Is It Love?

Chapter Twenty Three

Rea's POV

December 23rd

The weekend passed in a blur, we stayed hidden in the hotel room most of it. We quickly realized Lily's mom didn't care that she didn't come home. She didn't call her till Sunday night, which resulted in her mom blatantly telling her it would be more enjoyable for her if she didn't come home. She yelled at Lily, then informed her she is leaving for a mini Christmas stay on Wednesday. I hugged a rocking Lily for a while after they hung up. It makes me sick how even over a phone she can affect her so much. And how dare she say it would be more enjoyable for her in Lily's absence? Lily brightens the room, and if you enjoy it without her you are one nocturnal asshole.

"What should we do for Christmas?" I ask, looking over to Lily to see her braiding her hair. She looks down, "I don't really know. My mom never really gave me a Christmas. Well, she did, she made a big dinner with the family every year but I had to pretend to be comfortable with my dad and her. She also would convince them I was a spoiled brat so I was always excluded, the more I grew up the less my mom took me to family events. I think that counts."

It feels like my insides burn, it angers me she never got that experience. Her cheeks burn in embarrassment. She finishes her hair and clamps her hands together in her lap, not making a sound. I want to respond, but I can't find the words. I feel bad, but I know how she hates pity. But I pity her, I can't help it. She should have a Christmas experience, at least one. I lean closer to her, grabbing her hands and making her look at me. I give her a reassuring smile, which cools her embarrassment a fraction "Then I must give you that experience."

She furrows her brows for a second before a bright smile takes over her face. "Are you serious?" I smile back and nod, "you know you don't have to right?"

"I know, I want to. My mom already got you a gift I might as well bring the rest."

A look of shock is present on her face, her mouth ajar, "she got me something?"

I took toward my suitcase, "It's in my bag. You'll get it Christmas morning."

She looks between the bag and me, smiling again and bringing me into a hug. She repeats 'thanks yous' in my ear and all I can do is hug her back.

"We have to go shopping if we want to have a Christmas," I say, she backs away and her face is lit up, but then it slightly drops. "I don't have clothes. Borrowing your pajamas only helps if I'm not leaving."

"Easy. Search my bag and find a hoodie and wear old jeans." she rolls her eyes but gets up to do exactly that.

~~

"What do we have to buy?" she questions, she's been beaming since we left. She led me to this mall she knew how to get to. We took the car so we wouldn't have to walk with the stuff. I swear there's a skip in her step, it makes me happy.

"Well, I don't know what we'll do for dinn-" I start, but her excited voice cuts me off. "I'll make it!" I laugh but agree. "Okay so dinner is taken care of, we need to buy a gift for each other, and some decorations."

"I'll go get stuff for dinner and find a gift for you. You find decorations and my gift, sound like a plan?"

"That's actually smart. We can do that. Meet at the car?" she nods her head in agreement and scurries away.

The mall is flooded with people and covered in decorations, at least I won't have to look far for ideas.

I can't exactly get a tree which makes me sad, but we can find other stuff. I find an aisle with a bunch of cute stuff. I grab lights to hang and little cute ornaments to put randomly around the place. At the end of the aisle, there's a mini Christmas tree, it's the only one so I quickly grab it and put it in my cart. There are purple-colored ornaments on a shelf so I also grab those. I go to the checkout center in the small store, getting everything scanned until I pay $42. It's slightly cheap for decorations but how much did I expect from a mini Christmas.

The next thing to get is the present, which I'm slightly scared of because I don't have a single idea.

I gravitate toward a necklace store, it's small and pretty and feels right for an odd reason.

"Welcome to Bloom Jewelry! My name is Sarah and I'm here to help with whatever you need." I smile toward the nice girl, she looks young, but not my age. I look through the cases, nothing quite catching my eye.

Until I see this silver star necklace. It has three things hanging from the silver chain. A circular plate, I can assume for engraving, and two normal-shaped stars that both have a tiny diamond in the middle of them.

"The stars knew we would be too powerful, they needed to bring us together."

"Hi excuse me?" I announce, looking for the worker in the store, but she appears next to me.

"How may I help you?"

"I'd like to purchase this.'' I point to the necklace I want, there's space between all of them so it's not hard to point out. She smiles and walks behind the counter. She taps a code into this small box on the corner before opening the case, pulling the necklace out. She holds it in front of her for me to get a better look, and it's perfect. "Would you like to engrave it? It's only $10 extra"

I nod my head and she puts it down on the counter. "We have little plates with different engravings already prepared. If you see one you like we can just skip the long wait and get you going.

I look through the options, one says the date of this year's Christmas, and I think it's appropriate so she can remember we did this. "This one."

The lady smiles and switches the plates, it now sitting behind the stars.

She opens a cabinet and grabs a medium-sized black velvet case. She places it inside and rings it up. "That will be $46.99."

It's a good thing it's not extremely expensive, not that I wouldn't buy it anyway. I pay her and she bags the case. Hanging me with a receipt.

"Have a nice holiday!" the woman sings out,

"You as well!"

I met Lily back at the car like we planned, the many bags in my hand. I put them in the trunk, seeing hers already there before realizing she was sitting in the driver's seat.

"There she is!" she beams, "how did shopping go?"

I close the trunk and go to get into the car. "Pretty easy, you?"

"Great, I've never been so excited for a holiday."

I smile, "I'm glad, you should be,"

We drive to Lily's house, she figures out her mom has already left for her Christmas trip. We put the food away but leave everything else in bags.

We decide we'll wait to go back to the hotel, before crashing on the couch.

***

Hi friends, here's another chapter.

Remember to drink water and eat something :)

*head pat*