'Til Sun Beams Find You [COMPLETE]

Forty-seven (Part 1)

Nico held the tape roll in her mouth as she finished wrapping the last gift. She used a really pretty gold and red wrapping paper for all her gifts, and when she flipped the last gift over, she had a pleasing to look at array of gifts, stacked one on top of the other.

She grabbed two large reusable grocery store bags and started to pack them in, making sure to group them by each person. Gianna had 4 gifts plus the one Carter got her and she also wrapped, her mother had 3 and her father had 3. She also had wrapped Jada's gifts, as well as Kiana, Nikita, Malik and Angelo's gifts, but she didn't put them into a bag as Jada would be picking them up since she had a key. The last gift she had wrapped was her secret Santa gift that she got for Ryan, and she put that at the top of stack.

Nico huffed as she stood, looking at all the scrap pieces of wrapping paper before bunching it all up in her hands. She tossed it into the garbage before tidying up her living room.

She spent the evening before cleaning up thoroughly, as she wouldn't even be returning until the new year as she'd be spending her holidays back at her parents home.

Nico poured a glass of water and a coaster before heading for her bedroom, where the music and drilling was coming from.

In the hallway outside her bedroom, the framing for her old bed was lined up on the ground, alongside her old mattress, and Nico had to squeeze by to make it to her room.

Carter was kneeled on the ground, nodding his head to the music playing from his phone as he put in the last screws on her bed frame. He came over thinking he would be picking her up, but she put him to work taking down her old bed and putting together her new one as she still had her gifts to wrap.

Nico put the coaster down on top of the dresser before sitting the glass on top of it and then made her way over to him.

Her shadow casted over him as he continued turning in the screw and Nico wrapped her arms around his neck, bringing her chin to the top of his head as she leaned forward.

"Thank you.. it looks so nice.."

Her mattress was still rolled up in its wrap, lying against the wall of her closet, and she couldn't wait to open it.

"And doesn't feel tight at all," she glanced around the room.

He shook his head as he drilled in another screw. "We so late, man."

"Late for what? Nobody's expecting us."

They were headed to an empty cabin in the middle of nowhere, and it was only a 3 hours drive and barely 11 o'clock in the morning... they had time.

"Aren't you hot?" She wondered, putting her hands into the top of his hoodie to feel his chest and back.

She told him a million times to just go ahead and take off the hoodie as he'd be there for a while, but he was adamant he could put it together in thirty minutes so no need to unlayer.

He was currently on minute 31... and she knew that because she had set a timer.

"We're leaving just now," he told her, and the pile of screws he had left was down to two screws and two bolts.

"Mm," she massaged his chest. "You still have to throw the other one out."

He groaned. "I'll throw it out when we get back."

"You can't just leave it like this. They garbage dumpsters are gonna be full from Christmas gifts and stuff so there'll be no place to throw it. I don't like clutter," she pouted her lips.

She leaned over to see the annoyed look on his face and smiled as she kissed his cleanly-shaven cheek.

"Please?"