they know that my Mom would literally put both of them in time out.
"Ok, it's time to eat," Mom announces.
Everyone rushes into the dining room, taking their seats as my parents and Johnny place all the food on the table. I can see Fenix and Valdis looking at the table, unsure if they want to even ingest the amount of calories that sits before them. That or maybe they don't know what all the food, besides the ham, even is. Like me, they aren't privileged in the slightest. Once everything is all set, Johnny takes a seat next to me at the side of the extended table near the back door. Javier, Chip and Bruiser sit on the other side of the table, getting to know my family in great detail. Neither Johnny or I were expecting everyone to get along this well, because at this point it's like they've known each other their whole lives. We both watch as everyone starts taking their portions of every dish, and follow them once they begin inhaling everything.
It isn't until I see Johnny look down to his left side, where Juno stands between us and looking up at him.
"You want to sit with us Juno? You can sit with us," Johnny whispers.
She raises her arms and lets Johnny pick her up and place her on his left knee. He starts creating a beautiful arrangement of food for her, placing the many kinds of food onto a small plate, making it look like it's come from a five-star restaurant. "Here you go princess. If you don't like something you don't have to eat it," Johnny continues before making his own plate of food. As soon as Juno starts excitedly eating, I come to appreciate how awesome it is to see all my nieces and nephews express their happiness at the table. They all laugh with each other, and talk with each other like they've always wanted to. Things haven't been easy for them at school, so it feels rewarding when the family is able to draw out their elation.
I finally create my own plate of food, which houses a little bit of everything. The Crudités, being just vegetables, are generically tasty enough (since vegetables haven't been my favorite), but the Bacon-Wrapped Turkey is godlike. Even though it's incredibly fattening, I've never experienced the addicting mixture of moistness and dryness, sweet and savory, and buttery and gamey to this extent. As for the Sweet Potato Casserole with Marshmallow…exquisite. The crispiness mixed with the softness, and the caramelized sweetness makes it feel like there's a energetic dance of colors occurring atop my taste buds. Lastly, my Mom's Christmas Ham with Buttered Bread Rolls gives me a warm feeling of nostalgia that I will forever refuse to let go of. The devouring doesn't stop for what seems like an hour as everyone goes in for seconds, then thirds, and even fourths when it comes to my Uncle Alden and Axel. Eventually, all the food on the table is gone, vanished, non-existent. It makes me happy to finally see everyone finally eat to their hearts content.
All the children run out into the backyard to release the last bits of energy they have stored for the day with their tails wagging and their tongues out. Chip and Bruiser join them for the sake of supervision, insisting on giving my Uncles and Aunts a break from all their repetitive shenanigans.
"They're so funny. They still have presents they need to open," Mom giggles.
"Evelyn please! Give us a break!" Uncle Alden begs.
"Aww but don't you want to see their cute little faces when they tear open their presents. That's my favorite part!" Mom squeals while putting her hands to her heart.
Uncle Alden puts his finger up to his mouth while saying, "Shh shh shh…you hear that? That's my favorite part, the silence that fills the house. You can even hear each individual molecule of air bounce off the walls...it's so good."
All my family members laugh collectively while slowly succumbing into food comas.
"Does that mean you don't want to open your presents Alden?" Dad asks with his arms and legs crossed in his chair.
Uncle Alden's ears skyrocket, and he stands up within a millisecond. "Wait what woah let's go!" He smiles while dashing back into the living room and diving over the couches towards our small Christmas tree.
"NO STOP! Axel and Taliesin open theirs first!" Dad screams into living room.
A large groan comes from the living room and eliciting even more laughs from my family.
"Hey Mel, Javier, Jonathan, why don't you fetch all the children for us," Dad instructs, "I think we should open them now and let them all go home for a good nights sleep."
The three of us nod and take our strides over to the backdoor that opens into the black void of the night. Luckily for us, there isn't a blizzard coming in anytime soon, so the skies are clear and show the radiant stars above. The light pollution is also at a minimum, which makes it easy to see every star in the universe. Once Javier opens the door, the airwaves are assaulted with the laughter of the children, the deep (and somewhat dumb sounding) laughter of Bruiser and Chip, and thick sounding thuds.
Snowballs are flying out of everybody's hands, smacking into the fences, the ground and the now full bodies that breathe the crisp oxygen in the air. Fenix, Soren, Leif, and Chip are on the right side of the yard, while Bruiser, Valdis, Axel, and Taliesin are on the left. Both sides have a large wall of snow built up to protect themselves from the onslaught of frozen liquids raining down from the atmosphere.
"Dude…they've only been out here for literally two minutes. How the hell did things spiral into chaos already?" Javier asks in astonishment.
I run out to Bruisers side and join in on the fun. "Oh come on, are you two too rich for this?" I jab.
I put back back up against the wall and watch as Axel gets pummeled by three snowballs, dramatically acting like he's been shot a couple thousand times, grasping his chest and falling to the ground. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Juno walk up to Johnny and tap his leg. He picks her up and starts whispering to her, making Javier smirk while observing the scene in front of him. Javier sprints over to Chips side, while Johnny and Juno come flying in to the snowball that was about to pummel Taliesin. Johnny, Juno, and I start creating as many snowballs as possible out of the snow and set them into pyramids along the wall for Bruiser, and the two twins to unload. That's unfortunately made harder by Javier considering he has two sets of arms, and shoots snowballs at us like a machine gun.
Once the snowballs from the other side of the yard slow down, we throw all of our ammo, making it seem like thousands of arrows fall down from the sky. Fenix, Leif, Soren, Chip, and Javier all take heavy damage, pretending to be the last soldiers who fought bravely for their cause. The only thing that keeps them from winning an Mawscar Award is that their acting is unfortunately broken by their constantly laughing.
Once we all decide that our side has won, I finally get the chance to do what I was tasked. "Come on children, let's open your presents!"
The six cousins all start hyperactively sprinting into the house, leaving only us RORs and the lovely Juno outside.
"Awesome job Juno," Johnny says while leaning down to her level and raising his hand for a high five.
Juno laughs and uses both of her hands to connect that high five. Johnny then pushes her towards the house gently, telling her to go inside with the rest of the kids. She runs adorably to the back door and enters with a large smile across her face.
"You two are so cute together," I beam.
"Hey, I'm not cute. I didn't join the Scaring Program to be cute," Johnny remarks.
"Aww but you are!" I counter.
Johnny throws his arms around me and pulls me close to him so that his jaw goes over my shoulder. "I swear to god, I will throw you into that snow pile with no regrets," He playfully threatens.
"No you won't, you love me too much," I respond.
"…Yeah, you're right… and I hate that you're right," He adds. He then walks to my left and intertwines his fingers with mine while watching the other RORs step into the house after wiping off all the snow on their jerseys/sweaters. "Come on, I want to see Jav's reaction when I give him a collectors set of his favorite books with a ton of other nerdy shit."
I watch as Johnny says goodbye to Juno within my aunts arms, promising to her that he'll see her again soon. She tells my aunt that she wants a hug from him so she gets passed over to him. I take all the new DVDs of movies that she got from my Mom and smile when Juno refuses to let go of Johnny for a few minutes before my Aunt is able to take her back. Juno and my aunt both wave happily to Johnny as they step out into the dark holiday evening, keeping a close on on him until the door shuts completely.
"Like I said, cute," I whisper.
"You know, I've made the moral decision to be liked by family instead of being hated by them," Johnny retorts.
I decide that that's enough teasing and just smile at him as the other RORs get ready to leave. "Will I see you again before school starts?"
"…Hmm," He ponders. He looks over to Javier, Bruiser, and Chip who are now waiting for him, "You know what, I think I should stay here. My parents will be working all week anyways."
"Really?!" I gasp in excitement.
Johnny turns his body towards the three fraternity members. "You guys know the way back?"
They both nod and give us a thumbs up while stepping out of the house. I see Bruiser waving at us before the front doors shuts, and the silence consumes the house. "I'm assuming you're car pooling with my Mom and I when we go back within the next few weeks?" I inquire.
Johnny pulls me up and onto his back as he leans down into his quadrupedal form, and takes me upstairs to bed. "Yep, wouldn't have it any other way."