Apartments and Condos

It was Christmas. Yes, she had family that lived here, but they celebrated on Christmas Eve. She had the actual day all to herself if she so wished. And she wanted to see if Blaze might want to spend some of the day with her. Even if it was just a few spared minutes. She knew he would probably being spending the day with Sage.

Looking at her cell phone, she sent him a text. 'Merry Christmas! If you don't have your day filled already, could we maybe see each other?' She retyped the last bit of the text several times before settling.

Blaze wrote:Smiling at the message, Blaze typed back a response. Merry Christmas to you too! My day is pretty quite, I'd love to see you. Where would you like to meet?

Flipping his phone closed, Blaze walked back into the house to retrieve the small present that he had gotten for Lyna, just so he wouldn't forget it on his way out.

Her expression brightened when her phone went off with a text message. Even more when Lyna read the contents. She considered for a moment before typing a response.

Anywhere is fine. Several places are closed. Some restaurants are open. After a moment, she sent the text.

Blaze wrote:Leaning against the railing, he waited until he heard the familiar ringtone of Lyna's number. Flipping open the phone quickly, he thought a moment before responding.

How about I come to you? I'll even bring dinner. Glancing at his watch, he figured that one of the stores would still be open - even if it was just for a bit longer. He would wait for her response before asking if there was anything special she wanted.

Lyna opened the text message after hearing the message arrive. She smiled while reading it. Typing, she sent a message back.

That would be nice. Anything vegetarian is fine. She typed out her address before hitting send.

Blaze wrote:Typing out a new message; Blaze couldn't help but smile. Vegetarian it is. See you in a bit. Grabbing a few things out of the fridge, Blaze started towards the door before remembering that he had bought something small for Lyna and it took him only a moment to retrieve it before he headed out the door. "Anthony, tell Sage I'll see her later."

Lyna smiled at his response. Everyone reacted differently when she mentioned being a vegetarian. Glancing around her apartment, she tidied up a few things. The space was neat to begin with, so there was not much to do.

Blaze took one last glance at the address on his phone before he made sure that he was at the right apartment. Juggling the bags, he rang the doorbell and stepped back waiting for Lyna to answer. He hoped that he had gotten something that she liked, both food and the little gift he had purchased on a whim.

Lyna smiled small at hearing the bell ring. Walking over, she opened the door. "Merry Christmas." She stepped back, opening the door wider so he could walk in.

Blaze smiled as she opened the door. Once he stepped inside, adjusted the bags and leaned over to kiss Lyna's cheek. "Merry Christmas to you too."

Looking around he set the bags on the counter, unpacking a few things. "I hope you don't mind veggie lasagna. I stole Sage's recipe." Taking the last box out of the bag, he finally looked up at Lyna, and smiled. "Hi..."

Lyna could not help the small blush that occurred as a result of his kiss. Thankfully for her, the rush of color faded before he looked back to her. "I love veggie lasagna. Thank you."

"Thank you for calling me. I wasn't sure if you were around or not." Once he folded the bag, Blaze slid his hand in his pocket and pulled out a small box and handed it to Lyna. "Merry Christmas... I hope you don't mind..."

"My parents have always celebrated on Christmas Eve, so I've had today all to myself." Lyna blushed a soft pink hue before smiling. She had not expected him to give her anything.

She took the small box, opening it. "I love it." She raised her head to look at him. "Would you help me put it on?"

"Sage and I got our celebrating down this morning. Her and Anthony were going to hang out together and have a movie marathon. Sorry, I can only watch that Hobbit trilogy movie so many times..." He chuckled at his statement.

He noticed the soft blush on her face, and smiled. "I'm glad you like it. I was trying to find something to match you, and of course I will help you put it on. Taking the box from her hand, Blaze pulled the bracelet from the box.

Lightly picking up her hand, Blaze placed the bracelet around her wrist and clasped it closed. "It looks perfect." He rubbed his thumb over the bracelet, turning it gently before letting go of her hand.

"So, did you have a nice time with your parents?"

Lyna laughed as well. She wouldn't be able to sit through several hours of those three movies either. When Blaze placed the bracelet around her wrist, she smiled looking at it then up at him. "Thank you."

"I did. It was fun. My parents and I get along pretty well."

"You're welcome." Blaze returned her smile then went about pulling a few things out of the bag. There were a few appetizers and snacks, he wasn't sure exactly what to get, so he got a bit of this and that.

"I get along with my mom better since I moved out here..." He snickered before continuing. "It seems I work better with the parental unit when she lives across the country."

"What all did you bring?" Lyna could not help asking, as she watched him pull stuff out of the bag.

She smiled. "I guess it would work better if your mom can't hover. Mine always told me they wanted me to 'fly free'."

She picked up a small box off the table. "I don't know enough about you to pick out a good Christmas gift, but it felt wrong not to get you something." She hesitated before holding out the box.



She had a suspicion that something more sleek would better suit him, but somehow the leather was her choice. It felt more personal than some generic silver watch.

"I got some veggie's and pasta and..." he pulled the last two items out of the bag "...some apple pie and vanilla ice cream."

He smiled crookedly before continuing. "Yeah, even though my mom is a hippie chick, she likes her kids close. I rather like living three thousand miles away."

Taking the box from her hand, Blaze opened it up and was pleasantly surprised. "You really didn't have to get me anything... and thank you." He took the watch out and placed it on his wrist and nodded. "Cool." Before he realized what he was doing, Blaze enveloped Lyna in a hug and kissed her forehead.

He let her go then brushed his fingers lightly over her cheek. "Thank you, it's great!" He looked down to the watch and adjusted it slightly. He liked the leather band, it fit his sporty nature. His smile grew as he looked back up to her.

"It sounds good. Smells delicious too." Lyna smiled before moving over to put the ice cream in the freezer for now.

She breathed a small sigh of relief that Blaze liked her gift. When he hugged her, she returned his hug then did her best not to blush from his actions. "I'm glad you like it."

"I have just a few finishing touches to put on the lasagna and then we can pop it in the oven for a bit."

Once he released her from the hug, he grinned. "Of course I like it. Most of all, you gave it to me." Blaze moved over to the kitchen with the last of the ingredients for dinner. "Do you have a small pan that I could use? I need to melt some of the cheese so I can drizzle it over the top."

Lyna smiled when he said he liked the watch. She nodded at his question about a pan. "Yes, below the cabinet." As the words were spoken, she moved to get the pan.

Blaze nodded as he watched Lyna get the pan. Once she handed it to him, he placed it on the counter and layered the ingredients. "I had to cheat with some of the ingredients, but it should turn out fine." While he was at the store, he couldn't find fresh broccoli and zucchini, so he bought frozen broccoli and doubled up on the mushrooms.

It took him only a few minutes to finish up and then he smiled to Lyna. "Just needs to go in the oven for a bit and we should be ready."

"Doesn't sound like cheating will be bad this time." Lyna smiled up at Blaze.

He grinned. "Let's just keep the frozen veggie thing our little secret." He popped the pan in the oven and left the loaf of garlic bread on the counter - he would heat that up later.

"So what's new?" Blaze smiled as he leaned against the counter.

"Deal." Lyna waited while he finished with the food preparation for now. She considered his question for a moment. "Not a lot. Just the usual stuff."

"Same here really." Blaze crossed his arms in front of him and shrugged a bit. "Racing, keeping Anthony in line, helping Sage at the shop. You know, evidently there was some weird shake up at the shop while Sage and I were out of town. Scared the crap right outta Bryn."

He wasn't sure how much of the 'otherworld' Lyna knew of, so he would tap dance around the specifics if needed. He didn't want to lie to her, but he also didn't want to freak her out too much.

Lyna could not help her laugh at Blaze keeping Anthony in line. Of course, Anthony was nice enough, but the thought of a human telling a vampire what to do, made her smile. Maybe it worked that way outside of the vampire/freshie interaction.

"I hope Bryn is okay, at least."