Chapter 38 - Realization

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Jenni's Point Of View
     Christmas Eve. My Favorite Holiday. I was just going to start cooking the food when I heard the door. I knew it had to be Grayson, who I was most excited about seeing today.
   "I'll get it!" I yelled and ran toward the door.
  "Hey Grays-" I started. I looked up and saw Ethan.
  "Ethan? What are you doing here?" I asked really confused.
  "Didn't Grayson tell you?"
  "Um, no. He told me he was coming."
  "Well, turns out, he didn't want to come and see you. Right as we were about to leave, he just went to our friends house instead, he must have gotten mad again." I was more confused than ever. I had so many questions. 'Why wouldn't Grayson want to come see me?' 'Was he faking being nice to me just to make me sad again?'
   "He apologized to me, though. He said he was coming. I thought everything was fine."
  "I thought so too, but Grayson must have gotten mad again."
  "I need to call Grayson, something must be wrong."
*****
 Ethan's Point Of View
    Jenni couldn't call Grayson. It would ruin my whole plan, right when it was going so well. I needed Jenni to forget about Grayson so she could just keep her mind on me.
   "No!" I shouted. "Don't call Grayson. He said he didn't want to talk to you, that's why he didn't come."
  "Wow, right after we had planned this. This day was supposed to be full of joy..." Jenni said and her face started to look saddened.
   "That's why I'm here. Grayson wasn't going to let me come, but I knew I couldn't just leave you alone. It's Christmas Eve, a day to be with your friends and people you care about." I said and hugged her lightly. A smirk grew on my face as I realized that my plan was going so smoothly, Jenni would like me more than Grayson in no time.
   "You're right Ethan. If Grayson didn't care about me enough to come, then why should I care at all? This is Christmas Eve after all and we should all be happy, I don't need Grayson to be happy." She hugged me back and I felt so special to be able to be there with Jenni. I felt like how it did in the past, everything was perfect.
  She led me inside the house and her mom was there making food that I had never seen before.
   "Hello Mrs. Cruz, what are you making?" I asked.
  "I'm making tamales, there a really popular Mexican dish for Christmas Eve."
  "May I help?" I asked. 
  "Of Course! You can help by washing the leaves." I walked over to the sink where the leaves were and began to wash.
   I noticed Jenni was on her phone doing nothing. Her mom must have realized too because she spoke up.
  "Jenni, you should help out more like your boyfriend Ethan here," Jenni's mom said joking around.
  "Mom, he's not my boyfriend," Jenni responded and had a slight smile on her face and was blushing a bit. 
   Jenni came to help me wash the leaves. As she was walking toward the sink, her mom turned to face us.
   "Mistletoe!" Her mom yelled with pure joy in her face. Jenni blushed a bit but tried to hide her face.
   "It's tradition Jenni, We have to kiss," I said smiling at her. 
   She looked up and wrapped her arms around my neck as I softly grabbed her waist. Her face started to come closer to mine until I connected our lips together.  She kissed me back passionately as if spreading all the love she had toward Grayson onto me.
   I continued the kiss, our lips moving in perfect sync until her mom interrupted.
    "How cute! You two are too adorable, you can't possibly tell me you two aren't going out,"
  "I know it's hard to believe, but we aren't," I responded. 
  "You never know, It's Christmas, anything can happen." Jenni said and winked at me. 
   Finally. I thought to myself. Jenni's feelings for me were coming back and I couldn't be happier.  Jenni would be mine again, and I wouldn't have to worry about Grayson ruining that. I was so happy and couldn't wait until the evening. This was going to be the best Christmas I've ever had. 
*****
Grayson's Point Of View
   Ethan left about 5 hours ago because he was planning my 'surprise' Christmas party. I suspected that they maybe wanted to throw me a Christmas party because of how crappy my birthday was. At almost 4, I decided to take a shower to get ready for the party. 
   I had gotten out of the shower an hour later, and still had not call or text from Ethan or Nate. I was a bit confused, but I went with it anyway.
  I decided to dress casually since I thought it would be such a big party. I wore a gray Adidas sweater matched with some black jeans. 
  At 6:30, I decided to call Nate because Ethan left a long time ago, so they must have been done setting up.
   It took a couple rings for him to answer, but nonetheless he answered.
   "Hey what's up, how's it going on the trip with Ethan?" He asked instantly, but I was confused. 
   "Trip? What are you talking about? Ethan isn't even here." 
   "He told me that you to were going on a little trip so you can forget about Jenni."
   "Ethan told me that you guys were throwing me a surprise party."
   "Party? Ethan only came by here to pick up my car."
   "He must have lied then, But why?" I was really confused. Ethan couldn't have just run away cause he didn't take anything. Unless, he didn't run to somewhere, he ran to someone. I knew exactly who that someone was.
   "Nate, he went to Jenni's."
   "Why would he go all the way to Oakland?"
   "I'll try to find out, call you back." I hung up the phone. I started to think about every event that happened before he left. First, he kissed Jenni and I got mad, so that's probably what his plan was. If Jenni was mad at me, she wouldn't be mad at him so that he could have a chance with her.
    I didn't even have to call him to ask if that was his plan, because I already knew it was. he really wanted to get closer to Jenni, but he knew I was in the way. 
    I was so mad at Ethan, he left after he agreed that we wouldn't fight over her. I had to call him to straighten this out. 
   I called him. No answer. I called Jenni. No answer either. Probably spending time with Ethan and having fun instead of answering. I was so mad , I just wanted to punch him. I had to bring him back, but I knew I couldn't drive, so I had to get someone to drive me. Uber would cost too much, but I only knew one other person to drive me, Nate. Since Nate celebrated Christmas tomorrow, I decided it would be fine if he drove me. I called Nate back.
    "Nate, you're driving me to Oakland."
    "What? Grayson, I have family over."
    "You don't even celebrate Christmas today, Jenni does."
    "Fine but I don't have a car, Ethan took it."
    "Borrow your family's car," I said and he agreed so I waited outside as Nate arrived.
*****
Ethan's Point Of View
        Jenni's Christmas party started and her whole family was there. Cousins, her parents friends, and her own friends. There was a lot of people here and I thought everyone had arrived, but the doorbell rang once more. Jenni got up and answered the door and standing behind it was Cameron.
   "Hey Jenni," he said and hugged her. "I got you a gift," Cameron added as he handed her a box, which was quite big.
   She invited him inside and brought him to the couch, where we were sitting and the rest of the little cousins were playing.
   "What is he doing here?" Cameron asked looking quite disgusted to see me.
  "He decided to come." 
  "So you just allow people that almost kill you inside your home?" Cam responded rudely. 
  "I forgave him Cameron, gosh. What is wrong with you?" 
  "Nothing is wrong. Something must be wrong with you because after only days of almost killing you, you forgive him. But it took you months to forgive me, and what I did was no where near as bad as his."
  "Cameron! It was an accident!" Jenni yelled sounding mad. 
  "Sure didn't seem like one," I heard Cameron try to mumble under his breath.
  "Cameron I forgave him and if you don't like it then just leave."
  "Just forget it, I want to eat."
    Jenni then got up and led us to the kitchen where the family was laughing and having fun while me and Cameron ate in awkward silence.
     A couple of hours later it was approaching midnight and the little kids were so happy. They gathered around the tree awaiting to open the presents.
   "I really wish Grayson was here to celebrate with us." Jenni said. 
   "You have me," I responded and gave her a side hug. I looked over and saw Cameron roll his eye's but I didn't care.  
*****
 The little kids had opened their presents and now it was the older kids turn. Jenni had a few older cousins my age and I sat with them along the tree. There was less presents for them than there was for the little ones because we we're older so they got less presents. Her cousins went first until it was Jenni's turn to open her presents. She mostly got clothes but she also had gotten a phone case. She opened Cam's present, which was a Polaroid Camera and film with a perfume. She hugged him as a thank for the gift.
   "Way better than Ethan's gift. Oh wait, he didn't even bring one," Cameron said. Jenni ignored it instead and said," Speaking of gifts, I got Ethan one." She walked up to her room and came back with a big box.
   "Jenni you didn't have to get me a gift , really." I said as a smile grew on my face.
  " You deserve it." She said and pushed the box toward me. I opened it and found a mini bike inside, and also a pink snapback.
   "Wow, Jenni I don't know what to say, this is amazing." I said.
  "You don't have to say anything," Jenni said as she turned to me and smiled. Her family clapped as she kissed me. 
   "I'm so done with you and Ethan," Cameron said and stomped toward the door, obviously mad. Jenni ran after him but I was glad he was leaving, he was really getting on my nerves. I followed Jenni outside in the front yard, where she was trying to catch Cameron. As soon as I stepped outside I saw a car and Nate and Grayson we're inside.
~~~~~
 

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