Uniquely Normal

Chapter 13: Enchanted

"Well shit." I breathed out in surprise. I could feel Coen smirking although my eyes were closed. I opened them to indeed see a proud smile on his face. He began biting his lip and bouncing his leg impatiently, watching me intently as I finished.

"So..." His eyes widened, waiting for my response.

"I demand dinner nights every weekend next year in New York. You are a great cook." I scarfed down the rest of the alfredo, glancing at the pot to see how much was left.

He clapped his hands together, triumphantly throwing a fist in the air before putting the plates into the sink. "Do you wanna watch a movie? We need something to do." He grabbed a towel to dry off his hands. I admired the way his back muscles were presenting through the thin fabric of his black tank. "I'm supposed to be here to help you study, not Netflix and chill."

His whole body whipped around as his eyes found mine, a grin crept across his face.

"I mean we can study and chill?" He wiggled his brows.

"Coen! Only study, but we can wait for that, I actually have a late birthday gift for you. It was supposed to be here on time, but things got pushed back a little." I stood up, slipping my shoes back on.

"Another one? You don't have too Ren."

I shushed him and hurried off outside to my car. Pulling the wrapped canvas out of the backseat, and the smaller sheet of paper along with it, I speedily walked back inside. The sleeveless turtleneck not a well choice for the relentless winter weather.

I left the actual gift by the kitchen out of sight and came walking into the living room with the sheet of paper.

He sat down on the chair looking up at me with one of his brows cocked. "What are you giving me." He questioned. I could tell he was trying to mask his excitement.

"I made this with some of my old art supplies. I may or may not have a hidden talent." He leaned forward ready to receive the gift.

"You're an artist too?! Gosh. You make me feel really unproductive with my life?" He chuckled. I began laughing. Hard. Really hard, thinking about how he was going to react to the fake gift.

I turned around the sheet of paper, pushing it toward him. "Happy birthday!" His whole face dropped as he bit his lip harshly to keep from laughing. His ears reddened rapidly as he let out a cough. He grabbed the page and examined it slowly. The page was littered in rainbow-colored hearts with his name written in the middle very poorly in crayon.

"Wow it's...uhm it's unique. But it's cute. Thank you." He smiled genuinely. I burst into a wheezing laugh of uncontrolled humor. I could hear his confused mumbles in the background, asking why I was laughing.

I even fell down, kneeling on the floor trying to catch my breath from laughing so hard.

"Woo!" I took a deep breath wiping the tears from my eyes. "I'm just playing with you. This—" I rushed toward the kitchen, grabbing the much bigger canvas. "Is your actual gift."

He chuckled, wiping fake sweat from his brow.

"You left your charger in my car one day so I had come over to give it back to you and ended up giving it to Rosa and talking her instead"

He held his heart and dropped his head in fake hurt. "When she likes the German chef more than she likes you."

I giggled. "Back to being serious. Rosa was telling me all about when you were a child you were you were really photogenic and loved having your photo taken but as time passed, you kind of stopped."

He smiled to himself. "That's when family life was good you know? Now whenever I'm having my photo taken, its usually family photos and there's nothing fun about it"