Underneath The Mistletoe {Phan} (Book Three)

🌨Six🌨

All I could think about for the rest of the day was the advice that Doug had given me.

It even rang through my head as I was wrapping Ellie's present the next day. I was listening to Dan giving Ellie a piano lesson in the living room as I was in my and Dan's bedroom trying to figure out how to properly wrap a music box because wrapping wasn't exactly something that I was gifted in.
You're going to make mistakes, whether you like it or not.
Doug's advice from yesterday began echoing in my head for what felt like the millionth time since he first said it to me.
When either one of you, or both of you if it applies to the situation, I want you or Dan or both of you to learn from the mistake that you made so that you don't keep on making the same mistakes over and over again.
I sighed as I realized that I hadn't even talked to Dan about what Doug had told me. I was too tired after coming home from the mall because I had been gone for much longer than I would've liked, mostly due to the fact that Doug's quite a talker and it's very difficult to get out of a conversation with him when he starts talking because he just loves talking to people so much. Not that there's anything wrong with that, of course. It's just a little bit annoying when you're like me and like to go to places to get what I need as quickly as possible and not waste time conversing with others and wandering around stores for no good reason.

*****

As I finally figured out how to properly wrap Ellie's music box, I heard the piano come to a sudden stop. Confused as to why this happened, I stood up and began making my way downstairs. Once I had made my way down there, I saw both Dan and Ellie sitting on the piano bench. Ellie was sitting on Dan's lap and her eyes were focused on the piano keys.
"Hey guys." I walked over to them, desperate to break the silence that had suddenly filled the room a few moments prior. "What's going on? I heard the piano suddenly stop."
"I can't get the notes right." Ellie whispered sadly, as if I would be disappointed by this. "No matter how hard I try, I always mess up."
Dan sighed. "Ellie, what have I been telling ever since I started giving you piano lessons yesterday?"
She stared at the piano keys for a few moments before looking up at Dan. ""Practice makes perfect. You aren't going to get it right the first time or even the first few times so don't give up, even if it gets really frustrating.""
I was honestly surprised to hear Ellie recite what Dan had apparently told her yesterday perfectly. With me knowing Dan almost better than I knew myself, I had a feeling that he only told her what she had just said once. I was impressed that she was able to remember it word for word, even though she had heard it only just yesterday.
But, then again, my praise doesn't really mean all that much considering that I don't exactly have that great of a memory.
"That's right." Dan looked back at Ellie. "Now, with that being said, what do you think you should do now?"
Ellie looked back down at the piano keys and placed her hands down on them. "Keep practicing the part that I just can't seem to get right until I actually get it right?"
Dan nodded. "That's right. Start at the beginning so you can get better at it while you continue to practice the part that you keep messing up."
Ellie nodded before she started following Dan's instructions.
"Well, I'll be upstairs if either one of you need me." I said, unsure if they actually knew I had been here the entire time. "I heard the piano stop suddenly and I wanted to make sure that everything was still okay."
They must have lost in their own world because they didn't even acknowledge my presence. I didn't mind though. It was nice to see Dan and Ellie getting along.

*****

My heart sank in my chest when I had finished wrapping Ellie's gift and remembered that I hadn't told Dan the advice Doug had given me yesterday. I decided that I would wait until Ellie had gone to bed and when him and I laid down for the night to tell him the advice that I had been given.
As I was hiding Ellie's gift underneath the bed, I noticed that there was a purple bag next to all of the gifts I had been keeping down there to give to my family on Christmas day. I tilted my head in confusion when I saw it because I didn't remember putting any of the gifts I had bought. My confusion immediately faded when I saw that "To: Ellie" was written on top of the tag and "From: Santa" was written on the bottom of it. I didn't want to just go through the bag to see what the gift was so I decided that I would ask Dan about it later when Ellie wasn't around because I knew that that gift was from him.