Quite

Christmas was her favorite holiday. She always said it was the joy of it all: gifts, decorations, lights, holiday cheer, family, friends, and the general atmosphere of such a special time of year. She especially loved the snow. Ah yes, twas always the snow that made Christmas complete. She loved nothing more than waking up early Christmas morning, looking out the window and seeing a flurry of white covering the ground in its entirety. It was a sight that would always make her smile and feel warm inside. And whenever she would smile, I would smile, too, and be enveloped by a feeling of warmth, seeing her love for the beauty of the season. She always said that there was something special about the season, something she couldn't explain, but knew was present in all our lives.

And she would say that it was the spirit of the season that brought us together. Perhaps it truly was fate's doing that guided us together, both out Christmas shopping, as ironic as it may seem. Two weeks before Christmas and I had yet to commence the task known as holiday shopping. I was indeed a procrastinator at heart, despite what people may say about me. Yes, two weeks before Christmas and I had yet to form even a mental list of gifts, let alone buy a single one. And being packed in a department store with at least two hundred other shoppers, grabbing all the merchandise in sight, was definitely not the way I wanted to spend a Saturday morning. Two hundred shoppers and I was the sole one, standing in the middle of it all, with the most confused and perplexed look on my face. No wonder Carla spotted me and my dumbfounded daze; in fact, I wouldn't be surprised if she saw it from the other end of the store. I still remember that day, as if it was etched in my memory for eternity.

"Hey," she said, her voice an angel's melody in my ears. I focused my attention onto her when she spoke and saw the most beautiful person alive. I must confess that it was not her angelic face that first attracted me to her, nor was it her slight but attractive smile, her shimmering shoulder length brown hair, her five and a half foot slim frame, the slight curves of her hips, or even her plentiful, though not overly ample chest. And it would not be her playful, adventurous personality, her somewhat unorthodox humor, her never ceasing creativity, or that certain charm and dignity, that I would quickly learn about her, either. Nay, what I can say ignited the first spark of love were her eyes. Those sparkling, green eyes with such a warm, mysterious stare, would something I would always think of first at the mention of her name.

"You look lost," she said, smiling up at me, looking at me with those eyes.

Such a perfect creature she is, pitying a person like me. Why else would anyone, for that matter, approach someone that was obviously out of place, other than out of pity? But I'd take pity any day when coming from someone like Carla. Thoughts raced through my head, trying desperately to think of a suave response, but all that I could come up with?

"Yeah," was the brilliant response, trailing off at the end. At least she laughed at that remark, but on the other hand she loved to laugh, and laughed at everything that was remotely funny. If nothing else, her laughter meant she was happy, and her love to laugh made it that much easier for me to cheer her up. She looked as if she were no older than I at twenty-two, but something made it seem as if she were full of innocence, but wise beyond her years.

I did finish most of my shopping that day, but not without the help of Carla, who, it seemed, had the uncanny ability to navigate through the string of shoppers and managed to locate almost everything you could think of with relative ease. What would have taken me until closing time with only half of the list complete, I finished...no...we finished in time for lunch. In the mere hours that I had known her, I knew that I never wanted to lose her.

"See, shopping isn't all that hard," she playfully gloated when we had sat down to some lunch, my treat of course. After all, it was the least that I could do for all she had down.

"Maybe it comes easy for you, but I don't plan to do this for another year," I had replied.

"Gonna wait last minute again?" she asked, to which I nodded. "Haven't you learned anything from last minute shopping?"

"Hey, if all else fails, I just might give you a call to come down to help me with all this. After all, it seems that you absolutely adore shopping."

"You've known me four hours and already you've formed an opinion about me?" she asked.

"Well, it does seem like you enjoy shopping," I said.

"Yeah, that may be true, but it's not like my life revolves around shopping," she retorted, with a smile. Yes, only she could pull something like that off without any mixed signals of what it is she meant.

"My shopping is done for the most part," I said, tossing the leftovers into a garbage can, "but what about you? Don't you need to do some shopping. After all, isn't that why you came to the mall, because I know that you didn't plan on helping out some pathetically lost person like myself."

"Actually, I finished my shopping over the last two weeks. I'm just here for some last minute window shopping, seeing if there's anything that I may buy for myself for a change."

"And you don't mind the crowds?" I had asked. And all she did was smile and take a sip of her coffee.

We had stayed at the mall for another couple hours or so, doing nothing but wandering through the departments. I cannot honestly remember anything that we had talked about, or remember much about that afternoon, except that I was in awe of her beauty and I did get her number as we parted ways that afternoon, the sun already sinking in the sky as we drove off in opposite directions.

I had called that very night. Yes, that may have been desperate, but I was never good at playing it cool. We had our first date a week later and for a week, I could do nothing but think about what I was going to have planned for our date. Honestly, I drew a total blank and could not come up with anything better than a dinner and a movie. Or if you wanted to get technical with it, you could say that I came up with brilliant ideas for the perfect first date, but a dinner and a movie was the only thing that could fit into my budget...barely. All complications aside, though, it was a relatively smooth date. Nothing went terribly wrong, though it was semi-embarrassing when I came three dollars and thirty-five cents short for snacks at the concession stand. What has become of the world when a pack of Kit-Kats costs me two dollars and fifty cents? It became a joke of ours when she would randomly remind me of the three thirty-five that I never did pay back.

And so when the night ended, I had learned much more about her and held such a high level of respect and admiration for her in my heart. And when we stood at her doorstep that night and said our good-nights, it was the most awkward moment of my life. I knew not what to say or to do and it became an opportunity for Carla to laugh, though at my expense, to which I did not mind too much. At least it broke the awkward tension between us. In the end, we parted ways on good terms, me knowing a great deal more about this person whose life I wanted to be a part of, and her with a last minute good-night peck on the cheek.

Knowing and dating each other for two weeks, I felt obliged to go shopping once again, for her Christmas gift. Unfortunately, I did not know her well enough to pick out a gift for her when it seemed as if she deserved it all. So I had to settle for a best-seller novel that I gave her as well as chocolates and roses that were delivered to her home first thing in the morning. And I had thought roses were expensive around Valentine's Day. She had given me a gift certificate to be used online, saying that I "would never have to walk into another mall again." What I remember most of that first Christmas of ours was how it snowed. It was then that I learned of her love for the season. Christmas afternoon, we strolled down the shoveled paths in the park, empty of all people. It was still snowing lightly and we were wrapped up tightly in layer of sweaters, gloves, and hats. I remember her holding on to my arm as we walked with a firm grip, smiling without cease as we strolled onward.

That next year together, we did our Christmas shopping together. She had to literally drag me out of my apartment to do some shopping. "I don't want you to wait until last minute," was her response to my refusal to budge. We did not finish all of our shopping at once, but eventually over the course of about a month, we did finish our holiday shopping. Part of me was too lazy to consider shopping before Thanksgiving was even finished, but another part of me was relieved that the stress that was no longer there at last minute shopping.

After saving every penny for a year, I felt that I could get Carla something that would show my love to her, even if she deserved much more. I cannot even begin to describe the joy on her face as she opened up the little silver box and lifted up the necklace with the crystal pendant of a snowflake. Her eyes glittered with awe as she admired the gift. The pendant glittered and reflected the colors of the Christmas tree lights as I helped clasp the necklace around her neck. That was an especially white Christmas, if I remember correctly. I recall that it snowed heavily during that week of the Christmas holiday and up to the New Year celebration. In fact, that was why Carla's parents could not make their visit on Christmas Eve, but the day after Christmas. As I recollect, she was indeed depressed that her parents wouldn't be able to arrive that day, or even on Christmas, but sometime after, which in all reality was indeed too late for the planned celebration; much of the Christmas dinner that she hopefully prepared was stored away, save some for ourselves, that we ate in silence. All the while I was comforting her disappointment, not at the weather, no never the snow, but that they hadn't decided to come a week earlier as planned and be there for Christmas. But by the time dinner and wine was finished, and she had reluctantly opened her gift from me, refusing to open any from other friends without her family nearby, her sorrow was diminished and replaced by an abundance of joy that even the blind and deaf could now miss.

"Now its time for your present," she had said, smiling broadly. She got up off the couch and started walking up the stairs. I quickly followed her up the stairs and into her bedroom.

"Here's your gift," she said, fanning her arms outwards as if she were presenting something.

"Where?" I asked, walking up to her. A slight nudge of her head and I looked upwards. Hanging from the ceiling was a mistletoe with a red bow at the end and small bells. Call me what you want, but I did not have a clue what she meant. Sure, we've kissed before; that was nothing new, but the furthest we had gotten was indeed kissing. When her hands wrapped around my neck and her lips pressed against mine, I could do nothing but sink into the loving, tender kiss that she gave me.

"Merry Christmas Steve," she whispered as our lips parted, "and I love you..."

"I love you too, Carla," I replied, my arms circling around her waist.

And with that we kissed again, with the same tenderness, but with much more passion as our tongues touched and mingled. Carla was always the adventurous one and was always the first to speak her mind or make a suggestion. When her hand grabbed the bottom of my sweater and lifted it up to my arms, I knew what was going to happen and feelings of anticipation and also of self-consciousness filled my senses. She pulled the sweater and the shirt underneath over my head and tossed it onto a chair. I reached out for her own sweater as her hands were already beginning to unbutton my jeans. Our lips never parted except to pull her sweater over her head, where our lips immediately sought each other, pressing our bodies closer together. I felt the soft fabric of her bra against my chest as my pants and boxers dropped.

Carla slowly moved backwards towards the bed, bent back to lie on the thick, warm covers. Kicking off my shoes and socks, she quickly undid the buttons of her jeans and pulled them off, tossing them to the floor. Climbing onto the bed, I crawled on top of her body that was only clad in a red bra and panties. I kissed her mouth once again and began trailing my kissed along her neck and above her breasts. Her skin shivered as my lips touched the cool skin of her chest. A slight giggle escaped her lips as my lips closed around her bra covered nipple, sucking lightly. Her hands nimbly undid the clasp of her bra in the front and I gently pushed the cups away from her body. I admired her breasts for what seemed like an eternity. The soft mounds of her breasts were firm and smooth. I began to kiss her mounds of flesh before closing my lips around on of her erect, pink nipples.

Her hands came to the back of my head as I licked and flicked the nipples with my tongue, alternating from one to the other. My hands massaged her breasts as I kissed along her stomach and through the fabric of her panties. I hooked my thumbs around the waistband of the panties as she raised her legs, bending them for me to pull the panties off, tossing them to the foot of the bed. The aroma of her pussy filled my nose as I admired the bald, puffy lips, the pink skin folding above her clit, and the sparse light brown hair directly above the top of her slit. I planted a kiss onto the lips of her pussy and ran my tongue up and down her slit, wrapping my lips around the skin covering her erect clit. Carla's hands were still hold him my head as her breathing became loader, quietly panting as I rubbed her nipples with my fingers.

I did not have to try too hard to push my tongue into her pussy as my mouth kissed and sucked on the outer lips. Long full swipes within her moist slit caused her to shudder with joy as she pushed me closer between her legs. My tongue probed the inner walls of her vagina, coming up to flick on her tiny clit for a few swipes, though not enough to trigger an orgasm. I felt her fingers playing with my hair as I brought one hand down from her breasts and caressed the folds of her pussy while I continued to lick her. When my finger slipped inside of her, I felt it her inner walls clamping around it, making it slick with her juices. Slowly I pushed my finger in and out of her pink, glistening hole as my lips finally clamped around her aroused clit and bath it with my tongue. Both my hands quickly moved over to her hips and grabbed hold of her waist as she bucked against my face. She arched her back, high into the air, as her orgasm hit her. Her pussy was mashed into my face as she came, letting out a high-pitched squeal of delight as her juices flowed freely in and around my mouth. As her back slowly lowered down onto the bed, her grip of the bed covers loosed as she calmed down from her orgasm.

Her arms grabbed my shoulders and weakly tried to pull me up, to which I moved up above the panting and sweating Carla, whose eyes were still shut from her moment in bliss. Her hand wrapped around the back of my neck and softly pushed my head downwards where we kissed. Her tongue lashed against my own as well as around my lips, slickly cleaning my lips of her juices. Her mouth expanded into a smile as we kissed, whether from the orgasm or that she was tasting herself on my lips, I don't know. One hand remained on her face, stroking her soft cheek while the other was still at the waist, caressing the soft curves of her body as her leg involuntarily wrapped around on of my own.

"What?" I whispered as she couldn't hold back her smile anymore, softly chuckling.

"Nothing," she whispered back, wrapping an arm around my back.

"Come on, tell me," I said back, softly, breaking out in a grin of my own.

"Well, its just that...ooh, that's nice," she sighed with content as I began to kiss her neck, sending shivers that I could feel down her body.

"What is it?" I reiterated as I continued to plant soft kisses on her smooth skin.

"I never thought you'd be this good," she said, giggling quietly.

"Am I suppose to take that as a compliment?" I asked, lifting myself up, my face hovering inches above hers. Her eyes slowly opened for the first time after her orgasm and I saw the love that was in those eyes staring right back at me.

"Of course you are, silly," she said, reaching down with one hand and grabbing my erect cock. Suddenly, something struck me as she stroked her hand up and down my shaft, pulling the skin every which way.

"Carla, I don't have any-," I started, but she cut me off by raising her head and planting a full kiss on my lips.

"Shhh..." she whispered as she rolled over in the bed, causing me to drop down onto my side as she leaned half-off the bed and reached for the night stand drawer.

A few seconds, a quickly ripped package, and a skillful maneuver later, I was on my back, my erect cock pointing upwards, with a condom deftly rolled over it. Carla squatted around my waist, bent at the knees with her hands on my chest. The cocky and stupefied look on my face told her exactly what I was wondering.

"I just picked it up somewhere," she said with an amused smirk upon her face.

My hands ran up her thighs and gently stopped around her waist as she dropped on hand to grasp my cock, stroking it and spreading the lubrication up and down my cock. Gently lowering herself, she stopped as the tip of my cock touched her outer lips of her pussy. She began running my cock up and down her slit, slowly moving her hips in pleasure as she bent over to kiss me. I felt my cock enter her pussy and the walls grasp onto my invading member as she sank downwards onto my cock. After a few inches, she lifted herself up a bit and pushed back down, allowing more of myself into her. It wasn't long before she was completely sitting atop of me, my prick buried deep within her.

I think we both gasped as she slowly lifted herself up, feeling her juices, still copious from her orgasm mere minutes ago, lubricating my cock, as well as the feeling of her inner muscles squeezing around my shaft as she pushed herself slowly back down onto my cock. After a few more cautious strokes into her, she began to pick up pace and slid up and down my cock with relative ease, the strokes themselves, gradually decreasing with her speed until she was pulling only an inch or two out before slamming herself back down as fast as she could. Her head was thrown back, panting and moaning as I began to thrust my hips up to meet hers.

"Oh God," I moaned as I felt myself push deeper into her tight, wet hole.

"Oh, harder. Fuck me deeper," she wailed, bouncing uncontrollably on my cock, her left hand traveling down to where our bodies met. Her hand cupped her twat, fingers spread around my cock, furiously rubbing the top of her slit, briefly inserting a finger in along with my cock. I could do nothing but look down at where our genitals clashed and gape in astonishment.

One hand went up to her breasts and squeezed the firm flesh and pinched the erect, pink nipples as my other rubbed against her pussy, feeling for her clit that occasionally brushed up against my pumping cock. We had been going at it for barely fifteen minutes before she suddenly arched back, which I quickly learned was her involuntary signal for an orgasm, but I had yet prepared for it when she began to spasm around my cock, moaning loudly and shaking. Her arms weakened on my chest and collapsed on top of me, her body still jerking from her orgasm. Her head rested on my shoulder as she recovered, but as if nothing happened at all, her body began to rock against mine again, my cock once again going back to work.