The Girl from the Ouachita Ch. 02

They couldn't buy any TCU gear because the bookstore was closed until the 27^th, but the "World Famous Dutch's Hamburgers" was open, so they ate burgers and onion rings with shakes, and then walked it off by touring the campus and football stadium on foot. The football team was in Phoenix for the Cheezit Bowl versus U Cal on the 26^th and the students were home for the holidays, so they snuck into the stadium through a gate 'secured' by a wrapped chain and unlocked lock.

Amon G. Carter Stadium was nice and compact, but tiny compared to sprawling Neyland Stadium, where Chris' Volunteers played. It had recently been renovated and enlarged, and plans were posted for the addition of an upper deck and luxury boxes on the east side. Chris didn't say anything, but he was well aware of the new construction, which would begin in early January: it was one of his two new projects. The other was a new baseball stadium for the Texas Rangers. Chris wasn't wild about the plans for that one, but he was excited by the scope.

Back at the apartment, they brought the gifts from the RV inside, and then Chris followed Dan to a nearby RV park where he had reservations. After checking in and setting up, they returned to the apartment to find the gifts had been nicely arranged around the tree by the ladies, Christmas carols were playing, and cookies 'for Santa' were baking. The once-drab apartment looked and smelled homey.

They were invited to the Becks' for a 'small Christmas Eve party', so the ladies were dressed spectacularly in their finest 'casual wear'. The men donned boots and jeans with sweaters and sports coats, and, although they were underdressed compared to the women, drew whistles of appreciation.

The party was also pretty spectacular, filled as it was with pretty people of substantial means who were there to see and be seen. There was quite a bit of strutting and one-upping, but neither the Alexanders nor their guest were intimidated, and made favorable impressions on all but the snobbiest and/or those most envious of their attractiveness.

Jo, Diane, and Donna adeptly dodged and dislodged wandering hands and adroitly deflected pickup lines, while Chris found that young women, MILFs, and cougars were quite handsy and plain spoken about their interest in getting to know him better. Dan and Debora also drew interest when separated, but their wedding bands were effective deterrents even for those getting shit-face drunk on Christmas Eve.

They thanked their hosts at midnight, and returned to the apartment to open just one gift each. Dianne, Donna, and Debora all picked large boxes with a certain wrapping; Jo had a box like that too, but she had chosen a small box 'from Santa' that was wrapped in silver. The others convinced her to change "so we can all look alike tomorrow", and they opened their gifts at the same time; they contained sweaters and leather skirts with matching boots. Dan and Chris also had matching boxes with new boots in them, and hand-tooled leather belts.

It was late and the excitement died off rather quickly. When the yawning began, they exchanged hugs and kisses and the Alexanders took the Jeep to the RV park. Jo and Chris waved at them as they drove off, looked at each other, mumbled 'goodnight' rather uncomfortably, and went to their rooms.

In spite of what appeared to be increasing closeness when together with his family, there was a sense of awkwardness between the roommates when they were alone in the apartment that hadn't been there since the first night.

****

As he had warned, his family was back at 8:30. Chris, wearing his new boots and belt, had coffee ready, an oven full of biscuits, a pan of grits bubbling, and a skillet of sausage gravy ready when they arrived. After hugs and kisses, the sisters went to get their new best friend, whose emergence in her new set took Chris' breath away, and his parents' too.

The V-neck red sweater with wavy golden hair spilling over it was indeed breathtaking, and the mid-thigh golden skirt and knee-high boots only exacerbated Chris' reaction, which Jo, his sisters, and his mother caught. Jo blushed; mom smiled; the sisters chuckled. Chris and his dad continued staring, until Mom thanked him for making breakfast and insisted they eat.

Following a quick cleanup, Chris put the huge ham in the oven, while they arranged themselves around the living room to receive their gifts. Chris played Santa, stacking gifts around each until all were distributed.

The family rule was that gifts be opened in rotation so everyone could share in the excitement and joy each gift brought to the receiver.

They began with the youngest, Donna, and ended each round with the oldest, Dan. Jo was holding the silver-wrapped gift from Santa, but Chris teasingly explained that gifts from Santa came last, so she reluctantly put it back and chose another. For the ladies, clothing, expensive perfume, and fancy, decorative athletic shoes and socks (from Jo) reigned.

The men received aftershave and nice shirts, but their 'big gifts' were matching side-by-side shotguns made in Italy by the Rizzini family. Jo's gift to Chris was something he had been talking about needing: a new pair of cross-trainers. Her gift to his dad was a camouflage field jacket for his bird-hunting obsession, and he made an extra-big fuss about how much he liked and appreciated it. Jo beamed.

Hugs and kisses had been exchanged between the receiver and giver after each gift was opened, and Chris got a soft kiss on his cheek after Jo opened his gift of a new iPhone, with a note in the box that said service was provided under his plan. The soft kiss was accompanied by watery eyes and sniffles, but she kept her cool and told Diane it was her turn.

After all the other gifts had been exchanged, only the gifts from Santa remained. Donna's box contained diamond stud earrings with oversized diamonds, which caused her to whoop. "Santa knew I just got my ears pierced!" She hopped up, ran over to Chris, hugged him, and said, "Tell Santa I love him!" Chris hugged her back and promised he would.

Jo found an Akoya White Pearl necklace and earrings in her box, but her reaction was quite different: she froze in place, looking troubled. After a moment, she looked quickly from person to person and saw were all looking at Chris. He sat there innocently, and asked what she got.

She held up the necklace and dangling earrings, and then burst out in sobs. She jumped up and ran into her room crying, followed quickly by Donna and Dianne. His mom shook her head while smiling at him, and followed the girls.

Dan turned to him with a smile of his own. "Grand gesture, son. Perhaps a bit too grand? She can't reciprocate, you know."

Chris shrugged and looked puzzled. "Santa had a very good year, financially; he gave that to her because she only has cheap costume jewelry, and she's had a tough year -- well, life.

"I guess he wanted her to know she's on his 'nice' list."

"You are a very good and generous man, and I'm very proud of you; so are your mom and sisters. Your heart is in the right place, but your hand is a bit heavy on the reigns sometimes. She's not something broken that you can fix or restore, you know. And if you must try, understand that you can't fix her life situation in a week or two. You need to go slow and keep a light hand.

"She's a proud and defiant girl who has made her own way through a morass, and she fully intends to make her own future. They will be out in a few minutes; ask her to show you her gift, and act surprised. She'll know, but that provides her a little cover. Like I said, she's a proud girl."

They returned in less than five minutes, and Chris followed his father's instructions. She still looked upset, but most of the angst left Jo's pretty face when he asked if her could fasten the necklace around her neck. She told him to let her put the earrings on first. The pearl earrings dangling in the mass of golden hair were enticing, but, once his shaking hands got it clasped, the pearl necklace lying between the swelling cleavage was enchanting, beguiling, and breathtaking!

He walked around and stood in front of her, admired what he saw, and said, "Very nice; Santa must have you at the top of his 'nice' list!" She bit her bottom lip gently, and replied, "Thank you for the compliment. Santa is overly generous to a girl to a poor girl from the Ouachita."

They exchanged smiles at their inside joke, and he returned to his seat.

"Your turn, Diane."

Santa gave Diane a gold tennis bracelet with tokens and charms representing her sorority, other Vanderbilt organizations, and her seat in the student government. She squealed, hugged Chris, looked up, and loudly cried, "Thank you, Santa! You're the greatest!"

Debora got a diamond encrusted watch from Santa to replace the one her daddy gave her for Christmas thirty years ago. It had stopped working and the jeweler said couldn't be repaired. With tears in her eyes, she climbed on her son's lap, took his face in her hands, kissed his lips, his nose, and his forehead: "Tell Santa that I love him very much, and that he's the sweetest guy in the whole world!"

Santa had left one more gift: a sports watch for Dan that, in addition to a dozen other functions, kept his heart rate, blood pressure, exercise, and sleep records. He didn't sit on Chris' lap, but Dan pulled him up and gave him a big hug, for Santa.

****

The table was formally set and covered with food fresh from the oven that Chris and Jo had pre-prepared ahead of time: green bean casserole, broccoli with cheese, sweet potato pie with brown sugar glaze, the gigantic ham, and loaves of fresh bread from a nearby bakery. The pecan pies were also from the bakery, but the brownies were homemade by Jo.

Their gluttony called for a long walk along the river after cleanup. When they returned, they carried out their Christmas tradition by streaming "It's A Wonderful Life".

They were still in a stupor from overeating, so Diane began looking through his DVD collection and found a box set of Grace Kelly movies: To Catch a Thief, Rear Window, and The Country Girl.

"So you still have that Grace Kelly obsession, I see," she teased. "Which one shall we watch?"

"To Catch a Thief" won handily.

Midway through, Dianne paused the film on a picture of Grace Kelly with windblown hair; she turned, looked at Jo with a curious frown, and murmured, "Wow! That's uncanny! You could be her little sister!"

Jo looked surprised; she barely knew of Grace Kelly, and no one had ever drawn that comparison before. Oh, guys had compared her to some movie star or pop singer from time to time while trying to pick her up or get a date, but never Grace Kelly. She doubted anyone she grew up with knew who that was anyway.

Everyone looked at Jo, looked back at the screen, and then back at Jo. "The Golden Ratio" Chris proposed. One by one, the others nodded.

Jo said, "I have no idea what you're talking about. Can we just watch the movie; I'm getting kind of freaked out, here!"

They did, without further comment, but Jo began to notice times when the female lead did look a little like her.

When it ended, Jo asked, "So Chris has an obsession with her? Grace Kelly?"

"Not really an obsession," Debora said with a smile, "but Dan and I have always been fans of Alfred Hitchcock. The girls were young and Chris was about twelve, and we sat down to watch this movie. About halfway through, Chris wanted to know about 'the pretty blonde lady'.

"We told them all about 'The Princess of Monaco', including how she died so young in a car wreck. They were all captivated, but she kind of became Chris' ideal of beauty, and he would often unfavorably compare celebrities of his generation to her.

"The Golden Ratio refers to the ratio of the parts of her face, which a man named Marquardt claimed defined feminine beauty mathematically. He even created a 'mask' of sorts that supposedly fits her face perfectly. Chris thinks it fits yours too."

Jo had been frowning slightly throughout the explanation, and then looked puzzled at the idea that beauty could be defined mathematically: "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder" she understood, but "Golden Ratio?"

Then his mom's final statement sunk in; her puzzlement became a smile, and then a smirk. She turned to Chris: "So I'm your ideal of feminine beauty?"

"I didn't say that; I proposed that the Golden Ratio may apply to you," he countered insincerely.

Her smirk grew, and his sisters began laughing. Mom and Dad were chuckling as well. He knew he was busted, so he lamely ordered Diane to push play. That weak effort only drew more laughter.

His dad rescued him by suggesting it was time for a sandwich made from the leftover bread and ham, and another of Jo's delicious brownies. They relented and moved to the kitchen, although Jo brought the smirk with her.

Another meal, a walk before dark, and the Alexander's took the Jeep, filled to the roof with loot, back to the RV park.

With everyone else gone, the sense of awkwardness returned, and they went to bed early.

Chapter 3 will be submitted as soon as Chapter 2 is posted.