Fall For The Fangirl

28

*NALAH*

"Merry Christmas girls!" My mom and aunt said. "Come on!"

My cousin Mariana, who was laying beside me smiled.

"Merry Christmas!" She cheered, hopping out of bed.

Mariana is only a year younger than me, and she's always been my favorite of all my cousins. She had on a red onesie, and I had on a green one...yes...I have a small obsession with onesies.

We both ran downstairs to find the Christmas tree surrounded with gifts, last night nothing was there. I wonder how they pulled it off...

"Merry Quiss miss Nalah!" Said my 3 year old cousin, Nathan.

I scooped him up into my arms and kissed his cheek. "Merry Christmas. Look at everything Santa brought! Are you excited!?"

"Yeah!"

I put him down and he ran to Aunt Valentina, his mom.

"Okay." Aunt Valentina smiled. "Nathan you have all the green boxes. So grab all the green and put them in a pile ok?"

"Okay mommy!"

I laughed at the sight of his tiny body diving under the huge tree for his gifts.

"Nalah your gifts are wrapped in blue, and Mariana yours are pink."

As we all opened our presents, our moms took pictures and smiled at our excited reactions. I've missed moments like these...moments I had when I was a little girl with two parents. Once the gifts were opened, everyone pitched in to clean up the wrapping paper and boxes. When I went into the kitchen to throw away some scraps my mom was sitting at the table with her phone. She held it out towards me.

"It's your father."

I shook my head, without feeling any guilt. "I don't wanna talk to him. Ever." I turned and walked back into the living room. If he can't call on Thanksgiving then he doesn't need to call on Christmas.

For the rest of the day I played boardgames and watched movies with my family, the only family I needed. After dinner Jovani texted me and I made sure not to mention how sad I was, because it's Christmas and I didn't want to bum him out. Tomorrow I'll get to see him, and then I'll smile again.

"Nalah do you wanna take a shower first? Or me?" Mariana asked me, as everyone got ready for bed.

"You can go first." I laughed. "It's YOUR house."

"True." She laughed and grabbed a fresh set of clothes and her pink towel. "Be back in a bit."

"Ok." I nodded.

About 5 minutes after Mariana left, Jovani was tired and we both said goodnight. Now all I could do was sit and think. Think about how much fun today was, and then about how angry I was when my dad called. Why could he call today and not on Thanksgiving? When it was my turn to shower I just continued my thoughts. I imagined my dad kissing someone other than my mom and protecting someone other than me. I felt as though nothing anyone said or did could cheer me up.

"Nalah! Look!" Mariana rushed me when I came back to the room.

"What!?" I was afraid there was a spider or something, but then she held up her phone.

"Your boyfriend is so freaking cute."

"Huh?" I took her phone and saw what she was talking about. Jovani posted a picture of me on his Instagram.

Caption: I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas. I just want it to be known that I am in a relationship with this beautiful girl and she's the best present anyone could ever have. I'm a very lucky guy ❤.

I should have known, of course Jovani would be the one to make me feel better. A few minutes ago I wanted to cry, and now I'm just really happy.