Dirty Laundry

Day 9, Day 10

Day 9

Saturday, December 24th

Christmas Eve Day

12:12 P.M.

Keith hadn't bought Lance a gift.

Christmas day was tomorrow.

At the beginning of Keith's trip the thought would've never occurred to him. Buy Lance Sanchez a Christmas gift? Never. Keith might've done so at university if he were forced to, but never of his own free will.

Things were different now. Lance and Keith were closer, more comfortable, more intimate. Before their trip it never felt like presents between the two were needed-- their rivalry was enough to wager that. Things had changed, the trip had altered something between them. A present felt more than necessary-- it felt required, expected.

What sort of thing did you buy for a guy like Lance anyway?

Keith grappled this question as he lounged on his (Lance's) bed. His laptop sat open on the mattress, screen displaying the dreaded Christmas break homework he'd been procrastinating. Keith was currently hiding; the arrival of Lance's cousins had brought too much noise for him to think straight. The new cousins -- three of them from Jaime's sister and two from his brother-- were all friendly and exciting additions to the chaotic household. The house was already bursting at the seams; an addition of two families labeled the basement occupied.

Keith had been introduced to the like as Lance's boyfriend, just as always. He'd shaken several hands, said hello more than five times, received a hug from Lance's aunt -- all before he was off to hiding in the bedroom.

With the arrival of the Sanchez extended family came the promise of larger dinners, rowdier mealtimes, less personal space, and an increasing hype for Christmas day. Keith wasn't sure if he could survive.

Keith closed his course workbook rather forcefully, having made a decision that he was too distracted to be productive. He couldn't find Lance's gift on his own, and the noise downstairs was too distracting to think straight.

Staring at the shine of his closed laptop, Keith contemplated present ideas. Keith was always bad at giving gifts, but this gift for Lance had to be special. It was Keith's last opportunity to really give him something before they 'broke up' back at uni, and that meant it needed to be more than Keith's signature shampoo and conditioner set.

Letting his socks pad down the corridor, Keith moved towards Cleo's ajar bedroom door and knocked. He knew for a fact she was hiding in there -- he'd seen her escape after being bombarded by the dreaded Aunt Cassie.

Keith had only been inside Cleo's bedroom a few times before; each time always felt like his first. The room was small, but it was the amount of posters that made it even smaller. There were probably over a hundred, all of them plastered to her walls and ceiling. The majority of them were images of stars, each poster displaying a different nebula or gas giant. Keith remembered the first time he saw the posters. Cleo had described in great detail her love of astronomy and her dream to one day become an astrophysicist.

"Hey," Keith muttered, noticing that Cleo wasn't alone. Sophia sat next to her on the bed, the two girls obviously related when you sat them side by side.

"Hey," Cleo answered, a small smile tugging at her lips. "What's up?"

"I--" Keith paused awkwardly, realizing they must've been in deep conversation. He couldn't help but feel he'd interrupted something important, something special between the two of them alone. "I can come back later if you guys are--"