Decorated with Love

6

Ivy woke up confused and cold, quickly remembering where she was at when she looked down at the sweatshirt Ender had loaned her when they had gotten back to his house. The sweatshirt was cozy and smelled like him, but it was not a match for the cold in the air now that his power was out as well.

She stretched her arms over her head, turning to catch a glance of Blair, who had curled up next to Nick and fallen asleep, her head resting on his chest.

"Shhhhh!" Nick motioned to her, running his other hand through Blair's hair. Ivy's heart broke a little for the two. Ender's truth hour had revealed some of what happened between them but Ivy knew the story was much deeper than either of them let on.

Ivy grabbed the blanket that she had been covered with and wrapped it around her shoulders before she headed to the kitchen, where she heard some cabinets opening and closing.

Ender was rummaging through the cabinets with a flashlight trying to figure out what he wanted to eat when she walked in. It was the middle of the night but his stomach had started growling pretty loudly and he realized he hadn't eaten since that afternoon.

"What are you making?" Ivy walked up beside him and hopped up on the counter so that she was facing him. He laughed at her sleep-tousled hair and before he could think about what he was doing, he ran his hand over the sleep line on her cheek. Her face was barely illuminated by the flickering candle lights, but even in the dark and having just woken up, she was beautiful. His hand came to rest on her shoulder, playing with the strands of hair that had escaped her ponytail.

"I don't know...what do you want?" He asked, realizing that he wasn't 100% talking about food.

Ivy traced her fingers over the tile on the countertop, avoiding Ender's gaze that was burning her skin. She didn't think he was talking about food and she felt her cheeks turn red at the thought.

"Ivy?" Ender's voice broke into her thoughts and caused her to jump. "What do you want?"

Ivy leaned forward and ran her hands through his hair, pulling his face close to hers. Ender took her hints and quickly closed the gap in between them, pressing his lips to hers in a soft kiss.

"Is this okay?" he whispered, breaking the kiss but not moving away too far. He breathed in the vanilla scent of her hair, pressing a kiss to her jaw as he waited for her to answer.

'Yes," she answered, sliding so that she was trapped between the counter and Ender, who rested his hands behind her. "This is what I want."

He let his lips trail from her jaw to her mouth, capturing her lips again. He took Ivy's arms and hooked them around his neck, moving his hands to her hips as he pulled her closer and deepened this kiss. His hands roamed as things got more heated and they got lost in each other, not even realizing that the power had come back on.

"Hey, guys..." Nick walked into the kitchen, unaware of what he was interrupting until he turned the corner. "Oh man! I'm sorry brother. Carry on..."

"The power is back on!" Ivy exclaimed, wrapping her arms around Ender's waist and rested her head on his chest, trying to wrap her mind around the feelings that she was experiencing. For the first time in awhile, she found herself looking forward to spending time with a guy, found herself wanting a relationship with something more than just her work. She found herself enjoying Christmas related things for the first time since losing her parents.

"I guess we were a little....distracted?" Ender laughed, running his hands up and down her back.

"You can say that again!" Nick smirked and then nodded back towards the living room. "If you two want to continue, then I'll just go back in the living room. The power coming back on startled Blair awake. I think we're going to watch a movie if you two want to join."