PART TWO

Slowly you open your eyes, the sun is brightly seeping through the window past your Christmas tree. The room is illuminated by the sunlight reflecting off the snow that covers the grounds outside. Your hands hug around Daniel’s thigh. Lifting your head you look at him, still asleep, his arms crossed over his chest and his head rested back to the wall.
Taking your time, you sit up on your heels. Kneeling beside the sleeping boy on the sofa. He looks so cute when sleeping. You can’t help but think, while your eyes trace over each of his relaxed features.
You yawn, waking yourself up. Daniel’s eyes open, squinting at the bright light through the window.
“Good morning” his voice is raspy.
“Morning” you sweetly bid in return.
He yawns and stretches his arms straight out in front of him. Ruffling his hair with one hand he looks to you.
“I could get used to this” his voice is low under his breath. Get used to what?
You tie your hair back into a messy bun and smile in his direction.
“Did you sleep well?” he asks kindly.
“Decently” you giggle.
“Was my thigh a good enough pillow?” he teases you.
“Sorry I passed out on you… literally”
He shakes his head and laughs.
“Did you sleep alright? You couldn’t have been comfortable?”
“I slept fine. My back is a little sore, but meh” he admits.
A part of you feels bad for physically falling asleep on him, but he could have woken you up if it was really an issue, so I guess he really is fine with it.
Not to mention, you had almost no way of not falling asleep on him. The way he gently your hair and the way his fingers softly massaged your back and side while you were lying there made you more than comfortable and relaxed. Needless to say, you couldn’t help it. You were tired and he didn’t quite try to keep you awake.
“I’ll make breakfast?” you suggest, standing from the couch.
“Sure” he smiles joining you in standing.
You prance to the kitchen to start breakfast. Like a lost puppy, Daniel follows right behind you. You can’t help but giggle at his cuteness.
“What are you going to make?” he asks, leaning over your shoulder as you crack a couple eggs into a bowl.
“Omelets, if that's okay with you?” you look over your shoulder to him sweetly looking down at the bowl. His chin almosting resting on your shoulder. He turns to face you, your noses brushing slightly before he flinches away from you. Your cheeks heat up a little and you quickly continue cooking, ignoring the awkward moment that just happened.

After only a few minutes the omelets are complete. You plate one for him and one for yourself, bringing both plates to the dining room table where he sits awaiting the food.
“Enjoy” you smile placing the plate in front of him.
“It looks really good” he smiles at you taking a seat across from him.
“I hope it tastes good” you chuckle.

The two of you quickly finish your meals. Just as you begin to clean up your cell phone rings from in the living room. Daniel takes the plates from you and you skip to your phone, answering the call before it ends.
“Hello” you answer.
“Hey Y/N” it’s your best friend.
“Oh hey, what’s up?” you ask her.
“Not much, actually I was wondering if you would come with me to do my very last minute Christmas shopping?”
“Oh, uh-” you look through the doorway to the kitchen and at Daniel, rinsing off your breakfast plates. You kind of want to just spend the day with Daniel, but you also wouldn’t mind getting out of the house on your day off. And as much as last minute Christmas shopping can be hectic; you have some shopping to do yourself before the holiday comes. And since it’s the 23rd, today is probably the only day you can get it done.
“Yeah, sure, what time?” you ask her, agreeing to go out shopping.
“Uh, I’ll be at your house in like half an hour, is that cool?”
“That should work” you nod answering her as Daniel turns to face you with a smile. Dammit. You think looking at his charming smile as he waits for you to finish on the phone.
“Awesome” your friend snaps you back into the conversation.
“I’ll see you then” you speak lowly. Bidding her goodbye you hang up the call.
You join Daniel in the kitchen, he leans his tailbone and the base of his palms to the countertop.
“Daniel-” you start. You don’t want to tell him he’ll need to leave soon, but you know you have to now that your plans with your friend are set.
“Hmm?” he turns his head to face you. You put the plates into the dishwasher and the frypan into the sink.
“F/N is picking me up in like a half hour-” you state regretfully.
“Oh, okay” he smiles. “What’s with the frown?”
“What?” you look up at him, standing a few inches taller than you.
“You’re frowning” he points out, pouting his bottom lip.
“Oh, I-” you start to explain yourself. But your words stop as his arm reaches out swinging you around and pulling you into a hug. You collid chest to chest with him, and his arms both wrap tightly around you. Your hands gingerly rest on his hips. Leaning yourself backward out of a slight awkwardness you feel inside you from the closeness, your back bends over his arms that don’t loosen their grip.
“Why are you frowning?”
“I just, wanted to-” you pause analyzing his features. His soft gaze, his cute nose, kissable lips. Everything about him is handsome.
“After answering F/N, I realized I wanted to spend the day with you” you look downward as you speak, as if trying to see the ground through your pressed together bodies.
He chuckles cutely.
“You don’t want to kick me out?” he jokes, lightening the mood that you made heavy. You glare up at him playfully.
“I should be leaving soon anyways, I have a shift this afternoon” he smiles and you allow yourself to fall into his hug. Wrapping your arms around him and resting your ear to his shoulder.

~ ~ ~

About 20 minutes pass by, most of which you spend tidying the kitchen so that your parents don’t scold you for a mess when they get home.
“Hey Y/N-”
You peek around the kitchen corner to see Daniel sitting on his phone on the sofa. He stands up and walks towards you. Even his walk is attractive.
“I’m gonna get going now, is that alright?”
“No” you answer without hesitation.
“Uh-”
“I’m kidding” you nudge him playfully. But in all honesty, you don’t want him to leave.
“Well, then- I’ll just be on my way” he speaks with a dramatic tone jokingly.
“B-bye” you smile, before prancing after him to the front entrance.
“So-” he turns to face you, his boots now on as he is ready to leave. “Thank you for letting me stay over, and for breakfast”
“No, thank you for driving me home yesterday” you interrupt him.
“So I’ll be seeing you later?” he smiles more of a playful smirk.
You furrow your eyebrows. What is he talking about?
“Right? I WILL be seeing you later?” he raises his eyebrows and you start nodding.
“Yes, later” you smile.
He opens the door and takes a step outside.
“Oh, F/N just got here” he chuckles turning to you. “Nice timing” he laughs.
“Huh” you sound in agreeance, but you know you’re never going to hear the end of this from your friend. It’s only 11:00am, you’re almost certain your best friend is going to see Daniel at this time and immediately know he’s stayed the night; and that’s definitely not something you wanna be confronted about.
“See you tonight” Daniel smiles before walking away from you. You watch him walk towards his car and send a wave at F/N. You can’t help but sigh at their interaction. Now there is no way your friend isn’t going to talk about Daniel being over.
Quickly you send a ‘be right out’ text to your friend and close the door. Running up to your bedroom to throw on a baggy sweatshirt, a pair of leggings and long socks over top. Skipping to the washroom you tie your hair up in a high messy bun and wash off yesterday's smudged makeup just to slap some minimal makeup back onto your eyes; making yourself look a little bit more presentable to the world.

“Hey” you greet your friend, opening the passengers door of her vehicle.
“Why was Daniel over?”
Wow. Not even a hello first. You look to your feet as you get into the seat.
“He-”
“Did he stay the night?!” she looks to you with wide eyes. Oh boy…
“Yes” you admit vaguely.

~ ~ ~

You and your best friend have been walking around the mall for about an hour now. She’s done a fair amount of her shopping, but there’s just one thing you need to purchase; although after the awkward girly chat with her on the drive here about Daniel, no part of you wants to buy it today. But when else are you going to get it? So you have no choice but to buy it now.
“Can we go in here quick?” you stop at a clothing store.
"Yeah sure” she and you head into the store.
“I just need to get something” you say, walking straight for what you need. It’s a simple hooded sweatshirt. Red with white detailing. It’s a nice men’s sweater and you sorta wish you would buy it for yourself.
“Isn’t that kind of expensive?” your friend asks looking over the pricing sign while you head to the counter. Ignoring her you purchase the sweatshirt.
The two of you head out of the store.
“Whos it for anyways?” she furrows her eyebrows. “Wait-” she stops her steps. “Is this for Daniel?”
. . .
“Yes, it is” you keep walking.
“Do you like him?” she asks honestly.
You’ve never opened up about your feelings for him since they’re still fairly new to you. It’s not that you’re embarrassed, or feel like you shouldn’t like him; it’s just that you lack understanding of them yourself. And if you’re honest, most of your friend group knows that you’ve rejected him and that you don’t like him; so now that you really do have feelings, admitting them is going to be hard. But since she is your best friend, you feel the need to tell her the truth.

“I-”
“You do” she smiles, knowing what you we’re going to say.
“Yeah, a lot” you continue.

~ ~ ~

Your friend dropped you off at home only a couple hours ago, and since then you’ve actually planned the see Daniel this evening. He’ll be over in a half hour.
You sit on your bed, overlooking three outfits you laid out on your bed. None of them you want to wear but you want to impress Daniel. Giving up, you remain in the oversized hoodie and leggings you put on earlier. You skip to the washroom, your hair looks fine with it’s purposely messy style. You apply just a tad bit more makeup to your face. There. Now you look presentable for him.
Just in time. The doorbell rings and you nearly jump down the stairs to the front entrance.
“Hi” you cheerfully greet the boy.
“Hi” his eyes trail up and down your body before returning to your eyes.
“You-” he starts.
“I-” you begin at the same time. Both of you chuckle.
“You first” you insist.
“Um- you look cute” he states.
“Thanks” you shyly look away.
“Um- I thought we could actually go somewhere?” you suggest.
“Like where?” he furrows his eyebrows, making his puppy-like expression even more endearing.
“Let’s just get in the car, I’ll direct you there?”
“Um-”
“It’s a surprise” you smile and he nods.
“Alright, then let’s go” he smiles back at you, taking your hand in his tightly and practically dragging you from the house.
“Daniel-”
“What?”
“I kind of need shoes on” you laugh, both his and your eyes look down at your feet, just covered in grey sock-monkey styled socks.
“Oh” he chuckles. “Good idea” he looks towards the snow still piled high outside.

~ ~ ~

After directing him on the fifteen minute drive, he parks at your destination.
“Whoa~” he says in awe, getting out of the car.
You join him out of the car. Stepping up to his side you look at him. He looks amazed with the scenery.
You brought him here just to see that little reaction. How his expression would turn into an adorable, sorta confused and amazed gaze while his eyes trace over the view.
You brought him out to the lights festival your city holds every year during the holidays; Since he’s new to the city, he would have never seen it, so you figured it’d be something nice to introduce him to.
You look over the trees covered in Christmas lights, the lit up figures of snowmen and reindeer, and the many shapes made out of lights of all colours. Your eyes find themselves looking at Daniel who still looks around in amazement.
It may just be a bunch of Christmas lights surrounding a pond, but it’s truly a beautiful sight at this time in the evening. The sky has only just become dark and the area is illuminated by the lights.
His mouth is slightly agape and his eyes are relaxed. You take a moment to check him out; his handsome face is lit up by the white lights near by, he wears a white knit sweater, and his hair is wavy. Gosh, you really are falling for him.
“This is so- pretty” he speaks, looking towards you. “Why did you bring me here?”
“I used to come with my family, but we stopped coming a few years ago- I really liked coming here, and I thought maybe you’d enjoy it too?”
“I do, it’s more beautiful now that I know why you wanted to share it with me” he takes a few steps forward.
The two of you are practically alone, only a couple other people walk around the pond since most people only walk the main road that’s lit up, but you always came to this place to enjoy the festival.
You walk for about ten minutes. Every few seconds he points out a different figure or speaks in amazement. You find his cute childlike reactions adorable.

“Wah~ Y/N, can you take my photo?” he hands you his cell phone and runs beneath a large arch of red lights. You snap a few photographs, giggling at him as he changes his pose each time.
“Your turn” he runs, grabbing his phone from you.
“I don’t-” you’re not really one for photos.
“Go” he sticks out his tongue and shoves you forward.
You walk under the archway and pose as cute as possible. He takes at least two photos.
“Excuse me, I can take a photo of you two together?” a stranger offers.
“Oh, please, thank you” Daniel hands his phone to the young girl. He prances up to your side and wraps an arm around you. You try not to be awkward and pose comfortablely with him. The girl takes three photos.
“Thank you so much” Daniel thanks her again, taking his phone and swiping through the photos.
“I like these” he says. You look over at the phone. Oh gosh, I look terrible. You internally facepalm at how terrible you look in the photographs.
“I don’t” you reply.
“That’s just because you hate me” he jokes.
“I do not hate you” you argue playfully.
“Yeah okay” he winks nudging you with his elbow.
Believe me, my feelings are far from hating you…
“I just don’t love the photos, I look like crap” you state.
“That’s impossible” he lowers his phone to his side and drops his shoulders.
“It’s-”
“You look beautiful all the time, so, it’s impossible”
You smile at him and decide it’s best to just take the compliment. He lifts the phone up again to view the photo once more.
“Did you realize the arch was a heart?” he sounds genuinely confused.
“No?” your voice is unsteady. To be honest, you did. You noticed it was a heart when you were taking his photo. Maybe you were just being playful to not point it out; since he is your crush, why not take a ‘couple like’ photo with him?
“Lier” he remarks.
“Yeah it’s a heart but.. it was a good spot to take photos” you defend why you didn’t mention the lights were in the shape of a heart. He shakes his head at you before smiling down at the photograph.

For another ten or so minutes you walk, taking his photo and him taking yours every now and then.
He sighs heavily and you turn to him now sitting on a bench. You take a seat next to him and he immediately turns to face you. “So do you have any plans for the holidays? I’m sure you do” he strikes a conversation.
“Yeah, my family is celebrating Christmas tomorrow and Christmas day” you state. Tomorrow is Christmas eve, and with how large your family is, you celebrate over the two days of Christmas.
“Oh, that’s nice” he looks away from you and your basically permanent smile you have when with him, drops.
“Do you have plans?” you ask him.
Slowly he shakes his head. “Nope”
“How come?” you relax your eyebrows and look at his sorrowful expression.
“All my friends are spending Christmas with their families, and since my family doesn't live here, I won’t be seeing them, so I’m alone” he explains. You’re taken back. Nobody should spend Christmas alone.
“Oh” you look to your feet but he looks back up to you.
“But, I’ve spent yesterday and today with you, so it’s already been a good holiday” by his tone you can tell he’s smiling.
He scoffs a chuckle. “Your cheeks, are they always rosy?”
You gasp quietly feeling the warmth surfacing at the apples of your cheeks. It’s true you’re cold so it could be the winter air making them pink, but his subtle compliments and gratitude is making you blush.
“Quite possibly” you answer, passing the statement off as a joke or tease.

~ ~ ~

“Have a good night, and merry Christmas” he bids you goodbye as you step out of his car.
“You as well” you smile.
“And thank you for tonight, it was fun”
“You’re welcome”
“Bye bunny” you uses the nickname he gave you yesterday.
You giggle. “Good night Daniel” shutting the door you walk for your front door.
He doesn’t drive away until you’re inside.
You smile thinking about the evening spent with him.
You take a seat on your bed, looking forward at the present you wrapped, the present meant for him. Your eyes widen. That’s a perfect idea. You bite your lip and smile. Just perfect.