Tall l.h.

132. Christmas

My phone charger fell into the floor with a thud. I groaned, but didn't care enough to roll over and try to plug it back in. My phone was at 50% by now, but I didn't have any plans all day. I could charge it later when I cared more.

I curled up around my blankets and tried to ignore the sunshine flooding through the screen doors and the crushing weight of knowing I had Christmas presents to buy and still no tree to put them under.

It was five days until Christmas. Five. I had to buy seven Christmas presents, one for each person in the squad and a couple extra for people tagging along for the evening.

Luke told me I didn't have to buy him - or anyone - a present, but he was the only one I actually wanted to buy a present for. What I really wanted was a quiet night with just the two of us, but when I proposed the idea, Luke invited his friends and whoever they wanted to bring along. Naturally Honey found out from Michael and invited herself so the whole evening was now a full blown Christmas party.

I decided there was no point trying to sleep anymore with all these intrusive thoughts floating around, so I threw the covers off of my body and got my day started.

I plugged my phone back in and found a text in the group chat.

Honey-Pie:
I think we should do a secret Santa bc a) I'm poor and b) I don't have time to buy everyone presents.

This was an amazing idea for me so I responded with a positive comment on the idea. The others slowly agreed and it was settled that everyone would bring one gift and we'd have a white elephant trade at some point in the night.

My day went on pretty normally. I let the cat inside for some breakfast, I went for a run, showered, and then made some lunch for myself. My days were still regular and boring the way I liked them.

I was leaning against the kitchen counter with a bowl of ramen noodles when Luke came through the front door. He was carrying grocery bags and other bags from retail shops that I could only assume were Christmas presents. He tossed them onto the couch and I watched as he walked into my bedroom. I knew he was looking for me, because that's usually where he found me, but he failed to realize it was three in the afternoon. I waited patiently for him to come back and see me in the kitchen.

"Oh, there you are!" He said as I rolled my eyes. He took my bowl from my hands and set it on the counter before he kissed my cheek. "Can you help me wrap my presents?"

I laughed and shook my head. He pouted as I grabbed my bowl back. I wanted to finish eating. "You can wrap your own presents."

"No I can't!" He whined leaning against the counter next to me. Butter scampered in and sat down on the floor at our feet. He meowed at us and Luke laughed. "Butter wants you to wrap them."

"No."

Luke bent down and lifted the cat into his arms. Butter didn't used to like Luke at all, but he got used to him being around and warmed up to him. It only took two years. It hadn't helped that Luke wasn't a cat person.

"Please, Sydney?" He pouted, nuzzling into Butter's fur. "it always looks like shit when I wrap presents."

"How about I teach you to wrap them and then you can wrap them yourself." I put my bowl in the sink and went over to the couch. He rushed over and snatched the bags from my view, dropping my cat in the process. Butter ran away and perched himself on the arm of the couch.