I know that not everyone celebrates Christmas but as soon as I remembered that it was coming up, I had to write a special for Living With my Bully. You don't have to read it if you don't want to, but it's called a 'special' for a reason, isn't it? 😏 (PS. MERRY CHRISTMAS EVE!!!)

"Oliver, can you get the decorations from the basement please?" Ms.Sullivan asks as she walks down the stairs towards us in the living room. Does she...does she mean the Christmas decorations?! Yes, finally! I love Christmas!

Oliver nods quickly, getting up off the couch and walks towards the door leading to the basement. "Do you need help?" I offer, a grin spreading across my face. He raises an eyebrow at me, probably confused as to why I'm grinning. Christmas is in three weeks, who wouldn't be happy?! "No thanks, I'll be fine." He simply states, then disappears into the basement.

I frown a bit, looking back at the tv. "Don't worry Iris, you can help me with the speaker. We usually play Christmas music as we decorate!" Ruby exclaims, smiling wide. She grabs my hands and begins pulling me to the kitchen where the speaker was seen last. "Ruby, don't hurt the poor girl!" We hear Ms.Sullivan exclaim. Ruby loosens her grip on my hand, mumbling a sorry.

Ms.Sullivan follows in after us, smiling as well. Wow, Christmas joy spreads fast in this house. "Can you play 'Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas' first? It's my favorite." Ms.Sullivan requests as I connect my phone to the speaker. "You got it!" I exclaim, smiling at her and looking up the song on YouTube. YouTube never fails me.

We hear Oliver grunt in the other room, most likely from carrying a lot of boxes up here. "Oh perfect! I love decorating for Christmas!" Ms.Sullivan cheers, walking out of the kitchen and into the living room again. "Mommy, wait," Ruby runs after her mom, "Are we baking cookies again too?" I hear her ask from afar.

I chuckle. My dad and I always baked many sweets during this time of year. Mostly cookies and cupcakes. I smile at the memory, then click a Christmas playlist on YouTube before going back into the living room. Apparently, Ruby and Ms.Sullivan have started decorating. Oliver is putting up the tree in the corner of the room so we could start putting the ornaments on it. Now that I think about it, I don't have my decorations anymore. When I moved into this house, I was told to take certain things since the family would provide whatever else I needed. My dad didn't write a will either, it's not like he knew this would happen, and he was still pretty young too.

"Iris, dear, are you alright?" I hear Ms.Sullivan ask, snapping me out of my thoughts. "Yes, I'm alright. Sorry if I worried you, I was just thinking." I reassure her, smiling as to say I'm okay. She nods in understanding, "I was just saying we had extra decorations for you to choose from. Choose whichever you like, okay?" She tells me, smiling. I nod, walking over to a box in the room.

Inside the box, were different and diverse types of stockings.

One stocking had a scenery of a house with a fire in the fireplace visible through the window and it was snowing, it reads 'Let it snow, let it snow' at the top.

The next stocking was simple, Santa riding his sleigh off into the night. Another was a patter of red and green stripes with a few small jingly balls dangling from the top and read the words 'Jingle Bells'.

One was of the Grinch, grinning his famous grin.

The next had words, it read 'Bah humbug,' then further down said 'just kidding, merry Christmas to all!'

I chuckle. I think I'm going to go with the Grinch stocking, he was so relatable and funny throughout the movie. That was my favorite Christmas movie, and still is now.

I grin as I pick up the stocking. "Pfft, I can already see the resemblance." Oliver snickers behind me. "Oh shush, I'm just excited." I say, smacking his arm lightly, smiling wide. "Yeah, it's written all over your face." He says, smirking deviously as he picks up a stocking of his own. Did he? I feel around my face. Nevermind, false alarm.

I follow Oliver since I don't know where to hang the stockings, apparently they have these cute small stocking holders by the tv. One was of a Christmas tree, the other a reindeer, one an angel, then santa's sleigh and a snowflake. I hang my stocking on the angel, it just seems right due to the recent events.

Looking over at Oliver, I see what stocking he chose as he hangs it on the reindeer. "Really? 'Bah Humbug'? I snort. Oliver looks over at me. "I always choose this one." He says, chuckling.

"Wait, do you actually like Christmas?" I ask, raising an eyebrow. "Like it? I love it, it's my favorite holiday!" Oliver exclaims, grinning excitedly, his five year old persona returning. "Help me decorate the tree!" He shouts, running over to a few boxes by the tree that are all labeled 'fragile'. I laugh, following after him.

There were a bunch of ornaments, some were of different colors, shapes and some were just adorable and silly. There were a few Disney themed ornaments too. I remember the picture of them at Disneyland which is most likely when they got these ornaments. I squealed, picking up a Tigger ornament. I love Disney! I always watch their movies, I've probably even seen Tangled at least twelve times this past Not my entire life, but just this year. You can tell it's my favorite movie!

"I see you like our Tigger ornament." Oliver says behind me. Why do I feel like he's smirking? I turn around to face Oliver, and wouldn't you know it, he's smirking! What's with this guy and smirking? I sigh softly before nodding. "In fact, yes I do. Disney is the best." I claim, smiling as I think back to a bunch of different Disney movies.

He smiles, looking back down at he box to find more ornaments further down. "What's with the smile?" I ask, confusion laced in my tone. He shrugs, smiling still, then picks up a snowman ornament and hanging it on the tree. He doesn't even have to stand on his tippy toes to reach the top part of the tree. Lucky, I'm so short.

After another 45 minutes or so, we've all filled the tree up with ornaments. "How lovely." Ms.Sullivan says, standing further back and admires the tree from afar. "Wait," Ruby tugs on her mothers shirt, "What about the angel?" Ruby asks, looking between the tree and her mom. "Oh right," she looks over at me, "why don't you put up the angel this year, Iris?" Ms.Sullivan offers me. Ruby then smiles wide, "Yeah, let Iris do it!" Ruby cheers, giggling.

"Hang on a sec," Oliver interrupts, looking between the tree and me, "can Iris even reach the top of the tree?" Oliver asks as he's resting on the couch. I chuckle nervously. "Eh..no, I'm not that tall." I say, glancing up at the tree. Oliver groans, grumbling things under his breath.

"Oh Oliver, stop it." Ms.Sullivan scolds him, whacking her sons arm lightly. I must have looked very confused because she looks over at me. "We don't have a ladder, usually Oliver will hold Ruby up towards the top of the tree." Ms.Sullivan explains. We all hear Ruby snicker as she leaves the room to the bathroom, a smirk evident on her face.

My eyes widen a bit. "Can't I stand on a chair?" I ask, shrugging. She shakes her head, "Too dangerous." Oliver holding me is dangerous too! He'll drop me purposely! Oliver stands up, shaking his head. "Lets get this over with." He says, walking over to me.

"Are you ready?" Oliver asks me as Ms.Sullivan hands me the angel and backs up so she doesn't get in the way. "I guess so, yeah.." I mumble, looking up from the angel and at Oliver. Nevermind, I'm not ready! You're gonna drop me! I'm not ready, I repeat, I'm not ready! Code red, we have a code red!

Before I even realize, I feel Oliver's firm and strong hold of my waist in his hands. I tense up and shudder. Oliver doesn't notice, or care, and slowly lifts me off the ground towards the top of the tree. Damn, he's strong. I raise my arm that's holding the angel to the tree and use my other hand to help put it on securely. When Oliver sees that I'm finished putting the angel, he lowers me to the ground.

"Great job, Iris!" Ruby beams at me. She must've came back from the bathroom right now. "Thank you, Ruby." I thank her, smiling back at her. "I'm gonna go make us some lunch, we all deserve it." Ms.Sullivan announces, walking into the kitchen where the music is still playing but on a lower volume. Ruby follows after her.

"Oliver, can-" I go to face Oliver when I still feel his firm grip around my waist. He quickly lets his hands fall to his side, "Sorry...what were you going to ask me?" He asks, biting his bottom lip. I'm silent for a few seconds before continuing, "I was going to ask if you don't mind driving me to the mall, I shop for Christmas gifts around this time." I chuckle, "But if you don't want to-" "-No, it's fine." He cuts me off, "I'll drive you there, I do my Christmas shopping around this time too." He tells me.

I nod, chuckling awkwardly. "After lunch or..?" I ask, glancing at the kitchen. He looks over at the kitchen, thinking probably. "Oh right, we'll eat first then go." He says, scratching the back of his head then walks into the kitchen. I raise an eyebrow. That was weird. I go into the kitchen, ready to eat.

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The car ride to the mall wasn't silent. At all. We were blasting Christmas music and singing and dancing along with it. I still remember the looks we got from people. Hahaha, it was priceless! Oliver and I walk onto the mall grounds, scanning for a store to go into as we walk.

Kayla and I usually went Christmas shopping together. We would help each other pick out gifts for our families. My dad and I would also spends Christmas with her family since we had no one else to celebrate with...

I glance at Oliver who's looking over the railing at the river. This mall is the best mall in our city, probably because of the scenery. It's an outdoor mall which was built over a river. It's honestly really pretty here. This mall opened up recently, about a year ago, and it's huge! There's also a small bridge that you can take to the other side of the river. It's one of the most romantic spots here.

"Oliver, what does your family do for Christmas?" I ask, curious. He looks back at me. "Oh right, I forgot you're new to this. Well kiddo, my family comes over and we all have a small gathering party, no biggie." He explains, shrugging and smiling a bit. Kiddo? "Why'd you call me 'kiddo'? You're only a year older than me." I tell him, looking up at him. He shrugs, a devious smirk evident on his face. "Yeah, but that still means I'm older than you. Also, it's just a nickname, calm down." He says, chuckling.

Before I could respond, th speakers outside get louder filling the mall with joyful Christmas music. 'Jingle Bells' is the first song we hear, my first thought is Mean Girls. I smile and snicker at the thought. Oliver glances at me, then shrugs as we walk into a store.

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I grunt as I pick up another bag of gifts from the car. "How many gifts did we buy?" I ask, looking over at Oliver to see if he had the same problem I did. He was fine though, carrying the bags as if they were nothing. "Maybe too many." He mumbles, looking over at me to see me struggling. He shuts the trunk of his car with his index finger since his hands are full with bags.

We walk up to the front door and I ring the doorbell with my knuckle. Ms.Sullivan opens the door and gasps, "Oh my, that's a lot of stuff." She says, grabbing a few bags from both of us and helping us inside.

"Ruby and I were getting ready to go to the supermarket. Do you mind?" Ms.Sullivan asks us. We shake our heads and she smiles. "Great, call me if you need anything." She says. Ruby walks over with her shoes on and she's humming the tune of 'Frosty the Snowman'. "Bye bro-bro, bye Iris." She says, waving a bit as her and her mother leave the house.

Oliver looks into a small closet in the dining room, he then pulls out some wrapping paper, scissors, and tape. We play some more music, not all of it was Christmas related, as we began wrapping gifts for everyone.

I was looking for a gift for Oliver when we were at the mall, he deserves a gift also. At first, I couldn't find anything he liked, but then we went into the last store. I was so happy when I found a gift for him! I'm just worried he won't like it, I don't know him too well yet. What surprised me even more, it was the last one in stock, so I'm really lucky. For once..

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~FT💖