Page 16 of A Little Christmas: Rivi
“I think that's really cool.”
He lifted his head. “Really?”
“I really do because I'm a little, too, and I've never met anyone else like me until tonight.”
That seemed to bring Ozzy out from behind his barriers. “How old are you?”
“Twenty-one.”
“I'm twenty-six but people say I look younger.”
“I would have guessed you were younger.”
We made our way up the staircase that led to my room. Sure enough, Ozzy stopped at the blue door on the right. He opened it for me, ushering me inside.
“Wow, this room is amazing.” I saw my suitcase set up on a stand by the window which looked out over a beautiful nighttime snowy mountain view. The bed looked plush with lots of soft pillows and a warm down comforter of soft pink. One of my favorite colors.
“All the rooms here are amazing. I couldn't believe it when I first came here. There are so many. Rarely ever used except on holidays.”
“Don't you live here full time?”
“I do. And now Trent does, too. He's opened the place up more since I came. Or so I'm told.”
“I didn't realize that.”
“He was sad for a long time.”
I frowned, wondering why I didn't know that. I couldn't resist flopping back on the bed to test it out. Ozzy stood before me, hands clasped behind his back, and watched me.
“When I was first brought here, it was as a guest. I, um, got hurt. He let me stay here to heal.”
“He's a good guy.”
“Yeah. I didn't know that, though. I got hurt in the club and I didn't have anywhere to go accept back to my abusive boyfriend.”
I sat up. Now things were getting interesting.
Ozzy swung his hands in front of him and clasped them together. “I'm talking too much. I don't usually do that.”
“Me, either. Maybe it's because we're both little?”
“Could be.”
I patted the side of the bed next to me. He smiled faintly and slowly came to sit beside me.”
“Tell me more if you don't mind my asking. How did you and my uncle get together?”
“That's a big question. I was pretty bad off. Kind of needy. The little inside of me looked up to him immediately as a daddyfigure. But he wasn't having any of it. I didn't know how to take that until I realized he didn't want to inflict any further harm on me. My boyfriend was very abusive. That's another kind of long, drawn-out story.”
“I’m sorry. But what do you mean Uncle Trent wasn’t having any of being a daddy figure? Isn’t he a daddy?”
“He is. Definitely. But he knew I was traumatized. He wanted to help me, not seduce me. But I wanted him. It was hard to understand why he didn’t want me back until I realized his protective nature was on overdrive. He really did like me, but it took a while for him to admit. But we got through it and now here I am.” He spread his arms.
“Yeah. Uncle Trent is that kind of guy. He wants to take care of people.”
“I didn’t know that at first, so I thought he hated me.”
I let out a short laugh. “He doesn’t hate you now.”
