Hollywood and Mr. Popular (the original)

Chapter 27

"Alright," Mom says, rubbing her hands together excitedly. "Who's first?"

"Oh, oh, pick me, pick me." Dylan waves his hands through the air like an excited little five year old. He jumps up, running over to the tree and grabbing his bag full of gifts. "For you, m'lady." He says, handing me a decent sized box. He also hands one to Mom, Stela, Jared, Max, Eli, and Alex. I open mine slowly, ogling over everyone else's gifts before finally ripping mine open.

A small smile crosses over my lips as I pulled out a spandex surfing suit. Dylan smiled sheepishly, pulling a surfboard from behind the tree.

"I figured since I'm not your babysitter anymore, maybe surfing could be our thing." I laugh, pulling him into a hug and thanking him.

"Next," Mom says, thanking Dylan for the red stilettos he'd gotten for her. Personally, I thought that was a little weird but, hey, it was his gift. Deuce winced, pushing himself up and grabbing his bag. He handed Mom and Nick a personal gift, a thank you for taking care of him, he said. I smiled, noticing Nick's pleased expression from receiving a gift. I knew it made him feel like a part of our dysfunctional family.

He also gave Ashley a gift, apoligizing to everyone else for not getting them a gift but promising to get back to them. I frown as he hands me a small, brown, cardboard box with a ribbon tied around it. My confusion grows as I pull the ribbon off and reveal a set of keys.

"I, um, thanks." I say, trying to sound grateful. Deuce chuckles pulling me up and leading me outside. My jaw dropped as I stared at the black Mercedes. "My car." I exclaim as my legs carried me over to it and I inspected it closes. No scratches, no broken windows and all parts appeared to be there.

"I had it fixed up a little while after you left. But, I wasn't sure how to give it to you without seeming desperate so, I, uh, yeah." I grinned, throwing my arms around his neck.

"Thank you so much." I open my eyes and noticed Eli giving me a weird look. I pull away smirking.

"What, you didn't get me a car too, did you?" My comment brings on a small smile.

"No, you did tell me not to spend anymore money on you."

"And did you listen?" I ask, raising an eyebrow. He smile even bigger.

"Of course not." I shake my head, heading back into the house with the others. Eli takes my hand in his, pulling me down on the couch next to him and wrapping his arm around me. He places a small kiss on my forehead and I blush as everyone gives us knowing looks.

"Maybe we should move things along so that we can get JJ and her boyfriend some time alone." Stela teased. I feel my heart sink a little at her words. Neither Eli or I had asked each other out so technically we weren't dating. And he was leaving in a few hours anyway, so there wouldn't be much alone time. Stela didn't seem to notice though, as she handed everyone what she called personalized gifts, which were actually tickets to her concert next Sunday. Eli of course did notice, squeezing my hand and asking what was wrong.

"Nothing." I say, forcing a smile.

"It's not too late, you know." I ignore his words, turning to him and smiling.

"Open your gift." He presses his lips into a thin line, taking the hint that I hadn't changed my mind and wasn't going with him. He opens the bag and removes the gift, chuckling softly.

"What is it?" I ask, scooting so close to him I was practically on his lap. I gasp, blushing at the embarassing baby picture Stela had taken the liberty of framing. I had spaghetti sauce all over my chin and was holding the noodle above my lip like a mustache, cheesing way to hard at the camera.