"I'm so glad you could come over for dinner, Chloe." Lady Jane said as Chloe took a seat at the table between Jax and Jerry.

"Well thank you for inviting me. I couldn't turn down the offer after that wonderful Thanksgiving dinner."

"The tree looks great, Mom." Jax said.

"We just finished it last night. I think it turned out great."

Chloe smiled, remembering the other night when she and Jax decorated her mother's tree.

"Oh and wait until you see the house." Jane said.

"Jerry and I are almost finished putting up the lights." John announced.

"Yeah, this house will be the best decorated on the street." Jerry said.

"And I set up all of the other decorations around the yard." Jane said.

"Well it looks great so far." Chloe said, still thinking about the other night.

"Thank you, dear. Oh, and I found some delicious holiday recipes out of my magazines…"

Chloe stood against the wall between the dining room and the living room, lost in her thoughts yet again.

"Hey, try this." Jax said, suddenly appearing out of nowhere and holding a coffee mug in front of her face.

"What's this?" Chloe asked skeptically.

"It's hot chocolate. I made it myself." Jax grinned, proud of his accomplishment.

"You, Jasper Jacks, made this?"

"Just try it, Chloe, it's good. I promise you."

Chloe took a sip, afraid that it would be one of his protein shakes in disguise, so she was pleasantly surprised when she actually tasted real chocolate. "Oh my god. This is actually good."

"See I told you!" Jax laughed.

"And you made this?"

"Yeah!"

"I'm impressed."

"Hey, just because I don't know how to use an oven doesn't mean I can't make a hot drink."

Chloe laughed. "Well this is delicious. This is even better than the hot chocolate at Kelly's."

"Really?" Jax grinned widely now.

"Yeah."

"Cool!"

Chloe set the mug on the table beside her. "Are you sure your mother didn't make that?"

"I made it, Chloe! Don't you believe me?!"

"Alright, I believe you."

Lady Jane then walked over to Jax and Chloe and just stared at them strangely.

"Uh, yes, Mom?" Jax asked, confused by her behavior.

"Nothing. I was just wondering when you two were going to kiss."

"What?" Jax and Chloe asked in unison.

Lady Jane pointed up. "You're standing under the mistletoe." Jane winked and then walked away.

Jax and Chloe both looked up, and sure enough, there was mistletoe hanging from the ceiling in the doorway.

"Wow, who put that there?" Jax laughed.

"It's like it came out of nowhere." Chloe said.

"Well, it's tradition."

"Yes. And isn't it bad luck to break tradition?"

"Well I don't want to find out."

"So…" Chloe said.

They both started to laugh. Chloe stepped a few inches closer. Everything seemed to happen in slow motion. Chloe's head was a whirl of emotions. She was going to kiss him! This has been all she could think about for the past two weeks.

Jax inched closer as well and tilted his head down a bit since Chloe was shorter than him. Then in one quick motion, he grabbed hold of her entire body, placed his lips on her, and dipped her, taking Chloe by complete surprise as he continued the kiss for a good long five seconds.

After the kiss, Jax slowly helped Chloe stand upright again, and she looked at him, breathing heavily with her kiss-swollen lips. Jax started laughing mischievously. "Did I take your breath away?"

Chloe was still trying to catch her breath. "Well your tongue in my mouth certainly did." Chloe wanted to laugh at what she just said but she couldn't find the breath to laugh.

Jax however, was laughing hysterically. "I take it that that's a good thing"

"Well let's just say that your kissing style has definitely improved since you were eleven."

"Hee hee hee, I've had practice." Jax grinned widely as he sauntered into the kitchen to grab a snack, leaving Chloe still breathless.

Chloe walked over to the couch and sat down. It was strange how she could still feel his lips there, tingling her rosy lips. And even though she knew it was just a kiss because they were standing under the mistletoe, still, a kiss is a kiss is a kiss. And then she thought about that day they kissed when they were eleven.

Summer, 1981

Jax and Chloe laid down on their sleeping bags inside of their tent and looked outside toward the yard.

"Do you want anymore smores?" Jax asked.

"No thanks, I've already had so many. I think I'm all smored out."

"Okay, more for me!" Jax said as he stuffed the last one in his mouth.

"Hey, do you want to tell ghost stories?"

"Nah. Do you want to play nighttime hide-and-go-seek again?"

"No, I'm getting tired of that game." Chloe sighed.

"Ooo, I know something fun we can do!" Jax gave out a sneaky laugh.

"Shh, come on, Joni." Jerry said to the redheaded girl he led into his bedroom. As soon as the door closed, the two started laughing and immediately started making-out on the bed.

"Oh, Jerry." Joni whispered in between kisses. "Oh, what was that? I heard something." Joni suddenly said, interrupting the kiss.

"I didn't hear anything." Jerry said, and resumed kissing her.

"I heard it again. It sounded like someone giggling."

"Hold on." Jerry was clearly annoyed. He got up from the bed and opened the closet door. Jax and Chloe looked up from the floor.

"Oops." Jax said.

"Alright, out you two!" Jerry ordered. "Jax, how many times have I told you to stay out of my room? I'm telling Mom and Dad."

"Well I'm telling Mom and Dad that you had a girl in your bedroom."

Jerry sighed. "Chloe, does your mother know you are over here this late?"

"Yes, she said I could spend the night. We're camping out in the backyard."

"Dad set up the tent for us."

"Alright, why don't you two go out and camp then?" Jerry said, infuriated. "And, Jax, I'm warning you, stay out of my room!"

Jax just laughed as he headed out of the room. He loved to annoy his big brother.

Chloe looked up innocently at Jerry. "Just so you know, this was all Jax's idea."

"Why doesn't that surprise me?" Jerry sighed.

Jax and Chloe walked out of the house and laughed like crazy.

"Does your brother always do that?"

"Do what?"

"Take girls up to his room to make-out with them."

"Oh yeah, he does that all the time, but usually it's with a different girl each time."

Jax and Chloe went back inside the tent, bored again.

After a few moments of silence, Chloe spoke up. "Jax?"

"Yeah?"

"Have you ever kissed anyone before?"

"Oh yeah, I've kissed my mom dozens of times."

Chloe laughed. "No, not that kind of kissing. I mean, a real kiss, like your brother with his girlfriends."

"No."

"Really? You mean you never kissed Suzy Camden?" Chloe teased.

"Suzy Camden? No way! She likes me though, but I have no desire to kiss her."

"But I thought you two kissed after school that one day, behind the bus, remember?"

"Oh, well that was different. She kissed me, and it was on the cheek, so that really doesn't count. Have you ever kissed anyone?"

Chloe shook her head no. "What's so amazing about it? I mean, everyone always talks about how magical a kiss is, especially in the fairy tales."

"Yeah I know. It's all Jerry can ever think about."

"Maybe we should kiss, you know, just to see what it is like. Do you want to?"

"Yeah, just to see what it is like of course. But we can't tell anyone."

"Oh no, I won't tell anyone!"

"Okay."

Jax and Chloe leaned closer, but the moment turned somewhat awkward when they realized their noses were probably going to bump into each other.

"You tilt your head to the right and I'll tilt my head to the left." Jax suggested.

"Okay."

Jax and Chloe stared at each other, their faces inches apart, but neither of them moved. They both waited for the other one to make the first move.

"Let's count to three." Jax said. "One. Two."

"Two and a half." Chloe said.

"Three." They said in unison. With that, their lips met, and the kiss was over one second later.

"Wow, so that's what it is like." Chloe said.

"Yeah."

"Did you feel any magic?"

"I'm not really sure what the magic is supposed to feel like."

"Yeah, me neither. Maybe we didn't do it right."

"No, I'm sure we did." Jax said.

And then, they were silent. Silent for a while.

"Say something, it's too quiet." Chloe said.

"THERE'S A SPIDER IN YOUR SLEEPING BAG!"

"AHHHH!" Chloe ran and hid behind Jax. "GET IT GET IT GET IT GET IT! Where is it? I don't see it!! Get it, Jax!"

But Jax just started his familiar hysterical laughing, the laughter that always followed when he played a practical joke.

"That's not funny, *Jasper*!"

"I couldn't resist! You should have seen the look on your face!"

"Goodnight, Jasper!" Chloe climbed into her sleeping bag, but not before double-checking it for bugs of course, just in case Jax was telling the truth. "You better not tell anyone." Chloe gave Jax a stern look.

"You better not tell anyone." Jax said.

"Chloe?"

"Huh?" Chloe said, suddenly snapped out of her reverie.

Jax laughed. "You were a million miles away again! Come on, Dad is about to turn on the lights outside."

"Oh okay!" Chloe grabbed her coat. Jax took Chloe's hand and they walked out of the house, the snow on the ground crunching as they made there way to the middle of the yard where John, Jane, and Jerry were standing.

"Alright, keep your fingers crossed that this works. There is no way in hell I feel like checking every one of those light bulbs. They better work." John clicked the switch and the house suddenly shimmered with light.

Everyone gazed at the sight of the house in wonderment.

"It looks incredible. You two have outdone yourselves." Jane complimented her husband and son.

"It really does look great." Jax said.

"Terrific." Chloe said.

Jax put his arm around Chloe's shoulder and Chloe was suddenly overwhelmed with happiness, but not from the beauty of the lights.

To be continued...