It was already evening when I was sitting with Cooper under a warm blanket, sipping warm cocoa and talking on a variety of topics. Nessa and Jaden went to the mall together to buy the last things needed for tomorrow's Christmas Eve. I felt a bloody need to talk to him about an important topic.

- Cooper.. - I started, at which the boy looked from the fireplace, straight at me and sipped cocoa, waiting for my question

- Hmm? - He muttered, watching me carefully, because he could clearly see that something was bothering me

- Well, recently in this room we got stuck in, you mentioned your parents.. Maybe you'd like to talk about it? - I asked hesitantly, fearing some of his reaction

- Woah, will I really become a loser if I start confiding in you now? - His expression changed instantly, and I saw his hands begin to shake nervously

- You're not gonna be a loser, Cooper! Emotions and feelings are not weakness! - I instructed him quickly, and he put his mug down on the table and looked at me sadly

- I know you might think that my life is perfect. I know this is what it looks like and this is how I present it. I hide everything under my mask of this "indestructible". Do you think my parents ever cared about me ? Do you think that whenever my mother came here, at least once, she asked me what was going on with me or if I needed anything? Do you think I ever had a typical family time with her? That I have ever felt loved, appreciated, respected by her? The answer to all questions is NO. - he said calmly, staring straight into my eyes, and I could feel my tears filling up - My mother has always been a workaholic. She devoted all her time to her work and when I was born I would disturb her. When I turned seven, she began to travel all over the world and work with various companies there, so she was not at home most of the time. I can barely remember my father. He left our family when I was only five years old. Since then, he has never been interested in me anymore.

- What a fucking asshole! - I growled, wanting to wrench my legs off the ass of this man Cooper calls his father

- I completely agree. - He snorted, gently smiling in my direction, but I felt that it was a very sad smile - Currently, I live with a housekeeper, whom you have already met. I have zero contact with my father. The mother comes here every few months.

- You don't deserve everything that happened to you.. - I grabbed his hand which was lying next to my leg and laced our fingers, wanting to show him some support

- Maybe I deserve .. I'm a cold-hearted fucking asshole after all. Everyone says so, so I started to believe it myself. - he muttered, rubbing his thumb over my skin

- You're not. - I announced, what the boy looked at me confused

- I'm not? - He raised an eyebrow up and you can see that he wanted my answer

- You're not. You might have a hard time showing your feelings because no one has shown you that so you have a hard time showing them to others, but I know you are a really cool guy with a really good heart, Cooper.- saying this, I was the most sincere that I could be and you can see that my speech quite shocked the teenager

- Then why I hurt everyone so much? - he continued, still inconsolable

- Cooper, just because your parents weren't present when you grew up and didn't support you, didn't teach you and didn't talk to you about anything, and you were actually brought up by yourself, it makes it hard for you to understand what is right and what is wrong.. I also think that in a way you are looking for a kind of escape from all these problems and thoughts, which is why you party so much, drink alcohol, get high and have so much sex with girls. It is the kind of activity for you that makes you forget about the bad things in your life for a while. - I told exactly everything that was in my head at the moment

For a while, we sat in complete silence. The boy thought carefully about all the sentences I said in his direction. And I felt so damn proud of myself that I finally told him what I thought. At the same time, it is very nice in my heart that he opened up to me so much and told me about his history and problems. This means that he really trusts me, which is a great honor for me, because I know how difficult and complicated a person Noriega can be.

- Did I ever tell you that you're fucking smart?- the boy said suddenly, looking at me with a slight smile, but this time, rather joyful

- Not yet. But I must admit that getting compliments from you is a rare but very nice thing. - I smiled sincerely at him, and his eyes immediately fell to my lips, and then back to my eyes

After a moment of total silence between us, the boy finished his drink, then set the mug down on the bench and looked in my direction.

- I'll go home now. - He announced, getting up from his seat, which I did as well. - See you tomorrow.

- See you tommorrow. - I smiled, then I took both cups and took them to the dishwasher, while the boy went to get dressed, and moments later I heard him leave my house

I feel that tomorrow's Christmas Eve will not be as bad as I thought before. Both of the boys helped us a lot in our preparations today, for which we are very grateful to them because everything went better and we have more time to rest. I didn't have to wait long for Nessa to come back from shopping. She came back excited as never before, which of course I was going to ask right away.

- Tell me what happened. - I said confidently, when we both sat down by the fireplace, and the girl's face was still charming with a smile

- When you said today that Jaden was going to cook with me, I had a momentary desire to strangle you. But at the moment I am so damn grateful to you! I had a really great time with him, we talked a lot, we laughed and I think he liked me very much.- she said dreamily, staring at the flame in front of her

- I knew! - I clapped my hands - Now let's wait for the development of events

- I'm so damn looking forward to tomorrow! And the most important thing is for him to kiss me. - The girl blushed, playing with her gold bracelet

- I'm just begging you, go to sleep today.I'm afraid that from this excitement you will have a problem with it .. - I laughed, at which the girl gave me an amused look

- Analyzing this way, I wouldn't actually have slept most of the night so far. - she snorted

- Woah, since when do you like Jaden? - I was surprised because I thought it was her temporary sympathy

- I met him when I was ten and he moved here with his family and started to be friends with Cooper. I liked him a lot from the very beginning, but in a buddy way. That changed when, at the age of fourteen, we kissed while playing "The Kissing Bottle." I had these fucking butterflies in my stomach then and I started to feel something more for him. Right now, I want him like no one else in this fucking world. - She said, and a smile began to appear on my face, because I saw how great happiness it makes her

It was wonderful to see her so in love, full of positive emotions. Love is a really beautiful thing. I really want to experience it so seriously someday. With complete reciprocity on the part of the partner. I want to love and feel loved. I hope that on my way I will meet a person who will provide it for me.

- It's getting late, I will go to sleep, so that I have a lot of energy tomorrow. - I said suddenly, getting up from my seat

- Yeah, right. I'll just watch one episode of "Sex Education". - the girl announced, sitting on the couch and on her lap she put the laptop she had previously taken from the shelf

- Quick internships before tomorrow? - I laughed at which the girl rolled her eyes and then also joined the laughter

- And if you would know, it is. - She smiled significantly, then sent me a kiss, and I started up the stairs towards my room

Tomorrow I expect a really interesting day. And I am sure that this company will provide me with 100%.

The next beautiful Christmas day I woke up around nine in the morning and the wonderful smell of gingerbread reached my nostrils. I just love the holidays! For everything. I like their every element, traditions. They are one of my favorite times of the year. That's why now I got out of bed with pleasure, automatically grabbing my robe that was lying on the floor, put it on immediately and left my room to prepare a delicious breakfast for myself and my friend. As I suspected, Nessa was still asleep. Its traditional time of getting up on the days off is usually 10.00 in the morning.

When I found myself in the kitchen, I started preparing delicious pancakes which I was going to additionally decorate with fruit and chocolate glaze. I hummed some random songs, making full use of my today's excellent humor. Once I was fully satisfied with the dish I had prepared, I placed it on the table in our living room and headed for the bedroom where Barrett was sleeping to wake her up. She was asleep, spread her body over the whole bed, and I was even surprised that in this position she feels comfortable to sleep, but well.. I walked over to her and started gently storming her. Unfortunately, my efforts did not work, so I decided to use more drastic steps. I started toward her bathroom. From one of the cabinets I took a medium-sized bucket, into which a moment later I poured a lot of water. With absolutely no mercy, I quickly walked towards the dark-haired teenager, then poured the entire contents of the bucket over her.

- Damn it! - the girl burst out, jumping out of bed like "burned"

- Wake up, honey. - I smiled slyly at which Barrett glared furiously at me

- Meet my good heart and I give you a chance to call and say goodbye to family and life in general. - she murmured, still nervous as she wiped her body with a towel while I barely suppressed a laugh

- But in the living room you will get to know my good heart. - I winked at her, then proudly left her room and went down the stairs towards the living room

I sat down on the couch and all that was left for me now was to wait for Nessa to come down for our meal together. This happened after about ten minutes. The dark-haired girl ran down the stairs and immediately her eyes moved to the table where the feast prepared by me was waiting for her.

- And how? Are you not angry anymore? - I smiled sweetly, pointing my index finger at the table

- A little less. - she snorted, then sat comfortably next to me and started tasting the pancakes made by me

- Good? - I asked after she was taking her second bite

- Delicious. Are you sure you shouldn't take part in the Masterchef? - she asked, putting fruit on a fork and shoving it into her mouth- I'm sure you would win and you would be very rich and we would travel the world together

- It's not that wonderful with my cooking.- I denied, and the girl shook her head

- It's delicious seriously. - She smiled gently as soon as she managed to calmly swallow everything

A few hours later, we finally saw the boys come to our Christmas Eve together. Along with the excited Ness, we let them into the house and greeted them kindly. Then we sat down to a common meal. Each of us enjoyed the taste of each delicious dish prepared by Nessa and Jaden.

- This is fucking delicious. - Hossler marveled, chewing on another bite of food

- You can see that we're a good culinary duo.- Barrett confirmed, wiping her face with a handkerchief

- Not only culinary. - the boy winked at her, at which she blushed slightly, and me and Cooper sent each other meaningful looks

- Stop it because I'm going to puke from this sweetness. - Noriega mocked, at which his friend gave him a hostile look, and I chuckled softly

- You can even suffocate yourself with this vomit. - my friend's favorite played out to him right away

- Don't you think that it would be great to unpack the presents? - I interrupted this strange exchange of views, getting up from the table and heading to the living room where our Christmas tree stood

Moments later, our whole group was right there, looking with curiosity at the parcels there. From my calculations of the number of gifts, it appears that everyone made a gift for everyone, which I am very happy about because no one will be harmed. However, the most interesting for me was what I would get from the most mysterious person in our group, i.e. Cooper. I was really looking forward to seeing the gift from him.

- So, are we opening already? - Jaden said suddenly, breaking the strange silence between us

- Yes of course. - said Barrett, and then each of us started looking for gifts for ourselves and opening them

I was really pleasantly surprised. Nessa gave me a wonderful sweater, a palette with beautiful eye shadows and really stylish decorations for my room. Jaden gave me a CD with all episodes of my favorite series "Friends". The last gift I had to open was a gift from Cooper. I took a box out of a nice package. I glanced at the sender of this gift, which awaited my reaction with curiosity. With a gentle movement, I opened the box, and a beautiful diamond necklace appeared to my eyes. It was probably the most beautiful I have ever seen. I was sitting in total stunned gaze at the precious object in my hands when suddenly I heard footsteps. I lifted my head up to see Noriega standing over me and reaching out to me to help me get up. He grabbed my hand gently and pulled me up.

- Can I put it on you? - he asked, in probably the calmest tone of voice I've ever heard in him

- Yes of course. - I smiled gently, then handed him the necklace, turning my back to him

After a while, I felt the boy precisely fastening the jewelry around my neck. I turned towards him when he finished his action, then looked deep into his eyes, which were really beautiful, plus so damn mysterious.

- Thank you.. I really thank you, Cooper. This necklace is gorgeous. - I said, my voice slightly trembling with emotion, which made a gentle smile appear on the boy's face

- You look tolerable in it, actually. - he mocked, to which I made a momentary face of an outraged baby - I'm joking, you look beautiful

- - I laughed, then we both remembered that Nessa and Jaden are also here with us, who have been sitting for a long time and looking at us with extremely strange smiles

The rest of the evening passed in a really lovely atmosphere. I had a great time, which I did not expect totally. There was a lot of laughter, goofing around, we watched some Christmas movies together, and in the end me and Nessa sang and danced together to all kinds of Christmas songs. It was already approaching one in the morning when we decided to end our Christmas Eve. Nessa and Jaden totally took care of each other, so we made them just go to her room together, as we don't feel like watching their over-affection right now. Now it was just me and Cooper, we were sitting in front of the fireplace and the Christmas tree, holding delicious cocoa in our hands and talking on various topics.

- That day was fun. Before coming here, I was considering drinking lemon balm to calm down to stay in your company, but honestly, it was really good. - The boy said suddenly, putting the now empty cup on the table, as I did a moment ago

- You have to work on complimenting people a little, Cooper. - I commented, and the boy rolled his eyes

- Be glad that I'm telling you something nice.- he snorted, staring at the fire in the fireplace

- And what did I do to deserve this? - I asked suddenly, causing these words that the attentive gaze of the boy shifted to me

- I don't know. I can't explain it to myself. - He shrugged, still keeping that intense eye contact with me that I was so damn hard to keep because his gaze was so piercing

- I also cannot explain many things to myself at the moment .. - I commented, smiling artificially, so that the boy's gaze was on my lips for a few seconds

- Then maybe I will explain it to you this way.- He started, then he abruptly came closer to me, joining our lips in a kiss

Initially, it was a very gentle and calm kiss. We were reaching each other slowly, giving each other a lot of pleasure. Our lips worked perfectly together, and so did our tongues. After a while I decided to make a move, so I pulled my thigh over his body and sat on him as close as I could. His hands wandered all over my body, gently massaging my skin. Our kiss grew more passionate and intense with each passing moment. We kissed each other's lips greedily, giving ourselves more and more pleasure. At that moment, I gave myself one hundred percent to him. And the most wonderful thing was that he was mine too.