Christmas! (Still)
Sage rang the buzzer at Sam’s apartment in one sharp, quick burst, suddenly rather nervous. What if this guy didn’t like her? What if Sam decided he preferred his boyfriend over her? Losing Sam would be the only thing worse than losing the team, at this point.
“Sage?” Sam’s voice came over the intercom.
She rolled her eyes. “No, it’s the queen of England. Yeah, it’s me, let me in.” She imagined him laughing as the buzzer sounded and she opened the door, jogging up the two flights of stairs to his apartment; barging in without hesitiation. “Man, you’ve really gotta give me a key.”
Sam laughed and pulled her in for a hug, careful of the presents in her hands. “You’re early.”
“Well, yeah. Had to beat the boyfriend. Make a good first impression, you know.”
He rolled his eyes. “You’ll love him, I promise.”
“Oh, I know that. You’ve got a brilliant taste in men. It’s the other way around that worries me.”
“Stop it. Everyone likes you, babe.”
“Your parents don’t.”
“My parents are backwoods, Mormon hicks from Iowa who wouldn’t know a pleasant disposition if it fucked them up the ass. Quit.” He walked into the apartment, directing her to place her gifts under the little tree in his living room and going to the kitchen, grabbing a grapefruit from the fruit basket and a knife from the block, slicing the fruit in half. “You want one?” He asked, offering her a half and a grapefruit spoon.
“Duh.” She hopped up on the counter and accepting them. She took a bite, and then looked up in surprise as the apartment door opened, leaning as far forward as she could, hoping to catch a glimpse of the visitor.
A young man walked in, dropping a bookbag by the door and wandering into the kitchen, large brown eyes immediately drawn to Sage. He smiled cautiously, waving to her and crossing quickly to stand by Sam, looking as though he was trying to hide without being obvious about it. “H-hi. I’m Jason.”
“Sup.” She smiled in what she hoped was an open way, surveying him thoughtfully. “Sage.” He was wearing one of the ugliest Christmas sweaters she’d ever seen, decked out in multiple shades of red and green, covered in tinsel, there were even lights flashing on his torso. She decided that she liked him. “Nice sweater.”
He looked down and flushed slightly, as though he’d forgotten he was wearing it. “Yeah, I didn’t actually mean to come in this.”
Sam laughed and wrapped an arm around his waist. “It’s fine, love.”
Jason smiled softly at him, but eyed the half grapefruit in his hand warily. “Have you eaten any of that yet? Because I’d like to give you a kiss, but I can’t stand grapefruit.”
Sam’s brows furrowed, but Sage’s face lit up. “Sammy, you gotta keep this one, muffin. That way I can keep stealing your grapefruits and your boyfriend won’t be trying to budge in on my territory.”
Jason laughed. “Are his godforsaken laundry habits your territory too? Cos you can keep those, I’ll just bring my own.”
Sage shrieked with laughter as Sam pouted.
“Rude. I shouldn’t have let you two meet.”
The blonde gasped and put a hand over her heart, dramatically hopping off the counter and crossing the room to clutch at Jason’s arm. “No! I’ve met him now, we’re keeping him. You two are no longer allowed to break up ever. I forbid it.”
Sam glared at her. “Sage, how many times do I have to tell you, you’re not allowed to claim my significant others. Oh!” His eyes lit up suddenly and he swatted at Sage’s hand where it was attached to Jason’s arm. “Sorry not sorry.” He gave her a shit eating grin. “Babe, did you bring your guitar?”
Sage turned to the raven-haired boy after glaring at Sam, eyes wide. “You play guitar?”
He rubbed the back of his neck, looking at the floor tile shyly. “Not super well… It’s just a hobby.” He turned his attention to Sam. “It’s in the car. Do you want me to bring it up?”
“Can I get it?” Sage hopped up and down eagerly. “That way you two can do whatever it is couples do to greet each other. I’ll be out of your hair for a few minutes.”
Jason laughed. “Sure, kid, go ahead.” He dug in his pocket and pulled out his keys, tossing them to Sage. “It’s in the trunk, which… may be a little hard to open. You’ve just gotta tug on it.”
She grinned. “Okay.” She skipped down the stairs, preparing herself to face the late December cold again, but she stopped halfway to the ground floor. She didn’t know what kind of car jason had. She winced, considering going back up to ask, but quickly discarded the idea. They were probably making out or something. She looked through his keychain, trying to find personality indicators that might indicate what kind of car this guy had. He had several tags, Speedway, Costco, Whole Foods, Kroger… She was probably looking for an early 2000s car, blueish in colour.
She propped the apartment building door open with a doorstpe that was sitting just inside it, and looked along the street. A few spots down, she spotted a sky blue, Mercury Grand Marquis covered with bumper stickers. 2002, if she had to guess. She grinned and hit the unlock button on the key fob, watching as the taillights lit up. “Alright.” She stuck the key into the trunk lock, hearing the release click and tugging upward, frowning when it didn’t budge. She sighed and put one foot on the bumper, pulling upward as hard as she could, cheering when it popped open. “Okay. Guitar, guitar, guitar.” Her eyes roved the trunk, and she grinned at the sight of the guitar case. It had almost as many stickers as the car’s bumper did. She admired that in a person, the ability to commit to placing a sticker.
She grabbed the case, shutting the trunk and making sure the car was locked before starting back to the apartment building. She made sure to hit Sam’s buzzer as she walked in, to warn them that she was on her way up. Too many run-ins with young newleywed foster parents had taught her that lesson.
Sam and Jason were cuddling on the couch when she walked in. The latter had a mug of hot chocolate, and the former was talking animatedly about… PETA? Oh, god.
“No, I’m telling you, PETA wants to kill people! Make all the jokes you want about being a part of ‘People Eating Tasty Animals’, PETA is out for your soul, and they won’t rest until they’ve given it to a mountain lion.”
“Sam.”
He bolted upright, crossing his arms in front of his chest, and avoiding eye contact with Sage. “O- oh good, you found the guitar!”
She narrowed her eyes at him. “Samuel Earnest Trynt. I don’t care if he does have a key, we’ve talked about this.”
“I wasn’t-!”
“Jason, dear, if Sam ever tries to have a conversation with you about PETA, smack him a refuse to listen. He has far too much passion about some stupid animal rights organization.”
Jason laughed, giving Sam a sympathetic look when he made a wounded noise. “No, it’s alright, Sage. I don’t like PETA either.”
“Well neither do I, but this one’s a conspiracy nut.” She walked over and sat on Sam’s lap, handing the guitar to Jason. “I mean, I love him, but he’s a nut.” She grinned at the brunet and kissed him loudly on the cheek. “Anyway. What’d we need the guitar for other than getting me out of the apartment? Also, why does Jason get a key but I don’t? Exactly how long have you been dating?”
Sam scowled and looked like he was debating shoving Sage off of his lap, but he wrapped an arm around her waist instead. “About five months.”
“Five-” Sage stared at him incredulously, mouth hanging open. “WHAT?”
Sam winced, while Jason chuckled. “I-”
“You’ve been dating for FIVE MONTHS and you only told me YESTERDAY?!”
“Sage, I was going-”
She leapt up, scowling. “Five months? Seriously? Are you kidding me?”
“I didn’t want to-”
“It was my idea.” Jason stood, holding his hands up in surrender, jumping as thunder rumbled overhead. “I haven’t come out to my parents yet. It isn’t Sam’s fault, so please don’t get mad at him. I wasn’t ready to tell people.”
Sam rose to his feet slowly, approaching Sage with caution. “I’m sorry, sweetheart. I should have told you sooner. I didn’t want to put more on you while you were still settling in with the new family and getting adjusted there. Forgive me for doing a stupid thing?”
She clenched her fists and let out a shaky breath, crossing her arms over her chest and shrinking in on herself. “Yeah, I forgive you. I- I’ve gotta pee.” She turned away quickly, swiping at the tears streaming down her cheeks.
“Did you guys hear that thunder before? I thought that only happened in really bad snowstorms.”
Sage froze, turning her head to catch Sam’s panicked gaze. She hadn’t meant to do that. If she’d made it thunder, than she was even more upset about this than she realised. She raced to the bathroom and sat on the toilet, quickly pulling out her phone to call Sam. “I’m sorry.” She said, as soon as he picked up. I didn’t mean to. I didn’t think I was that mad at you.”
“It’s okay.” His voice was coming both through the phone and the door. He must be sitting outside. “I should have told you. I didn’t even think about it. Jay just didn’t want to tell anyone, and I didn’t think to ask if you could be the exception.”
“No, I get it.” She moved to sit against the door, letting her head fall back to hit it. “I just- you aren’t going to forget about me now that you’ve got a boyfriend, will you?”
“Never.” He sighed. “I’m sorry. Will you come out now so that we can do presents and jam with Jason’s guitar?”
She hung up and wiped at her face again before standing up and opening the door. Sam was standing just outside, and he immediately pulled her into a tight hug. She wrapped her arms around his middle and squeezed as tightly as she could, giggling when he made a fake strained sound for her benefit. “I love you, Sammy.”
He pressed a kiss to her hair. “I love you too, Sage. Promise.”
“Promise.” She whispered into his t-shirt before pulling back and spotting the rest of her grapefruit still sitting on the counter. She picked it up and headed back into the living room, picking up the present she’d gotten Jason and handing it to him, with an apologetic smile. “Sorry I jetted like that. I’m fine. I’m not mad at you, I swear.”
He smiled and handed her her own present. “Sorry I didn’t get you a birthday present too, Sam didn’t tell me your birthday was a few days ago until this morning.”
She grinned at the insinuation that he’d do his best to give her both presents in the future. “It’s okay.” She watched him open his present, grinning broadly at his enthusiastic response to the Bob Ross puzzle. She looked up to see Sam standing in the doorway, and handed him his Christmas present, winking at him.
Sam rolled his eyes and handed Sage two packages. “Open them. You’re not allowed to do it at home.”
She stuck her tongue out at him, and started with Jason’s just to spite him. It was an “I want to believe” poster, and she decided that she loved Jason even more than she’d orignally thought. “This is perfect! Oh my god! I love it!”
He laughed. “Well, I’m glad. Sam said you liked space stuff, so I was hoping you were into aliens.”
“Definitely into aliens.”
One of Sam’s gifts was a can of mace that was labelled “Hater Repellent.” The other was a Molskine journal with her initials monogrammed on the front.
She clutched both to her chest, and gave Sam a grateful smile, trying not to cry again. “Thank you.”
Sam grinned. “Are you kidding me? You definitely win this year. Your gift is way better than mine.”
“Shut up. No.”
“Fine. Agree to disagree.”
---
Sam and Jason retired early that night, because Jason had to go to work the next morning, and, understandably, they wanted to spend time alone. Sage was crashing on the couch, but she had free reign of the tv, so she didn’t mind.
She thought back over the days events and got frustrated with herself. Of course Sam wouldn’t tell her right away when he was dating someone. That was fine. That was normal. She’d overreacted big time. She’d have to make it up to him somehow. When I get a significant other, she decided, I’m going to tell him right away.
Who knew, maybe that would be sooner than she thought?