Welcome back to my Christmas special! Again, you don't have to continue reading but if you want to, go right ahead! I'm not stopping you. Also, I'm bad at describing clothes which is why there's going to be a picture(s). By the way, I wrote this last night on Christmas Eve when my family was over. They probably thought I was weird. MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Flashback: =================

I look into the mirror reluctantly. Ugh, I hate dresses! My dress is white at the top with red and silver gems on it, creating a beautiful pattern over the top. The collar of the dress also is covered with the red and silver gems. The bottom of the dress is red and frilly at the hem of it. With the dress, I'm wearing ruby red flats. My hair is still straight, kinda frizzy, but is held back with a red bow.

I open my door since Ms.Sullivan is outside, waiting to see how I looked. She gasps, covering her mouth with her hands. "I-is it bad?" I automatically think aloud, frowning and looking back down at it. She laughs a bit at my reaction, "No, not at all. I really love it on you, I just remembered telling your father about a dress that I saw in a store one day. I told him it would've looked really pretty on you, he must've bought it for you because you're wearing it right now." She explains, smiling widely at me.

==========================

I hear the front door downstairs open and close. That must be dad. I smile to myself, then get off of my bed to greet my dad downstairs. When I get there, he's holding a bag in his hands. "Hey dad, what's in the bag?" I greet him, smiling a bit. "Oh, hey Iris. I bought you something today." He says, handing me the bag.

I quickly thrust my hand into the bag, wanting to know what's inside. My smile grows wide as I'm pulling it out. Then I see a skirt of a dress, my smile fades a bit. I pull the rest of the dress out. "Wow, its...its a dress.." I glance over at my dad who's smiling. I can't make him upset. "It's beautiful, dad! Thank you so much!" I lie, trying to convince him as I reach out to hug him.

He smiles wider, hugging back. "You're welcome, Iris! A friend of mine told me about this dress, she thought it would look nice on you. It'd make her really happy if you wore it when she sees you wearing this one day." He tells me, pulling away from the hug.

I nod, smiling. "Tell her that I love it." I say, still trying to make my lie convincing. He nods, then walks into the kitchen to make some lunch.

===========================

Oh, so that's who he was talking about. "I remember him giving it to me." I tell her, fiddling with the hem of the dress. She smiles, "It really does look beautiful on you."

Suddenly, we hear the front door open downstairs and a bunch of voices greeting Oliver and Ruby who were already downstairs. Ms.Sullivan takes my hand in hers. "That must be my family. They're going to love you, Iris. Come down with me." She reassures me, walking downstairs with me. As soon as we get down there, it goes silent when all the attention is on me.

"Everyone, this is Iris. She's been staying with us for a while and will continue to. I've told you all about her-"

"-It's so great to finally meet you!" An older woman rushes towards me, "You look lovely! Oh my, just look at you!" The lady pulls me into a bone-crushing hug. I hear Ms.Sullivan chuckle behind me. "Iris, this is my mother." She explains. "Oh..." is all I mumble.

Soon enough, more of their family seems to surround me and give me hugs as if we've known each other for years. "Everyone, calm down!" Ms.Sullivan shouts, grabbing everyone's attention, "You're making Iris uncomfortable, please don't overwhelm her." Everyone quickly backs away from me, murmuring to each other.

"This is wonderful! Now I have someone to show your baby pictures to, Oliver! I always keep the pictures with me at all times." Ms.Sullivans mother, who I figured out her name is Lisa, exclaims. I look over at Oliver, forgetting he was there, to see his eyes widen. "No! Do not show her those!" Oliver shouts, running over when he sees his grandmother pulling out a late book.

I giggle, watching as Oliver tries to get the book away. "I don't understand your problem with showing your baby pictures to Iris." Lisa says truthfully, somehow still able to keep the book away from Oliver. "Just don't show them to her!" He exclaims, then leans closer to his grandmothers ear, "They're embarrassing." I hear him whisper.

She chuckles, then walks over to me anyway. "Lets skip right to the ones in the bath." She says loudly purposely. Oliver runs over, shouting, "No!"

************************************

After being shown a few baby pictures of Ruby, Ms.Sullivan, and secretly a few pictures of Oliver, everyone is grabbing plates and lining up in the dining room. There's a bunch of food to choose from on the table and everyone is having conversations with each other.

Tonight has been fun, although I would like to actually talk to someone and hold a conversation. The family is nice and all, but I'm not comfortable around them yet. Ruby and I spoke a few times, we sometimes went up to her room when she asked me to play with her. Oliver and I barely spoke at all, and if we did, it was only a few words.

Ruby looks up at the doorway to the kitchen. "Mommy, what's that?" Ruby asks, pointing up at it. Ms.Sullivan chuckles, "It's a mistletoe." Ruby raises an eyebrow, confused. "What's a mistletoe?" Ruby asks. "Well, it's uh, it's a Christmas tradition. If two people walk under it at the same time, they have to kiss." Ms.Sullivan explains to her daughter. "Eww..cooties." Ruby mutters, quickly walking away from the mistletoe. Remind me not to go under there..

Once everyone is done eating, I begin helping with cleaning the dining room. Oliver and Ms.Sullivan are doing the same while everyone went outside to see the snow or to the bathroom.

"Iris, thank you for helping. You both can bring the dishes to me and I'll wash them." Ms.Sullivan says. We nod as she carries the dishes she has in her hands to the kitchen. Oliver picks up a few more dishes and brings them to the kitchen.

I pick up some dishes and walked over to the kitchen, then suddenly stop when I see Oliver walking towards me from the other side. He stops as well. "You can go first." We say at the same time. "No, you." We say again simultaneously. Then we sigh, muttering, "Whatever.." We both step underneath the doorway.

I feel like my heart just stopped for a moment, then I glance at Oliver. His eyes widen as he looks over at me. "Uh...hi.." I mumble awkwardly. He sighs, closing his eyes. "I didn't mean for this, can I just kiss your cheek?" He asks, opening his eyes again, his tone sounding desperate. I just nod, not sure what else to say. He begins to lean in and I could hear my heart beating faster and louder.

"-I need more dishes in here!" Ms.Sullivan suddenly shouts. Oliver backs away quickly, "They're coming now!" He calls back to her. He walks past me and into the dining room, completely forgetting about the mistletoe. I shake my head, then walk over to Ms.Sullivan by the sink.

"Sorry for the long wait, do you need help with washing the dishes?" I ask her, my face probably a blushing mess. She shakes her head, smiling. "No thanks hun, why don't you go outside with everyone else?" She asks, glancing at me.

Upon seeing my face, she looks over at me completely. "You're face is all red. Are you alright? Do you have a cold?" She interrogates, drying one of her hands and putting it against my forehead. "No, I'm-" "-You're burning up a bit, do you want some water? You could go sit under a blanket in the living room." She continues, ignoring what I had to say.

Oliver walks in right after. "Mom, she's fine." He says to reassure her. "Are you sure? How do you know?" Ms.Sullivan asks him. Oliver shrugs, "She's probably a bit flustered with the family, no big deal. She's just new to this." He explains, glancing at me and looking away quickly.

"Yes, you're right. I'll tell them not to do that anymore." She tells me, but I stop her before she can leave. "No, it's okay. They're all amazing people, I'm just a bit socially awkward." I inform her, shrugging slightly. "Oh," She then smiles warmly, "Just let me know if anything is bothering you, okay?" I nod, smiling wide at her. "Good. Alright, I'm going to join the others outside. You coming?" She asks us both after finishing the dishes. "In a minute, I have to do something really quickly." I mumble, glancing outside the kitchen.

Oliver shakes his head. Ms.Sullivan nods, then leaves the room.

***********************************

"Alright everyone, picture time!" Lisa exclaims, grabbing a camera from her bag. The room erupts into either grunts or cheers from the family. "Oh, shush, and just deal with it, you babies!" Lisa scolds all of those who grunted. Lisa is like the best person you could have in your family. She's loud, bossy, funny, and just so loving.

"Oliver and Iris, you two go first." Lisa says, smiling. We glance at each other but comply, not knowing what she would say or do if we didn't do it. We got close together with the Christmas tree in the background. "Perfect!" Lisa exclaims, "Let me just adjust some things." She walks over to us, putting Oliver's arm around my waist, my head on his shoulder, and Oliver looking down at me.

I don't know about Oliver, but I'm a blushing mess... again. "Oliver, smile." Lisa orders him sternly. I glance up at Oliver to see him quickly smile at me, his face is a bit pink but he's good at hiding it. Click! "Oh, you both look lovely together, almost like a couple!" Lisa exclaims happily, showing everyone the picture. She finally shows us and I had to agree, we did look like a couple in the photo. Woah, I actually just said that. Oliver? And me? A couple? Hahah, that's funny! But seriously, never in a million years.

*************************************

I'm snoring rather loudly as someone jumps onto me and wakes me up, I grunt. "What the hell.." I mutter, opening my eyes in pain. "Iris, it's Christmas! It's Christmas, get up you lazy bones!" Ruby yells right in my ear. I yawn softly, sitting up in bed as I rub my eyes. Then all of a sudden, another person jumps onto my bed almost making me bounce off of it.

"Wake up, sleeping beauty! Time to open our gifts!" I open my eyes more to see Oliver right next to me, a wide grin on his face. Him too? I never would've thought that he'd be this joyful. I chuckle softly. "Alright, alright, I'm up." I mumble groggily. Oliver and Ruby hop off of my bed. "Race you down!" They shout at the same time and take off down the stairs towards the living room.

I sigh and slowly get out of bed, stretching slightly. I walk downstairs at a quick pace, not wanting to keep everyone waiting because of me. I usually wake up early, maybe its because last night was different. We were all up until one in the morning, that's different for me.

Oliver, Ruby, and Ms.Sullivan all have one gift in their hands that they're going to open first. I grab one with my name on it that's from Ruby. Ruby beams at me after seeing which one I grabbed. "You open first, Iris!" Ruby exclaims, excited to see my reaction to her gift. I look over at Oliver and Ms.Sullivan who nod.

I begin tearing off the wrapping paper, thrilled to see what I was given. Then I see it. It's a handmade jewelry box covered in glitter, stickers, fake jewels and painted my favorite color, violet. When I open the box, there's a picture of Oliver, Ruby and I on Halloween right in the middle of it. "Wow.." I mumble, then look over at Ruby, "I love it so much, thank you Ruby." I thank her, pulling Ruby in for a hug. "You're welcome." She responds, a huge grin on her face.

Then Ruby opens her gift that Ms.Sullivan got her. She tears off the wrapping paper quickly, it was a Barbie toyset. Ruby squealed happily, and hugged her mother tightly. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" She shouts, smiling wide. "You're very welcome." Ms.Sullivan replies, hugging Ruby back.

Ms.Sullivan opens her gift next that was from Oliver. She gasps upon seeing her gift. Oliver bought her some expensive jewelry, a new phone case, and a better camera since he knows how much she loves photography. Oliver smiles, seeing his mom happy. They share a hug and Ms.Sullivan thanks her son.

Oliver begins tearing at the wrapping paper like a savage beast, grinning widely. This gift was from Ruby and Ms.Sullivan, they got him new Jordan's and a PS4 with a few games including BO3, Overwatch, and 2k 2017.

We go on unwrapping gifts, thanking each other, and hugging. Then suddenly there are only two gifts left under the tree. I immediately know one is for Oliver since he hasn't opened the gift I got him yet. Surprisingly, the other last gift was for me.

Oliver opens his first. "Sorry it's not much, I didn't know what else to get you." I say, fiddling with my pajama shirt sleeve.

I bought Oliver an Adventure Time shirt, along with a Doctor Who hoodie. I asked Lucas, Adam, and Ross for ideas, they told me everything he liked.

I gasp when I feel a familiar pair of arms wrap around me. "Thank you so much, Iris. I wanted these for a long time, they went out of stock fast so I gave up on finding them." He thanks me, talking to me in a soft voice, then pulls away from the hug, smiling at me. I'm quiet for a moment before smiling, "You're welcome." I say.

Oliver gestures to my last gift, I'm surprised when I see it's from him. I unwrap it quickly, kinda impatient to see what it was. It's a music box, the outside of it was decorated beautifully. It looked like he really spent time on the design for it too. I open the music box to hear what song it was, it was the tune of Swan Lake. My mouth agape, my mother would always play this tune as I fell asleep at night. Inside the music box is a picture of Oliver and I from last night, the picture Lisa took. "H-how did you get this picture? And know what song to choose?" I ask him, still in disbelief.

He smiles at my reaction, chuckling softly. "I had some help from Kayla. Also, when you fell asleep, I quickly printed the picture out and well, I put it in the music box before I wrapped it." He explains, shrugging as if it was nothing. It definitely was not nothing. He did all of this for me.. I hug him tightly, thanking him so many times that I've lost count at this point. "Don't worry about it, its Christmas afterall." Oliver says.

We all begins cleaning up the wrapping paper, throwing it out and going upstairs to our rooms to put our gifts away. I place the jewelry box from Ruby on my desk and my music box from Oliver on my bedside table. Then there's a knock on my door. "Come in!" I call out to them.

I hear the door open and someone walk in. Suddenly, I'm being spun around to face the person who came into the room. It's Oliver, what does he want? Before I could even ask, he kisses my cheek. "I hope you didn't forget about that." He snickers, smirking. I just stand there, not sure what to do. He chuckles then leaves my room, a cocky grin on my face.

Umm....what?!

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Heyo! I hope you enjoyed this special! It was fun to write, even if I had to lock myself in my room because my family kept giving me weird looks. Again, merry Christmas!! Also, I'm publishing this chapter at 4:28 am since I'm already up and ready to open gifts! If you enjoyed this chapter please like, comment, and leave feedback! Thank you, bye bye!

~FT💖