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It was Christmas morning and Ashley woke to the smell of waffles and bacon. She sat up stretching and got out of bed. It was a little chilly so she threw on a sweatshirt and her slippers before heading downstairs.

“Good morning!” Denise greeted her with a big smile and a hug. “Merry Christmas.”

“Morning.” Ashley smiled back. “Merry Christmas. Breakfast smells good. Is Alex up yet?”

“Nope. You know that boy would sleep all day if he could.” They both laughed. “Can you go wake him up?”

“No problem.” Ashley grinned. She ran back upstairs to his bedroom and quietly opened the door.

AJ had the covers pulled over his head and she could hear him snoring lightly. She covered her mouth to keep herself from laughing. She grabbed the extra pillow that was lying on the bed and with all her might hit him in the head.

“What the hell?” AJ shot up grabbing his head. Ashley couldn’t contain her laughter any more. “You little brat your gonna get it!” AJ laughed as he grabbed his pillow and swung it at her practically knocking her over.

“Hey! That was hard!” she pouted.

“If you can’t take it then don’t dish it.” AJ chuckled.

“God, what time is it?” he glanced at his clock noticing it was only 9:30 AM.“Please tell me you have good reason for waking me up this early?”

“It’s Christmas morning doofus! Get up mom made breakfast.”

She caught herself right as the words came out of her mouth although AJ hadn’t noticed it. Ashley was beginning to worry herself. That was the second time she had referred to Denise as mom in the past few weeks. It troubled her because the last thing she wanted to do was replace her mother. She shook it off for now wanting to enjoy her Christmas but that’s easier said then done.

“Alright. Come on lets get downstairs and eat some breakfast.” AJ laughed knocking her out of thought as he grabbed her and threw her over his shoulder.

“Alex! Put me down!” she laughed as he traveled down the stairs.

“Morning mom.” He laughed walking into the kitchen. “I found my first present.” He laughed finally putting Ashley down. She lightly punched him in the arm and then took a seat at the kitchen table to enjoy breakfast with Denise and AJ.




The day had passed by pretty fast. They all went out to an early dinner and then returned home to open presents. Ashley had Angel’s party that night and AJ and Denise had a management party to attend.

“Whose ready for presents?” Denise asked as she took a seat.

“Me!” Ashley and AJ said in unison laughing at each other.

“Ok Ashley gets to open one first.” Denise said retrieving one of her presents.

“No fair! Why does she get to go first?” AJ whined.

“Honey you’re going to be 22 years old, the whining isn’t cute any more.” Denise teased him.

“Thanks mom.” He laughed. “C’mon open it already! I wanna go!”

“Big baby!” Ashley stuck her tongue out at him and began unwrapping her present slowly to tease him.

“You’re evil.” He laughed.

“I learned from the best.” She retorted.

They finished opening up all their small gifts and AJ went into the other room to bring in something for Ashley.

“I couldn’t wrap it because it was too hard.” He laughed as he handed her a new guitar case. “I figured you needed a matching one for your guitar and this one was perfect.”

“Oh my god! This is awesome!” she said in awe of the hot pink case.

“Look at the inside of it.” AJ grinned as she unlocked it.

“Wow!” she gasped. The inside was lined in pink fur. “This is the coolest thing ever!” she jumped up and hugged him.

“My gift for you isn’t as cool but I hope you like it. I saved up my money to get it for you.” She smiled as she handed him a wrapped box.

He unwrapped the box and opened up the cover. It was a leopard print cowboy hat and yellow tinted sunglasses. He pulled them out and put them on.

“These are dope.” He looked at himself in the mirror. “This is perfect. I love it.” He pulled her up into a hug.

“You sure you like it?” she asked timidly.

“Yes. Definitely. I love them both. You did a good job.” He teased her.

“I have one more present for you Ashley.” Denise said as she retrieved a big, flat gift from behind the couch.

“What’s that?” Ashley asked curiously.

“Open it and see.”

Ashley began opening it and stared at it in amazement tears filling her eyes. It was a picture of her and her mother from when she was first born. Her mother was holding her close and kissing her forehead. Ashley tried to choke back her tears but she couldn’t.

“I know you’ve been worrying about forgetting your mom, and I thought this would be perfect for you to help you remember her.” Denise informed her.

“It’s perfect.” She said threw her tears. She wiped her eyes and hugged Denise close. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome sweetheart.”

“I don’t know what I would do without the two of you. I love you guys.” She hugged them both closely.

“We love you too hunny.” Denise wiped the tears falling from her eyes.

“Not to ruin the moment but Mom, I have one more present for you.” AJ said as he pulled a card out from the bookshelf and handed it to her. “Open it.”

Denise sat back on the couch and opened the envelope. Inside was a pack of papers. She looked them threw then spoke.

“Alex this is the deed and title to your house in Florida. What’s this about?”

“Well I know I originally said I was looking for a house here in California to stay in when I come here to work, but I really like it out here and most of our work and recording is out here now.” He started.

“What does that mean?” Ashley asked.

“I’ve decided to move to California.” He continued. “I was going to sell the house in Florida but I figured it would be easier to just give it to you since you’re already half moved in there and Ashley has all her stuff there.”

“Wait so you’re just moving to California?” Ashley asked fighting back tears. She didn’t know what she would do with AJ so far away. She was so mad at him for not talking to her about it first.

“Well it’s easier for me to just move out here instead of flying back and forth every other week to record.”

“This is very gracious Alex.” Denise finally spoke up.

“I just want to make sure you guys have the best especially because I’ll be so far away.”

Ashley took a deep breath and blinked back tears. Everything was going so good until now. Why didn’t he care how she felt about this? She knew it was more convenient for him to live in California but she couldn’t stand the thought of him being so far away for good. She would never see him now.

AJ noticed the distressed look on her face.

“It’ll be cool living out here. You can come visit me and see Angel. That’ll be fun right?”

“Yea. Sure.” She faked a smile and looked down at the floor. “I’m gonna bring my stuff upstairs.” She said gathering up as many as her gifts as she could.

“You have to be at Angel’s soon. You should start getting ready.” Denise reminded her. She just nodded and went straight up to her room.



“Why is it that as soon as things start looking good my life takes 10 steps back?” she asked herself out loud angrily.

She wiped the tears that were welling in her eyes and walked into the bathroom. Her face was red, a mixture of crying and being angry with AJ. She splashed some water on her face and walked back into her room. She looked at the picture of her mother.

“Mom, why can’t things ever go right for me? Why did you have to go when I needed you?” she wiped her tears once more sighing to herself. She knew she had to be strong.

She gathered her clothes together and put them in her overnight bag. Denise and Alex wouldn’t be back until late so she was spending the night at Angel’s.

She threw on some clothes and grabbed her dress. Angel said she would help her with her hair so she was going early to get ready there. She double checked her bag and got Angel’s present from her nightstand before she headed on her way hoping that the party would raise her spirits.