"What are we doing for Christmas?" I ask Mom as she cleans up the left overs from our dinner.
"Nothing actually, no relatives, just you and me." I smile at the thought of that, sinking deeper into the couch with a hot cup of coffee in my hand and my sketchbook in another.
"Actually I planned on going shopping for people since Christmas is this week." I respond to her, dragging my pencil across the page to add shading on a piece of hair.
"Go whenever hun, I'm not stopping you." She yells over her shoulder as she walks to her bedroom/office. I grab my keys and slip on a pair of moccasins as I step out of the door.
"I'll call you later, I'm gonna go out now." I call to down the hallway, waiting for a reply before shutting the door and trudging down the staircase.
I slide into my truck and make my way to the mall, thankfully finding a good parking spot close to the front. I step inside to a thick crowd of middle aged woman with coffees, screaming children with weary eyed mothers and large groups of teenage girls with at least 10 different bags in their hand.
I slowly walk down and glance in stores, waiting for something to catch my eye for either February or Mom. Nothing really appeals to me and before I know it I'm standing in front of a Starbucks. I step inside and order, snagging a table by the window and leaning against it, sipping my coffee every so often and crowd watching.
My fingers tap in time to the James Blunt song softly flowing through my earbuds. I'm suddenly startled when I see a figure slide into the seat in front of me. An older woman, probably by the age of fifty, with a large cup of coffee in her hands and a smile on her face.
"Do you mind if I sit here, everything else is taken up." She gestures to the rest of the shop and I nod.
"Who are you shopping for today?" She asks, and I slide an earbud out of my head to reply.
"My mom and my girlfriend." It felt weird saying girlfriend, and although I never made it official, she obviously was since I said 'I love you'
"Aw, do you mind showing me a picture?" The lady asked and I nodded, flipping to the picture of her laughing at something I said, sitting in my truck. You can see half of our hands and the bottom. It's my favorite picture of her and my screensaver.
"She's absolutely gorgeous." She beams and I take a sip from my coffee, smiling at her with warm eyes.
"She is." I say to her and she grabs her bag off the back of the chair and waves to me.
"I have to continue my shopping sooner or later, or it'll never get done." She says, and I nod, standing up and knowing I should leave soon too. "Nice meeting you young man."
"Goodbye." I say and I glance out of the window one more before making my way back in to the sea of shoppers, and never once am I not thinking of February.
YOU ARE READING
3am
Short Story"It's 3am and all I want is your lips on mine. It's the same as yesterday at 7pm, or Thursday at noon. It's the same as every hour, every minute, every second since I met you." #26 in Short Story.
