I'm watching Home Alone while my mother is out shopping when the doorbell rings. I open the door and Sophia is standing there, holding gifts. Her grandfather is with her. The one who speaks primarily French. "Hey, Ray!" Sophia says.

"Hey, Sophia! Bonjour, Monsieur! Joyeaux Noёl!" I say in the worst accent ever. Gosh, I suck at French. Even though Sophia taught it to me I still suck. This is why I didn't take it in high school. Sophia's grandfather smiles. 

"Merci, Raymond! Toi aussi! Et s'il vous plaît, appelez-moi Jacques," he says.

I'm standing there with a totally blank look on my face, not knowing what he meant or what to say. 

"He's saying thank you and you too, and to call him Jacques," Sophia says. I smile, embarrassed. I don't know how to reply to him. That's pretty much the extent of my French. 

"Au revoir, Sophia. Joyeaux Noёl! Je t'aime!" Sophia's grandfather says, and kisses her on the cheek. 

"Au revoir, grand-père!" Sophia says. Sophia walks into the house, and sets the gifts down below the Christmas tree.

"Your French wasn't that bad, Ray. I'm proud of you," she says. 

"I still sucked, Sophia. It was pretty bad," I say, with brutal honesty. She laughs.

"Is your mom here?" she asks, while craning her head and looking around. 

"My mother should be back soon. She's out doing some last minute Christmas shopping," I say. 

"That's fine. At least we're alone, except for Randy," she says, with her gaze shifting to the bedrooms. 

"Randy is probably blasting Kanye West through his headphones. I think we're ok," I say, and she looks up to above our heads.

Coincidentally enough, there is mistletoe hanging right above us. "Mistletoe," she says. 

"Don't mind if I do," I say, and I press my lips onto hers. It's not a kiss that's particularly passionate. But I plan on making our night a little bit more romantic. 

Once we stop, she looks up at me. "Best Christmas gift ever," she says. 

"Especially since I got to spend it with you," I say. Sophia smiles and throws herself down on the couch. 

"I'll make some popcorn, and then we can watch Home Alone," I say. As I go to the kitchen to pop a bag of popcorn, I hear Randy come out of his bedroom.

"Hey, Sophia! Merry Christmas!" he says. The tone in which he's saying it sends red flags. It's basically saying, "He wants something. Don't be fooled."

"Merry Christmas, Randy!" she says, totally unfazed. 

"I hope you got me something good for Christmas!" he says. I roll my eyes. "Called it," I mutter under my breath. Randy is that sibling who has no manners whatsoever. 

"Of course I have, don't worry!" Sophia says, with sweetness dripping from her voice. And then she's that person whose patience level is higher than the Burj Khalifa. Randy comes into the kitchen. 

"Popcorn!" he squeals. 

"Yeah right! Make your own bag!" I tell him, and pour the popcorn into a big bowl. Randy shoves me and goes into the pantry to grab a new bag. I go into the living room and sit down. 

"Thank gosh for the popcorn. I'm starving," she says, and grabs some popcorn to stuff in her mouth. She leans on me, with her head resting on my chest. I wrap my arms around her, leaving us both in the most comfortable position ever. Happiness starts to flood over me. This is going to be the best Christmas ever. Sophia lies on my chest for a while, until my mother comes home.

"Merry Christmas, Sophia!" my mother says. 

"You too, Mrs. Richards!" Sophia says. She smiles.

"I'll have dinner ready in half an hour. It'll be really good," my mother says. 

"Thank you!" Sophia says, and my mother walks into the kitchen. I go to the kitchen and wash out the bowl that we used to eat popcorn in. 

"Sophia, we can go talk in my room. I'll be there in two minutes," I say. Once I'm done washing out the bowl, I go to my room, where Sophia is lying down on the bed. I go and join her, wrapping my arms around her.

"Ray," she says. 

"Yes?" I say. 

"You do know how much I like you, right?" she says. 

"I know. And I feel the same way. I wouldn't trade you for anything. You're the best, Sophia," I say. 

"You promise?" she says. 

"Always," I say. Sophia snuggles up towards me, and I just feel like I could fall asleep. This is the most comfortable position ever. 

"Ray, honey! Dinner is ready!" my mother calls. I curse under my breath. Sophia and I get up and go into the kitchen. I can see hot soup, a golden casserole, and hot chocolate. I can smell a pastry. My mom was baking dessert. Sophia and I sit down and indulge ourselves in Christmas dinner. After that, we just change and go to bed.

 "Sophia, I love you," I say while crossing the street. 

"I do too. I hope nothing ever happens to us," she says. Suddenly, a car is speeding towards us, and it is too fast for me to react. Sophia pushes me out of the way, and I hit the ground. When I get up, Sophia is lying on the road, bleeding heavily. 

"Sophia! No!" I yell. The car door opens, and Roman gets out. 

"If I can't have her, nobody can! Say goodbye to Sophia, Ray!" he yells, and starts to laugh evilly. 

"No, no, no, no, no," I say. I shoot out of my bed. It is dark, and the softness of the sheets under me tells me I'm in bed right now. Cold air nips at my skin, and I pull the sheets tighter over me. 

"Just a dream," I tell myself.

I flop back on my pillow like a fish and am about to go to sleep when I hear heavy breathing from the bunk above me. It sounds like crying. Sophia is sleeping above me. 

"Sophia? Are you okay?" I ask. The crying comes to a halt when Sophia hears my voice. 

"I'm okay, Ray. Just had a bad dream," she assures me, like nothing's happening. 

"Do you need anything?" I ask. 

"I'm okay," she says. I think for ten seconds, then an idea popped in my mind. 

"Do you want to sleep in my bed?" I ask. Silence up there for two minutes. 

"Sure," Sophia says. I can hear her getting down from the bed, and I lift the covers a little bit. She then gets into my bed. I can feel her head rest on my chest, and I pull the blanket over us. Somehow, she makes me feel all warm again. I hold her gently in my arms. 

"Merry Christmas, Sophia," I say. 

"Merry Christmas, Ray," she says, and then I fall asleep.

    I don't wake up any more that night. Sophia keeps me in a deep sleep. Being with her brings me comfort in all ways possible. I could never imagine my life without her. She brings me 50% of the joy in my life. That's what keeps me running. 

Throughout the night, I have such good dreams, and that is because Sophia is right by my side. My mother made the right decision in inviting her over. Sophia brought the happiness that I needed. I honestly needed it. After all that has happened lately, Sophia is a huge relief. And I'm so grateful for her.

    Christmas morning finally comes. I always wake up quite peacefully on Christmas morning, but this would be taken to another level. I woke up to the smell of chocolate chip pancakes. My mom always makes them on Christmas morning, and they are the highlight of Christmas. 

When I wake up, Sophia isn't in bed. I can hear voices coming from the kitchen, and I presume that's the sound of her and my mom having a conversation. I get up and brush my teeth, and I look horrible. I look like I spent the night at a bar and had 25 tequila shots. 

But it's fine. I can fix it. When I get to the living room, Sophia is already laying out pancakes. I'll admit this. She looks cute. Her ponytail is messy and loose. But she looks so cute. I love the morning look. Once Sophia puts down the pancakes, she looks up.

"Morning, Ray," she greets. I smile. 

"Morning, Sophia," I say, and laugh. Sophia looks curious. 

"What's so funny?" she asks. 

"I'm just laughing at how cute you look first thing in the morning," I say. She smiles. 

"You look a lot better than me. Don't worry," she says. I walk over and put my arm around her. 

"No matter what, you will always look beautiful," I say. "You will always be my Ray. The guy who always was hotter than the sun and whose heart was always pure gold," Sophia says. See what I mean when I say that Sophia brings me joy? You get me, right?

My mother comes out of the kitchen. "Morning, Ray. Start eating your pancakes. We all know you love them," my mother says. I sit down and add a little bit of butter to my pancakes. Sophia drizzles her pancakes with syrup. Then, my dad comes in. 

"Morning, Ray. Morning, Sophia," he says, and helps himself to pancakes. 

"I brought back some goodies from Venice. They're in my room," he says. I can tell that Sophia helped my mother with pancakes. They're a bit more thin, and a lot lighter. Sophia's French influence on cuisine has helped her create these delicious crepes. I think I've had one too many when it's time to open gifts.

"Ray, Sophia, come here. We can open gifts," my mother says. My mother, father, Randy, Sophia, and I gather around the Christmas tree. 

"I'll go first," my mother says. She passes out gifts to me, Randy, my dad, and Sophia. 

"Ray, you go first," she says. I open my gift, and inside, there is a new phone shining directly under the light. 

"A new phone? Mom, you're the best!" I say, and hug her. Randy got the new Kanye West album, and my dad got his favorite shirts from Tommy Hilfiger. Sophia got a new dress from my mother, and it's amazing. It's a sleeveless dress that is a perfect shade of turquoise. It accentuates Sophia's figure perfectly. She will look amazing in it.

My dad is next, and he got me a really nice phone case for my new phone, new headphones for Randy, a new watch for my mother, and gourmet Italian treats for Sophia. After Randy is done dealing his gifts, which suck, it's time for me to deal out my gifts. After handing out my gifts to my family, I hand over the box with the bracelet inside. 

"For Sophia. I made this a bit special," I say. Sophia smiles, and opens the box. The first thing she sees are some mint Oreos on top. 

"My favorite! You know me so well!" she says. Once she removes the top layer of Oreos, she gasps. Sophia takes out the bracelet.

"Ray! This-this is beautiful!" she squeals. I scoot in closer to Sophia. 

"Do you like it?" I ask. Sophia looks at me like I'm crazy. 

"Like it? I love it! This is the best Christmas present ever!" Sophia squeals out of pure excitement. She leans in and kisses me on the lips. 

"I knew you would like it, Sophia!" I say. I take the bracelet and fasten it around her wrist, and it looks so much more beautiful on her. The diamond hearts sparkle in the light and illuminate her angelic presence. 

"Sophia, honey, it looks so beautiful! It will go great with your locket!" my father says. Sophia has a hand me down locket from her paternal grandfather. The tradition was that the grandfather was to give the locket to his first granddaughter. Sophia is her grandfather's first granddaughter, so she got the locket. And the bracelet goes nicely with her locket.

"Okay, Sophia, it's your turn," my mother says. Sophia picks up a fairly large box. 

"Ray, this is for you," she says. I open the box, and inside there is a painting. But not just any painting. It's a painting of Sophia and I, and it looks really good. It looks the kind of work artists with decades of experience would make. It is really that good. 

"Sophia! You painted this?" I exclaim, out of pure awe. Sophia blushes a bit. 

"I did. I thought you would like it," she says. I smile. 

"I love it. You have so much talent. I can hang it in my room and never miss you," I say, and kiss her again. 

"Sophia, you are so talented! It will look great in Ray's room!" my mother exclaims. Sophia deals out the rest of the presents, and we spend the rest of the morning together. 

I really think I made the right choice in asking Sophia to celebrate Christmas with us, because, if I'm really being honest, this is one of the best Christmases that I've ever had.

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Awww. This chapter was actually really fun for me to write. I loved writing this chapter. I can be as sappy as I want. Do you think that Sophia's gift was a good one to give to Ray? And did Ray make the right choice in asking Sophia to come for Christmas? Let me know in the comments.

Hi everyone! How are you all? I know Christmas is weeks away, and Halloween is next week, but this gets me into the Christmas vibes. I don't know why. Why do you like Christmas so much? Let me know. Again, I don't celebrate, but if you guys do, then let me know your favorite part. Also, I added some more French in this chapter. Again, (I'm sorry if I'm repetitive) if you are fluent in French and I've made mistakes, I would appreciate it if you would let me know about any mistakes. I hope you guys liked the second part of this chapter!

Please vote/comment/follow/share/message if you like my work! I'll see you all on Sunday with a new chapter of I Never Imagined. Have a fantastic rest of the week!

Love you all,

S.V.T.S