Our First Christmas (Penalty Kill 1.50)

Chapter Four

Levi

Today, Presley and my dad are sitting in lawn chairs, bundled with blankets to keep warm, watching as I hang some lights on the house. Every couple minutes, one of them stops me to say I’m doing it wrong, whether I am or not. They are enjoying themselves entirely too much, but it’s great to see them both happy. I finish this strand, step off the ladder, and start to move it over.

“Levi,” Pops starts. “Turn on those lights, so we can see them.”

He chuckles, whispers something to Presley that causes her to laugh, and I wonder what they are talking about. I do as he asks, turning the lights on, and nothing happens.

“What the hell?” I mumble.

Presley and Pops both start laughing hysterically. “Don’t you know that you’re supposed to check the lights before you use them?” Pops says between laughs.

“Why didn’t you mention that before?” I ask.

“It’s funnier this way.” He shrugs.

I glare at them as they clutch their stomachs, laughing harder. This is bullshit. Now I have to take them all down! It’s not until I move the ladder back to where it was just a minute ago and climb up it, that my father speaks again.

“What are you doing, son?”

“I have to fix it.”

He starts laughing once more and says, “There isn’t anything wrong with the lights. That I know of anyway. You just need to go flip the switch so the outlet will work.”

“Pops! You’re a cruel man and if you two don’t sit over there and keep quiet, you can both go inside,” I chide as I glare at them. “I try to be nice and this is how y’all repay me?” I shake my head and ignore their laughter.

A couple hours later, I’m all done. There’s a wreath on the door, the lights are strung, and a little inflatable Santa is in the yard. We head inside for supper. Presley’s phone rings a couple of times, but she ignores it. Afterwards, it rings again. This time, she answers and leaves the room. I look over to Pops, who is watching me carefully.

“I told her I would take her home if she wanted to go, Pops. I’ve told her more than once too. She’s choosing to be here.”

“Okay,” is all he says. He doesn’t like getting too involved, but I can tell that he’s worried about Presley and how this is going to affect her relationship with her parents. I’m worried about her too, but I don’t know what to do about it. I don’t think I can. Not right now anyway.

“What’d I miss?” Presley says, entering the room.

“Nothing, Smarty. How’d that go?”

“Fine,” she answers, sitting beside me on the couch. “It was just Trev.”

My dad changes the channel and we start watching Frosty the Snowman. “Amanda always loved watching all the Christmas shows.”

“Me too,” Smarty says, snuggling into me. “This is my favorite.”

“Mine too,” I whisper before I kiss the top of her head. The rest of our evening is spent watching movies and TV shows all centered around the holiday. When ten o’clock rolls around, I help Pops to bed. He’s starting to get irritated from my help. Too bad. I can’t have something else happen to him and if he needs a little help, then he’s going to get it. By the time I go to my room, Smarty is laying in bed with her eyes closed.

“Asleep already?” I ask, even though I know she’s not.

“If I was, would you feel stupid that you asked? I mean, I’m laying in bed with my eyes closed.” She opens one of her eyes and smirks.

“Yeah, but you were tapping your fingers. Do you do that in your sleep?” I grin, pulling my shirt over my head. Both of her eyes are open now as I take off my jeans and change into a pair of pajama pants. “Drooling isn’t attractive, Smarty.” I laugh.

“Shut up, Levi. I wasn’t drooling.”

Her eyes follow me as I turn off the light and crawl into bed beside her. She snuggles up to me and I wrap my arms around her.

“I have to ask, so don’t glare at me, okay? It’ll be the last time, promise.”

Presley leans back to look at me, her eyes wary. “What is it, Levi?”