Through The Camera (bxb)

chapter 31

Oliver's POV

The day went by smoothly and just as planned. After departing we searched for a good restaurant and ate delicious lunch. We talked a lot and Max always somehow made me laugh. Also, his cute behavior sometimes made me want to tease him, but I planned to hold back today. His cheerful face and that big grin of his was something I could look at the entire day.

Once we finished eating, we decided to go ice skating. But not after resting in our car and waiting for our food to settle down.

I was quite good in ice skating because I used to go with my friends in high school whenever the weather was good. And even after a long time of not visiting an ice rink, my skills weren't rusty. Max on the other hand wasn't that familiar with ice skating so he'd often ask me to hold his hand to which I gladly obliged.

We enjoyed ourselves on the ice while listening to the music played there. In that moment I was so happy to have met him and gotten closer to him. Talking with Max was something I'm now sure I needed in my life. I needed a person so understanding and caring like him.

Spending time with Max was never boring. There was always something to chat about and even if there was silence, it was comfortable and not awkward.

After we had enough of ice skating and the air got a bit chilly, we got back into the car and drove to Max's house.

***

The clock struck 6 o'clock and I was in the kitchen helping with dinner. We bought a fish on the market and were now preparing him.

After all was ready, we sat down with our meal and dug in. The faint light coming from the kitchen and the colorful light from the small Christmas tree gave the room a certain comforting vibe.

"It's delicious," Max stated and I couldn't agree more. Minutes of eating in silence passed and once we both finished our portion and placed the plates into the dishwasher, each one of us went to prepare our presents.

Sitting down on the floor beside the tree, I held a small box behind my back. Glancing at my boyfriend, he was also hiding something from my vision.

"Merry Christmas," he announced shyly and gave me his present. It was a small box wrapped in red paper and seemed similar to mine. "Thank you and merry Christmas to you too," I replied with a genuine smile and handed him my gift.

We decided to open them on the count of three and I was more than surprised to find out what awaited me inside the box. "Oliver... no way," Max gasped while holding a golden ring in his hand, a similar looking one to the one I was holding now. "You also got me a ring?" I chuckled and he grinned happily. "But that must have been expensive. You should've bought me something cheaper..."

"Same goes for you. I hope he's not made out of real gold," he said. I didn't reply, but my smile growing must have been enough for him to find out the answer. He huffed, but he couldn't suppress the smile any longer and put the ring on his ring finger. "It's perfect."

Doing the same, I admired the silver ring that perfectly wrapped itself around my finger. "It's truly beautiful," I told him and gazed at my boyfriend whose eyes were fixated on me.

"So what now?" he asked. "Should we watch the movie?" I nodded and we moved to the couch where we made ourselves comfortable. I started the movie we had prepared beforehand and put an arm around his shoulder.

We sat in silence for a while, watching the screen and not daring to look at each other. I was afraid if I looked into his pretty eyes I wouldn't be able to hold back. The way Max's eyes intensely watched me after he opened his present made me want to kiss him so bad and the image wouldn't leave my mind. I was struggling to focus on the movie with all these thoughts bothering me.