Connecting the Dots (Shane Madej x OC)

48

The next morning I'm in my kitchen on FaceTime with my brother trying to help him decorate his new apartment when he brings up Christmas.

He's in the middle of pushing an arm chair across the room and once he's moved it to its new spot he point the camera at it,

"This look good?" He asks.

"Yeah much better," I say, "now you just need a coffee table."

"You know what that's a problem for another day," he says, collapsing onto the chair. He's been moving stuff around his apartment all morning trying to make it look good.

"I wanted to see when you're going home for Christmas so we could go back together," he says, the camera facing him now. I cringe,

"Yeah.... I don't think I'm gonna go home for Christmas this year," i admit. His eyes widen,

"What?! Sophie!" He says,

"I just road-tripped home for a week with Shane and I'm gonna be working right up until Christmas Eve which means I'd have to fly home that night," I say,

"Yeah but it's Christmas!" Chris says, "what are you going to do? You can't be alone!"

"I know, I won't be alone! I think Shane, Ryan, Ryan's girlfriend and some other friends from work are planning a little Christmas party. None of us are really making the trip home this year because we're going to be prepping to drop True Crime and getting ready to start filming Unsolved all the way up until Christmas Eve, and then we're probably just gonna take a day or two off for the holiday."

"That's crazy," Chris shakes his head, "I-" he sighs.

"Sorry," I say,

"Have you told mom and dad?" He asks, I shake my head. I haven't yet but I'm honestly not expecting them to be too upset. Chris nods,

"Damn..." he says, "you're like a whole-ass adult now!" He jokes. I laugh and shake my head,

"I'm really not," I reply. We spend a little more time on FaceTime, Chris tells me about his new job and everything going on now that he lives in Santa Monica, and we make plans to meet up for lunch or something before he heads home for Christmas.

By the time I hang up on the FaceTime it's almost noon. It's a Saturday so at least I don't have to go to work, but Shane and I were going to go Christmas tree hunting together. Of course we're not planning on getting a real tree and having to haul it all the way into one of our apartments, we just wanted to grab a fake one and then spend the day doing Christmas-y stuff like decorating it and baking cookies.

I text him and he lets me know he's getting ready to come pick me up now. When he gets to my apartment we head to a nearby costco and start trying to pick a fake tree. We decide on one that's not already decorated, and then we pick out a few ornaments and lights and other decorations. We're going to be putting the tree up in Shane's apartment because he has a little bit higher ceilings and the Christmas party is going to be at his place anyways. 

We're headed towards checkout with the Christmas tree box sticking out of our cart and the other decorations tucked beneath it when I see a girl do a double take out of the corner of my eye. Shane doesn't seem to notice as he just goes on talking about the fact that "snow on Christmas should be legally enforced, even in California", we had been talking about how we missed the cold, white Christmases of Chicago but now I'm too distracted. The girl is standing with what looks to be her dad, snapping "discrete" pictures of Shane and I. I drop his hand and he finally catches on, quirking his eyebrows in confusion.

"What's the-" he starts, and then looks in the direction of where I've been glancing and realizes what's gotten me distracted.

"Seriously," shane sighs, "i prefer when they just come up and say hi," he says. We push the cart further up the line as we get closer to the register.