Our little secret | Jev

14. Lovers gifts

Lev's POV

The whole squad was downstairs in Piper's garden, getting ready to film the next part of Piper's video. It was growing dark outside but Piper's garden was covered in fairy lights, leaving enough of a glow for everything to be easily seen. There was something so intimate and almost romantic about the dim yet soft lighting.

I was once again holding Piper's hand as Hunter was about to start filming again, and the objective of the video was "last to stop touching". He counted us in before turning on the camera and facing it towards Piper.

"ALRIGHT GUYS, as you can see we're back home now and ready to give each other our gifts! The whole journey home me and Lev didn't stop touching, as well as Elliana and Jenna. Sadly Emily and Jentzen already lost the challenge but we'll still be giving them their gifts."

"Elliana and Jenna can go first. They selected me and Lev to get gifts for, so let's see what they got us each!" Piper exclaimed excitedly. Jenna went first, and she had bought my gift. She'd gotten me a pack of Pokémon cards and I was over the moon. The only thing I loved more than Pokémon cards was Jentzen.

Elliana gave Piper her gift - she had gotten her a few things from Bath and Bodyworks. Piper thanked her, giving her a hug for her gifts. While Hunter was filming Elliana, Piper turned to whisper something to me. "That's so strange, I thought Elliana knew I hated the smell of coconut yet almost everything here is coconut scented. Don't tell her though, I don't want to hurt her feelings."

I furrowed my eyebrows together. Yeah, that is pretty weird... I know for a fact Elliana knows Piper hates the smell of coconut. I brushed it aside. It was now time for Elliana and Jenna to receive their gifts from Jentzen and Emily.

Jentzen went first, and of course he had chosen Elliana to buy a gift for. "Elliana's my girlfriend so of course I chose her to buy for, and I knew exactly what she'd love" Jentzen announced to the camera with an awkward smile.

He pulled out a she box from a sleek white bag and handed it to Elliana. When she opened it up, it was a pair of heels. "Oh my gosh thank you so much Jentzennnnnn" she screeched, throwing her arms around him and planting a kiss on his lips.

He pulled away after a short moment, subtly moving out of her grip. "I mean, to be honest I was half expecting a Gucci bag, but these heels are super cool so it's ok" Elliana admitted with a careless shrug. Damn, just take his wallet while you're at it.

Next Emily gave her gift to Jenna. She gave her a skincare fridge as well as some face masks from lush, some body sprays from bath and body works and a gift card to Starbucks. Emily was always super generous, she sure did get a lot of gifts.

Finally it was time for me and Piper to give our gifts. I could tell the two of us were growing more and more nervous. Was it too much? We definitely had bought the most expensive gifts by far, and I could tell that each gift meant a lot to us.

I pulled out a small velvet blue box, the perfect size to fit into the palm of my hand. I only had one hand to use as the other was holding Piper's, yet she was being considerate and standing far away from me so that I could have a moment alone to give Jentzen his gift. "Now it's my time to give my gift to Jentzen" I announced. I took in a deep breath before revealing the box to him.

"Not to get sentimental and give a big speech, but, Jentzen... what can I say? You're my best friend and so much more, you know better than anyone how much I truly care for you, and how every day feels like a waiting game until I finally get to see you. I wanted to get you something a little special to me, because you are special to me" I breathed out.

Jentzen looked into my eyes, a playful smile on his lips. I had to be careful with my words, but deep down I knew he knew every single hidden meaning behind what I was saying. Finally I opened the box, revealing two silver rings. They were plain, except for the engraving of J+L on each of them.

"One for me, one for you" I mumbled, pulling out one of the rings and placing it on his finger. I put the other on mine. "Custom engraved matching rings?!" Jentzen breathed out in awe and disbelief. I nodded, even though he was busy looking at the ring on his finger. Finally he looked up and threw his arms around me.

"Thank you so much Lev, this means so much to me!" He exclaimed. He lowered his lips close to my ear. "I love you" he whispered, causing my whole face to turn red. Gladly no one had heard it but I was scared everyone would be able to see how fast my heart was beating at his three simple words.

"Aww, bestie rings!" Elliana cooed from behind us. I let go of Jentzen with my free arm, cringing at her words. Why did she have to ruin the moment? I brushed it aside, nodding my head. "Yeah, bro's for life" I agreed, causing Jentzen to let out a snort. "Of course" he nodded along, shooting me a teasing look.

Now it was Piper's turn to give her gift to Emily. "Well, Lev over here kinda stole my thunder" she teased, shooting me a jokingly annoyed look which caused everyone to laugh. "But it doesn't mean this gift means any less to me. Lev, can you uh, give me a free hand here?" She asked.

I took the lid off of the box for her, revealing two matching silver necklaces, both delicate with silver hearts and the word pemily engraved onto them. I'd never seen Emily smile so wide as when she saw the necklaces, yet she also looked incredibly nervous. "Pemily?" She questioned nervously. I saw Piper's confidence falter as she also grew nervous. "Uh, yeah, I... I-" she began stumbling over her words, when she stopped and noticed there were tears welling in Emily's eyes.

"Thank you so much Piper. I love it so much, you have no idea" she sniffled, giving Piper a hug. Piper let out a sigh of relief, noticing Emily wasn't weirded out by the gift or looking too much into it. "I would help you put it on but... you know..." Piper laughed nervously. Emily shook her head. "It's ok, I can do it".

She carefully removed one of the necklaces and put it around herself before grabbing the other one, moving Piper's hair out of the way and securing it around her neck. Piper smiled down at the necklace happily.

"Oh my god... I've just gotta say it." Jenna began. "After those two beautiful displays of friendship... of BEST FRIENDSHIP..." Jenna trailed off, letting go of Elliana. "They deserve to win" she finished. "WHAT?! NOOOOO!" Elliana shrieked angrily. "JENNA, THANKS TO YOU WE JUST LOST THE CHALLENGE!" Elliana whined.

Everyone gasped. "WELL THEN" Hunter began. "It looks like liper won the last to stop touching challenge!" Hunter beamed. Piper let go of my hand and stepped in front of the camera. "Thank you guys so much for watching! Don't forget to like, subscribe and turn on post notifications so that you never miss one of my videos. See you all next time, byeee!" She recited, completing her outro.

Hunter put down the camera tiredly, letting out a yawn. Good work today guys, I know it was a long filming day" he acknowledged, turning to go back into the house. Everyone followed him inside, apart from me and Jentzen who stayed out in the garden.

For a moment we stood in silence, looking around us and up at the dark sky. It was peaceful out here. Slowly, by my side, I felt Jentzen's hand make its way to mine and interlock our fingers. I smiled down at him and he smiled back at me. Maybe today wasn't so bad after all.