Brayden was back in his apartment before he knew it. His bag now holding a handful of gifts Lillian’s family had gotten James. He glared at the bag before surrendering, her mother would be so disappointed in him if he threw them out the window. He gently arranged them under their apartments much smaller tree. He frowned realizing James had gotten them nothing. James wandered out of his bedroom just then, freezing at the sight of Brayden.

“I’m moving out, probably by the end of February. We should start separating our stuff as soon as the holidays are over.” Brayden blurted out.

James just nodded. The two of them hadn’t needed to live together in a few years, earning more than enough to pay for the apartment themselves, it had just been more convenient to stay there. James just turned back around and closed the door behind him as he went back into his room. Brayden sighed, the Christmas spirit was not in this home, that was for sure. Before he could start sulking, he started to gather things for his stay at Lillian’s It had been a long time since he’d had a “sleepover” with a girl. At least one not in his own bed. He didn’t want to imply or not imply anything. Suddenly he understood the trouble with picking an outfit. He negotiated between two outfits for what felt like an hour, before finally compromising. It was so stupid. He bristled shoving the pajamas into his bag roughly.

Who has an episode trying to pick what they’re sleeping in?

He’d settled on his Christmas themed flannel pajama bottoms, with secret Christmas underwear just in case, and a regular green t-shirt. It was less about what Lillian thought and 100% about her family. He shook his head and came to his next horrific choice.

By preparing for it to be horrific he made it a lot easier on himself. Asking Lillian quickly over text how formal dinner was helped a lot. Nice, but nothing too crazy, she replied. Brayden folded a grey long sleeved knit shirt into his bag, and his cleanest blue jeans in behind it, and 2 pairs of Christmasy socks to match. A thick grey hoodie was shoved on top, just in case.

He had to find a toiletries bag hidden deep in his closest. He grumbled about how ridiculous it all was before shoving his toothbrush, hair gel, deodorant, and cologne into it. He hadn’t spent the night at a girl’s house on purpose in years. He scrubbed his face roughly with his hand, begrudgingly remembering moisturizer.

He stared at his packed bag morosely. Now he just had to wait 14 hours. He collapsed onto his bed. When did he become such a sucker? Packed for a night at her house, 14 hours before he was even leaving. Despite himself, his heart beat rapidly. He had slept with a score of women, had slept in countless beds. Yet somehow the idea of sleeping in the same bed as Lillian had his nerves completely fried.

Eventually he forced his eyes closed and slept.

He stared at his ceiling. He would not get out of bed until at least 10am, it was Christmas eve, and he was sleeping in, he tried to convince himself. He had been looking at the dust floating around his room for an hour. He sighed. Looking at his phone again, waiting for 1 of 2 things, the impossibly slow clock to stop reading 9:33 or for Lillian to ask him where the hell he was, and why wasn’t he there yet. The digits flipped to 9:34.

“Great.” He muttered to himself.

Finally caving and watching TikTok instead of pretending he was asleep; he wasted away the next 20 minutes with ease. Scolding himself for not doing that to start with he ventured out of his room. James was already long gone by then, but a small note on the counter wished him a “Merry Christmas”. Sullen fuck. Brayden rolled his eyes. He made himself a cup of coffee and two pieces of toast before forcing himself to spend more than 5 minutes in the shower. He shaved, drank the rest of his coffee, and styled his hair. Satisfied, Brayden searched for the clothes he had picked out. In his obsessive fit the night before, he found them packed in his bag. Grumbling some more to himself about how being this nervous was ridiculous he pulled his socks on. He opened his phone to text Lillian, his legs bouncing nervously.

Merry Christmas Eve;) Merry Christmas Eve Ben.:) When are you coming?

It was just after 11 now.

When am I expected?

Whenever you can really. Things don’t start jumping until about noon.

Does your mom need anything?

Nope.

What if I left right now?

That would be good.

I’m omw.

Bouncing off his bed, he grabbed his keys and his bag and shot through the building into his car. By 11:30 he was outside her house.

Where should I park?

You can block the driveway in, save room for some of my other family.

He practically skipped up the steps to her front door. Without knocking he walked in, with a smiling greeting for her family in the kitchen.

“Merry Christmas Brayden.” Her mother smiled.

“Merry Christmas Mrs. T.” He grinned back.

“Lillian and the boys are just downstairs.” Pointing with her chin to the stairs.

“Thanks!” He called over his shoulder, thundering down the stairs.

“In here!” Lillian called from her room.

Brayden darted around the corner, dropping his bag on the floor by her door. He swept her up in a spin, pressing his mouth to hers, before placing her on the floor. Breathlessly she looked up at him.

“Excited?” Lillian snickered.

“Very.” Brayden grinned.

He’d been so hard on himself for being so excited, but the sound of her voice, her smell, he remembered why he was so excited, and nervous. She was everything. Kissing the top of her head before stepping back he examined her.

“That is a very cute outfit.” He nodded.

She was still in her night clothes, long flannel bottoms and an extraordinary large shirt.

“Haha, I was about the change. I was just finishing my makeup.”

“Can I watch?”

“We’ll I just finished, there isn’t anything to watch.” Her eyes narrowing.

“Not that.” He winked.

Lillian slapped his chest and spun around, gathering up the clothes on her desk behind her.

“You cannot.” She said coyly.

“I mean I could.” He grinned, poking her behind.

She smacked his hand away, fighting back a smile.

“Out, shoo, go find a boy to bother.” Sweeping him out of her room, grabbing his hand at the last second and pulling him down for a quick peck on the lips, before closing the door on him.

Brayden ran his hands through his hair and huffed. She was always such a tease. He shook his head to indeed find a boy to bother for a bit.

When Lillian finally came to find him, she had pinned her hair up, sweeping out of her face, dressed in a classy little red Christmas dress, and Grinch socks. Brayden was 10 minutes deep in a game of Viking chess with Alex, still trying to figure out how to win even once.

“You look like a candy cane.” Alex said baldly. “White ass legs.” He chortled.

Lillian ignored him and flashed her teeth in a smile for Brayden.

“I’d suck on you until you came apart in my mouth.” He shrugged, flashing his teeth in a grin to match.

“That’s disgusting, and you lose, again.” Alex gagged.

Brayden threw his hands up in defeat.

“I’m starting to think I don’t know how to play.”

“We’ve taught you 8 times, you’re just bad.” Alex replied, gathering all the pieces back up.

Brayden flipped him off playfully, which Alex returned, before standing to face Lillian. Lillian was still giving him an exasperated look when he kissed the top of her head. Alex grumbled something about ruining Christmas before he found somewhere else to be. As soon as Alex was out of earshot Brayden whispered in her ear.

“I really do think you look good enough to eat.”

“Thank you.” Lillian rolled her eyes.

Brayden’s fingers found the edge of her dress letting his fingertips brush her bare thigh. His eyes met hers in a dare, slowly snaking up her leg. Her breathe hitched and goosebumps flared across her legs. Brayden chuckled, dropping the hem of her dress back down. Teasing her was almost as good as having her. He loved watching her cheeks grow red and her pupils dilate, and breathing change pitch. He hummed approvingly, kissing her nose before grabbing her hand and leading her into the festivities upstairs.