He’d left herthoroughly sated, not an inch of her went untouched. He could stillhear her cries of abandon as he’d fucked the living daylights outof her the night before. She’d been a rag doll in his hands. They’dpassed out exhausted in each other’s arms.
He took a deepbreath and sighed. When he awoke, he had only one thing on hismind. He only hoped she would accept his last-minute Christmassurprise.
“How long have you been up?” she asked, curling her fingersaround his red streaked fringes. He was already dressed, albeitcasually so. When she looked over his shoulder, she was surprisedto see the room in such disarray. Then she realized that all herthings were in there. Her suitcase, her clothes hanging over theback of a chair, the contents of her drawers, strewn around thefoot of the bed by her feet. “What’s going on? Why are my thingsall over your room?”
“Becky…” He paused, suddenly hesitant. Perhaps he’d acted inhaste. Would she be mad? Would she turn him down? At the time, hethought it romantic. Now, he realized he should have been moreorganized. He should have had it all done long before sheawoke.
“Kelley?”
“Becky, I wanted to surprise you… I want… I want you to sharemy bedroom. I want you in here with me, always.” He paused, lookingvery nervous. “I hope you…”
Before he couldutter another word, Becky leapt up and grabbed him around his neck,and squealed with joy! “Yes, Kelley, I’d love to share yourroom!”
“Whew… so you’re not upset?” he asked, cradling the back of herhead.
“Why would I be upset?” she asked, sitting back. “I’ll missbeing kidnapped out of my bed in the middle of the night,” she saidwith a smile. “But I can think of nothing better than to fallasleep in your arms from now on.”
“Well then, Merry Christmas, Becky.”
Leaving Kelleyto the task of setting her up in his room, she got herself readyand went downstairs to greet her other housemates. She found Dorianin the kitchen, frying up bacon and eggs. The first thing she didwas give him a hug around his waist.
“Morning, Becky, Merry Christmas,” he said, happilyreciprocating the affection.
“Merry Christmas, Dorian.” She looked around just in time tocatch Keegan entering the room, hugging his arms around himself.She couldn’t help but smile, seeing him wearing his furry blackSanta hat.
“Where’s my hug?” he asked with a mischievous smile.
“Right here,” she said, meeting him at his chair. “Ooh, you’reshivering.” Becky instinctively ran her hands up and down hisarms.
“It’s freezing down in that basement,” he said, dragging herinto his lap, absorbing her warmth.
“Aww… hey! I know, guess what?” she said, inspired.
“What’s that?” he said in a half yawn.
“You can have your room back!” she said excitedly. “MerryChristmas!”
“Why? How? You’re not leaving us, are you?” Crispin gasped,having just entered the kitchen.
“No… only I’m moving into Kelley’s room,” she said, watchinghim subconsciously clutch his chest. He’d turned as white as aghost for a moment.
“Oh… well, that’s all right then,” Keegan said with a sigh ofrelief. “You mean I don’t have to live in the basement anymore? Ican’t think of a better Christmas present.”
“Me neither.” She beamed.
“That’s great, Becky,” Dorian said, slapping Kelley on theshoulder as he walked in. “Congrats, you two.”
Becky couldn’tthink of a better way to spend the day than to be surrounded by herfour favourite Goths. Call her selfish but she was glad to havethem all to herself. Heather was out of town visiting her family,and Gracie, as always, remained a mystery.
Yes, in fact,all five members of the House of Goths showed no signs of wantinganything more than to lounge about, wearing PJs, and havingbreakfast.
After fillingup on bacon, eggs, and coffee, the five of them filed into thefront room, eager to open presents. Dorian was especially excited.So much so that he insisted everyone open up his presentsfirst.
Reaching underthe tree, he grabbed four similarly wrapped gifts and handed one toeach of his housemates. Sitting closest to the tree at his side,Becky waited until everyone had theirs at the ready.
“Well, go on then,” he said, sitting back in anticipation.“Open them!”
Without furtherhesitation, all four of them tore off the wrapping paper. For asecond there was only silence, followed by gasps of surprise.
“What’s this?” Kell asked first.
“Holy crap, Dorian!” Crispin said in disbelief. “It’s acollection of your comic strips?”
“When did you do this?” Keegan asked, flipping through thepages of the curious book in his hand.
“Dolly Dormouse and the House of Elves?” Becky held up theglossy book and read the title out loud. She flipped it open tofind Dorian’s signature and dedication on the inside cover.“Dorian?”
“It’s a graphic novel. Comic strips inspired by you lot.”Dorian was practically bursting at the seams. “See that’s you,Becky.”
Sitting next toher, he pointed at the drawing of Dolly, a dormouse in a redhoodie. In the first section, Dolly was walking through a darkwooded forest. It’s blustery out, she’s afraid, clinging onto alittle handbag. In the next frame, she finds a huge tree trunk witha mysterious door on it. With much trepidation, the little cartoongirlie mouse bravely approaches and pulls on the antiqueknocker.
“What do you think? Do you like it?”
“This is fucking awesome!” Kell declared, flipping furtherahead. “How in the world?”
By now, Keeganand Crispin were flipping around the pages and laughing their headsoff while Becky was still staring at the front cover.
“I self-published it the other week. It’s only the start,really. I’ve got so many more ideas for it. But I wanted it readyfor you lot for Christmas.”
“Wow, Dorian… this is amazing!” Becky finally said, looking upfrom the book in her hands. “All I want to do now is read this fromcover to cover. Look at these drawings!” She literally had tears inher eyes. He’d made Dolly so cute. And the Elves were so welldrawn. There was no mistaking that the characters were influencedby them all.
“Shit, I’m speechless,” Crispin said after a few moments. “Iknew you were talented, but this is out of this world!”
“Oh, come on,” Dorian scoffed, suddenly self-conscious. “It’sridiculous, really.”
“It is not ridiculous,” Kell
