"𝙄𝙛 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙩𝙤𝙤𝙠 𝙖 𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚 𝙤𝙣 𝙢𝙚 𝙜𝙞𝙧𝙡, 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙬𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙨𝙚𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙄'𝙢 𝙖𝙣 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙢𝙖𝙣."
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The story of a teenage girl, navigating the ways of college life and adulthood, while trying to keep ahold of her...
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DALLAS, TX
"These are for you," Mrs. Teal said as Mr. Teal handed Brianna a few boxes with a variety of sizes before going to grab 2 more and bringing them to me, "And these are for you, JK. I hope you guys love it, Thomas and I thought hard about what to get for you guys." I smiled seeing the gifts, grateful that every year they managed to include me in their festivities. Though I couldn't be home, it was still nice to be at another place that I considered one.
"You open yours first," I said to Brianna, seeing as she sat crisscrossed apple sauce beside me, her parents sitting in front of us. "How about I open one, then you open one?" She said, a soft grin on her lips. Though I nodded, my attention was extremely focused on her neck, the almost completely unnoticeable blotches of makeup all over it making me stifle a laugh as she continued to open her box.
As she unwrapped the paper, and unfolded the box, the contents inside were exposed and revealed a Uggs box with the Tasman slippers she wanted in the color black. Her eyes grew with excitement, her face replicating a childlike smile as she looked up to her parents, "Thank you so much guys, I wanted these."
"It was your mom's idea," Mr. Teal stated, the woman too busy taking pictures of the girl. I smiled looking at her as she posed with her shoes on either side of her head, her lips forming a pout as she gently snarled her lip. After the picture was taken, she sat the shoes down and faced me.
"Now your turn," She said to me, gesturing towards my medium-sized box in front of me. I nodded, going to pick it up before gently opening it, and inside it sat 3 other medium-sized boxes. I chuckled at their antics. "What?" Mrs. Teal said, "You didn't think you were only getting two things did you?"
I looked up at her and smiled, "Either way, I was grateful."
"I love this kid," Mr. Teal said, looking at Brianna, the girl smiling proudly at me as I continued to open my gifts. When I opened the first box, immediately I started smiling, looking up at Mr. Teal, and seeing his excited smile. "You like it?" He asked as I stared at the Dallas Cowboys jersey, lifting it and examining it with a smile. Ever since I was a kid, Mr. Teal would have me sit and watch football with him, and it was always the Cowboys.
I wasn't a huge fan of the team, but even as I got older, I still would come over and watch the game with him. It wasn't the gift per se, but more so the thought behind it. "Turn it around son," he said to me, and as I flipped it around I noticed the word 'Jeon' on the back with the number 97 on it, indicating my birth year, "Just like mine!".
It felt good knowing he valued those times just as much as I did, considering that when my father left, he was the closest thing I had to one. He taught me how to grill, about football, how to treat women, you know, before I left and lost all common sense. He was a great man, an inspirational man.
"I love it, Mr. Teal. Thank you so much," I said, folding it with a smile and placing it beside me, "I gotta wear it next game day, huh?"
"We playing Tennessee, so of course," He said, "I have a good feeling bout that game there."
