Small World

Twenty Four.

The afternoon of Christmas Eve, after opening more presents for each other, Chris took a redeye to Boston. I also took the time to see my family and introduce them to Deeohgee.
New Years was the weekend after Christmas. Chris had told me he already had the evening planned for us so I could be his New Years kiss. I figured he wanted to stay in Boston but he insisted on coming back to LA.

I finished editing a New Years makeup tutorial I had filmed when I got back home. There was a new setting on YouTube for creators to set up when a video would be uploaded without having to sit in front of the computer the whole time.
Mykie was still in Philadelphia so I dropped off Deeohgee to a dog hotel earlier this morning after a little hike together. It was too quiet in the apartment without him and Mykie. The oldies music blasting loudly from my phone kept me company.
The screen on my phone lit up with the music paused. It was Chris. I answered the phone bouncing in my chair.

"Hello, my handsome." I said into the phone. His little chuckle made me smile.
"Hi, my beautiful. I have someone hear that wants to say hi." The sound of him handing the phone and instructing them on what to say made my heart melt.
"Hi." The little voice said.
"Hello! Who is this?"
"Miles. I'm six."
"Hi Miles! What are you doing?" I leaned back into the chair.
"Me and Uncle Chris are playing Patriots."
"That's cool! Are you winning?"
"I always win." Muffled voices and laughing while Chris and Miles wrestled for the phone.

"Hey baby." Chris said with the sound of fast footsteps.
"Are you running away from him?" I giggled.
"No! Not at all!" He laughed. Miles' little voice yelled for him to slow down. "Are you ready for New Years with me?"
"Heck yes. I dropped off Deeoh this morning. I need to pack." I glanced behind me at the pile of clothes I would rummage through during breaks from editing.
"Miles! Go get the ball! It's over there! Sorry, baby."
"It's okay." I smiled with the words.
"You always pack at the last minute. It's a good thing I arranged for the car to pick you up at 11:30pm tomorrow."
"Babe! Can you at least give me an idea of where we're going to be so I can pack appropriately?" I glanced at the pile of clothes again.

"Umm.." He took a few deep breathes. "I'm only going to tell you to bring one nice dress for dinner but.." His voice became muffled. "..I don't plan on you wearing a lot of clothes." I laughed at his accurate statement. "Nothing, Miles! Go long! Alright, baby. I need to get back to this crazy kid. I just wanted to check in and head your voice. I'll see you tomorrow."
"Awww, okay. Have fun. I love you."
"I love you, too baby. Miles! Don't let Dodger eat your chips!" The call ended with his laughter. I sighed deeply. I thought to myself what could he have meant by a 'nice dress'. If it was somewhere he wanted to take me to dinner, it would more than likely be a bougie place. Fancy or bougie was not my most favorite thing since I really didn't care about the glamour of Hollywood. It was nice to get dressed up, especially seeing Chris in a suit, but eating at a restaurant with $5,000 plates of food that wouldn't even make a baby full is not my forte.

Somehow, I managed to pack in time for the car to pick me up. I was capable of squeezing out more details from Chris to help with the choice of clothing and how much I should bring. It would be a week long trip: New Year's Eve, New Year's Day plus a few days into the week before he had to fly back to Atlanta one last time for the wrap party.
The driver of the car, Charlie, was very sweet. He wouldn't tell me where we were going, despite any persuading of the tip I would pay as he was already warned by Chris that I would do. The only thing he could tell me was that we were not driving to the airport.
Chris knew me so well.
Charlie merged onto a familiar freeway but exited before I knew where he would have been going. The car stopped in front of a residential street. The window partition lowered.

"Miss Rose. You need to read this." Charlie said gently, handing me a letter with my name written on it in Chris' handwriting. I opened the envelope to read the note:

Charlie will be handing you a blindfold.
Keep it on until I tell you to take it off.
Also.. please stop trying to make Charlie tell you where you're going.
It's a surprise for a reason, baby.

The note made me giggle and shake my head. I let out a groan accepting the blindfold. I placed the blindfold over my eyes and tied it in a knot at the back of my head. I told Charlie to continue onto the destination.
It was a few minutes after what sounded like getting back onto the freeway, exiting then finally stopping. Chris' voice outside the car made me turn my head to its direction. I tried to listen to the commotion. I definitely heard Chris instructing someone to take my luggage upstairs. I swallowed whatever spit I had in my mouth hesitantly. The door opened.

"Hi baby. Don't take off the blindfold yet." I nodded my head reaching my hands out. I felt hands grab mine to help me out of the car. "It's still me."
"Oh, hi!" I nervously laughed. Noticing that the lighting and sounds changed, we were inside a building now. A few people giggled at my being led somewhere. The smell of Chris' cologne flooded my nose now that my other senses had been heightened.
"We're getting into an elevator now." His voice whispered into my ear. "Keep the blindfold on." I nodded my head anxiously again. He chuckled in my ear and kissed my temple. The elevator made a ding and halted abruptly. Guiding me by my hands again, he led me a few more steps until a door opened with the sound of a swiping card granting us access. "Okay, stand right here." He stopped me with a hand on my lower back. The door closed behind me.

"Take off the blindfold." He whispered from behind me. I bounced with excitement. I removed the blindfold slowly to allow my eyes to adjust. I was inside a gigantic hotel room. Gold and white chandeliers with soft lighting were in every room. Rose petals sprinkled on the floor led to a window that expanded from the floor to the ceiling. I ran to the window to see a mesmerizing view of the entire Sleeping Beauty castle and California Adventure in the distance.
"We're at Disneyland!!" I shrieked. I turned around to admire Chris' slow walk up to me. His eyes glanced down to his watch.
"There's two minutes until midnight. Let's go to the balcony." His voice was jittering with excitement. I gasped at the view being even more beautiful on the balcony. His hands held onto me from behind. We kept an eye on his watch to join in on the countdown.

"10 seconds!" I said jumping in front of him.
"9..8..7..6..5..4..3..2..1! Happy New Year!" We said together. I spun around to kiss his lips. I felt him smiling into the small little pecks on my lips. The fireworks show started over the park. I turned around again to watch the fireworks. I rest my head onto his chest, listening to him hum along to 'When You Wish Upon a Star'.
"...anything your heart desires will come to you." He sang tenderly in my ear. I kept my body close to him. I rest my hands on his defined chest.
"It already has." I whispered and kissed him deeply.