Lost In Ya Love (Eddie Redmayne)

Family Time Is Quality Time.

A/N: Hello my loyal readers! It's Christmas eve today and I wish all of you a Merry Christmas! Don't know if I'm going to be able to update till New Year's eve. If not: A happy new year. Lots of love!

Christmas was only a few days away. Together with my parents and my brother I was decorating their living room. Ever since I had told Eddie how I felt, I felt relieved; like a weight taken off of my mind. I had been in a lot better mood, even my parents noticed. As I was putting some baubles on the tree, Paul was looking through the huge boxes to find matching ones. It was tradition in my parents' household that my brother and I were decorating the tree and my parents were doing the rest in the living room. Sadly, the year before we hadn't been able to do so together since I had been in London. To be honest, I loved these family traditions; not only on Christmas but also on July 4th and Thanksgiving. On Christmas day my aunts and uncles would come over and we would play board games together. I have to say, those were my favorite days of the year.

All together we were seated on the dining table of my parents' house. Patricia, my aunt - from my mother's part of the family - was talking to my brother, while I was helping my little cousin with her coloring book. Crystal was nine years old and probably one of my biggest fans out of the family. She had made me her role model, meaning she wanted to become an actress as well. It was half past noon and since it was tradition that we would have lunch before opening the presents, I had to distract the nine-year-old until the food was done and until we were allowed to go into the living room. My mom had made a delicious turkey, Patricia had brought cupcakes and my grandparents had made the side dishes. 

As the food was eaten and the everything was put into the dishwasher, we were finally allowed to open our presents. Crystal and Paul were the first ones to go into the living room. My brother was 25 years old but he was behaving like a five-year-old. My other cousins and I followed them slowly. Don't get me wrong, I loved Christmas, but I didn't like the idea of receiving something as gift. Soon everyone was gathered around the tree. Paul and I had bought our parents a journey to Europe. They had always wanted to go to Paris but hadn't had the money to. All of my family members seemed to be happy with what they had gotten, the only one that didn't have a present yet, was me. Normally, I got some book that I was glad about; the long flights to Europe were perfect opportunities to read. This time there was nothing for me under the tree and I didn't mind as long as I had made the rest of my family happy. It made me smile that my brother was hugging me for the third time in a row because I had bought him a watch. After all of the presents had been unwrapped, we sat back down at the dining table. 

"I'm sorry, honey! Your present didn't come on time." my mother said, rubbing my back.

"It's okay, Mom! I don't mind. You know I don't really like receiving gifts." I answered, giving her a warm smile.

She wanted to say something but was interrupted by the doorbell. Paul went to open the door, while I kept listening to Crystal talking about her cool new toy. I didn't really pay attention a lot; it was completely normal that one of my relatives was late. 

"Emma, it's for you." my brother called.

I smiled at my little cousin, got up from the chair and walked into the hallway to be greeted by my parents and Paul. Who had rang the bell, when nobody had come in? Confused, I looked at my mother who was grinning at me like crazy. Slowly, my father opened the door. I couldn't believe my eyes. Eddie was standing there with a smile on his face. 

"Merry Christmas!" he said, when I didn't show any reaction. 

On the inside, I was jumping around, doing a little happy dance, but on the outside, I was just staring at him in disbelief. After a couple of seconds, I walked up to him and wrapped my arms around him. At first, he was surprised but quickly hugged me back. I didn't want to let go anymore because I was scared that he would be gone the second I let go. He kissed the top of my head before we let go from each other. Once more, the butterflies in my stomach were going crazy. Blushing, I looked at my parents, who were smiling at us, and my brother, who had a satisfied smirk on his face. 

"How?" I then asked Eddie surprised.

"Your brother invited me." he answered shrugging. 

"Thanks, Paul!"

"You're welcome. It's Mom's, Dad's and my present!" my brother said, smiling at me.

"Let's go back to the others! The coffee's getting cold!" Mom then intervened, dragging my father and Paul with her.

I quickly grabbed Eddie's hand to lead him into the dining room. Apparently all of my family members were in the know of the visitor because they didn't look surprised at all. After he had introduced himself, we sat down at the table next to each other. Every now and then, he would glance at me but he kept concentrating on the conversations that my family members engaged him in. When Patricia and I were standing on the porch to smoke one, she had to bring him up.

"He's very nice and damn is he handsome!" she commented, making me chuckle.

"Patty! You're married!" I protested, still laughing a little.

"You've always had a good taste in men."

Since we both had finished our cigarettes, we went back inside. Meanwhile, Eddie was sitting on the floor with Crystal who was showing him some of the pictures she had colored in her coloring book. A smile was on his lips and he seemed very interested in what she was telling him. Even though we had confessed our feelings, none of us made a move. First of all, it would've been inappropriate in front of my family and second of all, I was still too shy to broach the subject. A part of me was still scared that he hadn't meant what he had said. When he noticed that I was looking at him, he smiled at me, excused himself from Crystal and got up from the floor. He grabbed my hand and led me into the kitchen. My mother had asked him to carry the tray with cake on it to the dining table. What I hadn't noticed was that my dad had put a mistletoe on one of the wall cupboards but Redmayne had. He slowly pulled me into him and took me by surprise with it. His lips were inches away from mine; they were so close that I could already feel their warmth. Slowly, he pressed them on mine. This time, I didn't pull away. I don't know how long we were kissing but it felt like forever and it was the best feeling I had ever had.