Somewhere In Brooklyn

Chapter 40

December 24, 2017

Anyone knew that today was the day before the big day, and for anyone who never bothered with dates, the city's decorations and carolers and late shoppers dutifully reminded them that holiday season was upon them.

Except maybe for the Underwood household which lacked some Christmas spirit. There's no tree. No hanging lights. No wreaths. No socks over the fireplace, since they didn't have a fireplace. No mistletoes hanging on the doorways (don't worry, they did have doors). No Christmas decorations, not even some holiday music on the background. The house was eerily quiet, saved for the loud crunches of potato chips.

Dale was sitting on his bed, his laptop in front of him, and bags (empty and unopened) of junk food around him. His mom took a double shift so she could be home by midnight. They decided (or rather she decided and he just agreed) to celebrate this year's Christmas by buying takeout roast turkey meals for two. Nothing extravagant.

Dale had already finished wrapping up his Christmas presents. There's only three people he bought and made gifts for, so it wasn't that hard. A purse with a bronze bracelet inside for his mom, three pairs of fuzzy socks and faux black diamond ring to add to Scott's collection, and a silver necklace with the letter "A" as the pendant and a mixtape for Althea.

Scott was coming by tomorrow to hangout and exchange gifts. Althea was at Seattle with her family, but they agreed to meet up at 29.

With a lot of hours to spare, he decided to watch every Christmas special of his favorite TV sitcoms. He already peeked at what his mom's gift for him — a headphones and an envelope full of cash. He was on the sixth season of Friends when his phone buzzed.

altheaaa:
merry christmas eve!! xx

It was just a simple greetings, but what bothered Dale was the two x's. Anyone knew the x meant kiss. Before he lost his mind overthinking what those two x's meant, he replied the safest (and dumbest) reply he could ever thought of.

dale:
same :-)

Before he could even resume to watching Friends, she replied back.

altheaaa:
look at that nose!! can't believe you still put noses in your smileys. what are you guys cooking?

dale:
how else am i supposed to breathe? nothing. mom's at work, she's just gonna buy something. what about on your side?

altheaaa:
right. point taken. we must put a dash so our emoticons can breathe :-)
buy something? it's not her day off? are you alone there?
you should cook something, even just spaghetti!!
do you know how to cook spaghetti??
they're making me bake cookies ahhhh
they better not blame me if i burn these goodies or the kitchen or the house lol
also if these cookies turn out good, they better not blame me for eating like half of them!!