A Friend Of A Friend

Chapter Forty Four~

Chapter Forty Four:
All I Want Is You

~POV: Jaiden~

I woke up before Aaron for a change. I turned over so I was facing him. I smiled and gently pushed his hair out of his face, running my hand down the side of his face. I started peppering his neck with soft kisses. He stirred and woke up.

"Merry Christmas, baby." I told him softly. He leaned forward and gently kissed me.

"Merry Christmas." He said. He pulled away from my face and grinned. "Can we go wake your mom up?" He asked. I smiled and nodded. He got up and pulled me out of bed with him. We went over to my mom's room and sat on her bed. "Mama Rutabaga...." Aaron said. "Mama..." I tried to contain my laughter, but it wound up coming out as a snort. "Oh no! Austin haunts me!" I laughed and Lizzie came over and started licking my hand. I gently scratched the dogs back as Mom started to wake up.

"Merry Christmas!" Aaron and I yelled.

"Merry Christmas." Mom grumbled. "Go. I'll be out in a minute." Aaron and I raced out to the living room. We had put the presents under the tree the night before. Mom came out slowly. We all sat down and started to pass gifts around.

We all got some clothes, weird objects, Aaron and I got music, picks, t-shirts, and other things of that nature. Aaron specifically got a new watch- breaking watches was a regular occurrence for him. Mom got a new cook book and iPad case. She was happy about that. Aaron passed me another gift and I passed him one. I opened mine to see it was a signed copy of Linkin Park's Living Things on vinyl. I sat in awe.

"Oh my gosh." I breathed.

"Surprise." Aaron grinned. "You were so oblivious. I literally got them to sign that while you were in the room!" He laughed. I set the record down and grabbed Aaron, hugging him tightly. He hugged me back. "I love you, Jaiden."

"I love you, too, Aaron."

Finally we were down to just one each left. We gave Mom her's. She opened it to see a locket. She opened it. Inside was the last picture of Eliza and I ever taken together. On the back it read, "Light Through Stained Glass. On and On." She had tears in her eyes. She grabbed me and hugged me, her tears dripping down onto my shirt. I hugged her back.

"She'll never really be gone. She'll always be with us." I told mom, my voice cracking. Aaron hugged us both. We all sat holding each other with tears in our eyes. "She's probably laughing at us right now!" I scoffed. I took a deep breath. We all sat back. Aaron got an envelope out and handed it to me. I opened it to see a slip of paper in it. I looked to see it was a ticket.

"Splatter Art Tour
Linkin Park
Of Mice & Men
Insert Tittle Here
Copenhagen, Denmark." The ticket read. I gasped.

"No way." I said. "Is this real? Is this really happening?" I asked, looking at Aaron. He had a huge grin on his face. He nodded. I screamed. Mom took the ticket from me.

"Jaiden! That's awesome! So, maybe since you two won't be splitting up this spring, maybe you could start planning the wedding..." Mom said, handing me back the ticket.

"Yeah. We need to get on that." I told Aaron. He nodded. "Babe, I'm not passing you the next one. It's behind you and I'm too lazy to move." I told him. He rolled his eyes and smiled. I got my phone and turned on its camera. Aaron peeled off the paper and saw the box I had shipped it to mom in. He raised an eyebrow. I nodded my head. He rolled his eyes again and opened the box.

"Seriously, Jai? Packing peanuts?" He asked.

"What? I had a ton and I know you just adore them." I smirked. He rolled his eyes and dug thru them. He finally found the case. He lifted the guitar case out of the box, mom pulling it aside. He set the case down in his lap, gently tracing the engraving.