Sugarcane Chronicles Volume I: One and Lonely (ryden)

The Battle of Spherical Snowfall

I found my cocoa by the fireplace, where Patrick, Josh and Tyler were roasting marshmallows. I joined them, burning my marshmallow every time.

"When are we gonna get-I mean give gifts?" Spencer asked impatiently.

"Why don't you just hold on?" Jon asked, sounding just as annoyed. "We're going to be stuck here, so the least we can do is hold off on the gifts for a while."

"But Jon!" Spencer whined.

"But Spencer!" Jon said in the same tone. Spencer gave him a pouty face and Jon sighed. "Fine. Gather everyone around and we'll do it." Spencer gave him a look (not a bad kind; more like a sexual way referring to the 'we'll do it' part).

"Gift time!" he yelled. Everyone scurried into the living room and sat down; the 'adults' on the couches and chairs and all the 'kids' in the floor.

"Well that's one way to do it," Jon muttered.

"Who do we start with?" I asked.

"We just pass out gifts and open them all at the same time," Ryan said. "I'll pass them out." He got up and started passing out gifts to their rightful owners from the pile in the corner of the room. I watched as Ryan passed my gift to Jon and I hoped he would like it (it was just my luck that got me the hardest person to shop for).

Ryan sat back down next to me with his gift and I looked at him expectantly.

He looked at me because I was staring at him. "What?" he asked.

"I don't want to be rude, but where's my present?" I asked.

A look of realization and then confusion came across his face. He took a breath to say something but was interrupted by Tyler standing up.

"Oh, yeah," Tyler said. "I almost forgot." He stopped walking when he got to me. "Stand up." I did as he told me and he wrapped his arms around me. "Merry holidays."

"Uh, thanks," I said as he pulled away from the hug. Well at least that gets wondering who my secret Santa is out of the way.

Tyler sat back down and Pete counted to three and everyone opened their presents simultaneously. I watched everyone's reactions (Jon's in particular) and drank my cocoa quietly.

Jon's reaction to the pin art toy was confusion and then recognition. He smiled and pressed it against his hand. He turned it around and pressed it to his face before pulling it away carefully and looking at the imprint it made. He laughed and nudged Pete to show him it.

Then I heard the sound of a ukulele and I saw Tyler the happiest I ever had seen him and strumming his ukulele. Josh was sitting next to him, switching his Santa hat out for a new SnapBack.

Ryan nudged me to show me his new journal.

"I don't know why they keep giving me journals," he said, holding it out for me to see. "I mean, I like writing alright, but not enough to get a journal every gift-giving event that comes up. I have a whole stack of journals exactly like this in my closet." He started laughing and I laughed with him.

When our laughter died down, I asked, "So who'd you get?"

"Um..." He leaned closer to me. "Do you see Pete's new necklace?" I nodded. "I got him that a while ago. What's cool about it is that it'll fit when he's in dog form."

"Cool," I said.

"So, who'd you get?"

"Jon." I pointed to him shaking the toy and smiling.

"You found one of those things?" Ryan asked incredulously. "He's been trying to find one for ages."

"'Ages'?" I asked, smiling. "Are you British now?"