The Christmas Note | ✔

Eighteen

I huffed and puffed as I carried what felt like an endless mess of boxes up the fourteenth flight of stairs. Cursing myself for getting so many gifts. I left the presents in plain paper bags so they didn’t look enticing to the thieves around here, not that any of them would want to walk this far to steal anything. When I arrived at Amber’s door I dropped the boxes wincing as they hit the ground in a clutter. I sunk to my  knees beginning to work on the arrangement of the presents by her door. The bags were ripped the objects delicately wrapped inside exposed on the edges. This has been an utter fail.

    I cursed myself once more swearing that they had looked much nicer when I had started my journey not more than an hour ago. I tried to stay positive though hoping that when Amber came home she would be thrilled. Miranda and her ended up not purchasing all of the decorations they had looked at. I carefully remembered each thing she picked up placing in the basket before placing it back on the shelf. I had no clue why she put them back but I hoped it wasn’t because she decided she didn’t like them. I glanced over the bags once more counting to make sure they were all here. Every last gift was tugged not so neatly where it should be. I applaud myself for putting all of this together so quickly.

I checked the watch on my hand, it was a quarter after noon meaning I was nearing the end of my lunch break. I quickly fumbled with the packaging trying my best to make it all look presentable. I hoped that each box was left alone as I tried to think back to every sheet of paper I had left with its present. Each something I loved about Amber. Though it wasn’t her note for the day, it should at least make her smile. I held closely to the real note in my pocket, not wanting to leave it with the gifts in case they did end up snatched by restless hands.

I entered the stairwell taking one last glance at the presents sitting alone. I hoped they would still be there when she got home. I found my feet fumbling down the stairs skipping a few as often as I could. Why wouldn’t they fix the elevator in this building already? I was relieved when I took the last flight of steps telling me my journey down was nearly over.

On my walk back to the office building I couldn’t stop smiling to myself. I wondered what she was thinking. Maybe Amber wasn’t worried about it too much, she had other things that were going on. I wondered if she knew who it was and just hadn’t said anything. Maybe she had no clue who I was. I couldn’t wait to see the look on her face when she found out who I was. I could invision it now us standing in the snow, a fresh layer falling gently from the sky. I imagined myself watching it get stuck in her hair, her eyes smiling up at me as I explained to her how I kept it all a secret. Only a few more days.

I burst through the doors nearly whacking an older lady in the face as I did so. I quickly apologized before shuffling through the busy streets of New York. I was in a mad dash to get back to work on time weaving through the busy street walkers. My temperature was rising with every passing second as my nerves grew more annoyed.  

When I burst through the doors to my office building I was greeted with everyone sitting around the break room table. I rushed over to see what everyone was talking about. It was a few minutes past one… I had been late.

Everyone was still halfway through their lunches as they chatted about whatever topics they felt suitable. I took a seat at the end of the table. I hoped nobody noticed my late arrival.

“I haven’t been ice skating in forever!” Amber squealed with excitement dropping her fork in her salad before raising her hands in the air. She reminded me of a little child so excited to go to the waterpark. I smiled all of my stress from my journey washing away just glancing at the look on her face. Nobody was paying attention to her and I wanted to scream at them. Here she was putting herself out on a limb and noone was willing to give her the time of day. “No one wants to go ice skating.” She mumbled again this time slumping down in her seat. She grabbed her fork again stabbing at the plate.

The group was silent for a little while before Miranda jumped up shouting for herself. I jumped at the sound of her words shooting through the air like the bullet of a shotgun.  “Bah humbug!” She points at Jonathan before throwing more words towards him. “What are you doing this December 21st?” He cowered beneath her finger, throwing his hands in the air.

“Whoa, I just work here.” Jonathan took a step back. I couldn’t help but chuckle under my breath. Miranda was hard to handle sometimes, she was a bottle of energy that would explode randomly. I snuck away from the table not wanting to be the next guy she shoved her fingers at. I tiptoed my way through the office back to my desk, quickly logging on.

I navigate the computer accessing my email. I searched through my clients looking to see if there was anything new I needed to know before going to work on getting the proper forms. The crowd in the break room began to disperse as other employees started their short journeys back to their desks. A few stragglers leaving the office a little later than everyone else. My eyes followed Amber as she heads to her desk gabbling on about something with her friend.

I tried to listen in as Miranda and Amber joked about ice skating tonight. I made mental notes of the plan they were setting up. I shuffled some of the papers around on my desk to make it look like I was working. Grabbing one of the forms I began filling it out for one of my clients. I glanced up my eyes focusing on Amber. She was looking at Miranda a wide grin nearly splitting her face as they laughed at some inside joke.

I wanted her to smile at me like that. My heart began to flutter as I watched her interact with Miranda. I looked down at the papers in front of me realizing I couldn’t focus on this. Not when someone so beautiful was sitting across from me.

“What do you want for Christmas?” Miranda mindlessly clicked on her computer not even looking over to Amber as she spoke. I didn’t know how she took her eyes off of her. I listened carefully waiting for Ambers response.

“Not really sure, honestly there isn’t much that I need.” She mumbled almost too quiet for me to hear. I sat back in my chair rubbing my face with my hands. What was I doing? I was becoming so psychotic. But as she continued talking I couldn’t help but lean forward pull out a slip of paper and begin taking notes.