61. Chapter 61

Chapter Sixty-One

Christmas day went by smoothly. Jessica and Steve spent the first part of the day with his parents because they were having their annual Christmas lunch with a few of his dad's co-workers, along with family members that would come and go.

Mayor Kline was there as well, but it was more a business thing than a holiday thing. He and Steve's dad talked about how the clearing of the land for the new mall was coming along. Actual building should be able to start in a few weeks.

After the obligatory socializing, Steve and Jessica went up to his room to chill until they had to go to her house for dinner and gift-giving. Jessica had brought one of his presents with her, and she began to pull it out of her bag once they were settled on his bed.

It was wrapped in shimmery green paper with a red bow tied around it. The package was rectangular, and had a little heft to it because there was something ceramic inside of it.

"Here," she said, handing it to Steve.

"I thought we were waiting to give each other our gifts."

"Well, this one belongs in your room, so . . ."

Steve ripped the paper off and tossed it on the floor as he took in his gift. It was an off-white ceramic picture frame that had "You will forever by my always" written in cursive at the bottom of it in black.

This frame was definitely more expensive than the one she'd given him the year before.

"I, uh . . . I thought you could switch the picture out, or you could see if Jonathan has any extras that could fit in there. You could pick the picture this time."

Steve smiled as he placed the picture frame on his bedside table.

"Is this gonna become a tradition?"

Jessica shook her head. "Probably not, but I saw this and I like this frame better than the other one, so that's why I got it."

Steve was still smiling. He reached up to play with a stray curl that was around her face.

"You want me to be your always, huh?"

Her cheeks flushed and she looked down briefly before meeting his eyes.

"Don't act like you didn't know that. We've talked a little bit about our future together."

"We have," Steve agreed. "It's still nice hearing it, though."

"Oh?" She moved a little closer and he did the same. "Well, then, I would very much like you to be my always."

Steve released the curl he'd been playing with so he could cup her cheek as their lips met in a soft but passionate kiss.

She opened up to him easily but pulled away when Steve tried to move a hand under her shirt.

"Steve, your parents are home."

They had fooled around before with his mom in the house, but Jessica hadn't liked having to hold herself back when they had.

"You're gonna have me all to yourself this weekend. I think you can wait."

"Aw," Steve said, feigning disappointment before kissing her one more time. "Okay, okay. But can I give you one of your presents? We can use it now and it will give us something to do until we have to leave."

"Okay," she said, suddenly curious as to what it was Steve wanted to give her.

He stood up, went to his closet and reached up to grab something off of a shelf. What he brought down to her was small and thin, rectangular in shape. It was obviously a cassette tape container – she could tell even though it was wrapped in red paper. Steve was always supplying her with music because he knew she liked it.

When she opened it, though, she found that it was more than just a tape of one of her favorite bands. It was actually a mixtape, something Steve would have made by himself. Written on a slip of paper on the front cover was 'Side A: Songs you like. Side B: Songs that make me think of you.' The list of songs on the tape weren't written down, however.

"Oh, we gotta listen!" she said, handing it back to him so he could put it in the old tape player he had.

What Steve had made her – the songs he had chosen – was a mixture of pop music, some of which he knew she liked and some of which she could probably guess why they reminded him of her. A few were love songs, but some of them were songs they had listened to together somewhere and had sung along to just for fun – some they may have even danced to.

The tape was probably one of her favorite things she'd ever received from him.

"So . . . is this a Christmas present or an anniversary present?"

"Kind of both. The songs all came out within the year we've been together."

Jessica smiled. "That's actually really thoughtful."

Steve shrugged sheepishly. "It's been known to happen."

Her smile brightened and a few huffs of laughter escaped. "I love you."

"I love you too," he said as he pulled her closer and kissed the side of her head.

She let out a sigh of contentment and just took in the moment they were in. True, his parents were home, but they were downstairs and she and Steve were upstairs and they could pretend they were in their own little world until they had to leave to go to her house.

As was normally the case, Steve felt more at ease celebrating the holiday with Jessica and her family than he did with his own family. His family's celebration was just a show, whereas Jessica's family had real warmth and love to show the spirit of the season.

The Henderson's didn't decorate outside, but they did have a wreath on the door and a Christmas tree inside, decorated and lit up with multi-color lights.

The house smelled like food when Steve and Jessica got there. Steve could smell ham and some kind of bread and it made him hungry even though he had been fine before he got there.

It wasn't long after they got there that dinner was ready and they all sat around the table to eat. Jessica and Dustin had helped set the table with plates and silverware while Steve helped Ms. Henderson bring the food to the table.

It didn't matter how many meals he had with Jessica's family, Steve was always stunned by the difference between her family and his own. They would talk and have fun while eating, no awkward silences or tense conversations there.

Dinner was good and after they were done eating Jessica and Dustin did the dishes. Steve helped Ms. Henderson put the leftovers in containers to put in the fridge.

After everyone was done in the kitchen, they gathered in the living room to watch a Christmas movie. It was a made-for-television movie called "A Christmas Carol" based off of the book by Charles Dickens. Steve only knew that because Jessica told him.

The only reason they were watching it was because watching a Christmas movie was tradition. Ms. Henderson seemed to appreciate the fact that they were watching it with her.

After the movie, they began opening presents.

Dustin was excited about the Nintendo game console Ms. Henderson had bought for him and challenged Jessica to the Mario game she'd bought him. Ms. Henderson had also gotten Dustin a few science project type things that Dustin seemed to want to do soon, and Steve had gotten him a few comic books.

Jessica had bought arts and crafts supplies for her mom while Steve had thought to get her scented candles for around the house.

When it came to Steve and Jessica giving each other their gifts, they took turns exchanging. Steve started off by giving her a jewelry box. It was made out of brown polished wood and it had black letters on top of it that read, "I can't say I love you enough, so here's a reminder."

There was nothing in it, but he knew she had a lot of things she could use it for.

"Steve, this is so pretty!" she said. "Where did you even find this?"

He grinned. "You're not the only one who can go to Indianapolis to shop."

"Right."

When it was her turn to give him his gift, he unwrapped it to find a personalized wallet and a silver money clip – they both had his initials on them.

Finally, Ms. Henderson was able to give them their gifts. She'd bought Steve a warm red and white jacket, something that would be good for the end of winter and beginning of spring. For Jessica Ms. Henderson had bought books and movies for the most part. Steve didn't recognize any of the authors aside from Stephen King. He recognized the movies, though. She'd received Gremlins, The Karate Kid, and The NeverEnding Story.

She seemed happy with her haul of new things to read and watch – though she had already seen those movies at the theater, they were still new to her own collection of movies.

The rest of the week went by quickly with Jessica working the morning shifts on Wednesday and Friday. She spent some time playing the Mario game she'd gotten Dustin and she was surprisingly okay at it. Nowhere near as good as Dustin, but she was better at that than she was at the arcade games she played with him.

She spent the rest of the time reading The Call of The Wild, by Jack London. It was a fairly short book and it had been assigned for English over the break. As per usual, she and Steve read it together, though he was able to understand it fairly well on his own. They would have to write a paper on it before going back to school. Steve had already said he was going to write about the natural instincts the animals seemed to have, which made sense considering the main dog came from a domesticated life to having to survive in the wild. Jessica was going to write about the different relationships between the animals and the humans.

By the time Friday afternoon came along, she and Steve were both ready to get going. As it was winter, they didn't want to risk icy roads at night, so they left shortly after Jessica got off of work.

Jessica's mom wanted them to call when they got there so she knew they were safe.

"We gotta pick up more of that pizza we had last time," Jessica said when they were about midway through the trip to the lake house.

"We can get some for dinner tonight," Steve said. "I called ahead so we have enough food for the weekend, but we probably won't want to cook tonight when we get there."

"Definitely not."

Jessica had brought along the mixtape Steve had made her and they were making their way through the playlist now. They would sing with some of the songs, just to have fun, and she had to admit that Steve did know her favorite songs.

The closer they got to the lake house the more snow was on the ground. It had obviously snowed there more than it had in Hawkins. The roads were still clear, though, so it wasn't an issue.

As planned, they picked up a pizza on the way and it was almost dark when they reached the house. Jessica called her mom while Steve got some plates out for them to use. He even brought out a bottle of wine that had been chilling in the fridge and showed it to her to see if she wanted any.

A glass or two wouldn't hurt.

Dinner was a casual affair even if they did eat at the kitchen table. Steve had put on soft music for background noise, knowing they would probably dance a little bit before the night was through.

"This is nice," Jessica said. "I'm glad we came here."

"Me too."

They hadn't really been able to be alone since early November, since before the complications Steve had gone through due to the fight he'd had with Billy. His mom had stayed with him to ensure he wouldn't be alone while he was healing. Even though Jessica had stayed with him a few nights here and there and he'd stayed at her place a few times, they hadn't been able to spend quality time away from other people.

"It's good to get away sometimes," Jessica said.

"Yeah." Steve grew quieter as he continued speaking. "Are you – are you wanting to get away from Hawkins? You know, for college?"

"I hadn't really thought about it. Things got crazy for a while and it just slipped my mind."

"Oh. Yeah, they did. I know we talked about it a lot before school started. We looked at a few pamphlets and all."

"Well, I know I don't want to go too far. There are a few community colleges nearby and then that one university about an hour away."

"And we still haven't taken our SATs," Steve said.

"Yeah. We can check with the school to see what the dates are for that. I know they have one in January because that's the one I was going to take before all the crazy stuff happened. Now I'm not sure. I haven't had time to study and I didn't get to make the payment for the test anyway. I'll have to take a later one."

Steve didn't know how to say it, but he felt a wave of relief hit him when he realized Jessica seemed just as unprepared for it as he was. He didn't feel as bad for not being prepared himself, for having put college on the backburner for now.

"I still have no clue what I want to do," Steve said.

"And you still have time to decide. But I think – I think you would do well doing something with little kids. Like middle school or younger. Maybe gym or something like that."

"You mean, teach? Me? I can barely teach myself."

"You've always been athletic, though. Just somethin' to think about. Plus, that's about as far from a desk job with your dad as you can get."

"That is true."

They talked a bit more about less serious things before Steve stood up and offered her his hand.

She grinned. "Is this the dancing portion of the night?"

"I believe it is."

She grabbed his hand and allowed him to pull her up and into the living room, where there was more room to dance. It was mostly slow music that played, so she was able to rest her head against him and he was able to hold her close. It was their favorite type of dancing.

After a few songs, Jessica lifted her head up and placed a soft kiss on Steve's neck.

"I'm gonna head upstairs. Give me a few minutes before you come up."

"Uh . . . okay . . ."

What was Jessica planning?

"I bought something for you, but you have to let me get it ready."

She kissed him quickly before stepping away to go upstairs.

Jessica stopped by their room to grab what she needed before heading to the bathroom, her stomach fluttering with butterflies on the way. When she had been out Christmas shopping, she had also stopped by a store to get a sexy lingerie outfit – a red nighty to represent Christmas – but she was a little nervous about it because she'd never dressed up for Steve before. Or at least, not like this. She had worn clothes that she knew he liked – like skirts when it was warm enough – but she had never bought something so purposefully seductive.

Once the outfit was on, she combed out her hair so that it fell over her shoulders in soft waves and then she opened the door to call down to make sure Steve knew he could come up.

She knew she should have gone to the bedroom, but she stayed right outside the bathroom door. She would have a quick hideaway if she needed it.

She knew she didn't need to be nervous, but she'd never worn anything like the red nighty before and it made her almost uncomfortable just standing there in it.

She heard the tread of Steve's footsteps on the stairs and took a deep breath to steady herself. He stopped when he reached the top of the stairs and his gaze reached her.

"Jess?"

She forced herself to keep her arms at her sides and not bring them up to cover her chest.

"Hi." She nibbled at her bottom lip for a second. "I feel ridiculous in this."

"Ridiculous is definitely not the word that comes to mind," Steve said softly, moving towards her.

His words made her feel slightly better, but her stomach was still tight with nerves.

"It's not too much? Or too little, I guess I should say. It's short and basically see through and –"

"I've seen you without anything on."

Steve reached her and placed his hands on her waist. He squeezed a few times, soothingly, before pulling her to him.

"I know, but I still don't usually wear things like this. I just – it's for our anniversary and Christmas, you know?"

"You look beautiful, Jess."

She pressed her head against his shoulder. "I still feel ridiculous. I mean, we're just gonna take it off."

"Well, I mean –" Steve squeezed her waist again. "You don't have to take it off."

Jessica giggled and shook her head. "Steve!"

"Well, you don't."

The first time they made love that night, she didn't take it off.

Here's the mix Steve made:

Wake Me Up Before You Go Go - WhamJump - Van HalenGhostbusters - Ray Parker Jr.Footloose - Kenny LogginsThriller - Michael JacksonWe're Not Gonna Take It - Twisted SisterWrapped Around Your Finger - PoliceTime After Time - Cindy LauperThe Warrior - ScandalHolding Out For A Hero - Bonnie TylerSister Christian - Night RangerI Want To Know What Love Is - ForeignerYou're The Inspiration - Chicago