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Chapter 39

** REBEL SIMMONS POV **

Dante looked more bored than ever when everyone began to open their gifts. The Christmas tree looked like it belonged in Times Square. It was frosted with fake white snow, and reached the top of the high ceilings within the house. The red string lights glistened against the gold ornaments. A lavish green ribbon was wrapped stylishly around the tree. Underneath the tree was more presents that I have ever seen, all wrapped in luxurious wrapping papers and tied with bows with large festive name tags.

The Vino family gathered around the tree, making sure to bring their desserts with them, and sat on the floor in the living room. Dante sat on the couch and rested his head on his hand as his eyes struggled to stay open.

I could relate to the feeling of disappointment of waking up on Christmas Day to an empty tree in a vacant house, and couldn't help but feel uneasy at the fact that Dante didn't get any presents from his family, nor did they get any for him.

"Dante, can you help me carry my gifts please?" I asked as I walked into the living room.

"You seem to have carried them inside by yourself just fine." He said sarcastically with his eyes closed. I grabbed the nearest pillow and started to smack him with it repeatedly. His family started to laugh in amusement.

"Va bene! Va bene! Enough!" He said as he angrily grabbed the pillow from my hands and shot me a deadly glare. I smirked as he stood up and followed me up the stairs.

My bedroom looked like Santa's workshop exploded. Scraps of wrapping paper decorated my wooden floors and glitter has managed to smother every inch of the room. Dante started to chuckle at me as I frantically walked over to the desk and tore open the drawers searching for a marker.

"Never would have taken you as the festive type." Dante said as he watched me search through the drawers. He clicked his tongue, causing me to look at him. He nodded his head towards the coffee table, where three markers were messily scattered upon the glass.

I quickly walked over, tossed a marker at Dante. I didn't label the gifts yet, and for once in my life, I was thankful for my procrastination. I labeled all the gifts with sticky notes, so I could remember which one was which. I grabbed the diamond necklace for Florence, and tossed it to Dante. He effortlessly caught it, and looked at it confused. I threw him a marker, which he also caught with ease.

"Oh, no fucking way." Dante said as he scowled.

"That's to your mom, from you. You're welcome." I said rolling my eyes.

"Why are you doing this?" He asked as he continued to look at the poorly wrapped gift in his hand.

"A gift from you would be better than anything I could ever give your family." I explained as I gathered the other gifts and started to place them in front of him. I decided to divide the gifts in two, one from Dante, and one from me.

"Why would I give them a gift when they have everything they could ever possibly want?" He scoffed as he walked over to me and sat down on the decorative chair.

"It's not about the gift, it's about the thought. You could literally give them a picture of your middle finger, and they'll still love it because you put in the effort to do something for them." I said as I started to label my gifts.

"That's actually rather brilliant now that you mention it." He said smirking as he looked at his hand. "Which angle would be better?" He said as he flipped me off then rotated his hand.

"Just label the damn tags." I said laughing. After examining all the angles his middle finger could make, he was silent for a moment as he looked down at the gifts.