Painting our Life - 6 Colors

****Been putting off this chapter for far too long this week. Sorry. Even though it was short, I... umm... You'll see.***

Chapter 25: Christmas

   My eyes pop open as if my brain has its own built-in alarm clock. It just works that way you know, when you're excited for something, you wake up so much more earlier. In my case, it's Christmas! I sit up and stretch my arms.

   Hastily, I jump out of bed and in my pajamas, I stumble out my room and knock on Dash's bedroom door. No answer. I knock harder, expecting a response. A grumpy Dash grunts. "What?" She must still be sleepy. The Christmas spirit has already woken me up, and I feel completely refreshed despite going to sleep late last night. I decide to return the favor by putting on my best cranky old man impression. It's not that great.

   "It's Christmas!" I snap. Then I realize how bad it was, and made a mental note to practice impressions. The door swings open and Dash pokes her head out. She stares at me in disbelief, eyes half open and strands of red hair poking out of her hair. The sight of her bed head almost causes me to burst into laughter. She frowns.

   "How old are you again?"

   "But it's Christmasss..." I moan. She doesn't seem too excited for this.

   "Kyle, you dragged me to some beach in the middle of the winter. Just give me this ok?"

   "Give you what?" I barely finish my sentence when she shoves me into the wall. It was a light shove, and for once I didn't hurt yourself.

   "Just the glory of beating you downstairs." Like lightning, Dash, well, dashes out her room and heads for the stairs. It takes a second for me to process that she was indeed excited and that it was just an act to get to the gifts before me. Why am I even surprised? I follow, humming jingle bells as I walk.

   As I enter the living room, I notice Dash has already opened the box containing the XBox 360. "Holy cow, Ky. You bought us a XBox?" She grins. "There goes our grades for next semester!"

   "It's not like we have any hope already." I try my best to snort as I say it, but it just doesn't come out right.

   "I love you," she whispers. It's ones of those glad-you-understand-me I love you's. "Now, let's plug this bad boy in?"

   I laugh, "What about breakfast." She looks up from the setup manual, obviously confused by my question.

   "What about breakfast?"

   I roll my eyes, "Nevermind, just plug it in." I notice she hasn't opened the games yet. I point at them. "Pick one to play first."

   She hooks the XBox up with our television, and quickly scrolls through setup options. "What should we play first?" I ask. She looks at the games I bought, and holds up the one that appeals to her the most. Need for Speed. Maybe I should've bought games that wouldn't be so obviously be easy for a racing fan. It would at least give me a chance to win. I sigh and open the box and insert the game disk into the system. The X on the system glows and the game starts loading. Dash plugs in a second controller for me, they're wireless but aren't charged.

   Dash selects multiplayer on the game's menu and a selection of cars for players one and two pop up, along with racing modes and tracks. We choose our cars, set the options and agree on a location to race on. Then we start the match.

   I wouldn't say I'm bad at video games. Let's just say, Dash is very good at them. It didn't take long for her to finish one lap, and I'm not even three quarters through it. I fall behind quickly and Dash holds the position in first place. I suddenly realize that I should've enabled CPU players and set them to hard. If I can't win against Dash, maybe at least I should have someone else beat Dash? Even if that person is a computer.

   We once again spend the morning playing video games. The time flies, and soon our stomachs growl. I take a look at the clock. It's noon and we still haven't eaten anything. I decide to make some lunch and had escaped to the kitchen. The XBox is already off, and Dash is napping on the couch. Before she fell asleep, she asked me what we're having for lunch. I simply told her it was nothing special. "But it's never special." She was just joking of course. I laughed, but ironically, a little part of me died.

   I finish cooking and shut off the stove, then leave the pan in the sink. I re-enter the living room with a plateful of grilled cheese sandwiches. I set the plate on the coffee table. Dash looks so peaceful asleep. Her calm expression is something I see in a blue moon. It almost makes it a shame that I have to wake her. I nudge her and she sits up, rubbing her eyes. I pass her a sandwich and she sleepily munched on it. Silence devours the room and we don't speak while eating. As if she were asleep the entire time, Dash snaps awake. She scarfs down her sandwich. I raise an eyebrow. She ignores me and swallows. "Hurry up, I forgot to give you your present."

   I shake my head. "I told you, you didn't need to get me anything." I finish my sandwich and wipe my mouth on my sleeve. It's a habit, a really bad one. Dash runs out the living room and returns with our coats. She hands me mine. I look at her, confused.

   "Put it on and follow me." I do what she tells me. In a matter of seconds without realizing, I'm out the door and heading for the forest beside our house with Dash in the lead. We stop at the entrance of the forest.

   "Do you have to drag me out here every year?" It was cute at first but now it's getting colder and colder every year. She shrugs. Snow find its way into my sneakers and I suddenly regret not buying boots for the winter. Gloves would be nice, too.

   "Come on." Dash waves and walks into the forest. I sigh and follow up. It's colder inside. There's rarely any sunlight during the winter, I should be glad that the leaves of the trees have all fallen allowing small warm rays of sunlight to shine in. Dash rips off a branch on a dead tree we pass and wings it like a sword. It's kind of childish... but... I secretly want to do it too. We walk deeper and deeper into the forest until we reach that spot, our spot. The tallest tree in the forest. Few leaves hang from its branches. I walk closer to the tree, and feel the bark, searching for the part Dash and I engraved our names on. I rub over the words with my fingertips. "Look." Dash points at something red on the ground. A rose. Not one, but a string of roses. They trace around the tree forming a... heart shape.

   "You made this? Where'd you get the roses?"

   "Bought em with the money I saved up from that crappy job at Tim Hortons. Neat, huh? I think it turned out pretty cool."

   I swallow. "This is amazing. Wow, something like this you made means a lot more to me than some cheap storebought item." Dash looks at me, eyes nervous. I can tell. Her hand shakes.

   "This isn't the gift."

   "What?" I'm confused here. There's nothing more I can receive than something as awesome as this. Even though it won't last, it's still something... that's just really beautiful to see.

   "Close your eyes." My eyelids shut. The darkness suddenly reminds me of how cold I am. A shiver is sent down my back. She's going to throw a snowball at me, I know it. I should get ready to defend myself.

   ...Maybe another snowball fight will break out... Looks like I'll be going home dripping wet... What is Dash doing? Fear fills my heart as I visualize her patting together a large snowball to chuck at me... Another shiver creeps down my spine, I bite my lip... I'm beginning to convince myself that Dash has ditched me and is probably halfway home by now.

  And then suddenly, warmth sets in. Something holds me tight and heat seeps through my coat. Something brushes against my lips, and stays there. It's wet, but warm. It's another pair of lips. Dash's lips. My eyes gradually open, to see Dash's face close against mine, her arms around me, her eyes closed and her lips pressing against mine. I close my eyes again, and take comfort in what we're doing. What is happening I do not really know. My brain is telling me to just, well, kiss her back.

   An eternity passes and our lips finally part. Our eyes meet, and we both look away instantly, blushing. My gaze returns to her. I speak calmly, "Thought we promised to never do that again?" The corners of her mouth lift into a small smile.

   "Yeah, well, it's Christmas... And things can change, you know what I mean?"

   By now, I'm blushing more than I did at the Snow Dance. We kissed again. We just kissed again! I didn't stop her when she leaned forward, I didn't know what she was going to do. And even when I had the chance to, I didn't stop and try to push her away. Didn't try. My heart is thumping like crazy right now. And then, I say it. I say what has been on my mind. I say what has been bothering me for a long time. I say it, and I mean it. "I... I love you."

   Dash looks up and our eyes connect with one another again. You heard me. It's crazy. I know. But I love her. If you think about it, it'd be messed up if I don't. After what we've been through together these past few years, some people would be amazed we aren't married. It's not like that though. I don't love her for her looks. Or how smart she is. I love her for who she is and the things she's done for me. I... just love her, despite her once being a different species.

   "I love you too," Dash whispers. Her voice is full of confidence and courage, as if she isn't afraid to admit it. I was. It's hard to tell someone how much you love them. Sometimes, it's hard to say what's on your heart. It's near impossible to find that perfect someone. But none of that matters, because at this moment, I realize I have, and that I love Dash so damn much.

I mentioned earlier that there are no happy endings. Things were going so smoothly, and bam, within a few weeks, I was made to regret my words on that Christmas. I still had some time with her. I was happy, she was happen. Neither of us knew what the future held for us. We had only guessed it was going to be bright. You can say things turned out all right. It still pains me to think about that day though. That damn day. You'll see. There's still a few more happy moments before our little content life was turned around.