Heaven Help Us

Gift Wrapping

"I know at least one of those bags has something for me in it," Ash said as we settled down.

"At least," I agreed. "Is everyody here? We can start wrapping?"

"Yeah, everybody except for Damon. He already wrapped the gifts he bought, and is watching Jeph." Jinxx said, coming into the room of the bus.

"Oh good. I can't wait to be home in a few hours."

"I can't wait to see Sammi," Jinxx grinned. "She says she's got good news."

"Oh?" Dante raised an eyebrow at Jinxx.

"Yeah, so I hear." He had a special light in his eyes; one that I knew all too well from nine months with Dante, waiting for Jeph to arrive.

He glanced at me and I smiled at him with a thumbs up, a small signal that I knew what he knew.

"I've got the wrapping paper!!" CC yelled, hopping into the room with armloads of wrapping paper. "Guys! There's BVB paper!"

"Oh, yeah. That's not at all conceited." Brooklyn rolled her eyes, and then paused for a moment.

"Hey! Picture Me Broken wrapping paper! Dude, no way, give me that!"

CC carelessly dropped the rolls of paper to the floor in order to hand Brooklyn the PMB wrapping paper.

"Jeph's gonna love this year." Dante commented, sitting to the left of me.

"Fuck yeah," Brooklyn agreed.

Everyone came around with the gifts they needed to wrap and we sat there laughing and talking for the ride home.

As we neared the near the end of wrapping gifts and were just a few miles from me and Dante's house, I called Raven.

"Hello?" He answered, sounding kind of breathless.

"Hey, Raven."

"Oh, hey Rain! Are you- Asher! No, come on! Wait until I'm done talking to Rain to hang the tinsel-"

"Hey Rain!" I heard Asher call.

"Ash says hello."

I smiled despite the fact that they couldn't see me. "Hello Asher. You boys got the tree up?"

"Ash is decorating it as we speak."

"Great. Jeph's hanging the star this year?"

"You know he'll be upset if he can't." I could hear the fondness in his voice.

"Of course. We're almost home. We're gonna need help carrying in gifts. We've got quite a few."

"Yeah, and there'll be more. Plus the ones that are already here."

"Yes, well. Everybody who is currently on the bus has presents to bring in. We're all helping, of course, but we will definitely need assistance."

"Alright. We'll be ready to help. Do you want me to get Jeph, or...?"

"I'm going to keep him on DTY's bus until we get the presents unloaded."

"Okay. Love you, see you soon."

"Love you, too, Raven."

Andy looked at me curiously.

"Raven and Asher-you remember Asher, right?" He nodded. "They're decorating the Christmas tree. Jeph loves to help but we were cutting it short as is...Oh fuck, I hope they went food shopping.." I quickly pulled my phone back out and texted Raven to see if he had.

'Stop fretting, dearest sister. Asher and I got everything needed. He even volunteered to cook this year.'

'Yes! That would be fantastic. Tell him if he doesn't he will be Christmas dinner.'

'Lolol love you too - Asher'

I laughed.

"Did they get it?" Andy asked after a moment.

"Yeah, they did. Ash is gonna cook." Ashley's head snapped up.

"I'm gonna what now?"

I smiled at him. "Other Ash, Ashley."

"Ohh...I was gonna say. I come to your house on Christmas for free food and presents. And Jeph.

And I love you," He drew out the 'you'.

"I love you too, Purdy."

"It's comforting to know that even years later, you two still flirt." Andy commented.

"Oh, but isn't it?" Ashley threw back.

Dante laughed tossed a cardboard tube that was now void of any paper at CC.

"Need more?" CC asked.

"Nope. Just finished. The tube is an early gift. Merry Christmas, CC."

"Is Ella coming this year?" I asked Jake.

"Yes! She's looking forward to it. She really enjoyed last year." Jake said, instantly lighting up.

"Great! I'm looking forward to seeing her."

Jake nodded and continued stacking the presents around him. We were trying to make it a little easier to carry them all inside.

I briefly wondered if Jeph was asleep and okay. I knew it was just being a mom, and that I should just shake it off, because I knew he was perfectly fine, but it gave me something to think about other than what Raven's reaction to Andy being around would be.

"Fuck," Andy said suddenly, his voice bringing me out of my thoughts.

"What?" Dante asked before I could get to it.

"How am I gonna get home? My car is at home, and I didn't call anyone to bring it around for me. I...I

didn't have anyone to call..." He said the last part quietly, but I was close enough to hear him.

"It's fine, Andy. We'll figure something out." Dante and I assured him.

"Okay. Yeah, okay. We'll figure something out. Uh, Rain?" He asked.

"Yeah, Andy?"

"What is Raven going to say?"

"Um...well...we're about to find out." I finally managed to say.

We were coming up on our street.

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Here is the chapter. Perhaps drama next chapter. I get the feeling Raven's gonna be a little pissed. What do you think?