Uncaged

Chapter 11

What do you buy for a girl in the window who's name you don't even know for Christmas? That had been my question for the week leading up to the Christmas party, and I found myself scouring the little downtown shops for something cute that she could also hide if she really was that much of a prisoner. Jane was in a similar dilemma as she walked along with me. She had shocked Jasmine by telling her that she didn't want Jasmine to buy her anything over $25 for a present, because she didn't want to be one of those people only dating her for the money and gifts. I really thought that was a great move on her point, to show Jasmine she didn't want her for the money.

There may have been more kissing after that, but Jane wasn't telling me. That was a good thing, since I could only dream about doing that myself.

Regardless, Jane had it slightly easier than me, because she didn't have to worry about Jasmine having to hide anything, it could just be given to her, and she could even open it in front of people. I had to not only find something small enough to hide, but small enough for me to sneak into the house.

My first thought had been a dry erase board so we could talk more than yes and no questions, but there was no way I could get that into the house, nor for it to be easily hidden. My limited budget meant I had to do something inexpensive too, so I was struggling.

"Do you have any ideas for Jasmine?" I asked Jane as we left yet another store.

"I have several naughty ideas, but I think she'd kill me opening something like that in front of her folks," Jane snickered, nudging me with her shoulder.

"Come on, I'm serious. I'm hoping your ideas will rub off on me, because this sucks," I complained.

"Hey, that dry erase board was a good idea!" she complimented me.

I just rolled my eyes. "Why is this so hard? There has to be an easier way for me to talk to her."

"Get her a phone!" Jane suggested.

"Not in my budget, otherwise that would be a great idea," I agreed. It was annoying how much I took my phone for granted, and it was 3 years old. Lots of kids in school got their new ones yearly, but I hoarded mine and kept it safe and sound.

"I think I have my last one at the house from before I upgraded. It isn't new, but it worked well. I bet you could find a cheap plan for it," she continued. That might actually work.

"If you really have that phone, you'd be a lifesaver!" I pulled her into a side hug. "Now let's go find something that will have Jasmine smooching you under some mistletoe."

"Oh, I already hung like 6 of those over her bed," Jane assured me.

"Of course, you did, I should have known."

It took some time, but we were finally able to find Jasmine a cute handmade Christmas hair clip and some silly holiday socks as well. Jane seemed happy with the gifts, thinking one would be cute and the other silly. She even made a comment about wanting Jasmine to be wearing only those gifts under the tree, but I pointedly ignored that. I know she was just trying to get a rise out of me, so it didn't need a reply. It had been so long since Jane really liked someone and was dating that I forgot how many dirty comments she could come up with on a daily basis.

After doing some research, I found the best thing I could, an inexpensive cell phone and basic plan. It was only 500 minutes of talking, and 500 texts, but that was much better than I could do. Best of all, it turned out that Jane really did have an old iPhone 6S kicking around her house and was able to get a charging cable for it over at Best Buy. It had a chipped screen, but it was a lot better than I could get elsewhere. I programmed it into my phone, and pre-loaded my number into hers, and then wrapped it simply in red wrapping paper.