Just Friends (Dan Howell)

Chapter Twenty-Nine

I did call Seuss, but we only talked for a few minutes before he said he had to go. I congratulated him, told him how touching the song was for me, and that I hoped I could see him and his band soon.

He asked me if I was gonna see any concerts any time soon.

I told him that yes, actually, I had just got tickets to a concert in January.

He told me that it was definitely possible that we would see each other soon. He said to keep in touch.

I said I would.

Then Seuss hung up.

*One Month Later*

"Ooh, what will I get him? What do you get your boyfriend who loves you? What if the gift I get him is worse than the gift he gets me? Ooh, I'm so bad at this! Why did we wait so long to go Christmas shopping? Quick, Lillette, call Dan! What does Phil want?"

"Socks," I replied bluntly, examining a video camera on a shelf.

"But that's so lame," whined Jenny, pacing behind me.

"Hey, I was planning on getting Phil a new tripod cuz he broke his the other week," I replied. "I'm pretty sure he'd welcome socks." Then I added as an afterthought, "But make sure you get more than one pair so that he can mismatch them."

"A tripod is better than socks!" Jenny shouted.

The shop fell silent. I shot my best friend a look. She'd clapped her hands over her mouth, and was glancing back and forth.

"Then you get him the tripod," I hissed. "And I'll get him socks."

Jenny nodded emphatically.

Soon, she'd gotten the tripod, and I'd found some lion socks and some turtle socks. Just as we were about to check out, something caught my eye.

"Is that-- cat whisker wrapping paper?" I gasped.

"Neeeeeeed!" Groaned Jenny.

We grabbed a roll, then finally checked out.

As we were leaving, Jenny brought up a sensitive subject. "What are you getting Dan?"

"I don't know yet," I mumbled awkwardly.

"Lillette!" Jenny exclaimed. "I got him a new t-shirt ages ago! Why haven't you gotten him anything?"

The truth? Because I was scared. What if the gift I got him wasn't good enough? I had the exact same fears as Jenny, but my way of getting past the problem was by delaying it. This was a very bad game plan, because at this rate it would be Christmas Eve and he'd still be present-less.

Instead of telling Jenny this, I just shrugged. "I dunno."

Jenny opened her mouth to argue, but I beat her to it.

"Hey, while we're out let's go shopping for our family," I proposed. "Mark has been wanting a new briefcase, and Penny wants a new dress." My older brother and sister had both emailed me.

The ploy worked, and Jenny agreed. Dan's gift was out out of my mind as we spent the rest of the day shopping for the family.

~~

"Lillette, Christmas is in two days. Have you bought Dan anything yet?"

"No," I mumbled into my hot chocolate.

Jenny was having a wrapping party. It was nine in the morning on the 23 of December. She was in her pajamas, the roll of cat whisker wrapping paper in front of her, the different gifts she'd purchased surrounding her.