Kyle waddled into the living room with Harry slumped over his back.
“Why are you carrying him?” Nick asked.
“Little kids at the mall keep kicking him in the legs” Kyle said to him, Adam snickered quietly, Kyle turned to look at him he then turned around and dropped Harry on the couch, he groaned in agony, Kyle rolled his eyes.
“Harry!” Howie said coming down the steps, AJ behind him “What did your psycho spawn do to him now?!” he asked.
“Hey, for once I can say with confidence, I had nothing to do with this” Adam said.
“What’s up?” Brian asked as Bradley and Neilson followed behind him.
“Yeah, who did what now?” AJ asked looking at the boys.
“Me, I did something” Nick said proudly.
“You fall in the chimney again?” Adam asked.
“No!” Nick said glaring at him.
“You all said I couldn’t do it, well what do you think of this?” he asked presenting the Christmas tree “I’m proud to present the Backstreet Family Christmas tree” he said.
“Okay just…hang on a sec?” Brian asked “Alright, back it up guys, let’s go” he said pushing the boys away “Stay there” he said “Alright go ahead” he said.
The tree lit up “Well? What do you think?” he asked.
“It actually looks good” AJ said.
“Very nice” Howie said impressed.
“Yeah, good job dad” Neilson said to him.
“Thank you” Nick said, smoke began to billow up from the power strip he held in his hands, sparks then began to fly, he dropped it to the floor and cowered in fear as the tree lights blew completely out. They all stood there in silence, Brian shook his head in irritation.
“Okay now obviously that wasn’t supposed to happen” Nick said "But you saw it, I decorated the tree".
“Alright, Pay up” Adam said holding his palm out everyone reluctantly handed him money “Pleasure doing business with you” he said leaving the room.
“Come on Harry, up you go” Kyle said pulling Harry onto his back once more and carrying him into the kitchen.
“This is my father” Neilson said to Bradley.
“Yeah…trust me, mine’s not any better” Bradley said to him.
“Why are we all not in some sort of therapy?” Neilson asked as he and Bradley left the room.
“So I think it’s safe to say that this whole decorating thing was a bad idea huh?” Brian asked.
“…Maybe” Nick said reluctantly.
“Will you just let me call Chris? She will come over and have everything fixed in no time” Howie asked.
“…Fine” Nick said pouting.
“Guess we better call Ed too to come fix the lights” AJ said.
“Well I can do that” Nick said.
“Like I said, one explosion this year was enough” Brian said.
“Thank you again for doing this Bob, I really appreciate it” Sasha said as Bob took off his Santa beard and hat.
“No problem, I actually enjoy it” he said standing up from his chair.
“Merry Christmas” she said.
“Merry Christmas Miss Miller” he said.
“Hey Bob” Bradley said approaching him, a garment bag slung over his shoulder.
“Oh Bradley, what are you doing here?”
“Turning in my elf costume, free at last” he said.
“Wasn’t that bad was it?” Bob asked him.
“Oh no, no, because now, I have a lot of elf related jokes to look forward to when I go back to school next week” Bradley said.
“Ah…where’s your second in command?” Bob asked.
“Still looking for a present for Nat” he said chuckling “He is obsessed with finding this necklace for her, it’s unbelievable” Bradley said.
“Yeah?” Bob asked.
“I mean on one hand, I can kind of understand where he’s coming from, Nat lost her dad, that was something he gave her, had a lot of sentimental value to it and I think I know how happy she would be if she got it back” Bradley said.
“Good way of looking at it” Bob said.
“Well, I can kind of relate in a way” Bradley said.
“How so?” Bob asked.
“Well I mean when she was little, she was able to have her dad home for Christmas…I wasn’t so lucky” Bradley said.
“Yep, I remember” Bob said.
Bradley looked at him strangely “What?” he asked.
“Your letters were my favorites, you didn’t want toys or video games or any of that stuff…you just wanted to spend Christmas with your dads, which is understandable, every kid should be able to spend Christmas with their parents” he said “I always felt bad about not being able to do that for you guys” he said.
“Wow…you're really into this whole Santa thing huh?” Bradley asked.
“More than you know” Bob said “Merry Christmas Bradley” he said leaving.
“Merry Christmas” Bradley said confused.
“Ta-da!” Kyle said presenting Adam with a few wrapped presents.
“…Am I supposed to know what’s happening?” Adam asked.
“The presents!” Kyle said “I wrapped them, what do you think?” he asked.
“Oh yeah…good job” Adam said.
“Well go ahead, try ‘em out” Kyle said, Adam picked up the one and shook it.
“Wow…I can’t believe it, I’m actually impressed” he said “How sad is that?” he asked leaving the room when Harry came in through the back door.
“Did it work?” Harry asked Kyle.
“Yeah, thanks for wrapping these for me” Kyle said handing him money.
“No problem” Harry said.
“Oh and before I forget, here, early Christmas present” Kyle said handing Harry a gift bag.
“Thanks Kyle” he said smiling “Shin guards!” he said happily.
“Merry Christmas!” Kyle said to him as Harry hugged him.
“Hey” Bradley said coming into the house, a mystified expression on his face.
“Bradley, look what Kyle got me” Harry said.
“Oh yeah, nice” Bradley said.
“I’m going to go try these on” Harry said rushing upstairs.
“You okay?” Kyle asked Bradley.
“Uh…I’m not exactly sure” Bradley said confused when the doorbell rang.
“That’s probably Ed, I got to get to the mall and pick up my last pay check, I’ll see you later” Kyle said leaving.
“Later” Bradley said taking his jacket off.
The doorbell rang once more “Just a sec!” Bradley yelled as he opened it and a man stood there with a tool box, wearing a pair of coveralls.
“Heard you had a problem with some Christmas tree lights?” he asked.
“Yeah in here” Bradley said letting him in “What happened to Ed?” Bradley asked.
“Vacation” he said writing on a clipboard “So how’d this happen?” he asked.
“Well my dumbass ‘uncle’ decided to overload the power strip and blew out all the lights” Bradley said.
“Ah…typical mistake” he said still writing on his clipboard Bradley sighed deeply as he sat on the coffee table glancing at his phone. “Problem?” the man asked crouching down to inspect the tree.
“Oh just your typical idiot best friend problems” Bradley said irritated.
The man chuckled lightly “Yeah I know how that feels” he said “So what’s the problem?” he asked.
“Oh just his girlfriend…and Christmas…” Bradley said.
“Let me guess, he forgot to get her a present and now he’s scrambling trying to find the perfect gift?” he asked.
Bradley looked at him in surprise “You’re good at this” he said.
“Yeah I know that one pretty well…usually works out alright” he said.
“He made me drive all the way to Orange County just to look for a necklace” Bradley said to him.
“Wow…your friend Neilson’s not too bright is he?” he asked.
“Pfft…” Bradley sputtered “…Wait how’d you know his name?” he asked.
“You guys have been in the news a lot this year” he said picking up his clipboard again and writing something down.
“Don’t remind me” Bradley said to him.
“Been one hell of a year for you huh?” he asked.
“Yeah hell is the right word” Bradley said.
“Still, he must like this girl a lot…Are they uh…happy together?” he asked looking behind the tree.
“Yeah for the most part” Bradley said to him.
“Just for the record you and this girl aren’t…?” he asked.
“What? Oh, no!” Bradley said “No, Nat’s more like a sister to me than a girlfriend” he said.
“You sure about that?” the guy asked.
Bradley rolled his eyes “Oh alright fine, we made out once, but that’s it!” he said irritated. “But nothing else is ever going to happen between us, I couldn’t do that to Neilson” he said.
“Wow…you’re a good friend” the repairman said to him.
“He’s been in love with her since sixth grade” Bradley said.
“Long time” he said.
“I guess” Bradley said.
“You know I got a daughter about your age” he said working on the power strip.
“Really” Bradley said.
“Yeah…been awhile since I seen her though” he said.
“Really?” Bradley asked “How long?” he asked.
“’Bout…6..7..years” he said “I drop in on her every now and then…she doesn’t know I’m there though” he said.
“You should visit her…let her know you’re still around” Bradley said.
“Yeah…I don’t want to scare her off or anything” he said “I try to stay close though, that way if she ever really needs me, I’m still there for her” he said.
Bradley nodded “Bradley!” Neilson yelled from the kitchen “Hey I’ll be right back” he said leaving the room “Hey, you find anything?” Bradley asked Neilson.
“Nothing” Neilson said collapsing on a chair “And I think some lady ripped out a chunk of my hair” he said feeling his head. “This sucks I cannot find anything even remotely resembling that necklace Nat’s dad gave to her” Bradley said at the table.
“I’m sorry dude, I know how much you wanted to surprise her” Bradley said setting a plate of cookies on the table “Cookie?” he asked.
Neilson took one and took a bite out of it “Who were you talking to?” he asked.
“Oh! The dude came to look at the Christmas lights” Bradley said as they got up and went into the living room. The tree was lit but the repairman was gone “Hello?” he asked looking around “He’s gone” Bradley said.
“Well at least he fixed the lights” Neilson said walking past the fireplace. “Oh my god” Neilson said seeing a necklace dangling from the mantle. He picked up the pendant letting it rest on his fingertips.
“What?” Bradley asked.
Neilson pulled a picture from his back pocket and held them side by side, he then looked at the back and read the inscription “To my Tiny Dancer love dad” he read “This is…this is Nat’s necklace” he said in awe "Where’d this come from?” he asked opening it, a small melody began to play.
“That sounds like Tiny Dancer” Bradley said.
“Oh my god” Neilson said once again “How’d this get here?” he asked in disbelief “I can’t believe it” he said.
Bradley pulled the picture from his hand “Uh…who’s the guy with Nat?” he asked fearfully.
“That’s her dad” Neilson said.
Bradley looked back at the picture in fright and slumped down on the coffee table.
“What?” Neilson asked “What’s wrong?”
“That’s the dude who came to fix the lights!” Bradley said.
“What? No, Bradley that’s Nat’s dad, he died when she was 10” Neilson said to him.
“Neilson I am telling you that was the guy who was here” Bradley said.
“Bradley…Ed is our electrician guy, remember? Ed? Bald? Kinda fat?” he asked when the doorbell rang. Neilson opened the door to see Ed standing there with his tool box.
“Hey Neilson, I came to fix your Christmas lights” he said cheerfully.
Bradley then pulled out his phone “Mom? Hey, does PTSD give you hallucinations?” he asked.
