House of Goths

Chapter 37

Dorian's plan...

Dorian didn't know what the others had in mind, but he'd made his plan to make things right between him and Becky.

There she is, hiding behind that tree trunk, thinking he hadn't seen her. The girl could be silly beyond belief sometimes. He barely contained his laughter as he pulled up by the curb and got out of the van.

"Ah, ha!" he said, sneaking around the tree. "Got you!"

"Dorian!" she gasped, startling before blushingly guiltily. "What are you doing?"

"I might ask you the same question," he smirked, crossing his arms, leaning casually up against the tree. "Why are you hiding from me?"

"I am not hiding," she lied, averting her eyes from him.

"Don't lie to me," he quirked a smile, bending to her level. "I saw you deke behind this tree when you spotted my van following you." He couldn't help but chuckle at her guilty expression. "Never mind that now. It's cold out, let me drive you home."

"I don't need you to drive me home!" she stated, looking furtively from his friendly face to the puffy collar of his fleece lined bomber jacket. "I don't mind walking, and I'm quite used to the cold."

"Nonsense..." he laughed, taking her hand and literally dragging her towards the van. "Go on, Becky, get in before someone thinks I'm abducting you," he chuckled heartily as he hoisted her up into the passenger seat and shut the door.

Becky sat fuming as Dorian got in beside her and started up the van. "Just who do you think are?" she challenged, reluctantly buckling herself in.

"Your housemate? Your friend?" he said as he drove along.

"I don't have any friends," she said, looking out the window, seeing him drive right on past their home. "Hey?"

"Don't be ridiculous," Dorian said, patting her on the knee. "You have us, and you have me. Even though we haven't been very good at showing it sometimes, you must know we do care about you."

"All you all care about are yourselves," she said with a frown. "Now tell me where we're going or pull over and let me out!"

"Relax, Becky, I thought you'd like to come pick out a Christmas tree with me." He let her jab go for now. He wasn't looking for an argument, just to spend some time with her, away from the others.

"A Christmas tree?" she repeated, suddenly realizing just how far into December it was. In her melancholy state as of late, she hadn't even noticed. How odd, given that she'd always loved Christmastime. Then again with all that had happened lately, it shouldn't surprise her.

"Yeah, what do you think?" he asked, glancing sideways at her.

"What kind of tree, and where will we put it?" she asked, slowly coming around.

"Well, I don't know, a regular one?" he chuckled. As far as he was concerned, a Christmas tree was a Christmas tree. "We usually put it in the living room by the old fireplace."

"Oh... that sounds like a nice place to put it, but won't it get in the way of the television?"

"Ah, we'll make it work. Besides, it doesn't have to be a big tree."

"No, I suppose not." she shrugged as he pulled into the grocery store parking lot.

"Oh, of course," she said, seeing the burlap covered trees out front. "I was afraid we were going to have to go cut one down."

"Uh... no. I'm not quite that adventurous. Besides, that would require spending a lot of time outdoors. If you haven't noticed, I don't much like being cold," he said as hopped out of the van. "Come along, girlie."