JOHNNY’S POV:

It was Christmas morning and I was woken up by Jimmy yelling in a mega phone for everyone to wake up. Crazy guy is going to end up waking up the whole neighborhood with that thing. I got up and slipped on my house slippers and walked to the living room. Shannon was already out there with Jimmy and Zacky. Matt and Brian must be sleeping still. Not for much longer though if Jimmy continues with his yelling.

“WAKE UP! Jimmy yelled through the mega phone. “IF YOU’RE NOT UP IN FIVE MINUTES…. I GET YOUR PRESENTS.” Zacky, Shannon and I laughed.

“Johnny you should put on your elf suit and pass out the presents. You can be Santa’s little helper today.” Zacky told me with a laugh.

“Zacky, you can go to hell!” I told him as I flipped him off. I sat on the couch and waited for the rest of the guys to get out here. Shannon came and sat by me and put her head against my arm.

“Johnny you better watch out, Matt might kick your ass for being so close to Shannon.” Zacky told me. Matt walked in the living room rubbing his eyes.

“Who’s ass am I going to kick?” He questioned. Zacky pointed to me.

“I’m to tired to kick anyone’s ass right now!” He said with a bit of a laugh.

“If Brian doesn’t get his ass out here soon I’m going to be really mad!” Jimmy said sitting cross legged in front of the tree.

“Keep your panties on I’m right here.” Brian said walking in the living room and plopping down on the bean bag.

“PRESENT TIME!” Jimmy yelled out.

We spent the next hour tearing through presents and goofing off like usual. Jimmy had a pile of bows stacked on top of his head and Matt had little pieces of wrapping paper stuck all over him. The only two presents left were the secret gift I bought for Shannon, which I’ll give her later when the guys are busy. And the room we redid for her.

“Well… there’s only one thing left to do.” Brian stood up and walked over to Shannon.

“Come on.” He held out his hand to her.

“What? I’m scared!” She said with a laugh.

“You’ll be ok, I promise.” Matt told her and stood up too. She took Brian’s hand and he helped her up.

“You guys aren’t gonna lock me in the basement are you?” She asked and I stood behind her and covered her eyes with my hands. “Johnny…” She put her hands over mine.

“Shhh, you’re ok, I promise, I got you.” I whispered in her ear. She seemed to calm down a bit. Brian led her down the hall to her new room, we all followed behind.

SHANNON’S POV:

I didn’t know what the hell was going on but it was kind of freaking me out. They have never done anything like this before so you can see why I’d be freaked. I held onto Johnny’s hands which were loosely covering my eyes. It made me a little calm when he told me that it was ok and he’s got me. I heard a door open and I hesitated a bit.

“Guys… seriously you’re freaking me out.” I said. The guys kinda laughed.

“Calm down, we’re not bringing you to the basement!” Zacky told me.

“Yeah, if anything we would be bringing you to the attic.” Jimmy said.

“Not funny.” I said as I held Johnny’s hands tighter.

“Alright, are you ready? On three Johnny move your hands away.” Brian said. “One… two… three.” Johnny moved his hands away but I didn’t open my eyes. Johnny kind of laughed and I felt him wrap his arms around my waist.

“Open your eyes.” He told me.

I hesitated at first, afraid of what I would be standing in front of. I know these guys to well, their pranksters and for all I know they could be setting me up for the worse prank ever. I finally opened my eyes. We were standing in their practice room, except it wasn’t their practice room anymore. It was painted a dark purple with one black accent wall with scattered swirls, black furniture and a queen size bed. It looked like something straight from a Tim Burton movie…. they knew my love for all things Burton. I gasped, not knowing what to say. I felt tears welling up in my eyes.

“Does this mean you like it?” Matt asked. I nodded my head, still not able to get words out, the tears started to flow.

“Group hug.” Jimmy said and pulled us all together into one big hug.

“Does this mean we get to keep you?” Jimmy asked. We all laughed a bit.

“I love you guys Thank you so much.” I managed to say through the tears.

“You’re very welcome.” Zacky told me.

“Wait… there’s a shag rug. Is that why you asked me if I wanted one Zacky?” I asked him wiping my eyes and laughing.

“Maybe, maybe not.” He said with a smirk. “My offer still stand for the fore play you know. “
He gave me a wink.

“Thanks.” I said with a laugh. “I’ll keep that one in mind.”

I was going to be living in a house with five guys… five guys in which I truly cared about. The thought of having my own room now and not having to sleep on a blow up mattress on the floor in Matt’s room sounded nice. That gets old pretty quick! The only time I got to sleep in an actual bed was when Matt was to drunk to make it to his room to sleep and passed out on the couch.

The guys left the room and let me look around. I couldn’t believe how much they did in just one day. Now I know why Zacky took me to that winter carnival. There was a framed picture of all of us hanging on one of the walls from when we were teenagers, a faux chandelier with plastic bats hanging from it and a vase filled with multicolored rocks and gems. I laid on my new bed and just took everything in. It was so perfect in every way.

I got up and started to walk towards the living room, but before I got there Johnny stopped me. He motioned towards my room and and put his finger to his lips as if to tell me not to say anything. I didn’t question him at all. He followed me back to my room and shut my door.
“What’s up?” I asked him sitting back down on my bed and folding my legs.

“I wanted to give you something.” He said and sat next to me.

“You’ve already given me so much Johnny.” I said to him.

“Well, this is something more personal.” He said with a smile. He handed me a small square box wrapped in red wrapping paper and a tiny silver bow onto. “Go ahead and open it.” I looked at him and he had a nervous smile.

“You look so nervous.” I said to him.

“Just a little bit.” He said with a laugh.

“A little?” I said.

“Ok, more than a little.” He smiled more. “Open it.” He told me again.

I began to tear away the paper from the tiny box shaped present. Inside was a little black box with a lid, I popped the lid off and inside the box laid a black velvet box, I lifted it out of the other box. I heard Johnny let out a nervous sigh. I looked up at him and smiled.

“Sorry.” He told me. I just smiled more. I carefully opened the velvet box. When I saw what was lying inside I was once again speechless.

JOHNNY’S POV:

She didn’t say anything for a few minutes so I decided to break the silence.

“It’s a Claddagh ring.” I told her.

“It’s beautiful.” She said and looked up at me again. “You didn’t have to.” She said with a smile.

“I know. But you see…” I began and took the box from her and took the ring out. “The Claddagh ring is given as a token of friendship, love, or a marriage. The heart represents love, the hands represent friendship and the crown represents loyalty. If it’s worn on the right ring finger with the heart pointing to the fingertip, the person isn’t attached to anyone. If it's on the same finger but the other way round, with the heart pointing away from the fingertip, it means the person is involved with someone. And when the ring is on the left hand on the wedding ring finger, it means the person is married or engaged.” I told her. She smiled more.

“So, which way do I wear it?” She asked. I took her right hand and put the ring on her finger, with the heart not facing the fingertip. She looked at me as I put the ring on her finger then looked down at her hand when I was finished. She smiled when she noticed that the way it was facing meant that she was taken.

“Well, if you haven’t noticed yet, I like you! I have since we were 13.” I said and her smile grew. “I’m asking you to be with me. But if you don’t want what I want then ok, just turn the ring the other way and we will remain friends.

“Since we were 13?” She asked. I nodded my head and smiled a bit. She moved closer to me and wrapped her arms around my neck. “Thank you so much for the ring. I’ll never take it off.” She said and ran her hands through my hair, well what I had left of it anyways.

“Never?” I asked her. “Not even to turn it the other way?”

“Not even to turn it the other way.” She said with a smile. I couldn’t help but smile back. I wrapped my arms around her waist and brought her closer to me. “You know, Matt might kick my ass now.”

“Shhh, don’t worry about that. I’ll handle him! Just kiss me.” She told me.

I leaned into her as she leaned into me. Just as our lips were about to meet Brian and Jimmy came barging into the room. She quickly backed away. FUCK, these guys always seem to ruin everything lately.