Little Things | An Original

23

Maeve

I've been slowly but surely gathering Christmas gifts for everyone in my family, and today I got a big chunk of shopping done.

Maren and I got to spend the day together, so we went downtown to go to the Magnificent Mile. It's the best place to shop in Chicago.

It's not everyday that I get to spend one-on-one time with my sister, so it always makes me really happy. Now that she's getting older, she's becoming such a strong and independent young woman. I'm so proud of her.

She's starting to think about going to college now that she's been to The Olympics. Maren will still train for gymnastics, but she wants to get a degree in the meantime.

The two of us had a lot of fun together today. We ate lunch after going shopping, and then we hung out at my apartment for a little while.

After Maren went home (she recently got her driver's license, which turned me into a puddle cause my baby sister is growing up too fast), I decided to go down to the bookstore to sort through some inventory.

Technically the store is closed right now, but I get a lot of important work done in the after hours. I usually put some music on and get to work, and right now I'm taking a list of everything in the stock room.

I'm sitting on the floor, writing down everything that is on the bottom shelves in here, when my brother pops into the doorway.

"Hey, Maeve," he says. "I figured you'd be in here."

"Really?" I ask.

Milo shrugs, sitting down next to me on the floor. "Well, your car is here and you weren't upstairs. All the lights are on in the store. Huh. I wonder where you could be."

"Anyway, what's up?" I ask.

"I was bored, so I wanted to come visit you," Milo says. "Sabrina's nannying overnight tonight, so I was home alone."

"You poor thing," I say. "Now that you don't live alone, you hate being by yourself."

"Hey, I almost always had people over when I lived by myself. Reese stayed over a lot, and so did you, Missy."

"So, how are things with Dalton?" Milo asks.

I smile. "I bought all of his Christmas presents today."

"Nice," Milo says. "What did he get you for your birthday?"

"Well, we saw a show downtown, and then we ate dinner and stayed in a hotel. He paid for everything, plus he got me this really nice bracelet," I say, holding up my wrist.

"Wow," Milo says. "Did you have fun?"

"So much fun," I say. "Dalton is just so fun to be with. No matter what we do, he's just happy that we get to spend time together. Even if I make him watch a romantic comedy. He likes those, Milo! I could rave about him all day. I really could. Dalton is the best partner I've ever had."

"I'm so happy for you, Maeve. You deserve someone who makes you feel this good about yourself. There's a huge difference in the way you carry yourself compared to when you were with he who shall not be named."

"Dalton really likes you," I say. "In fact, he was just talking about planning a guys' night soon."

"That sounds fun," Milo says.

"So, are you ready to go to Colombia?"

"So ready," Milo says. "Sabrina is ecstatic that I'm finally getting to meet the rest of her family."