John: Merry Christmas! 45 more days!

Reece: Merry Christmas!!! Do I still get to see you later?

John: Of course!

Staring up at my ceiling on Christmas morning, I let the warmth of the holiday wash over me. Finally, a vacation. Between school, soccer and having wormed my way back into a full volunteer position at the shelter, things have been busy. I’ve been looking forward to getting two weeks off for what feels like forever.

In another forty-five days, I get to add one more thing to the list of things keeping me busy. John. Forty-five days until the end of the semester. The end of the deal I made with my parents.

It seems like an eternity, but I’ve kept my word. Thankfully, my parents didn’t even try to include just having guy friends as part of the deal, so John is over at my house at least once a week where my parents can see that we’re totally behaving ourselves. When we go out, it’s always with friends. If we are alone together, it’s outside or with someone else in the very next room.

John has been even more determined to behave than ever. He keeps telling me that if we’re going to get the chance to date officially in just a couple of months, then he wants to do it right.

It’s kind of adorable and kind of torture all at the same time.

As a result, John has managed to become one of my very best friends.

Later tonight I get to see him, which makes today even better than it would have been already. He, his mom and his aunt will be going to the shelter for an hour as part of their family's Christmas tradition, to spend a little holiday time with all of the animals in their care.

This year, I get to be a part of it too.

Christmas is my favorite time of year.

The tree, the lights… the presents. All of it.

Even though our parents beg us to let them sleep in, my sisters and I are all up by eight in the morning without any alarms. Reilly and I escape into the other bedroom to try and kill a little more time, but before long, either our voices or Molly’s happy barking must wake our parents anyway.

Dad knocks on the door and opens it a moment later, Molly runs in from behind him and jumps on my lap.

“Presents or breakfast first?” Dad asks.

“Presents!” We all yell back at once.

The day passes as quickly as it always does, especially because Dad cooks dinner way too early. Somehow, we manage to find room for whatever he’s cooked up for us.

Back in Richmond, Christmas was usually spend driving around to see different friends or family members, usually only for a couple of hours before we had to pile back in the car and go to the next step.

This is only our second Christmas in Fairview, at least that I can remember. So far I’ve gotta say, I’m a fan of the highlights of the day being presents, food and spending some actual time with my family rather than just being stuck in traffic together.

Things settle down for a while after dinner, with both Reagan and Rhiannon disappearing upstairs for a nap before our family movie date later. For once, I have no interest in sleep. Christmas only last for twenty-four hours, then I’ll have to wait another year for it to come around again.

I head up to the attic and find Riley curled up on the couch, not sleeping, but not doing anything else either. Molly is chewing on one of her new stuffed toys underneath the coffee table.

I sit down right on her feet, wiggling my butt around until she moves out from under me.

“It’s Christmas.” I say with a happy sigh.

“I had no idea.” Riley answers with a quirked eyebrow.

“What was that? Did you, Riley Donovan, just use sarcasm?” I cover my mouth, feigning shock. “I didn’t know you had it in you.”

Riley rolls her eyes, which doesn’t quite feel like her usual self either.

“Come on, Rye. You love Christmas.”

“I do.” Riley says, and thankfully, she smiles. “I’m just kind of lost in thought, I guess.”

“Did you want me to go?”

“Nope. Stay. I’m just thinking about how New Year’s is coming in just a few days. A new year, and a fresh start.”

“Why do you need a fresh start?” Ever since that day she told me about the girl she asked out, Riley has mostly gone back to being her old self, if not a little more subdued than she used to be. Everyone in my family has changed since we moved to Fairview. There’s a good chance we probably would have changed even if we hadn’t moved, so I didn’t really worry about it. It’s not like Riley is required to be the nicest human on the planet all the time. I even think she could stand to be a little less nice sometimes, though I’d never tell her that.

“I just think I need a change.” she answers after a while. “I’m not sure what it is yet, but there needs to be something.”

A ding from my phone pulls my attention from my sister. It’s a text from Jamie wishing me a merry Christmas. It's not the text I can't stop staring at, but it’s the time.

I’m supposed to meet John and his family at the shelter soon.

“Time to go?” Reilly asks.

I say, “I can stay if you need me too.” even though it kills me a little.

“Nope, I’m good. I promise. I’ll probably nap soon anyway.”

I don’t wait for any more position than that, within a minute I’m in the front hall, putting on my coat and boots.

“Heading out?” Dad’s voice interrupts my rush out the door when he steps into the hall from the living room.

“Yup. It won’t be long though. I should be back before everyone else wakes up.”

“Can we talk to you in here for a second first?”

We has to mean him and Mom, so it’s not exactly like I can say no.

I text John that I’m going to be a few minutes late as I kick my boots off all over again.

My parents are on the couch together, mom’s legs stretched out on the couch across dad’s lap.

“What’s up?”

“Sit down for a second.” Mom says, gesturing toward the chairs that sit on the other side of the room.

Am I in trouble?

I study both of my parent’s faces. They’re both smiling, and it is Christmas. They wouldn’t choose today to start something.

Or, at least they probably wouldn’t.

I sit down and wait for them to start talking. I won’t be digging myself into more trouble by speaking first this time around.

“We have one more present for you.” Mom starts. All my fears disappear at once, leaving me wiggling excitedly in my chair.

Dad grins at me before chiming in. “You’re probably getting a little sick of hearing this, but we’ve been so impressed with you lately, Reece.” Nope, I really can’t see myself getting sick of hearing that. I still keep my mouth shut. “While this school year got off to a rocky start, what you’ve done since then has been well beyond our expectations.”

Mom nods along, still watching me. “So, after careful consideration, we’ve decided to end our deal early. We think you’ve proven that you can juggle more than anyone else in this family, and all with a sense of determination we both admire.”

The words are barely out of my mom’s mouth before I jump up and out of the chair, rushing over to hug both of my parents. “Really!?” I ask, my arms still wrapped around dad’s neck, checking to make sure this isn’t some weird Christmas fever-dream.

“Really.” Dad says. “I’ll do you one better. We’re not going to make you stay here and talk it all out, when I’m sure there is somewhere you’d much rather be right now. We really like John, I’m sure he’s already wondering where you are.”

I’m out the door in ten seconds flat.

It’s already dark out, but the nearly full moon reflecting against the snow creates a magical glow as I make my way through Fairview toward the shelter.

Towards John.

I make it there in record time.

As soon as Fairview’s animal shelter comes into into view, my heart starts to race.

I’m not sure I’ve ever felt this nervous around a guy before, and I’m not even with him yet.

I’m so excited that I soon find myself walking a bit faster, right up until I make it to the front door.

This is it. A whole forty-five days before I thought it would happen.

Reece: I’m here. But come outside first. I’ve got a surprise for you.

John meets me on the walkway that leads from the sidewalk to the shelter’s front door.

I don’t say anything at all, b as soon as he leans in for a hug, I plant a quick kiss on his lips, pulling back after to see his expression.

“What was that for?” He asks. Even in the near-dark, I can see him blushing, which only makes me want to kiss him again, something I’ll get to do very, very soon.

“My parents let me off early for good behavior!” I joke. “We don’t need to wait forty-five days.”

“You’re not kidding?” He asks, sounding a bit bewildered.

“I never kid about kissing.”

I move in more slowly this time, letting myself savor the anticipation for a few seconds more before our lips touch again.

Our next kiss, our first real kiss is a little awkward at first. Seeing as John confessed to me a few weeks ago that he’d never actually kissed anyone before, I’m not surprised. Soon, my toes are tingling from more than just the cold.

I press my body closer to John’s, partly for warmth and partly because I’ve waited so long to be able to touch him like this.

It’s everything I imagined and so much more. Soon, the kiss leaves me breathless, forcing me to pull away while I remind myself to breathe.

“Merry Christmas.” I whisper.

“Merry Christmas.” John answers.

A dog barks from inside the building, and our moment is gone. Which is totally okay, since I know we’re going to have so many more just like it or even better.

For now, we’ve got some Christmas dog treats to go deliver.

Hand in hand, John and I head inside the animal shelter, back to the same place we first met only a few months earlier.

Back then, I never could have imagined getting to this moment. I don’t think I could have imagined much of anything that has happened since the end of summer vacation.

Instead, it is all so much better.