Page 12

Five

Alex pickedme up from the airport when I arrived Christmas Eve afternoon. We’d talked, texted, FaceTimed and emailed every day since I’d gone back to S.F.

I’d fallen hard for him.

My parents were disappointed I was staying with Alex while I was home for the week. I figured I could go to their house if that turned out to be a bad idea. I didn’t think that would happen though.

Alex was leaning against the side of his car as I came out of the airport, bags in hand. He leapt forward when he saw me and grabbed the hockey bag. “Hey you.”

He kissed me I happily kissed right back.

“It’s so good to see you in person instead of on a screen.” It was lightly snowing and the flakes in his hair gave him a sparkly appearance. “You even arranged snow, I love that.”

We piled the bags into the car and took off.

“So we’ve got the place to ourselves. Everyone went away, so it’s perfect.”

“It’s just more perfect. Spending the week was already perfect.”

“Awww.” He held my hand as he drove.

We talked endlessly on the drive home—the schedule of seeing his friends and mine, weighing the options for New Year’s Eve and the somewhat dreaded parent visits. We were lucky with the traffic and we parked and unloaded in no time.

“Oh wow,” I said softly as we walked into the loft. “This is beautiful.”

The loft was decked out for Christmas. Along the top of the walls, white icicle lights hung down. The huge tree in the corner was glowing with hundreds of small multi-colored bulbs. I set my bags down and went to look at the tree. Adding to the sparkle of the lights were small crystal prisms that cast the light out in all directions.

“It’s a Christmas wonderland.”

Alex came up behind me and wrapped me in a hug. “I’m glad you like it.” He nibbled on my neck. A long, slow moan was the only response I could make. I hadn’t realized exactly how much I’d missed his touch. “So, I got you a present.” He released me and pulled a flat package from under the tree. The shiny purple paper was gorgeous as it reflected the light from the tree. “Merry Christmas.”

Alex beamed as he handed over the package, clearly pleased with what was inside. He practically bounced with anticipation.

“You’re so cute right now.” I tore into the package and found a framed, black and white picture. It was Alex and me from one of our high school games. We were grappling in front of his goalie. The picture was shot from behind the net so it looked over the goalie’s shoulder and to us. Alex faced the camera whereas I was caught in profile. We were both focused on trying to get the puck and with the expressions on our faces you’d think it was the most important task ever. “This is so cool. I’ve never seen this. Where did it come from?”

“My school newspaper. It’s from the second game of our senior year. I kept it pressed in my yearbook. I think it’s the first picture of us together. I’m still friends with the photographer so I called him up to see if he happened to have a hi-res original. Turned out he keeps all his files so I was able to get us great prints.”

“I love it. I love you.” I hugged him close with the picture still in one hand. “It’s amazing.” I kissed him, opening his lips with my tongue. He got right into kissing me back as we fought to see who could kiss deeper. He hugged me tight, pressing our bodies together. Alex’s erection put pressure against my thigh.

I’m sure he felt mine, too. We hadn’t gone all the way during Thanksgiving. If I had anything to say about it, that was going to change very soon.

Alex broke the kiss, but kept his hold on me. “You realize what you said a second ago, right?”

I grinned. I knew exactly the words I used.

“I love you, too.” He lightly kissed me on the lips. “Those three words are a great Christmas present.”

“I’m sure you’ll be hearing it a lot more.” I let Alex go so I could put the picture safely on the end table. “I’ve got something for you, too. Wait right there.” I went to my luggage and grabbed what I needed. “Okay, close your eyes because it’s not wrapped, thanks to that no wrapping paper on the plane rule. Are they closed?”

“Yup.”

“Cool.” I stepped back in front of him and held up my high school letter jacket. “Okay, open your eyes.” As soon as they were open, I said, “Alex, will you go steady with me?”

I got the reaction I hoped for, a huge smile and a vigorous nod of his head.

“Hell yes I’ll go steady with you.” He put the jacket on. It was a little snug, but it fit. “This is so cool. We didn’t have letter jackets, so I love getting one now, especially yours.”

“It’s not too cheesy?”