A Frosty Reception

Christmas time had come. Aaron and I were planning on heading to my parents house for Christmas and then back to the cities for New Year's. I was excited, yet nervous about him meeting my parents. I knew my parents would love him, but I still couldn't help but be a little nervous.

We got to my parents house on Christmas Eve. As were were pulling into the driveway my heart stopped. Among the many cars parked in the driveway I saw J.'s car. It had never crossed my mind that he would be there.

J. and I had known each other forever. Our parents were friends and his parents were usually included in the group of people that would come over to my parent's House for Christmas Eve. When Aaron put the car in park, I grabbed his hand and turned towards him.

"Aaron, J. is here. J. and his parents are here," I said to him.

"J. as in your ex J.?", he asked with a not-so-happy tone to his voice.

"Yeah. I completely forgot that him and his parents are always here for my parent's party. I haven't really talked to him lately so I had no idea. I guess I just assumed he wouldn't be here this year."

I told him it would be fine and we grabbed our bags and headed inside. As I was telling him that everything would be fine, I was secretly hoping everything would indeed be fine.

When we walked in my mom ran towards us and enveloped me in a hug. She turned to Aaron and with a big smile on her face said, "And you must be that wonderful young man that has my daughter smiling ear to ear." She hugged him and led us into the living room to introduce him to the rest of the family and friends.

When we walked in the first person I saw was J. He was talking to some people when he saw us walk in. He stopped mid-word. It's funny because as soon as Aaron saw him he seemed to be standing a little taller all of a sudden. Aaron isn't the possessive type, but as soon as he met eyes with J. he put his arm around me and pulled me towards him. It felt good to know he was letting J. know I was his.

We made the rounds with family and friends and everyone seemed to be loving Aaron. He is so good in social situations that it still amazes me. He can talk to anyone about anything. As he was talking to my dad about how he loved the fact that I was such a HUGE football fan, I made my way over to J. He had been standing in a corner with a scowl on his face.

"Hey," I said to him.

"So I see you brought pretty boy over to meet the family," he said with sarcasm in his voice.

"J., this is important to me. Him meeting my family its a big deal. I thought we had gotten over everything. I thought we were going to try and be normal and happy for each other."

I never understood why J. seemed so bothered with Aaron. When J. and I dated it wasn't for very long. He never really treated me as a girlfriend when we were dating, he still treated me as his buddy and nothing more. I knew from friends that the moment I left for London he was back out flirting and picking up girls again. I never really seemed to matter to him as nothing more then a friend. That is until now. Now he seems interested and now he seems hurt by my moving on and being happy.

I told him I didn't want to make a scene and I didn't want things to be awkward. I told him it was nice to see him and and his parents and I hope they have a good Christmas. I excused myself and made my way back to Aaron.

When I reached him, I wrapped my arms around him and joined in the conversation. I enjoyed the rest of the evening, even with the evil looks I was getting from J. and his mother. As I was helping my mom bring out some more food from the kitchen she looked at me and said, "A. he seems wonderful honey. The way he looks at you lets me know he loves you. The smile he gets on his face when you come near him. And the look on your face when you are near him. I am so happy for you honey."

It's was all I needed to hear. After that I did not give J. a second thought. I had fun. Aaron had fun. Meeting my parents went pretty good. The more I see him interact with my family the more I can see myself having him around for every Christmas for the rest of my life.