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Besides the summer holidays, Christmas was on Belly’s top holiday list. Even though Christmas was usually spent with just her immediate family, unfortunately, spent separately from the Fishers, she always counted down the minutes for the gift exchange between the two families. It was an unofficial event- a quick exchange of holiday cheer, always followed by a group hug initiated by Susannah.
It was perfect, almost too perfect. Those hugs and gift exchanges were always her favorite. But now, things are different. It’s the beginning of December, and instead of wrapping presents with her mom at home, she’s sitting in her dorm room, cramming for the dreadful finals approaching.
Her Christmas cheer was dwindling away with each math equation she copied onto her page and each frustrated yell she let out (not too loud, but loud enough). Belly was about to convince herself she understood the work and could push through the rest of the page when a loud knock interrupted her motivational speech in her head. She whipped her head towards the door and quickly went towards it. She wasn’t expecting anyone, and Taylor wasn’t here either, so it couldn’t have been a guest for Taylor. Maybe it was Taylor, maybe she forgot something.
“Who is it?” Belly says through the door, airing on the side of caution since she wasn’t expecting anyone, and gazing through the peephole was always awkward enough.
“It’s Jeremiah, can I come in?” As soon as she hears his voice, she exhales a sigh of relief. She hadn’t seen Jeremiah all day, and frankly, it was killing her.
Finals season has taken her Christmas cheer, and it has taken quality time with Jeremiah away from her, too. What next?!
Belly swings the door open and gazes at Jeremiah lovingly. “I missed you so much.”
Jeremiah makes a sound as their bodies collide but nonetheless wraps his arms around her body, squeezing her tight. This hug reminds her of one of Susannah’s Christmas hugs- she missed those so much. “I missed you too.” She could tell he was smiling by the inflection in his voice.
After what feels like a very long embrace, Belly lets Jeremiah go and finally invites him in. “What brings you to my humble abode?”
Jeremiah chuckles and unzips his backpack, revealing wrapping paper, tape, and a book. Belly has to stop herself from giggling so he can explain himself. This is so random.
“I need help.” Jeremiah swings his backpack to the floor and immediately sits down, the materials spread out around him.
Belly’s still confused, and laughing is practically the only logical response when she's confused. “Did you get lost from Santa’s gift factory or something?” She laughs, joining him on the floor.
Jeremiah rolls his eyes and playfully shoves her shoulder, making Belly laugh louder than before. “Very funny, Bells.”
She shrugs and leans forward to give him a playful “I’m sorry” kiss. She’s not really sorry; she likes seeing the smile on his face, and she likes knowing she’s the one making him laugh.
“I guess you’re forgiven,” Jeremiah mumbles.
Belly’s curiosity gets the best of her, and she turns the book around. The cover is quite bland, and as she reads the cover words, she deduces it’s a finance book. “Finances?”
“Finance jokes,” Jeremiah corrects her. “It’s a book for my dad. I thought he’d like it.”
Belly bites her lip to keep from laughing. She knows Mr. Fisher would probably read the book and then tell the most boring jokes once he got to the office. To her, this seems like a perfect gift for him. But the thought of Jeremiah flipping through the pages and coming up with that same conclusion is humorous.
“Do you think he would hate it?” Jeremiah’s voice takes her out of her thoughts.
“No, no.” Belly breaks the distance between them to reach for his hands. She squeezes his hands lovingly to reassure him. “I actually think this would be perfect. Maybe he’ll tell a few on the Fourth of July next year.”
Jeremiah offers her a weak smile, and she fears she’s said the wrong thing. Was something deeper going on? “You’re not just saying that because I’m your boyfriend?”
Before answering, she leans over and kisses his cheek, one kiss for each cheek. “I would never lie to you. I think it’s very Mr. Fisher coded.”
Jeremiah chuckles and finally accepts her words. “Good, good. I do need your help with the wrapping, though. It’s not my forte.”
“Let’s see what you’ve got, and then I can fix it up for you,” Belly suggests.
After a few minutes of Jeremiah wrapping the gift… attempting to wrap the gift, Belly wishes she had done it herself. Not to be rude, but did Susannah ever have the boys wrap a gift before? The thought makes her giggle, Susannah meticulously instructing them on the intricacies of holiday gift wrapping.
“Jere baby, this is…” Belly pauses to choose her words correctly. “Not the right way to wrap a gift.”
Jeremiah looks up at her, and she wants to wipe the frustrated frown off his face, but it’s also super cute. “Is it ugly?”
Belly furrows her eyebrows and remembers her words from before. I would never lie to you.
“Slightly.” Jeremiah looks at her with a raised eyebrow, and she knows she’s been caught in a lie. “Okay, yes, can I teach you?” Belly finally gives in, and thankfully, this situation is just as humorous to Jeremiah as it is to Belly.
“I can’t believe you don’t like my wrapping skills,” Jeremiah teases as Belly rips the wrapping paper off the book so she can start new.
“We can improve it, it’s okay.” Belly lays down next to Jeremiah so she can be close to the materials, too. “Okay, there’s a specific way to fold the paper.”
Instead of just doing it for him, Belly guides Jeremiah and places her hands on top of his, instructing him on the folding patterns and where to tape the paper so it looks pretty and not tacky. Unfortunately, he didn’t bring a bow, but Belly doesn’t think a bow would make a difference to Mr. Fisher.
Their end product ends up being pretty and not the hot mess from before.
“Well, that wasn’t too bad,” Jeremiah says through some laughs after Belly is done ranting about the magic of holiday gift wrapping.
“See, now you’ll know how to wrap bigger gifts, and it won’t look so-“
“Horrible?” Jeremiah finishes her sentence, pulling her closer and planting a kiss on her lips before she can answer him. Belly smiles against his lips, kissing him back with just as much love.
Once she pulls back and is about to answer him, he stops her again by placing his index finger in the middle of her lips. “Thank you for teaching me and not being an ironclad instructor.”
“My pleasure.” Belly kisses his finger the way Jeremiah smiles at her makes her feel all warm inside. Suddenly, all of the Christmas magic that her school finals depleted from her body was back.
She’s certain the holiday season will be special no matter what because of Jeremiah.