Quiet Enlightenment

Part 2, Chapter 17 - Caroling

Friday, December 25, 2015

Mia yawned as she opened her eyes on Christmas morning. She looked out of the window, secretly hoping for some of that iconic Christmas snow, only to find disappointment as the temperature was now too warm for that.

Picking up her phone, she saw that it was almost eleven in the morning. Still a bit tired, she went downstairs to see what was under the tree. After spending an hour eating lunch and getting pretty much gift cards from her parents, she looked at a gift sitting on the table next to the front door.

"Would you two hate me if I wanted to give that to Cameron?" Mia asked her parents.

"No more than you dating him." Mr. Kleve said as her mother snickered.

"Dad. Seriously?"

"Now Graham, that's enough. Dear, you have to realize that your father's going to hate everybody that you date. It's part of the contract that they made him sign at the hospital when you were born."

"Signed with blood." Mr. Kleve said as his daughter let out a bit of a laugh.

"Go be with your boyfriend." Mrs. Kleve said. Mia got out her phone and sent a text to Cameron. Her face lit up when he replied back with an invitation for her to come to his house.

"He's up for it. See you two later! Love you!" Mia said as she pulled on her coat.

"Bye, sweetie!"

"Signed. In. Blood."

"GRAHAM!"

Mia grabbed the package and took off towards Cameron's house. The temperature was in the mid-forties, not enough to make snow yet enough to make one feel chilly. She got to Cameron's house and walked up to the front, only to be surprised when he opened the door to greet her.

"Merry Christmas! Where's my gift? Is that my gift? Gimme!" Cameron playfully said as he took Mia's coat.

"Hey, where's mine?"

"No, me first."

"Me. First."

"Fine. You first. Here you go." Cameron said with a smile as he handed her a small plain cardboard box.

"Did you run out of wrapping paper?"

"Have you tried to wrap a present?"

In response, Mia held up the present that she wrapped for him. Cameron realized that his joke fell flat and didn't respond. Feeling a little bad, Mia decided to open up the present.

"Cameron... are you serious?!" she exclaimed as she pulled out a DVD boxset.

"Now you won't have to worry about getting in trouble for downloading."

"This... is... wow! I saw this online, it's expensive!"

"Worth it!" Cameron said as she wrapped her arms around him and gave him a quick kiss.

"Your turn. But it's not as good." Mia said a bit sadly as she handed him his gift. He quickly opened it to find a new stocking cap.

"Wow, this is cool!" Cameron genuinely said as he put it on.

"Use that as a coaster and it's going up your nose."

"I love it. Almost as much as I lo-"

"Hey, hey. Dial down the mushiness!" Mia quickly said.

"So... what do you want to do? I'm surprised that you don't want to run home and watch that." Cameron sheepishly asked.

"Anything you want to do. You're the one getting shafted here."