English Is Flammable (Student/Teacher)

Chapter 35

(Shay’s Point of View)

I woke up and felt a wave of nerves wash over me, my body tensing under Will’s body.  Will, who was sprawled out a little all over me, his head on my chest, his right leg in between my two, started to stir.  Great, now I’m tense, he’s awake, and today is Christmas Eve.  

“Shay?  What’s wrong?”  He asked, his voice clouded with sleep.

“Wha-who said anything was wrong.”  I stuttered.

“I did.  Tonight?”  He asked, referring to our plans for the evening with his family.

“A little.”

“Alright, I’m going to let you in on a little secret about my family.”  He said, flipping us around so I was on top of him, him sitting up a little more so we’d be more comfortable.  “My family can be pretty strange at times.  My uncle Richard is a total weirdo, every year for the past ten or fifteen years or so he’s passed out a picture of himself in a speedo.  And he’s my oldest uncle.  And my cousin, Ashley, well, her singing really sucks.  And every year she passes out a new ‘demo’ she’s created of herself and it’s all anybody can do not to groan.  

Then we have all of the screaming children from my older cousins, and my aunts always hand out candles, I mean, thank you, I have enough candles to last me a lifetime, now go find some other overused gift.  My uncles are always telling me how we’ll have to all have to go golfing together sometime and just never seem to understand that I do not like golf.  My family is a tad psycho.  When everyone’s gone, my parents, my siblings, and I usually sit around the fire trying to think of some creative way to dispose of all of the horrible gifts.”  He finished.  I just stared at him, then, upon realizing he was completely serious, started laughing.  

“So you’re saying that in comparison to them I’m normal?”  I asked him, a crooked grin on my face.  

“No, in comparison to anybody you’re way beyond normal, you’re like, I don’t have the right word but I’ll come up with it later.  With my family, you should be just fine, now quit worrying.”  He said, kissing the tip of my nose.  I raised my head a little and kissed him on the lips gently before pulling away.  

(Will’s Point of View)

“Shay, come on!  This cannot be taking this long.  The only person that should be worried about how you look and that’s just so I won’t get a...nevermind.  Just hurry up!”  I yelled through the bathroom door.  Shay had been in the bathroom doing God knows what for the last hour.  I heard footsteps, the lock clicked, and the door opened.  Thank the heavens!  

“Geez, Will, chill out.”  She huffed, a teasing grin on her face.  Wow, she was absolutely stunning.  She was wearing a pair of white jeans, a knit navy blue sweater thing that hung off both of her shoulders, and a pair of tan slipper, things, like the indians used to wear, just probably way more expensive.  

If I didn’t know any better, I wouldn’t think she was wearing any makeup, it was that subtle, and her hair was straighter than usual.  She grabbed a light, washed out blue scarf and put it on loosely around her neck.  Watching her walk past me I saw that the neckline of the top matched the back, they both went down in a wide, low v.  She grabbed her off-white trench coat she wore ice skating and turned back to me.

“Ready?”  She asked.

“Yeah, for the past forty-five minutes.”  I grumbled.  She thumped me on the back of the head, making me reach my hand up and rub the spot her hand came into contact with.  she snickered as we walked out the door.  We drove the fifteen minutes to my parents oversized house and parked up on the side where I always do and got out.  Shay was so nervous despite everything I told her, she was ridged and stiff as a board.  Just before I opened the front door to the house I stopped her, turning to her with my hands on either side of her shoulders.