An Unexpected Friendship

Chapter 18

*Alex's POV*
Christmas has finally come and I couldn't be more excited. Not only is it the best day of the year, but it's also our first Christmas with Sophia. After yesterday's events, I knew that we had to make this the best first Christmas for her. Servando and I were able to slip out of the house for a while yesterday to get a bunch of stuff to prepare for today.

"Babe what time is it?" I ask Servando as I stack the rest of Sophia's presents near the tree. "8am," he says as he adjusts his Christmas pajamas. "She's gonna love this," I say happily. "Should we go wake her up now?" he asks. "Definitely. Let's do it," I say taking his hand in mine.

Servando quietly cracks open Sophia's door and we can see that she's still sleeping. "One..two..three...GO!" Servando says excitedly. We rush into her room and pounce on top of her. "WAKE UP WAKE UP WAKE UP IT'S CHRISTMAS!!" we shout simultaneously. She covers her head with a pillow and mumbles as Servando starts jumping on the bed.

"Alright alright I'm up!" Sophia laughs. I wrap my arms around her and hug her tight. "Am I seeing you two wearing matching pajamas?" she asks as a smile creeps up on her face. "Damn right! And we have a set for you," Servando says excitedly before jogging out of the room. He comes back with the set we bought her and hands it to her. "So awesome," she laughs. "Change and meet us downstairs," I say before hopping off her bed.

"These have to be the comfiest pajamas I've ever worn," Sophia says as she fiddles with the drawstring on the pants. She stops as she finally notices the numerous presents piled up around the tree. "Holy shit. You guys do realize that only three people live here right?" she questions. "Well a majority of them are yours, but we'll open them later. We gotta go or we'll be late," I tell her. "Late for what?" she asks. "Oh. We're spending the morning at Alex's parent's house. Throw these on," Servando explains while tossing Sophia a pair of moccasins.

...

"Why are you smiling at me like that?" Sophia laughs. "No reason. I'm just excited to go inside," I say nonchalantly. The truth is that we planned a small surprise for her so I was really anxious to see her reaction. I reach for her hand and pull her towards the front door. The house is silent as we make our way inside.

"Mom? Dad?" I call out to initiate the surprise. "We're in the living room," I hear my mom call back. "Come on," I say and motion for Sophia to follow me. We make our way down the hall towards the living room. "SURPRISE!" everyone yells as we enter the living room. "No way!" Sophia says completely surprised.

My family and Servando's family were piled in the living, all sporting the same pajamas as us. Let me tell you, this wasn't easy to pull off. We had to go to several stores to find enough sets and sizes so that everyone could participate in this. "You know what we're doing next, right Soph?" I ask Sophia. "Are we really gonna watch How the Grinch Stole Christmas?" she asks. "Heck yeah we are. Get over here!" Jeri yells while patting the couch cushion. "You guys didn't have to do this," Sophia laughs as she makes her way over to the couch.

...

"Hey I've been looking for you. We're gonna head home soon," I tell Sophia as I walk into my old room. "You were a cute kid," she says while showing me the picture in her hand. I take a look at it and smile. "I was six in this picture. It was my second year in the AYSO league. I had no idea what the future even held for me at that point," I say shaking my head. "So this was really your room growing up?" she asks. Hundreds of memories flood my mind as I scan the room. "It was. Now it's become a memorabilia room that has everything from my professional career. I was in this room when I got my first senior national team call up, you know," I explain.

"I remember watching your 100th cap game with my dad. You played incredible that game," she says while motioning towards my 100th cap jersey hanging on the wall. "It was a good one. Let me tell you though, nothing will beat the feeling of scoring my 100th goal last year. Now that was an incredible game," I say pointing to the 100th goal jersey next to the 100th cap jersey.