Christmas morning

“Oh my God!” Ashley leapt from the sofa, almost knocking JC off in the process.

JC groaned, and slowly sat up, clothes were thrown everywhere, a satisfied smirk on his face remembering what happened between him and Ashley the night before.

“JC! We slept through the entire night, and missed Christmas Eve dinner, I gotta call mom.” Ashley dialed the number and her mom picked up after the fourth ring.

“Hello?” Roselle told her to the receiver.

“Mom! I’m sorry, Merry Christmas! JC and I we were busy and sort of lost track of time-from the corner of Ashley’s eye, she could see JC there, still sitting, with that satisfied yet goofy grin on his face.she tossed the cushion that was on the sofa and it landed on his face.

“Hey!” JC cried out.

“Oh honey, don’t worry, I was just on the phone with my sister, they’ll be here later, did you guys have a good time?”

“A great time.” JC thought to himself.

“Yeah, it was…interesting, and I have to tell you a ton of stuff mom, so we would be there soon okay?”

“Ok, see you then.”

Ashley pressed the “end call” button on her phone, and started to grab her clothes. “Sometimes I don’t know about you..”

“You’re gonna take a shower?” JC asked her.

“Uh yeah..because you know, about last night.” She had to admit though, that last night was what she needed, and she enjoyed herself a whole lot, last night she didn’t care, but now she cared.

“Mind if I shower with you?” JC told her with pouted lips.

“You wait until I’m done.” Ashley smiled to herself and went straight to the bathroom, and this time she locked the door, in case JC barged in.

As JC waited, he checked his jeans pocket and started gathering his clothes from the floor, the item that he had for her, was burning a hole, he’s been dying to give this to her, but he decided to wait until he drove her to her mom’s house.

About an hour later

JC and Ashley got dressed, helped themselves with some hot cocoa with marshmallows and Christmas cookies for breakfast, and they drove out of the house to the direction of Ashley’s mom house, it snowed the night before, and luckily the roads were clear, and drivable. JC wasn’t used to driving in the snow, and Ashley wanted to help him take the wheel, but instead, she gave him advice on how to maneuver in the snow.

Christmas music was playing on the radio, and light snow was falling, it was a nice morning, JC felt really good about himself, he needed this, he needed her, he needed a change of pace.

When they got to Roselle’s house, no other car besides hers and Ashley’s, so that means that her aunt wasn’t there yet, Ashley got her spare keys and opened the front door.

“Mom? Merry Christmas!” Ashley called out.

“About time, Merry Christmas to you both!” Roselle came out from the kitchen, she had a bowl of chocolate chip pancake batter and she was stirring it with a wooden spoon.

“Smells good!” JC told her.

“I’m making chocolate chip pancakes, and was waiting for you guys to show up so we can exchange presents.”

“Presents!” Ashley shrieked and went under the tree, she found a group of red/green colored boxes that had her name on it, her presents for her mom was there as well, a present for Rufus, and one present for JC.

JC, on the other hand, got something for Roselle too, but he shipped it way early, it was a white fuzzy robe complete with fuzzy socks and slippers, he noticed that she was wearing it, but Ashley didn’t seem to notice at the moment.

“Thanks mom!” Ashley told her when she opened her box of presents.

“You’re welcome honey; I enjoyed your gifts very much.”

JC liked the pair of pajamas that Ashley gave him, it was “Peanuts” and he also got something similar for her.

“So...I guess those are all the presents?” Roselle eyed JC carefully.

“I guess so.” Ashley looked around the tree, it felt like she was missing something, but she didn’t know what.

“I’ll be in the kitchen, gotta go check the pancakes.” Roselle said in a sing-song voice.

When all was quiet, JC let out a whoosh of air and slowly took the small gift from his jeans pocket that he desperately wanted to give to Ashley.

“Ashley?” JC said in a shaky voice.

“Yes JC?” Ashley got up from where she was sitting and was gathering the mess of wrapping paper before Rufus went to destroy it.

“There is one present left.”

“There is? Where?”

Ashley said looking around, but at that moment JC got up and walked towards her, and then he got down on one knee.

Ashley gasped, “This is not happening.”

“Ashley? He spoke again, “I want you in my life, I need you in my life, ever since the day I first met you, it was then I realized that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you, to love and cherish you, to protect you, to laugh with you, to do everything with you, I can see us in the future, with our future children, in our new house, together as a whole, and what I would like to say is, because this has been driving me nuts, is this, Ashley? Will you marry me?”

Ashley’s breath caught in her throat, tears streaming down her face, this was all too much for her, this amazing yet incredible man wanted to be her husband, and it wasn’t just any guy, it was JC freakin Chasez, how could she say no?”

“Yes JC, yes I will marry you.” Ashley whispered to him.

“Really?”

“Yes.” She whispered to him again.

JC got up and placed the thin diamond ring on her finger, it wasn’t showy, and barely noticeable, but it was beautiful yet simple.

He took a strand of hair off her face and kissed her passionately on the lips, and she kissed him back, this was a very happy moment.

Just then, Roselle called out from the kitchen saying, “So did she say yes?”

They stopped kissing for a moment when Ashley gaped at her mom when she came in the doorway.

“Mom?! You knew about this?”

“Well, I knew a lot of things, like the house JC bought you and that he wanted to marry you, and he wanted my blessing, so of course I approved of all this, he wanted this to be a major surprise.”

“Yeah, I told her like a couple of months ago.” JC told Ashley.

“I knew you guys were up to something! I knew it!” Ashley laughed at the both of them.

“It was difficult to keep it secret for a while, but we somehow pulled it off.”  Roselle told them, “Now who wants pancakes, they are ready.”

“We do!” JC and Ashley replied in unison.

All three of them went to the dining room to go eat their pancakes and enjoy the rest of Christmas morning.

Ashley couldn’t help but enjoy this very moment with her new fiancée her mom, her dog Rufus, and everything else, she has been truly blessed that all of this has fallen into place, it was meant to be, and it felt so wonderful, and to think, that this was only the beginning of a beautiful relationship, and she knew that deep down, JC was always gonna be there for her, and she was always gonna be there for him, and she loved the fact that her mom has always been supportive of the both of them, what else could she ever ask for?

“Merry Christmas indeed.”