The Secret (Boston's Best 1)

Chapter Thirty-Four

Maddie

I'm sitting at the kitchen island eating the piece of cake that says 'ginger' on it –thank you Matt and Alex, so very funny, when Penelope shouts, "Present time!"

Everyone scatters and comes back into the kitchen holding various bags and I flush, "Oh no, guys yous didn't have to get me anything."

"Well it's too late for that now, isn't it sweetheart?" Darius tilts his head at me and I try to hide into myself.

Aebhín jumps up and shoves the present bag in my face, "Me first!"

I peep into the bag and see a wrapped up shoe box.

I look over at Aebhín curious and she shrugs at me. I open the box and inside of it is a compilation of all of my favourite sweets and chocolate and a vanilla scented candle, and the lid of the box has loads of pictures of us from childhood to now.

"Oh, Aebhín." I get up and hug her, "This is so cute, thank you so much."

Alex goes next and hands me a card that has a leprechaun on it –I'm not even going to try and think about how he found one, and inside of it is a fifty dollar voucher to Dunkin.

Because "I'm cranky without caffeine" says him. Which is true but that's not the point.

Evelyn gives me a vanilla and jasmine perfume which smells divine, and a Gaelic football and again I say I haven't a clue how they found one.

I promised Ev I'd try and teach them how to play Gaelic and they are holding me to that promise.

The gifts start getting expensive then and I'm just trying to figure out how to politely tell them all to return everything.

Penelope got me baby blue and white Air Jordans. That I love to be fair, but it's too much for a present.

Felix got me a coffee machine and I'm starting to sense that people know I live off of coffee.

Darius got me one of those super high quality durable suitcases that has  a lock on it, because he said he remembered that I once said that I love to travel.

And Brooke is the most insane out of everyone. She got me a silver Cartier tennis bracelet. She said now I have a Cartier one, Pen has a Thomas Sabo one, and she has a Tiffany & Co one.

"Matching but not matching" were her exact words.

Everyone looks at Matt and I say, "Saved the best for last, huh?"

Matt hands me his bag and says, "It's not much."

I smile and accept the bag from him. I open it and pull out a Speak Now by Taylor Swift vinyl.

I remember us singing one of the songs from this album a few weeks ago. He would have had to try and remember the lyrics to the song and look it up and find out the name of the album it was from to find this. I might combust, this is possibly the cutest thing anyone's ever done for me.

"Matt, thank you. I love it."

He smiles shyly, "Turn it over."

I look at him confused but do as he says and flip the vinyl over to see that  not only is it the album that we sang to but it's a signed copy of the album.

"It's not much, huh?" Aebhín says from beside me but I ignore her.

"Oh my god. This is amazing, thank you truly."

"There's one more thing." He says and I pull out a certificate from the bottom of the bag and Matt continues talking, "It's a driving lesson. You said that you only have one left and then you can take your test, so may as well get it over with."