Ian meets my mom and me at the food court while we're taking a cookie break. The mall is so crowded today, and I needed a moment in which I wasn't shoulder to shoulder with a stranger.
I know it's my own fault. Who goes shopping the day before Christmas Eve? Me and my fellow procrastinators, that's who.
"Did you get one for me?" Ian asks as soon as he finds us.
"Well 'hello' to you too," I say as I roll my eyes and grab the chocolate chip I had gotten for him out of its bag.
He ignores my passive aggressiveness and raises his cookie in the air. "Thanks."
My mom joins the conversation. "I'm glad you're here, Ian. I'm assuming Nick will be spending Christmas with us?"
Ian shrugs. "I don't think he has anywhere else to go."
His statement immediately makes me feel guilty for the hateful things I said to Nick last night. I should have been more understanding and not taken it so personally. I know not everything is about me, but, in the moment when it felt like he was rejecting me, I do what I always do, I went on the offensive.
"That's fine, sweetie," my mom responds. "He's welcome, of course. But what kind of gifts do you think he'll want? I've already gotten you two everything you're going to get, and I don't want him to have nothing to open on Christmas."
Ian shrugs again—I swear he must have the strongest shoulders muscles because of all his shrugging. "I don't know, Mom. Him and I don't usually get each other gifts."
"Well, what does he like?"
Ian shrugs yet again—it really is ridiculous. "He honestly spends all his free time reading or hanging out with me."
"He likes to read?!?" I practically yell, surprised. I love to read and do it every chance I get, but I can't imagine Nick sitting down and relaxing with a book. He just seems too...aggressive.
"Are you joking?" Ian answers. "The guy practically keeps a paperback in his pocket at all times. You had to have seen him reading before."
Even my mom looks confused by my response. I suddenly have a picture in my brain of Nick in our living room, reading, and Nick in our basement, reading, or Nick in the car, reading. I guess I just never paid enough attention to him to even think twice about it.
"Okay, okay, sorry," I say. "I'll go to the bookstore and get him something then. What does he like to read?"
Ian looks suspicious of the fact that I volunteered to get Nick a gift. The truth is I'm only half doing it for Nick. I use any excuse to spend time at our local bookstore. I'm kind of a geek when it comes to books, and I would live there if I could.
"How should I know? It's not like we're in a book club or something," Ian responds and then thinks for a moment. "Although I know he knows all about Frodo and Baggins and Gandolf-whatever. He's read whatever those books are a shit-ton of times."
"Language!"
"Sorry, Mom."
It makes sense that Nick would like Lord of the Rings. If I lived with his mom and stepdad, I'd want to escape to a fantasy world as often as possible too.
The three of us decide that Ian and my mom will look around for something here at the mall, and I'll go to the bookstore. I'm grateful for the excuse to leave the crowd.
Once I get to the store, I realize that I'm in over my head. Giving a book to someone is personal, and in reality, I don't actually know that much about Nick. So I spend an hour walking the aisles, picking out several books for myself, but nothing for Nick.
In the end, I decide to just go with a gift card, then he will be able to get whatever he wants. I just hope he doesn't think that I got it because I didn't care. And then I do hope he thinks I got it because I don't care. My feelings for Nick are beyond confusing.
As I'm standing in line with a stack of books for myself, a display catches my eye. It's a new 'Game of Thrones' cover release. It has a lion, dragon, direwolf, stag and kraken all on a beach in an epic battle involving fire and swords, all surrounding the infamous Iron Throne. It looks so cool, and I decide to grab a copy for Nick. If he likes fantasy fiction, I'm sure he's already read it, but I'll give it to him just for the cover alone.
Christmas Eve flies by with the usual family gathering at my Grandma's. Nick seemed quiet, but I can't really blame him. When my entire family gets together, it's hard to get a word in.
When we return home that evening, we all open our matching Christmas pajamas that my mom insists on torturing us with every year. This year, they are actually not bad. Plaid fleece pants and a long sleeve t-shirt with different reindeers on them. I got 'Vixen', ironically.
I can tell Nick is trying to not laugh at us after we open them. I guess his family doesn't do the whole "matching pajamas" thing.
Ian tries to defend himself. "I know it's stupid, but I have no choice, trust me. I've tried."
My mom laughs along because we give her a hard time about this every year. She doesn't care. She says it's her payment for dealing with all of us year-round.
"And don't think you're getting off the hook, Nick," she says as she pulls out a grocery bag. "I didn't have a chance to wrap it, and it's not the full outfit. But it'll have to do."
Nick pulls out a pair of pants that are similar but not exactly like the rest of ours, and his face falls flat. We all start laughing hysterically at his expression.
"I understand, son," my dad says through his laughter. "But I guess this means you're one of us now."
Nick tries to hide the smile that my dad's words caused, but I see it.
YOU ARE READING
Nick & Bailey
Romance**MATURE AUDIENCES ONLY** "I feel him move his open mouth up my neck, dragging his lips along my skin. His voice is husky in my ear. "Tell me to stop." I don't, and he doesn't." The transition from high school to college is hard enough without being...
