Onyx refused to get out of bed Christmas morning.

I shouldn't have been surprised, as he'd been bipolar for the last week and a half; one second he'd been comforting me and acting more like his old self, the next he was an emotional, short tempered wreck that'd walk away and barricade himself in my bedroom, refusing to leave it or let me in until he'd worked through his anger.

Mom was doing a little better, but I could see the sadness lingering in her eyes as she made breakfast, occasionally looking to the seat Olivia occupied every Christmas. She tried at small talk, but I was so lost in trying to figure out a way to bring Onyx out of my room that I only responded absentmindedly. By the time I'd given up on pacing the living room, I jogged up the stairs and knocked on my door. When he didn't respond or make an attempt to open it for me, I slipped a bobby pin into the knob and the door clicked a few minutes later.

He rolled over in my bed so he was facing me in the doorway, eyes wide in shock momentarily, but were soon back to their emotionless state and he huffed a quiet, "Go downstairs, Aurora."

Okay, so he was in one of those moods.

"No." I crossed the room to him. "I want you down there with me."

"It's not happening." he didn't look at me as he snapped the words through his teeth. "I'm not celebrating without her."

I lowered myself onto the bed and moved until his head was across my lap and my fingers were buried in his hair. "So you're just going to stop living?"

"Yes."

"You think that's what Olivia would want?" I questioned. "You think she'd want you to completely give up on life after she's passed?"

He flinched. "I don't care what she'd want. She's dead."

"Onyx, I know how much you're hurting. I am too. So is my mom." I brushed my knuckle along his tear stained, blotchy cheek. "But your mom wouldn't want this. She was so full of life, Onyx. Nothing ever brought that woman down. She wouldn't want us mourning her death and not living. She'd want us celebrating the life we do have. If you don't want to live for yourself, you need to live for her."

He didn't move or answer, so I took it as my sign to continue.

"At the rate you're going, you'll never graduate high school, you won't go to college. You'll probably push me away and you'll watch me find love with someone else and marry them. You—"

"I get it." Onyx finally interjected through his teeth. "Love that beautiful picture you've crafted of our future, Aurora."

I sighed. "My point is that you need to live, Onyx. I'm not telling you that you can't feel or have emotions, or that you can't have days where all you want to do is lay in bed. I'm not saying don't get sentimental over songs or movies or books that remind you of her. I'm just saying you could hole yourself up and isolate yourself from everything and everyone."

"She's right."

Both Onyx and I looked to my mother in the doorframe, tears misting her eyes. She slowly edged closer, and once she reached us, she took Onyx's hand in her own.

"Olivia was the most beautiful person I'd ever met. Not just in her physical attributes, but in who she was inside. She loved you two kids with everything in her." my mom said to him. "She knew of the cancer, Onyx, she knew she wouldn't make it, but she didn't want to leave you alone. She didn't want you to feel this way. The anger, the bitterness, the hurt. She fought it for so long, baby, but she stopped kicking when she saw you getting closer with Aurora. Because that's all she'd ever wanted, was to know that you had someone at your side when the time came."

Onyx sat up and eyed my mom before he breathed, "It isn't fair."

"I know honey." she extended her hand and touched his cheek. "But life isn't fair sometimes. I know she's still here with me, though, sweetheart. I see her in my books, in the mockingbirds, in every single rose I pass. She may not be here physically, but she will always be around you if you pay enough attention. And she will forever be here."

She pressed her palm flat against his chest and a knot rose in my own throat hearing her words. I quickly blinked to try and compose myself as she moved forward and hugged Onyx. "Now I want you to get dressed and join my daughter and me for Christmas. Okay?"

"Okay."

My mom kissed his temple before she stood and squeezed my shoulder. I watched her leave and started to rise, but Onyx pulled me back onto the bed with a small smile as he kissed me and whispered against my lips, "Who said I was done with you?"

*

Turns out it wasn't as hard as I'd thought it would be to force Onyx Hayes to watch an entire six hours of Hallmark Christmas movies with me. Mom excused herself to bed after opening the new bath set and bracelet I'd bought her. I waited until I knew she was asleep to stand and grab my present for Onyx from under the tree and returned to sit beside him, pausing the movie.

"You waited until she was in bed to give it to me." He observed, but there was just the slightest bit of the old Onyx mischief and amusement in his eyes. "I think I'm really going to like what's in that box."

I laughed, trying to ignore how hot my face was getting. "It is not anything sex related, Hayes!"

I smacked his arm playfully, but he only chuckled and sat up so he could take the perfectly wrapped box. He eyed it cautiously, then turned to look at me with narrowed eyes. "Why did you wait for your mom to go to sleep if it isn't a sexy lingerie set?"

"Because she doesn't know I've read it." I said with another playful shove. "Now I know what you got me though."

He winked and started to unwrap the box. Once he'd opened it, he picked the book up out of the box and stared at the hardcover book between his hands. "Love Lies. Sure does."

I rolled my eyes at the snide remark to the title and flipped the book open so he could read the blurb.

"The book is about us, Onyx." I explained. "You were right about them writing a book about us. A lot of the story is written by your mom."

He tore his eyes from me and started flipping through the pages. After a moment, he whispered, "Do you think it has a happy ending?"

"Have you met our mothers?" I replied immediately. "Of course, it does, Onyx."

"What about me? Do you think I'll get my happy ending?"

I set the book on the coffee table and took his face between my hands, running my thumb across his bottom lip. "I don't know, Hayes, life isn't a fairytale. This isn't a teen movie."

His eyebrow shot up at the use of his own words thrown back in his face. "Okay, fair enough."

"I think that your life will but whatever you make of it, Onyx." I whispered, serious now, "If you just stopped for a minute and looked around, you'd seen you had what you needed to be happy and successful. You still have a few months of school to catch back up. You have Levi and Mikey, and Ray. You have Angie. You have me. We're here for you, all we want is for you to succeed. All I ever wanted was for you to be you and not this. . . this arrogant jerk you pretended to be."

His hand found the side of my neck as his eyes roamed mine. "I know."

"The Onyx I love is the Onyx you hate and knowing that breaks my heart."

His entire body tensed hearing my confession. "What'd you just say?"

"Oh, come on, Onyx. You can't possibly think that I still hate you." I pinched his black sweater between my fingers. "Although, I do think your fashion choices are a bit bland. You do realize there's colors other than black, right?"

A genuine grin lit his face before he kissed me. "I love you too, Aurora."

I leaned into him and patted his chest gently. "We'll go shopping before school starts again."

"Whatever you say, Sky." He kissed the side of my head then retrieved the book from the table and leaned back into the couch. I curled into his side and pulled the throw over me as I played the movie. He started reading the book and I watched the different expressions cross his face before it rested on the faintest hint of a smile.