Christmas in Seattle

Chapter 2: Another December Evening: Part 2

After walking out of his bedroom from hanging up his towel in his bathroom, Simon walked down the hallway towards the kitchen direction where he saw Natalia watching TV and Jessica gone.

"Taking a break?" He questioned.

"Pretty much. I decided that I do so while Jessica went downstairs to wait for the pizza to arrive." Natalia replied. "But, I thought you were asleep, though."

"I wasn't sleep which I can't when there's so much to do with making travel arrangements back home to Miami for the holidays." Simon told her.

"You're not staying here for the holidays?" She wondered.

"I was considering doing so, but I promised my mom that if I've spent Thanksgiving here with you and Jessica then I'll go home and spend Christmas with the family and you know me, I never break a promise." He explained.

"Sounds like you're going to have quite the trip ahead of you." Natalia said.

"What about you?" Simon inquired. "Are you looking forward heading home for the holidays?"

"I am, which I don't really want to but my older brother, his wife and my niece are coming over Christmas morning as my mom is cooking Christmas dinner."

"Just like my mom, and do you guys also have eggnog along with dinner?" Simon queried.

"Most definitely, my brother and father would literally throw a fit if there's no eggnog like one year, it was a disaster but we all laughed about in the end. Natalia responded.

"Well, I'm hoping that your Christmas is anything but a disaster."

Natalia smiled as she thanked him, continuing their conversation which Natalia felt comfortable with him as they shared more stories from their childhoods when Jessica walked in from waiting downstairs for the pizza as she held the boxes in her arms.

"Pizza has arrived." She told them, placing the pizzas on the kitchen counter.

Both Simon and Natalia got up from the couch and walked over to the kitchen to get some pizza after washing and drying their hands as Jessica told them what type of pizza was in the boxes.

"So, what have you two been up to?" Jessica wondered, giving Natalia an knowing look.

"Nothing much, Natalia and I were talking about traveling home for the holidays." He replied, grabbing some slices of pizza.

"I still can't get the fact that both of my roommates are leaving me, how will I manage?" She claimed, placing some pizza on her plate and then walking over to the dining room table.

"Look on the bright side, you don't have to worry about Simon going all big brother or protective dad mode." Natalia joked, joining Jessica at the table with Simon.

"You two are like my little sisters while we're here so of course, I'm going to go big brother or protective dad mode especially to keep you out of trouble, Jess." He responded, sitting down at the table with them.

"I don't get into trouble, like name a time when I got any of us in trouble."

Simon and Natalia looked at each other as they thought about the time when the three of them went to a*****e in the mall which Jessica got them banned after her attitude made her yell at one of the managers.

"It was that one time where you yelled at one of the managers at the store at the mall." Natalia told her.

"That wasn't me, that was my alter ego who got us banned and besides, I went to apologize to that manager and got us unbanned from that store." Jessica claimed, eating her pizza crust.

Simon chuckled as Natalia just shook her head as the three of them continued eating. After dinner, Jessica went to get ready to take a shower for the night and brush her teeth and to wash her face while Natalia started washing the dishes which was her night to do so as Simon volunteered to help her by placing the rest of the pizza in the refrigerator and then drying the dishes.

"You didn't have to help, I could've managed." She said, looking over at him.

"I know, but you always help me when it's my night to wash the dishes so I'm returning the favor." Simon replied, smiling warmly at her.

"In this case, I really appreciate it." She claimed, smiling back.

Simon started drying the dishes and placing them in the drain board, wondering what his life would be if there was a chance for him and Natalia to be together but was also thinking about Eliana, who he been with for six months and Jake, his now former best friend in her video and what was going on between them. After cleaning up the kitchen and wiping the dining room table down, the two of them walked out of the kitchen as Simon turned the light off.

"So, I almost forgot that I have tomorrow and Friday off from the hospital since it's the holidays but I might be out running some errands which I should be finished by the time you and Jessica get home from work." He mentioned.

"Okay, just let me know." She stated.

The two of them hugged, saying good night to each other as time went by as both of them were tired from their day with Natalia carrying her laptop and phone, walking down the hallway with Simon to their rooms after turning off the lights as the only light was from the bathroom which Jessica was in the shower. In her room, Natalia placed her laptop in her laptop bag after saving the file for her book and powering it down for work and then charged up her phone as she got her phone charger out of the bag, plugging it into the outlet to charge her phone.

"A warm shower and then brush my teeth to call it a night." She said, getting ready to take a shower after Jessica had finished with her shower.

Meanwhile, Simon was in his bathroom brushing his teeth for the night as his phone started vibrating on the sink next to him as he received a text message from Eliana telling him that she was trying to call him and to call her back. Rinsing and wiping his mouth clean, he unlocked his phone and went to her contact and called her to find out the reason why she wanted him to call her.