Masqueraded Identities

Chapter Nineteen

The remaining month until Christmas break went incredibly quickly. I had bought Mark his Christmas present, a beautiful leather journal that I feel he would appreciate greatly, because as I found out, he loved to write. I was excited to give it to him. I had never been good with Christmas gifts, but with him, it was easy peasy lemon squeezy.

I had also bought Tay a present. She said we would be breaking the roomie best friend honor code if we didn't give each other gifts. I just rolled my eyes. Even though, in all honesty, I had planned on buying her something anyway.

I had finally decided on getting her a giant, singing card that sang Tik Tok by Ke$ha, with a cute, little guitar pick necklace inside (she played guitar). How I managed to find a giant card that sang out Ke$ha lyrics was beyond me, but I did, and boy, was I proud of that damned thing!

It was the day before the students had to leave campus for break. We were taking a break from our absolutely brutal rehearsal. It was one of those rehearsals where you're going along just fine, someone stumbles on a line, and you have to re-start the whole scene. Oh, the joys of correcting errors. Tech week was better than these constant interruptions. And that's saying something, because rehearsing from 2:30 in the afternoon to 11 at night is not exactly a bucket of fun.

I went to my bag and took out a water bottle. Mark came over and put his head on mine.

“This sucks,” he said.

I laughed. “Most definitely. How much longer do I have to scream out my monologue?! I'm gonna lose my voice!”

“Well, that's what cough drops are for.”

“Thank you, for your wise words, Captain Smart Ass.”

“That's Mr. Captain Smart Ass to you,” Mark said as he kissed my cheek.

I rolled my eyes, and said, “I have your Christmas present!”

“Do you now?”

“Mhm!”

I dug around in my bag for the carefully wrapped journal. I turned around and handed it to him. He opened it delicately, and smiled wide when he opened the journal.

“This is awesome!” he said, smiling.

“Really? It's not lame or girly or tacky?”

“Not at all. This is really nice. Thanks, babe,” he said, putting an arm around my waist and kissing me firmly on the lips. He pulled away, and said, “Your gift is in my dorm. I'll get it when rehearsal is over.”

I nodded and wrapped my arms around his neck, hugging him to me. His arms wrapped tightly around my waist, his hand gently rubbing my back.

We pulled away and went back to the wonderful world of rehearsal.

I stood shivering outside of Mark's dorm, who had run to his room to get my gift. It was cold, very cold, and all I wanted was to go to my dorm, find Tay, and drag her to the campus cafe to get a hot chocolate.

Finally, Mark came out, with a small box and card in his hand.

He handed them to me, and watched me as I opened the card. I smiled at the iTunes card.

“I will definitely use this!” I exclaimed, tucking it back in the card, which was a cute little Christmas card that couples get for each other.

I then opened the box to see an extremely pretty locket necklace. I smiled, took it out of the box, and said, “Put it on.”

I lifted up my hair, and Mark wrapped the necklace around my neck, securing its clasp.

“I love it,” I said, turning around to look at him.

Mark smiled, and said, “I am so glad.”

Suddenly, Ryan came out the dorm rooms.

“Mark, have you been in my room, again?” Ryan asked accusingly, with a sense of panic in his voice.

“No? What's your issue?” Mark snapped back.

“Well, there was a necklace in there but now it's go-” Ryan interrupted himself and fell silent as he saw the necklace around my neck. He gulped, turned around, and went back into the building. What the hell?

Mark and I both stared after him for a second, then Mark snapped out of it, turned to face me, and said, “I really do love the journal.”

I smiled proudly. “I'm glad. I thought it would fit your artsy side.”

“Oh, it does. I can't wait to write and draw in it. Hey, speaking of which, I've been meaning to ask. Would you ever let me draw you?”

My eyes went wide, and thoughts of my masked stranger started flitting about rabidly in my head. The drawing... The poetic notes... Was there any way it could be Mark? Were the pieces of this mystery finally starting to come together to form the solution to the puzzle?

I snapped myself out of my train of thought and said, “Uh, yeah! That'd be awesome!”

Mark smiled. “Okay. It's gonna be of my choice, though. You have a few really great ones on your Facebook that I want to draw so bad.”

“Go for it, hon.”

Mark put his hands on my face, and kissed me firmly. He let me go and said, “Sometimes, I wonder if I'll ever fall in love with you.”

He then turned around and walked into his dorm building, leaving me more confused than ever. And, even though most girls would freak if a guy as attractive as Mark was falling in love with them, I wasn't. I wasn't really happy about it at all. It didn't feel right.

Love was supposed to feel natural, not forced. And after the past few screw-ups of Mark's, and the ever confusing plot of my masked stranger, well, love was not a word I would use to describe my feelings for Mark.

I felt like I could say I loved Ryan more than Mark, mainly because I felt comfortable with Ryan, and not like I was a comment away from getting slapped.

And, considering the ongoing battles between Ryan and I, that was really saying something.

I was still shaking my head in disbelief by the time I arrived at my dorm.