Empty Chair

Chapter Five

CHAPTER FIVE

What did I just do?

I should have just ignored his questions, smiled, and walked away.

That's what I do with everyone else! But when he asked me, I just, I don't know what happend...

Hopefully I won't see him tomorrow and he'll forget about our encounter.

Yeah... no. Wishful thinking.

Sitting Indian style on my bed in pj's, I took out my phone. In the middle of the screen there was a missed call notification. I was surprised to see who it was. Laying down on my pillow, I pressed the green icon to call them back.

"GUESS WHAT?" I flinched at the volume of her voice.

"Hello to you too Margaret," I chuckled, "What?"

"I just got Chase the best gift ever for Christmas!" Chase is, as Margaret describes, "the best man the world has ever known" but I just think of him as Margaret's boyfriend. Which he has been for at least two years now.

"You're just getting his gift now? Christmas is the day after tomorrow."

She huffed, "Listen, I have been worrying over what to get him this whole entire month, so just be happy for me that I found something perfect in time." she ended her sentence with a silent request for me to ask what that "something" is.

I decided to humor her and gasped over dramatically, "And what would this oh so amazing gift happen to be?"

"Well, I was just walking around in town when I came across this little store, it was all creepy and old looking on the outside. To be honest, I wouldn't have even have stepped one foot inside if Aaron hadn't kept on going on about-"

"Why was Aaron with you?"

"I figured he could help me out with finding Chase a gift since he's a guy. Plus, he had to find Bridget a gift too." A year ago, Aaron and Bridget got together. It has been a long time coming; now all they do is just... be together, it's like that's all they know how to do. As annoying as it is seeing them together all of the time, I hope to have someone to be like they are with someone someday.

"Oh; did he find anything?" I asked.

"Yeah, it was this silver necklace that had some stone in it; but listen to what I found for Chase-" she dismissed the subject of Aaron and Bridget, too excited about her news. "So, behind all of this antique looking stuff was... it." I laughed at her dramatic pause.

"A baseball."

I burst out laughing. "A baseball? Jeez, you made it sound like you got him some sacred jewel or something."

"It's a special ball." she protested with a whine.

"How?"

"Well, it... um, I want him to sign it."

"What?"

"Look, I want to be his "first fan". You know how he wants to become a professional baseball player? Well, I figured, professionals have fans right? I want to be his very first. I believe in him."

I was silent for a moment before I spoke, "That's it."

"Huh?" she questioned.

"That's it. The perfect gift. He'll love it." sometimes it's hard to hide the jealousy in my voice at the fact that my friends have someone. But I managed to pull the curtain closed this time.

"You think so?" she asked with uncertainty.

"Yes." I am 100% positive she has the biggest smile on her face right now.