Do What You Gotta Do

Christmas Day ~Chapter 10~

–Charles receives an email from Mr. Tep. It reads,

Good morning Charles,

You have done an excellent job this past week. I am proud of you and honored to gift you with what you deserve. Five hundred dollars has been added to your bank account. I wish you a merry Christmas and will see you at the New Year's Party next week.

Sincerely, 

Mr. Tep, New York City's State Building Owner, Brooklyn, NY

Charles smiles to himself. Seconds after receives an email from his bank that the money has been deposited.

–Carol of the Bells (piano cover) plays from outside Charles room–

Charles gets up from his desk in his room and leaves his room. He sees his dad making breakfast and his mom putting a decorative Christmas headband on Dempsey. Shortly afterward, they eat and share laughs and make mint chocolate hot cocoa. By the afternoon, Mr. and Mrs. Bond leave to go to a Christmas party and they take Mr. Bond's car. Charles is left home with Dempsey and they watch Christmas movies together. 

"Merry Christmas!" Charles answers the FaceTime call from Layn.

"Merry Christmas!" He walks over to Dempsey to show off his headband.

"Aww, Dempsey." Layn smiles.

"So, I got you something." She giggles.

"Really, what is it?" Charles says.

"Uh, you have to come over to see it." She suggests.

Charles looks at her sarcastically.

"You want me to go to your house?

"Yep." Layn nodded.

"Okay, when?"

"Now, actually. Are your parents cool with that?"

"Yeah, well, they're not even here so I'll text them." Charles gets up and grabs his coat.

"Ok, cool." Layn hangs up.

Arriving at the subway, Charles gets on and sits in one of the chairs. Of course, the subway wasn't busy at all. Everyone was with their family this Christmas and sharing laughs and eating. Charles patiently waited for his stop and looked out the window as the subway went on a bridge.  He saw all the snow and it looked like it snowed more just two minutes ago when he was just outside. Charles wondered what Layn's mother and younger brother were like.

Charles crosses the street to the apartment complex Layn stayed at. He presses the buzzer at the door for the correct door number Layn texted him, second after he got off the subway. 

"Hey, you can come up." Layn said.

"Cool." Charles said.

He went inside the building and saw one of the workers. They greeted and Charles told them where he was going since it was his actual first time being inside the building. Before, he'd always pick up Layn from outside. Charles got to the door knocked.

"(gasps) what is that?" Layn's younger brother said.

"It's the door." Layn got up and opened it.

Charles saw Layn and hugged her, then came inside.

"Ohhh, is this Charles?" Layn's mom sneaked around from the kitchen.

"Yes ma'am, miss–" He shook her hand.

"Oh, Highland. Ms. Highland. Actually, Carla is fine." Carla laughed as she shook Charles's hand.

Charles smiled and made a surprised face at Layn because he never knew her last name was Highland. Layn stayed back, not knowing what to do at that moment.

"Hiiii!" Layn's younger brother walked up to Charles.

"Hey!" Charles picked him up.

"What's your name?" He said.

"Markie." Markie giggled.

"Nice to meet you, Markie." Charles put Markie down.

"Alright, Charles, so how you've been. Layn tells me a lot about you." Carla said.

"I'm doing good. Just working hard at my new job." He said.

"That's right, she told me about that. For teenagers like you working a job like that, trust me, you'll do great." Carla sighed.

"Thank you." Charles said.

Carla nodded and Layn took Charles to the living room. Charles was pleased that Layn lived in such a rustic home. It fooled him from the outside of how futuristic it looked. Layn got up and walked to her room to get Charles's present. He waited patiently until she came back.

"Here it is!" Layn came back, sat down, and handed the bag to Charles.

He opened and saw a huge set of journaling paper, a sketchbook, pencils, pens, and other different kinds of pencils for drawing. Charles smiled and gave her a huge hug and a kiss.

"Thanks. How'd you know I like this kind of stuff?" He asked.

"Because, when I met your parents, I saw your room door opened and inside it had drawings, paintings, and quotes in big frames hanging on the wall." Layn said.

"Wow, yeah thanks. It really means a lot." Charles added.

"You're welcome..." Layn smiled.

"And about your gift?" He said sadly.

"You know it's fine if you didn't get me anything, really–" She said.

"You're my plus one." Charles smirked.

"Plus one? To where?" She grew excited.

"The New Years Party for my job."

"Really, I get to see where you work and I can get dressed up and stuff?" Layn stood up.

"Yeah." Charles smiled.

"OMG thank you, I can see the outfit already." Layn laughed.

Charles was walking back home now and before he walked inside the building, he saw a car parked in the lot where his parents usually parked. The car was a black 2019 Lincoln Continental. Charles stood in shock and couldn't believe his eyes. Both his parents came out of the car and his mom carried the keys.

"Turns out, there wasn't a party." Mr. Bond said.

"Oh my..." Charles couldn't even speak.

Mr. and Mrs. Bond took many pictures of Charles and his new car.

It was much later now and Charles's parents were fast asleep. Charles responded back to Mr. Tep's email basically wishing him a Merry Christmas, thanking him for the money, and telling him he planned on attending the event.