The Christmas Tree
I’m sorry, I was feeling all the things and then this blurb happened. I had no idea that it was going to go where it ultimately went. I hope you enjoy! -xx.
She tossed a box at his dozing figure on the couch.
“Babe, you said you’d help,” she laughed, tossing another ornament box at him.
“Hey,” his raspy voice groaned, “I lied”. He moved the boxes to the coffee table, “come ‘ere.”
He extended his arms out for her, slowly blinking his bleary eyes trying to find her figure in the dark room.
“Give me a sec,” she called still maneuvering the boxes around by the windows. Digging through the storage bins her dad had neatly packed for her, she struggled to find exactly what she wanted. There were two storage bins packed to the brim with Christmas ornaments she had collected everywhere she traveled: Prague, Rome, Vienna, Reykjavik, Copenhagen, Dublin, London, Edinburgh, Athens, Chana, Havana, Barcelona, and many many more. Until this year, she had always decorated her parents’ tree with her enormous collection. This was the first year she was going to be decorating her own tree. It was Shawn and her first Christmas living together and their first tree together. Except, their living room was still bare but for the bins her father sent over —he had been eager to clear space in their attic.
The problem was that she and Shawn did not see eye to eye about their first tree. So, for the majority of December, her holiday trinkets remained in the bins. Shawn wanted a live tree and to make an occasion out of picking one out with her. She thought it was incredibly sweet, but not at all practical. Plus, the sap and needles were annoying as hell. She wanted an artificial tree, and when she told him that they made quite beautiful realistic ones, he laughed at her. She had no desire to deal with the maintenance of the tree when they were constantly on the move. Neither was home consistently to water the tree. She was often working late and Shawn was traveling at the drop of a hat. He disagreed and believed that they could handle the maintenance. Their arguing went round in circles.
Her things were sentenced to be stuck in the bins for a bit longer when Shawn left last week to do a short promo trip in California meeting up with a few different talk show hosts. He discussed their dilemma live on television. She wanted to murder him for it only because it had yet to be resolved. Both wanted their tree to be special, but struggled to find a happy medium. It didn’t help that now they had fans weighing in on their disagreement. When he got home late last night, they had gotten into a pretty stupid fight about it. Their fight lasted a half hour before they were shedding clothing and arguing horizontally. There were several rounds of “arguments”. They both won in a way, but there was no real resolution. Their living room still was not decorated. This bothered her to no end. Christmas was her favorite holiday and she loved feeling festive. How can you be festive without a tree, artificial or not?
Bothering her immensely, she woke up in the wee hours of the morning and wondered out to her bins in the corner, waiting for a home. She pulled her oversized sweater tighter around her frame as she dug into the box. It was soon after that a sleepy Shawn had followed her out into the living room, missing her presence in bed. He joined her and initially promised to help with the decorations that didn’t need a tree, but fell asleep likely from all the intense “arguing” and travel.
She sighed when she got to the bottom of the bin and still didn’t see what she was looking for. She left the mess on the floor and walked over to a rumpled looking Shawn. He grabbed her hips and pulled her on top of him. She fell non-too gently. Shawn groaned at the impact.
“Serves you right,” she said, still feeling a little petty. He settled her more comfortably by spooning her, and then swatted her ass. She smirked, “I’m not in the mood to go another round just yet.”
She could feel him smile into her hair, “what did you need at,” he picked his head up from her hair and squinted at the clock on the cable box, “4:32 in the morning?” His voice was thick still with sleep and sex. She squirmed back into him enjoying his warmth, she closed her eyes and inhaled loudly through her nose.
His scent toyed with her, “I was looking for a specific ornament my mom gifted me – the Christmas after we started dating.”
He didn’t respond, but tightened his arms around her torso. He was quiet for so long that she thought he fell asleep. She was lulled into that place between consciousness and sleep from his deep breaths.
“Baby,” his raspy voice interrupted the silence of the morning.
“Hm?” She wasn’t ready to be fully awake again.
“I’m sorry.”
“Uh huh,” she didn’t open her eyes or mouth. Slowly his apology settled into her brain and she considered it, “I am too.” She responded keeping her eyes shut, still not wanting to meet the day again just yet.
He kissed her hair, “I love you.”
Her nose wrinkled picking up on his morning breath, “I love you too, but you smell.”
His belly shook with laughter waking her more, “you’re such a pain in the ass.”
She laughed with him, and when they settled again, she asked, “what do you want to do about the tree?”
He brought her closer to his body, as if she was a stuffed animal. He buried his face into the back of her neck. She opened her eyes at his actions, waiting for a reply that might start another argument. She had no desire or energy in her left to fight about the tree. She just wanted one, live or artificial, to hang her ornaments on and the few they had collected together.
“Don’t be mad.” Oh fuck, Shawn what did you do? She tensed and held her breath waiting for him to speak again.
“I bought something yesterday, that I was hoping would be a decent compromise.”
“And,” she prompted.
“And I was in a gift shop wasting time before my flight when I saw it.” He stopped.
“And,” she prompted again.
“And I saw these seed packets.”
“You bought a snack as a compromise?” She turned her head to regard him.
He would’ve laughed at her had he not been so earnest and nervous about her reaction, “no, I bought spruce seeds. Like for a spruce tree. And- and it comes with a little pot to plant it in. And I figured, if you wanted, we could grow it. And when we get a house, we can plant it in the yard. Then decorate it for Christmas, outside. No needles or sap inside.”
She turned fully around in his arms and looked into his big hazel eyes. He was trying to read her face. She kept it completely still, and then kissed him soundly on the lips. That one kiss, turned into many more. In between kisses she told him “it’s,” kiss, “fucking,” kiss, “perfect.” Sleep completely gone, and tossed away like their shirts were. Her hands were everywhere. He was undoing the drawstring on her pants, when she froze, “wait, and the tree for the living room?”
“Whatever you want.”
“No, you have to love it too. Pick it with me.”
He pressed a loving kiss in between her eyes, and then on her nose, “I don’t think the stores are open right now.” She rolled her eyes at him, and pinched his nipple.
“Hey!” his eyes darkened and they went back to kissing.
For the second time this morning, she woke in his embrace. His chest was rising and falling steadily in such a soothing manner. She wanted to let it bring her back into a deep sleep, but she wanted to find that ornament. Standing from the couch, she was met with chilly air. She threw on her pajamas and covered Shawn tightly with the blanket. She wandered into the kitchen with her phone and texted her mom.
iMessage to Mom: Do you still have that ornament you got me? The bauble?
Thankfully her mom was an early riser and replied immediately.
iMessage from Mom: I packed it in with the bins dad brought over.
iMessage to Mom: I’ll look again
She walked back out to the mess she created earlier, and slowly put the things back into the bin, stopping to look through it as she did. Nothing.
Shawn sighed from his sleep and turned over on the couch. She looked at him and smiled. He was something else. It was then that she noticed the ornament boxes she had tossed at him before. She smiled at herself. How stupid. She sat on the edge of the couch, careful to not jostle her boyfriend. She picked up the ornaments from the table and looked them over. She quietly laughed at her mom’s gag present.
“What do you think about this one?”
“Babe, that’s hideous.” Shawn was eagerly pointing at a bright yellow tree with sparkly streamers woven into the branches.
“But if we’re going artificial, why not go artificial?”
“I hope you’re joking.”
“Babe, I have no idea what you’re talking about. This is great.” She looked at him with a straight face and he looked right back at her. A smile started to work its way onto her face and they both grinned and broke into laughter.
“Okay, maybe not.” He grabbed her hand as they strolled through the different varieties of trees.
“What about this?”
“No, it kind of looks like it’s tinged blue.”
“Huh, I see what you mean.”
It took two hours, steamy hot chocolate, and countless kisses, but they found the perfect tree. Then it took another hour to purchase and maneuver the tree home, and then assemble it. They sat admiring the naked tree in the corner, residing where the storage bins had been before. It was beautiful and you really couldn’t tell it was a fake. Shawn kissed her temple. She looked up at him and pulled his head down to kiss him soundly. She pulled away and walked over to the mound of ornaments.
“Remember how I was looking for that bauble this morning –from my mom? She gave it to me right after we started dating.”
“Yeah, you found it?”
“I did!” She walked back over and passed it to him with a laugh. He took the ball and read the elegant script: Mentally Dating Shawn Mendes.
He laughed, “well, your mom was right. You are mental.” She threw the pillow from off the couch at his head. It hit him squarely in the face, and she cackled, dancing away from his arms. He delicately placed the ornament down, and grabbed her by the waist. He tossed her onto the couch and began to tickle every inch of her. They were both in tears and stitches when they had finally calmed down. Cuddling on the couch, they admired the tree. She stood up, new determination setting in. “Let’s decorate it!”
“Give me a second and I’ll help.” Shawn stood and discreetly picked up the bauble from the coffee table. He went into the kitchen and dug around in the junk drawer for a sharpie. He came back into the living room and hung the bauble on the tree.
“Babe, look at the first ornament up!” She put down the bin she had been going through and looked at the bauble. She laughed and then looked closer noticing it had been written on.
Mentally Dating Married to Shawn Mendes ?
She gasped and covered her mouth. She could feel her eyes start to prickle. She turned around and saw him on one knee behind her with an open ring box. Her eyes went wide, and the tears came.
“I wasn’t planning on doing it this way, but I-I’m going with it. I love how smart you are, how funny, and beautiful you are. You always keep me on my toes. Even when we fight, I know there’s no one else I would rather be arguing with. I—”he paused overwhelmed with emotion “I—I don’t know what I would do without you in my life. You’re my everything…” He was crying and his voice was cracking. She couldn’t see straight through her own tears. “Will you –will you marry me?”
She chuckled, and kneeled down grabbing his hands in her own. She reached over wiping his tears away. And she kissed him. Her hands cradled his head, pouring everything into the kiss, and his hands found her hips pulling her closer and then they wrapped tightly around her body.