On Christmas Eve, I braved the insane suburb traffic and headed for Zac’s house around five in the afternoon. Even in the worst case scenario I’d reach his parents’ place by seven. My knuckles were white as I traversed the busy streets, both from fear of being side-swiped by a moron and for fear of what was soon to come.
As much as I wanted to trust Zac now, I couldn’t help but be slightly worried, especially since he’d acted so strangely when I told him about grad school. We’d been so good ever since our reconciliation that his reaction had struck a chord of fear in me, especially his comment about how he’d thought we had a few more months to discuss next year. I bit back a nervous groan and turned up the music, letting the sounds of U2 singing “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” fill my ears.
After checking my directions for the last instruction, I turned onto the right street and pulled into their driveway behind Taylor’s Impala. I could already see Zac peeking out through the window beside the door, waving at me. A smile crept its way onto my lips despite my nervousness and I got out of the car before walking towards the house where my life had crumbled down on me a mere month prior.
“Hey!” he grinned as he opened the door.
“Merry Christmas Eve!” I replied, kissing him quickly before entering.
“Merry Christmas Eve to you, too!” he said, taking my coat from my shoulders and placing it on a hook by the door, “Let’s go! Everyone’s excited to see you again.”
“Oh yeah, I’ll bet your brothers are just thrilled,” I said. He grabbed my shoulder and held me in place.
“Esme. Everyone’s fine. We’re fine. Please stop assuming the worst, okay? I mean… it’s Christmas,” he said, close to begging.
“Okay, I’ll try to be positive. But only because you’re cute,” I said, allowing him to kiss me again, his lips lingering longer this time, “Now let’s get in there.”
He took my hand and led me the rest of the way to the kitchen where everyone was busy getting something ready for dinner.
“Oh Esme! So glad to see you again!” his mom said as she shoved a bowl full of salad in Taylor’s hands so she could come hug me.
“Was the drive bad?” his dad asked.
“Not too bad,” I said as Mrs. Hanson released me, “I was worried I wouldn’t get here until seven.”
“Well, you’re just in time for dinner!” Isaac said, “And it’s good to see you again.”
“Yes, it is,” Taylor said before coming over to give me a hug so he could whisper in my ear, “I’m glad you two worked it out.”
“It’s good to see all of you. Really,” I said.
“Let’s eat! The ham is done and I’m starving!” Mrs. Hanson exclaimed.
“Yeah, and the sooner we eat, the sooner we get to presents!” Zac exclaimed.
“Are you twenty-two or twelve?” I asked him.
“For your sake, I hope I’m twenty-two,” he laughed as we made our way into the dining room where Mrs. Hanson had decorated the table beautifully with gold candles, red ribbon and garland.
“It looks wonderful in here!” I said, taking a seat next to Zac.
“Thank you!” she said.
“Mom’s addicted to Home and Garden TV,” Isaac explained.
“I’m not addicted, I just like to watch it to get ideas!” she defended, “So leave me alone!” We all looked at each other and smiled before the passing of the plates commenced.
“Oh Mom… this is good ham,” Zac said with his mouth full of food.
“Zachary, chew you food and then speak,” his dad said, giving him a playful punch to the arm.
“Sorry,” Zac mumbled, swallowing before continuing, “It’s just so good!”
“Do you think that you can teach him some manners?” Isaac asked me.
“He’s a lost cause. You know that,” I laughed.
“I can’t believe you’re being mean to me on Christmas Eve,” Zac pouted. I just smiled and laced my fingers with his under the table for a moment, showing him that I was really okay.
After we had all chipped in with doing the dishes and getting the leftovers into the refrigerator, we all gathered in the family room for presents. I had had to run out to my car to grab mine, which I had picked up the weekend before, knowing that I couldn’t show up without anything for his family. It wasn’t much, but at least it was something.
“Oh Esme, you shouldn’t have! This is beautiful!” Mrs. Hanson said, pulling the vase I had bought for her out of its box.
“I thought it looked like it would match the color scheme in the dining room,” I said to which she nodded emphatically.
“It’s perfect! And I know just where to put it,” she smiled. The only gift left was the one for me from Zac’s family.
“You all really shouldn’t have gotten me anything!” I said, taking the small box into my lap.
“Not get you something when you’re coming to our house for Christmas?” Mr. Hanson asked incredulously, “And besides, we wanted to.”
“Go ahead,” Zac said, placing his arm on the back on the loveseat behind me. I carefully removed the wrapping paper to find a Coach box inside.
“No way,” I said, immediately opening the box to find the black Coach wristlet I’d been dropping hints that I wanted nestled inside.
“Zac mentioned that you may have said that you wanted it about a thousand times,” Taylor laughed, “And also that he’d already gotten you something, so he thought it would be nice if someone got it for you.”
“He was so right! Thank you so much!” I gushed, looking up at Zac and smiling.
“See? I take care of you,” he said, kissing my temple.
After watching “A Charlie Brown Christmas,” complete with Zac reciting the entire Linus “story of Christmas” monologue along with the movie, everyone was looking sleepy.
“Ugh, at least you got all the words right this year,” Isaac groaned, chucking a pillow at Zac and hitting me instead.
“Hey! Watch it!” Zac warned, throwing it back at him.
“Boys, stop it,” Mrs. Hanson said through a big yawn.
“I think it’s bedtime,” Taylor said, stretching out in the recliner he was sprawled out in.
“Yikes! It’s after midnight? I really need to get going!” I exclaimed.
“You can stay here tonight,” Zac said to me softly.
“No I can’t. My parents would flip. They told me I have to be there in the morning for breakfast, which usually starts at precisely eight and I’d rather do the drive and sleep until 7:59,” I laughed, “And plus, you’re coming over tomorrow afternoon, right?”
“I’ll be there by four,” he said, “Scout’s honor!”
“You were never a Boy Scout,” I laughed before narrowing my eyes at him, “Were you?”
“No. I would’ve been a terrible one. I wasn’t good at following orders when I was younger.”
“You’re still not,” I said. He put his hand on my stomach and slid it across to my hip, pulling me close.
“Merry Christmas,” he whispered in my ear.
“Merry Christmas,” I grinned, “Now I really have to go.” He groaned and kissed my cheek.
“Fine,” he relented, releasing his grip on my hip and letting me stand.
“Thank you so much for everything, really. It was wonderful,” I said to all of them.
“Of course! We were glad to have you!” Mrs. Hanson said. Everyone else sleepily stood up and came over to give me a hug good-bye, Zac’s accompanied by a parent-friendly kiss.
My drive home went quickly due to the late hour, and I was at home and in bed in under an hour.
The next morning, my parents and I had a delicious breakfast of Belgian Waffles with mimosas and spent the rest of the morning watching “A Christmas Story” on its annual TBS marathon, calling our relatives, and generally just spending time together.
“When’s Zac getting here again?” Mom asked me as we were sitting down for a light lunch.
“At four, Gin,” Dad answered for me.
“Oh right…” Mom said, “Sorry.”
“It’s okay,” I laughed, “Dad’s just grumpy because he has to spend Christmas being mean to my boyfriend.”
“I don’t do that!” he claimed.
“Yes you do,” Mom and I said in unison.
“You pretend to be all gruff and judging when all you’re really doing is making the guy nervous until you’ve decided he’s had enough and then you decide to be yourself,” Mom said. Dad rolled his eyes and grabbed another handful of chips out of the bag on the table.
“Is that what you do? I thought you really hated them at first,” I said, honestly a little shocked.
“Of course not, Es,” Dad said, “If you like them, then I at least give them the benefit of the doubt, once I’ve ruffed them up a bit, of course.”
“Oh yeah, Dad, you’re such an opposing figure,” I laughed.
“It’s the accent. Gets them every time,” he said.
“Well, I’m going to go take a shower and make sure all of my gifts are wrapped and ready,” I said, standing from the table to throw away my garbage.
“We’ll do the same,” Mom assured me, “We’ll be ready to go when he gets here.”
I rushed up the stairs and jumped into the shower. Now that I knew that my dad would really be giving Zac a fair chance, I couldn’t wait for four o’clock to come.
After a quick shower, I took my time doing my hair and makeup before gathering up my presents and taking them down to the tree. In our family, we always opened presents right before dinner on Christmas Day. That way, everyone just relaxed and enjoyed the meal, which always happened to be Chinese take-out. My mom said that there was no way she was cooking on a holiday we were all supposed to be spending together, and since it was just the three of us, we didn’t mind. We’d always cooked dinner together every night anyway, so getting food out was more of a treat than a big home-cooked meal for us.
“What did you say Zac wanted for dinner again?” Mom asked loudly from the kitchen.
“Sesame Chicken with friend rice and a chicken egg roll!” I shouted, still on the ground sorting presents.
“What did you guys get Zac?” I asked as I entered the kitchen where Dad was fixing some more eggnog and Mom was just hanging up with the Chinese restaurant.
“A Best Buy gift card. Is that okay?” Dad asked.
“It’s perfect. He’ll be thrilled,” I told them, helping myself to the glass in his outstretched hand. As if on cue, the doorbell rang and one look at the clock told me that he was right on time. “I’ll get it!”
“Merry Christmas!” Zac said cheerily from the front stoop when I opened the door.
“Merry Christmas to you, too!” I said, throwing my arms around his neck and kissing him passionately.
“A very merry Christmas to me,” he laughed, stepping in the door with me still hanging onto his neck, “Did you miss me?”
“Of course. But I’m just really excited for you to meet my parents. Don’t let my dad freak you out, okay? He’s harmless,” I assured him as I hung his coat in the front closet, “Now let’s go. Ready?”
“As ready as I’ll ever be,” he said, letting me take his hand and lead him towards the living room where my parents were waiting for us to join them.
“Mom, Dad. This is Zac,” I said with a big smile, “Zac, these are my parents!” They both stood and came to greet him.
“It’s nice to meet you!” my mom said, giving him a quick hug, “Sorry, I hug people. It’s just me.”
“It’s fine,” Zac laughed before shaking my Dad’s hand.
“Zac. We’ve heard a lot about you,” Dad said, “And it’s nice to finally put a face with the name.”
“You too,” Zac said sincerely, “Now where can I drop these?” I smiled apologetically and took the handful of gift bags that I hadn’t even noticed were there from his hand.
“I’ve got them,” I said, placing them in the appropriately sorted piles, but putting Zac’s for me aside. We’d already decided that we’d wait until later that evening to open presents alone together.
After we’d opened all of our presents and my parents had gushed over the Biagi’s gift certificate Zac had given them, the doorbell rang and we all headed for the dining room to eat.
“I hope you don’t think I’m too horrible of a mother for ordering take-out every Christmas,” my mom said to Zac as we all dished food onto our plates.
“I think it’s great,” Zac laughed, “And I love Chinese food, so you won’t ever hear me complain.” I couldn’t help but smile at him for that comment since it indicated that he intended to be around for future Christmases. Instead of scaring me or making me nervous like guys who spoken in future-terms had in the past, I just wanted to kiss him on the spot, but reeled in the impulse.
“Well Zac, you’ve passed the test,” my dad said to him out of the blue.
“I did?” Zac asked confusedly.
“Yes,” Dad said matter-of-factly.
“And what were the items on this test?” I asked out of pure curiosity.
“Well, you’ve failed to annoy me in any way. You haven’t inappropriately groped my daughter in front of me. And, you’ve been polite since you walked in the door. Congratulations, you can continue to date my daughter!” Dad said, clapping him on the back as he walked by to grab more napkins from the kitchen.
“Phew!” Zac laughed, “I’m glad I passed.”
“Me too,” I smiled.
“Me three,” Mom chimed in, “I don’t think any of us would have wanted to endure Esme’s wrath if you hadn’t.”
“She is small but feisty,” Zac smiled.
“You’re telling me. We used to have to chase her all around the house when we’d try to get her into the bath. She’d let us get her completely undressed and then she’d change her mind and take off.”
“Mom! No naked baby stories! Not tonight!” I pleaded.
“Oh fine, you’re no fun,” she said, giving Zac a little smile before taking another bite.
At nine, my parents had gone up to their room to watch TV so that Zac and I could be alone.
“Are you ready for your present?” he asked me. I nodded and turned so that I was facing him on the couch. He put the green gift bag into my hands. I took out the top piece of tissue paper to find a Tiffany and Co. box inside.
“Zac!” I gasped before untying the white ribbon and opening the box carefully. Inside was a Tiffany heart tag bracelet with my name engraved on the back of the heart. “Oh… it’s beautiful! It’s too much!”
“No it’s not. Not for you,” he said seriously, leaning over to kiss me, “Now let me put it on you.” I smiled and stared at his face which was positively glowing in the light coming from the gas fireplace on the other side of the room, “There. I knew it would look good on you.”
“You were right.”
“I’m always right!”
“Okay cocky boy, open yours from me,” I said, handing him the box that had been sitting in my lap.
“Hmm… I wonder what it is,” he said in mock wonder, shaking the box next to his ear, “I think it’s a pony. Is it a pony?”
“Yes Zac. It’s a miniature, miniature pony that fits inside of that little box,” I laughed. He smiled at me before opening the box, finding a Nike leather analog watch inside.
“Es, this is a great watch!” he said, immediately taking it out of the box and attempting to put it on.
“I know it’s kind of a dorky gift, a watch… but I saw it in the store and thought it looked like you. Sporty but classy,” I said.
“Is that how you describe me to people?” he asked, admiring the new item on his wrist.
“Always. How else would I describe you?”
“Oh, I don’t know… sexy, sophisticated, suave,” he offered.
“Well alliterated, but come on. I can’t just lie to people!” I said. He stuck his tongue out at me before pushing the random gift wrap on the couch between us onto the floor and pulling me close.
“So, does this Christmas holiday renew your faith in us?” he asked as we stared into the fire.
“It was already renewed,” I replied honestly, laying my head on his shoulder. Right then, sitting beside him, I knew that it was exactly where I belonged. I couldn’t help it as I snuggled even closer to him. When I had first talked to him on that fateful day when I tripped into his table in the library, I had never imagined that we would wind up this way; strong and happy after only a few months of dating.
“I love you,” he said suddenly, as if he’d been waiting all night to say the words.
“You do?” I asked with wide eyes, sitting up on my knees so that we were face to face. He nodded.
“I really do.”
“I love you, too, Zac. I really do,” I smiled, leaning forward to kiss him over and over, never wanting the moment to end. But it did end eventually and we went back to looking at the fire, holding hands and cuddling there on the couch.
“Oh, look what I found. One more present for you!” he said cheesily, breaking the silence after several minutes and handing me an unlabeled envelope.
“What’s this?” I asked.
“Just open it.” I carefully tore it open and pulled out the letter inside.
“This is addressed to you,” I said.
“Just read it!” he laughed, pushing it towards my face.
“Zac, this says that you’ve been accepted at the University of Illinois in their History Master’s program!”
“I know,” he grinned, “I’ve spent the last month applying to any school I thought you might be interested in. I freaked when you told me you’d gotten accepted there because I hadn’t heard back from them yet. It just came two days ago, just in time.”
“Zac…” I started with a smile, placing a hand on his cheek and kissing him deeply.
“It’s looks like you’re stuck with me for at least a few more years,” he said. For the life of me, I couldn’t think of a single time in my life that I’d been happier than I was at that very moment. I grinned up at him before kissing his full lips again.
“Damn it.”
The End