[Zoe] Do They Know It's Christmas Time At All

[Travis Dex Jenkins]

Dex looked in the mirror, turning his head to the side before he brought his fingers up to touch the laceration above his eye and on the side of his face. He sighed, leaning away from the counter in the bathroom. He’d won his fight last night, but he’d taken a few good punches too. Enough to give him a laceration and blow out his pupil. Where you usually see white in a persons eye, was coated in red by busted blood vessels, and the pupil was three times its normal size. He felt he looked like some sort of mutated freak, devilchild. He looked over at the time before he sighed, drumming his hands against the bare skin of his stomach and turned to his room. He knew Zoe had felt sick the night before so she’d be staying in from school today. With that he walked out of the bathroom and headed to his room to change. After pulling on a pair of jeans and a long sleeved shirt he looked down at his desk. He picked up a box, the present he’d bought for Felicia before he looked inside. After he took in a quick breath he closed it, setting it back down gently before he picked up the gift for Zoe. After gripping the side of the bag he picked up the other box he had gotten for her and made his way out of his room. “ Going to see your girlfriend,” he called out sarcastically to Gabe before he smiled pointedly at him and made his way out the window.

Once he was on the fire escape, Dex went down the stairs quickly hoping that just because Zoe was sick and Felicia was gone that they would have left the window open. But as he reached their window he grinned, lifting it up just a little more before he slid into their living room. Dex looked around the apartment before he set the bag and box down. He peeked inside Zoe’s room, seeing her sleeping in bed before he went to their kitchen. Well at least if she was sick he could make her, her favorite treat. Dex took out some vanilla yogurt from the fridge and the carton of raspberries. He dipped the raspberries in the yogurt before he spread them out on a piece of wax paper and then set it inside the freezer. Now that, that was done Dex looked back at the gift, picking it up before he came to Zoe’s room, knocking on the door before he stepped inside. “ Rise and shine, Zo it’s Christmas time” he said cheerfully before climbing onto the bed and setting the bag next to her pillow.

[Zoe Lauren Pierson]

Zoe curled her arm tightly underneath her pillow, doing her best to try and sleep in a little later. Felicia had gotten up later than normal this morning because Zoe wasn’t there to wake her up in time for school. Late or not, at least she was going. But her dreams were a place she never wanted to escape, and it was the one thing you could be thankful for when it came to illness; a Nyquil induced sleep frenzy. Thankfully, her dreams often starred the gorgeous Gabe Atherton. Sans a shirt. And he was about to be sans a whole lot more until she felt Dex crawling onto her bed. “ No” she groaned, trying to pull the pillow closer to herself. Come back dream, come back shirtless Gabe. But eventually she realized there was no sense in trying to get back into that nirvana dreamstate and focused her attention on glaring at Dex as she sat up. “ What do you want?” she questioned before she looked at the Christmas present on her bed and shook her head. “ You want presents and Gabe won’t swap with you yet,” she said, before she laid back against her pillow and sighed. “ You got it, so get out of bed, go get my present, and we’ll exchange.. I’ve already got your breakfast in the freezer”. Zoe narrowed her eyebrows before she looked at Dex.

After sitting up, she was going to push her covers off, but Dex was so excited he just pulled them off instead in an attempt to help her by hurrying her up. “ Real nice,” she said sarcastically before she got up and headed over to her closet. “ You actually have my present?” he asked with slight surprise before she looked over her shoulder and made a face. “ Duh, Christmas is in like nine days.” she said with a small shake of her head before she picked the box up, adjusting the ribbons before she came out and set it on the bed. “ We need music!” he yelled quickly, jumping off the bed and going to her computer. He lifted the lid slowly before he pulled up her iTunes and hit shuffle. But he stopped halfway as he made his way to her bed, hearing Pretty Girl Rock. He shook his head as he looked at her. Zoe glared at him. “ You woke me up and are demanding a present. Don’t even start to judge my choice of music,”. Zoe sat back down on the bed, pushing the box towards him.

[Travis Dex Jenkins]

Dex lifted his eyebrow and shook his finger at Zoe as she told him not to judge her, “ Sweetheart, don’t hate me cause I’m beautiful. My walk my talk, the way I dress.. it’s not my fault, so please don’t trip,” he said until he was able to get a smile from her. “ There it is,” he said satisfactorily before he laid down on her bed and pulled the box closer to himself. He looked up at Zoe, feeling slightly sorry that he had woken her up for presents. She should be sleeping to get over whatever she had, but whatever, she seemed to be being a good sport about it. Dex tore open the end of the packaging, looking down at the white box and giving a confused expression before he pushed off more of the wrapping paper, crumpling it up to the other end of the box. Dex opened his mouth slightly as he looked down at the computer in front of him. “ You got me a Macbook?” he questioned, still staring at the box. “ Or is it just a present wrapped in a Macbook box?” he said, almost eager to open the box and look inside. “ It’s definitely a Macbook,” she said, giving a small nod. Zoe and Zach weren’t the richest of all families, but they also weren’t broke either. Though… Zach was buying all sorts of gadgets lately and she wasn’t sure how he was doing that. But whatever, anyways the point was that almost all the money she’d earned from working since she’d gotten here, was going towards her friends Christmas presents. She didn’t need to buy anything for herself. It was them that mattered.

“ Holy shit, Zoe.. that’s…incredible. Thank you, so much” he said, moving it to the side slightly so he could lean in and hug her. “ I don’t even care if you get me sick, “ he said before he kissed her cheek quickly. “ I just figured if you were going to be a writer, you’d need something better to write with than that piece of crap you have now.. And typewriters aren’t really in style anymore. This might be a bit easier to take to your local Starbucks and steal away into a corner with while you draft up some fabulous stories about Felicia and I”.Dex laughed as he hugged her tightly and then leaned away , giving a small shrug “ First story is anything you want it to be, dedicated to all three of you guys anyways,” he said, referring to Felicia, Gabe and Zoe. He was still looking down at his computer in awe, before he decided to give Zoe her sort of joke gift first, taking the small box out of the bag, he hid it behind himself so she wouldn’t see it, and slid the bag towards her. “ Merry Christmas, Zo” he said, plastering a bright smile on his face.

[Zoe Lauren Pierson]

Zoe couldn’t help but smile, even through her upper sinus and respiratory infection, as Dex seemed to like his Christmas present. “ It was no problem at all, Travis” she said, trying to keep her face turned away from him when he hugged her. She got him sick, then she got Felicia sick. Screw it, she was probably getting everyone sick anyways. Zoe looked at the bag and smiled, almost surprised by how excited she was to open a Christmas present this early. She still wasn’t sure if she and Zach were going to Arizona, so this was nice, being able to celebrate beforehand just incase. “ Okay,” she said before she reached into the bag and took out some of the decorative tissue paper that was stuffed inside But she stopped as her fingers wrapped around something that felt like satin and lace. She lifted her eyebrow as she looked at Dex. “ Are you fucking kidding me?” she asked before she lifted her hand into the air, the lingerie hooked to her finger. She shook her head as Dex broke into a fit of laughter and dropped it back into the bag. “ Zoe, come on. It’s a two-for-one present. Basically I don’t have to buy Gabe a present now,” he said, as though that made any sense at all.

“ Real charming, Dex” she said through her stuffed nose, before she reached over and took some Kleenex off of her nightstand and blew her nose as she stood up off of the bed. “ Like I’m not already nervous enough about it . Let’s add some lace and whips into the mix,” she said sarcastically. Dex laid back on her bed, resting his arm under his head. “ I never said anything about whips. And our apartment has thin walls… I can tell you for a matter of a fact he isn’t into that type of thing. I mean unless you are. Then he might try it” he said it was a serious tone. Zoe turned, throwing the box of tissue at Dex’s face . “ Come back,” he said through his laughter, dodging the box of tissue. Zoe turned to look at him and crossed her arms until she saw him hold up the smaller box. She narrowed her eyes at him before she made her way over and sat down. “ Last chance,” she said, trying not to breathe through her nose before she reached out and took the box. “ I only need one,” he said confidently before she looked back at the box. She sighed, mentally preparing herself for whatever stupidity was in the box until she opened it and her fingers froze over the outside of the box. “ Oh my gosh…” she said, moving her finger from the box to touch the diamond pendant attached to the necklace. She took it from the box carefully and held it up to look at it before she started to move her hair off to one side of her shoulders.

[Travis Dex Jenkins]

Dex smiled to himself as he watched the way Zoe’s eyes lit up when she saw the necklace. Every punch, every slam to the ground, ringing in his ears, busted pupil, scrape against his body, was completely worth it when it came to his education and friends. When she started to move her hair, Dex sat up and took the necklace from her, bringing it behind her neck so he could latch it together. He moved his hands away and let her adjust it against her frame before he stood up. “ Gorgeous,” he said, nodding his head towards the necklace and then smiled at her, hands in his front pockets. “ You don’t need the bells and the whistles Zo.. Gabe already likes you. He already thinks you’re beautiful. What you need to seal the deal.. is a little more confidence. Don’t freak out so much about it. You know why he’s hesitant? I mean I don’t know, but here’s my guess. You’re so worked up about it… it’s like you’re so eager for Gabe to be your first, but you’re sort of losing perspective as to why. Why do you want him to be your first? Because you love him? Then focus on that. Why does it matter when it is or how it happens? You’ve gotta be confident with your reason why. If the love for him is natural, then… well you two sleeping together will be natural. You aren’t some girl he picked up at a bar. He isn’t going to just sleep with you because he wants to. There’s more to it.” he said, thinking how different it was for him to sleep with a girl he met at a bar, opposed to a girl he actually had feelings for . “ Don’t push it so much… just let it happen. Don’t put pressure on it, dedicate a night to it, don’t do any of those things. Can you control how you feel about Gabe? No… so don’t try to control how you two are going to express it…” he said before he went over to her computer to change her music.

“ That being said….” he said, with a slight smirk across his lips. “ It’s kind of fun to dangle the cheese in front of the mouse a little bit. For lack of a better terms.” he said, changing the song to How You Like Me Now by The Heavy. Perfect. Dex stood up straight and turned to look at Zoe. “We’re going to make him want it just as bad as you do. If not more. That’s my second gift to you.. but first we have to make it look like you aren’t swimming through the sea of mucus and all things that look contagious” he said, slapping his hand on her shoulder before he went to her bathroom. Dex looked through her medicine cabinet, taking down Sudafed, nasal spray, and Dayquil. That should do it. Before he backed away he took down the bottle of vitamin c pills and came into her room, dumping it on the bed. “ Blow your nose,” he said, holding the tissues out to her. Zoe looked at him like she was skeptical about all of this but took the tissue, blowing her nose as much as she could before Dex held the nasal spray up to her. After all of that was done he handed her the vitamin c tablets, some Sudafed pills, and a couple pills of Dayquil before he handed her a bottle of water. “ Bottoms up,” he said cheerfully before he took a step back and went to her closet. Being roommates with the guy, he knew what Gabe found attractive. Zoe always wore shorts, and Dex didn’t think it was because she was trying to show off her legs. He thought it was because she felt comfortable in them, tried to make herself look taller by accentuating the skin on her legs instead of hiding them. But sometimes jeans were just the sexiest thing on the planet. Plus, it was a change of her wardrobe that wouldn’t look like she was trying to get Gabe’s attention. Jeans and shorts, same amount of comfort. Dex pulled out a pair of jeans that had just a bit of tear in the knees and on the back of the jeans before he tossed them out to Zoe. “ This is the girliest thing I’ve ever done. You tell anyone and I’ll put you in a chokehold until you pass out,” he said sternly, looking through her shirts. Dex took out a loose fitting white t-shirt and nodded. “ That’ll work, do you have a colored bra?” he asked before holding out the t-shirt to Zoe. “ Dex!” Zoe yelled out at him, snatching the t-shirt from him. “ … It’s not inappropriate… Me saying, what bra size are you.. is inappropriate.” he said before looking at Zoe and narrowing his eyes. “ 34 B” he said, giving a small nod before he sat down, tilting his head to the bathroom for her to go change.

[Zoe Lauren Pierson]

Zoe looked at all of the medicines, wondering if she should really be taking them all at once. But she had to admit, her nose was already opening up so she didn’t look like she was some kind of trucker trying to breathe through her mouth all the time. She rolled her eyes as Dex guessed her bra size and took the jeans and t-shirt, stopping to grab a bra from her dresser. As she started to pull out a red one, Dex clicked his tongue and shook his head “ Black” he said, giving a small nod. She looked down at the t-shirt and gave a small confused face. It was a sheer white, one she would wear a tank top under, but apparently that wasn’t the type of outfit she was going to get away with today. Zoe took in a deep breath and sighed, going into her bathroom as she shut the door with her foot . She changed out of her pajama shorts and tank and into the outfit, though all she felt like doing was crawling back into bed. When she opened the door again, Dex gave a small nod. “ Do something with your hair so it looks half messy, half done. Like you curled it the night before but then you slept in it”. Zoe blinked as she looked at him. “ You want me to curl my hair… then loosen them and put product in it?” she asked, though Dex was already nodding “ And make it a little messy. Effortless just-had-sex hair without it looking like you tried,”. Zoe made a confused face, “ But we are trying” she said, plugging in her curling iron. “ Well yeah but Gabe doesn’t need to know that,” he said, taking his newly gifted laptop out of its box so he could take a look at it.

Zoe listened to him playing with his computer, talking about how he put a picture up of Madeline and Rosie as his background. She rolled her eyes, finally finishing curling her hair before she leaned over and shook it out. After putting some hair spray in it, she scrunched her fingers against her hair, trying to make it a little messy before she peeked her head out of the bathroom. Dex looked up and judged her for a minute before he set his computer down and walked over to her. “ Just had sex hair, Zoe. You can’t be gentle with it….” he said before he reached his hand into the back of her hair as if he would do that when kissing her to mess it up a bit. He smiled before he backed away . “ Hardly any make up Touch of that black goopy eye stuff and just stuff for your lips” he said before he sat down and picked his computer back up. “ JUST mascara and lip gloss? “ she asked, looking at him like he was insane . “ It’s what I said, princess.” he said without looking up at her and focusing on his computer. Zoe frowned before she went back into the bathroom to go back to work.

[Travis Dex Jenkins]

Dex hummed to himself quietly, scrolling through pictures of Rosie Madison and Madeline Foster that they had taken together until he put the perfect one against his background. Now all he needed to do was switch over his music library and the rest was a piece of cake. He ran his hand over the side of the computer, still amazed that Zoe had gotten it for him, all just because he wanted to be a writer. It made him kind of feel guilty for just getting her a necklace, that didn’t really appeal to who she was the way her gift had for him. So he’d randomly decided to help her drive Gabe nuts. Girling himself out for a half hour was well worth a new Macbook Pro. He looked up as Zoe came out of the bathroom again, jeans, loose fit white t-shirt, messy hair, mascara and lip gloss. He closed the computer lid and stood up. “ Few last touches,” he said, reaching towards the bottom of her shirt where he tied the excess fabric into a knot so that some of the skin from her stomach was visible but not enough to make it obvious. Then he looked up at the shoulders of her shirt and looked at her. “ How expensive was this shirt?” he asked, only allowing Zoe to stammer out “ Not ve-“ before he ripped one edge of the shoulder and then pulled it down so that it was hanging off of her shoulder. “ Dex! Now you can see my bra strap” she said out of annoyance. Dex smirked, “ I know.. girls think it’s so hard. You know what is sexiest to us guys? Accidental sexiness. The girl that can look hot after working out. Not being so properly put together” he said, even though to be fair, he was coordinating her ‘ oops’ outfit pretty efficiently.

Dex adjusted her necklace so that it fit against her shirt and took a step back. “ If you weren’t so annoying, I might say you were pretty. Blondes are more my type” he said, giving her a small smile. “ I’m so glad you’re not a friend that kisses my ass and ogles over my body” she said, flipping him off casually before she started to crawl back into bed. “ Nope!” Dex said, reaching his arm around Zoe’s waist before he picked her up and then reached down to pick up his laptop. “ Going upstairs,” he said, carrying her out of her room and over to the window in the living room. “ Pretty sure Gabe is making breakfast. What kind of neighbor and friend would I be if I didn’t invite my friend… who just crawled out of bed and put herself together like this, with no attempt to be pretty, upstairs for breakfast? Get on now, get” he said, pushing her by her lower back to climb out of the window and followed her up the staircase outside.