Turning Tables ---Going Under Construction---

Christmas Gifts

"If I hear Rocking  Around The Christmas Tree one more time, I'm going to scream," Greg moaned as we walked around the mall. When my parents invited me to their annual Christmas party I was reluctant, especially since my dad hadn't said anything to me since our fight, but I couldn't think of an excuse not to go and they said I could invite Greg and Sasha. Currently, we were searching for gifts to give to my parents. 

The mall was filled with anxious parents holding tight on their fidgety kids, teens running around to different stores without glancing at much, and older people wishing they had more options than a crowded mall a week before Christmas. 

Even though everything was crowded and loud, I was having a nice time hanging out with both of my friends sans drama. 

"You need to stop being so grumpy Gregory," Sasha said as she pulled us into a store full of figurines. Every time we came to Flat Irons she had to come into this store. She never walked out with anything, just loved the finer things. 

There was actually a shelf of figurines in her bedroom that her parents had gotten her when she was young. There was one that said Mother's are Earths Angles that I now know has a far deeper meaning than I believed. 

Greg's face twisted up at the full version of his name, "Don't call me that." The salespeople gave us a warning glance. 

Sasha barely acknowledged them as she looked at a snowglobe that could hold a picture inside. "I can't imagine what you are talking about Gregory, I feel as though if your tone were less grumpy I could hear you better." 

I laughed as Greg continued to twinge at the use of Gregory, which actually wasn't his full name, but Sasha found out early she could get under his skin using it. I moved to the back of the store to a case that held office supplies you could engrave. I figured it was something my dad might like, even if he were retiring soon. 

Looking over the pens and paperweights nothing felt quite right. It was always hard to shop for my dad, he always asked for so little. Actually, nothing at all. Of course, he always had gifts under the tree and he always said he loved them, it was just odd to wonder if we ever really got it right. 

On the shelf behind the case, something catches my eye. It's a pair of bookends, one end a silhouette of a man with his hands outstretched. The other side is a small girl on a swing, the girl high in the air. I pick the side with the girl up and look at it, thinking about a time when I was that small and hadn't begun to horribly disappoint my parents. 

I catch a sales girls eye and by the bookends before I change my mind. 

When I get back to Sasha and Greg they are still bickering. 

"Gregory," she chides. "We are in a place of business and I think you need to keep your voice down."

With a fuming stare, he storms out of the store and over to the food court. Sasha and I nearly double over in laughter. It isn't often when Greg breaks from his got-it-all-figured-out routine and it's nice to be the ones to break it every once and a while. 

"Come on," I giggled. "Let's go get him, and maybe a pretzel and coffee on the way." 

Sasha agreed easily and we ran after Greg.

We find him already in the pretzel line ordering so we fall into step behind him. "What did you get?" Sasha asks, peeking into my bag. 

"Bookends for my dad," I tell her. "Hopefully he will like them better than last years Best Buy gift cards."

Greg laughs even though it had been his idea to buy it for him. 

"Not a big electronics guy?" She laughs right along.

I shake my head. "I thought maybe he would buy a new TV or something cool for the house. Instead, he gives it to Greg which I believe was the intention all along." I glare over at him as he stuffs a pepperoni preztel bite in his mouth. 

Greg throws his hands up in surrender. "I have told you a million times, I didn't think he would do that. There are no complaints here though."

"Sir Gregory Arthur Phillips," Sasha yells after him. Again, not his name. Also again, bugs the hell out of him. 

He throws a pretzel at her. "You need to shut up."

The teller gives me and Sasha our cinnimon pretzels and I push my friends along. 

"Come children."

About an hour later and at least 4 more renditions of Rocking Around The Christmas Tree we finished our shopping and piled into Gregs SUV. "Did you get something for Xander?" Greg asks as I look through all my bags.

"I thought you were breaking up with him," Sasha interjects.

I sigh. It had been such a weird few weeks since making this decision. I hadn't been able to see Emmitt and Xander kept reminding me of the person I first loved. I just kept pushing breaking up with him off and now... "I am, but it felt weird not getting him a present since I'm not doing it until the new year." 

"Why?" Sasha questions as she leans between Greg and me from the back seat. 

Even though I know it's an excuse I tell her my perfectly sound reasoning. "He's going to Florida with his family over the weekend and won't be back until the first. I'm seeing him tomorrow, but I didn't want to send him into the holidays all mopey."

Greg slowly pulls out of the packed parking lot. "Just do it before February," he chides. 

Sasha groans in the backseat. "Plus, if your new plan is to work, you will be with Emmitt before that romantic day."

"I still don't think there is a scenario where Xander is just cool with me dating his best friend." Though Sasha had been hell-bent on finding one. Most of them included Emmitt and me running away together or elaborately sending Xander across the country somehow. 

"In the end, it doesn't really matter," Greg says. "If you and Emmitt want to be together you will be. If it isn't worth the effort, then don't even try. Xander needs to know either way."

"Very philosophical Gregory, you've grown as wise as your name." 

I tune out as the bickering starts again and think about what I'll have to do next. For now, all I have to worry about is my parent's party. Everything after that will be a cakewalk.