Is It Love?

Chapter Twenty Five

Rea's POV

December 25

I didn't even try to protest when Lily dragged me out of bed like a 5-year-old this morning, I was overly excited as well.

It's Christmas, a holiday people look forward to all year. But this year I'm especially excited, I get to show Lily why I love it.

"You walk too slow, come on," she wines, "it's literally 8 in the morning my feet aren't working."

She huffs, "well make them work."

I roll my eyes but walk a little faster. We get to the living room and Lily sits on the floor, her entire mood is just radiating childhood excitement.

"I'll give you my mom's gift first, we can call her later. Then we can exchange gifts." she nods excitedly.

I grab the wrapped box my mom gave me to put in my bag. It's Santa Claus paper, very original mom. Lily is bursting with excitement when she grabs it. She opens it slowly, unwrapping the paper then opening the box to reveal a coffee mug.

We had bought it when we were out shopping. It says 'love from Washington', it's simple but my mom got it to resemble long-distance.

When Lily reads it she instantly smiles, a big ear-to-ear type smile. "I love it!" she exclaims, "I needed an excuse to use my coffee maker more often."

"My mom will be happy you like it, now, here." I go to hand her the gift I got her, but she shakes her head. "No no I want to give you mine first, I just got one."

"But that was from my mom, it's different, just take it." I deadpan, she shakes her head but takes the gift from my hands.

"This is a velvet case, Rea."

I nod, "it is."

"Velvet means jewelry."

"It does."

She rubs her eyes and sighs, subconsciously preparing herself. She opens the case slowly, almost scared to see what's inside. Her eyes fall upon the necklace, and her mouth opens slightly. Shock, that's better than hate.

"Rea.."

"Do you like it?" I question, getting anxious for her actual reaction. She smiles, "I love it so much, I just didn't expect it. It's beautiful. I love the stars, and is that today's date?"

I shake my head yes, "it's so you don't forget today." She takes a deep breath and hugs me. "I won't forget it. Today is amazing and it's barely started."

My cheeks warm, "well I'm glad."

"Okay let me give you mine. Fair warning, it's not a big gift, I didn't expect jewelry." I quietly laugh, "well I don't mind, it's from you that makes the value the same."

Somehow she found time to wrap it, because it's a rectangle-shaped box covered in blue snowflake paper.

I looked at her, she had sat back down and her hands were in her lap. She looks at me anxiously, I can tell she's nervous I'll hate it. And even if it was my worst enemy, it's from her, so she shouldn't be worried. I unwrap it slowly, the more paper that is removed the more of a leather-type thing is revealed.

It's a beautiful leather notebook. There's a lot of blank pages, making it fairly thick. There's a red string that goes around to keep it shut. 'A.C.' is stitched into the corner. I love it, it's gorgeous and I've wanted a notebook like this.

"I-i know it's not much, it seemed like a better idea when I bought it, and I had them stitch your initials. When I saw it I was reminded of you, and you can use it to write those amazing thoughts of yours, or- I don't know. I'm kind of regretting it now. I wish I got s-"

"I love it. So much, it's perfect," I say, cutting off her rambling.

"Really? Are you sure I can always go back and get you something different, or a different color, I can get you a dark red one, or blue, or-"

I put my hand on her knee, smiling at her reassuringly. "Lily, I love it, don't overthink it." She takes a deep breath and smiles while nodding. "Okay. Yeah okay. Jesus giving gifts is so nerve-racking, you do this every year?"

I nod, "yeah, it's fun if you don't overthink it."

"Excuse me, I can't help it. You got me jewelry. Like hello? A warning would've been nice."

"Then it's not a present."

She huffs in defeat and crosses her arms, I clear my throat, "well while you're still in the 5 stages of grief over the others, I got you another."

"Andrea!"

"Don't yell at me! Your birthday is coming up and I won't be here so I kinda got you a present. You'll love it if you get out of your own mind"

"Say you're lying."

"Nope. And you have no choice but to accept it. It also corresponds with your necklace so enjoy."

I hand her a smaller box than the necklace, but it's the same velvet casing. She looks at me for a second, slightly mad, probably at the fact this is her third gift. She's just overthinking it. I loved mine, and I've had Christmas every year, she hasn't.

She looks at it stunned, "when did you get this? It's something you have to preorder and wait for."

"I ordered it before I got here, I put it in your address so it would deliver here. I woke up early the other day to get it without you noticing."

Inside holds a silver bracelet, the band is thick and it doesn't go fully around, only 3/4th of the way. The outside of it looks normal, just basic silver. But inside it's engraved.

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

"You said this to me that one night I called you drunk, didn't you? And the necklace is perfect for this-"

I nod, slightly smiling. "Look, you have a memory. And yes, when I saw it in the store those words ran through my head, it was a perfect coincidence. And when I said that it reminded me of a cheesy movie line."

She sniffles, which makes me look directly at her quickly, "Lil—"

I am cut off by her hugging me, a really tight hug. "I'm still mad you got me more than we discussed, but thank you. So much. I love it all. It means so much. Today means so much. I'm so thankful I have you for a best friend." she whispers, when we depart her eyes are puffy, on the edge of crying.

"Oh come on you can't cry because then I will and we'll just have a Christmas full of tears."

She laughs, and wipes her eyes, "I know, I know, after all these gifts I'm locking you in my room while I cook so you don't try and scam me into helping."

"That's literally what you do," I explain, she shakes her head, trying not to laugh. "You have zero proof."

"It's 8 am, I might not have proof but I do have enough tiredness to accidentally kill you."

She rolls her eyes and grabs my shirt to pull me closer, leaning her head on my shoulder. "Oh shut up. Anyways, Christmas movie?"

***

Merry Christmas Is It Love style!

Remember to drink water and eat something :)

*head pat*