I Chose Nothing

14

John took his time preparing a gift bag for Sage, he was ecstatic on the inside but made sure not to mention it around her. Marc had a gut feeling that he was hiding something, but every time he'd ask John would dismiss it. Telling him that he's writing a commission that weirder him out, Marc soon let the topic go.

John had a medium sized gift bag, the bag itself was brown but he stuffed it with gold and yellow tissue paper to give it effect. Just to make it a bit more fun for her, he wrapped each item in the same colored wrapping paper and taped it up. He put the Walkman, the cassettes, the painting he made, and a hidden note. He finished setting up the gift, but he wanted to give it to her, after about a week of putting it off, the day before the concert had arrived. Now was the time.

     John and Marc had spent time at the store buying appropriate clothes to attend the concert. This was John's first official concert and he was extremely glad that he would attend it with his two best friends. "We should all wear this!" Marc exclaimed, he held up three bracelets, but they looked a bit big. The band was golden and it had three charms on each one, a sun, a moon, and a star. "Those are big bracelets, Scavetta." John said, taking one of them and wrapping it around his wrist, "That's because they're anklets, Stuarts." Marc retorted. John frowned at it, impressive. "I'll wear it, watch." He said as the pair got the clothes they wanted and checked out their items.

     After putting his clothes away once they made it home, Marc called for a little group meeting in his apartment. Now was the time to exchange gifts. John and Sage went down to the fourth floor and quickly found his door. It was just like John's, undecorated. Marc opened the door and welcomed the two, the apartments foundation was built just like Sage's and John's. The only thing making of different was the red decorations, it wasn't overwhelming at all, there was a perfect balance between the red, gray, and white colored furniture and decorations. The place was cleaned up and had no clutter anywhere, he sat everyone down. "So, I may or may not have made these for you guys..." Marc began, he pulled out two T-shirts and two tiny boxes. "We might have to hurry this whole thing up cause I've gotta go pee." He added, squeezing his legs in hopes to hold his bladder and see his friends reactions. John unfolded the t-shirt and saw the front design, he smiled as he knew it was meant just for him. Sage did the same thing and squealed in joy, going up to hug Marc, who could never deny one of her hugs, even though he really had to use the bathroom. He couldn't hold it any longer, "Guys just hang out here I really gotta go!" Marc laughed a bit, the pair on the couch nodded and waited.

     John took the opportunity to hand his gift over to Sage. "Uh Sage," she looked over with a bright smile, "I...Made this for you, as a thank you gift for..." 'For what?' He thought to himself. She was the one who really gave him everything that made him happy, she was either there, directly made it happen, or motivated him to do something that made him happy. She gave him everything he valued. "Everything you've done for me." He passed the brown bag over to her, she gasped and took it. "Thank you so much, you really didn't have to-" "I wanted to." He cut her off and stayed silent for her to open it. Her smile, if possible, got wider and she sat there awestruck at the painting. "I love it, I lOVE IT I LOVE IT I LOVE IT I LOVE IT!" She shouted as she held the tiny Walkman and the painting close to her chest. "Where did you even find these?" She asked, holding up the cassettes. John shrugged and looked off to the sky, she jabbed his shoulder playfully. "This is incredibles I don't even know what to say." She said happily, smiling down at the sunflower painting.

Marc pat himself on the back, watching the interaction from afar.

Something in my heart keeps saying
My someplace is here