The house was still and silent.  The lights from the Christmas tree danced and dimly lit the living room.  The clock on the mantel sounded that it was two in the morning.   Two 'o clock Christmas morning and Soonyin was asleep on the couch.  Her light snores were drowned out by the sound of the television as the ending credits of “A Christmas Carol” flashed across the screen.

Kip walked into the living room.  He wanted to drop off Soonyin’s gift without confrontation.  The still weren't exactly on speaking terms, and he didn't want to be the one to stir the shitpot, or something.  Last Christmas he had fallen asleep right along side her as she tried to watch every Christmas-themed movie she owned -- Yeah, this was going to be a forgettable Christmas.  Kip turned off the TV and slipped a neatly wrapped gift into Soonyin’s arms.  As he turned to leave he heard a faint voice whisper, "Bastard."

"Pardon?" he asked as he turned around and looked into the face of the still sleeping Soonyin.  He crept a little closer, and she didn't even stir.  "Are you sleeping?" he asked.  "Or did I hit the eggnog a little too hard?"  There was no change in her.  “Okay, I am going to bed now..."  He turned around and once again he heard a little voice whisper, "Bastard."

Kip flung around, and still she was asleep.  "Exactly why am I a bastard?" he asked indigently.

"Because," she began to speak, but her eyes were still closed.  "You're not Santa Claus," Soonyin said, then she opened her eyes and sat up, still clutching the gift. 

"I'm a bastard because I am not old and fat and breaking into peoples houses?" he asked.  He took a seat on the couch next to Soonyin.  If she was in the mood to joke, and acknowledge his presence, he wasn't going to just walk away.

"Are you just getting in?" Soonyin asked as she played with the golden ribbon tied around the gift.

"Huh?  No, no," he answered after a small pause.  His mind was blank and he was trying to think of something to say, and only partially heard what she as asked.  "I've been in since eight."

"Really?  Huh, I didn't know.  You should have watched my movies with me," she absently said.  She was feeling guilty for her behavior over the past week, but it wasn't like Soonyin to just get over it.  She was a Greenly, and the Greenly children were incredibly moody.

"Seeing as we haven't been in the same room for more than thirty seconds without you leaving.  I didn't want to risk it.  That's was you get for ignoring me."

"Fine, you're right, I am sorry," she said over dramatically.  "Can you ever forgive me?"

"Lame!  Would I have gotten you a freakin' present if I hadn't forgiven you?"

"I don't know.  I wouldn't have bought you a damn thing, but I bought it in October," she said with a shrug.  "I actually thought about returning it, but never did."

"You know, that doesn't make me feel better," Kip said with a sort of pained expression on his face.

"Hey!  I didn't return it, so be happy."

"And is said gift invisible?  Because I checked under the tree -- twice.  Ron seems to have gotten me an amp, very cool; Taylor's I believe is a box of breath mints, and Dayvon a box of condoms, and Dreama gave me a five minute phone card; to call someone who cares."

"It's in my room.  I was going to leave it by your door in the morning.  I'll go get it."  She got up from the couch and disappeared up the stairs.

Kip sat on the couch and watched the Christmas lights reflect off the TV.  She was talking to him again, and that somehow made the day feel less worthless in his mind.

Soonyin returned with what was unmistakably a guitar bag slung over her shoulder.  She handed in to Kip and took her seat on the couch again,

"Nice job with the wrapping.  I wonder...  What could this be?" he laughed as he pulled a little green ribbon off the stiff black canvas.

"Shut up!  Do you know how hard it is to find a box to fit a guitar so it can be wrapped?  Just open the damn thing already!"  She watched as he unzipped the case and pulled out the sunburst stained acoustic guitar.  "It's cheep, because I am a maid, but it's yours.  You don't have to ask Ronnie to use one of his..."

"It's great!" Kip said with a broad smile, a genuine smile that he rarely used.  He expertly tuned the guitar, and slid his thumb across each of the six strings.  Satisfied with the sound he began to play bits and pieces of random songs.  "Great sound," he said as he finished playing.  "Thank you," he turned and looked at her.  "It's the best thing I've gotten in years."

"I thought you'd like it.  You're predictable like that," she teased.  She still held his gift, but made no move to open it.  Instead she just smiled at her friend.

"You can open that, it's for you after all," Kip said, all the while he absently strummed his guitar.

Soonyin went about opening the gift in a very precise way, gently folding back each layer of wrapping paper.  "You take the fun out of it if you do it that way," Kip snapped as she continued to slowly unwrap.

"Sometimes you should take your time.  Slow and steady wins the race," she sang.

"Hey, but fast and frantic ain't bad either," he stated as a fact.

Soonyin finished unwrapping the gift. It was thick leather bound book with her initials, S.A.P.G., written on the spine of the book in gold.  "It's a diary," she said with a happy smile.

"Journal, not diary, journal," he corrected.

"Fine, it's a journal...  And it's already been written in?  This is your hand writing!"  Soonyin flipped through what felt like the first twenty pages.

"I wrote in a few memories for you.  So the next time you decide to hate me, you can look back and know that I wasn't always a walking, talking asshole," he said.

"I'd never hate you," she corrected as she began to read her journal.  Kip's tiny scrawl told a tragically funnier version of their past.  She laughed as she read, "Uh, correction, it was your idea to runaway in the fifth grade, and it was also your idea to take a taxi to Orlando with no money."

"No!  It was yours; you said you wanted to go to Disneyworld, and I tried to make that happen," he said innocently.

"Point taken, and I did get to see it.  From the back-seat of my parents car!" Soonyin howled, and she could swear she heard her brother yell "Shut the fuck up!" from his room.  Both Soonyin and Kip began to laugh.  "I'm not sleepy anymore.  Want to watch a movie?" she asked, and Kip nodded.  "Okay which one? “A Christmas Carol”, “It's a Wonderful Life”, “Miracle on 34th Street”, “Scrooged”, or something not Christmas related?"  She got up from the couch and stood by the TV ready to put a movie in.

"It's a Wonderful Life," Kip said, not needing any time to decide.  That was her favorite movie.

Soonyin popped in the video and went back to the couch.  She pulled in a quilt over her as the movie began.  "We need popcorn."

"Yeah, popcorn sounds good."

"Well, go make us some then."

"Make your own damn popcorn.  I'm not the maid, you are," Kip playfully reminded.