Wrong Number [2018] Harry Styles

41. christmas gifts [narrated]

Tuesday, December 25th, 2018

With my hot coffee mug between my still cold hands, I sit on the stairs that lead to my porch, waiting for Chad to show up.

It's only six in the morning, but I wanted to make sure I could give him Harry's gift.

He must be awake already and waiting for me to reply his "good morning angel" text, but I left my phone upstairs and I'm too afraid to go pick it and loose the opportunity to see Chad.

So, when he shows up, I stand up quickly after putting down the mug. Chad gets out of the car with a little box in his hand and smiles at me.

"Good morning, young lady," He says, making the mustache over his upper lip move.

"Good morning, Chad. How are you?"

I get closer, looking over my shoulder to make sure there's no one. If my parents saw me accepting a gift from an old man who just pulled up into our front yard, they would think the worst. They'd probably run many drug tests on me.

"I'm great. And you?"

"Great!" I exclaim with happiness. "Harry told me he would send you to bring me the gift," I say nervously. "And I was wondering if you could give him this?"

"I'll make sure he gets both gifts." Chad smiles and nods at me.

"No." I stop him before he takes them, and I offer him the big one. "This one is actually for you." He looks at me with confusion. "Since you came here to just give me Harry's gift, the least I could do was give you a piece of my aunt's chocolate cake. It's the best, I promise."

"Thank you so much, Ariel," He replies with a genuine smile.

"And this is for Harry."

"I'll give it to him when he's back."

I nod happily and take my gift, looking at the wrapping paper. It's red decorated with reindeers, candy canes and elves. I chuckle when I read "Ariel" in that beautiful handwriting from the last time.

I had a tough time thinking of what the hell could I get for Harry, because I was sure he was going to get me something good and I didn't want to let him down on his first gift from me.

My mom saw me struggling and, as I didn't want to tell her I was trying to find the perfect gift for my internet rich friend, she told me to relax, put some music on and let the ideas flow in my mind. She's a bit hippie.

But there was my answer. Music. Sometimes it feels like Harry avoids talking about music, except the classics, so I went to the basement and looked for Nina Simone's vinyl album.

She was such a talented artist, yet only two or three of her songs are noticed.

Maybe I was mistaken to give Harry something so meaningful to me, since it probably wouldn't mean much to him, but I wanted him to have that from me. Therefore, I marked my favorite songs and made some notes about what they make me feel or remind me of.

It didn't feel enough, though. So I bought him something more. A matching key chain. An Angel one, the alien girlfriend of Stitch, who's my key chain. The fact that he calls me "angel" and the alien is named like that was sort of ironic to me.

I just hope he likes them.

I say goodbye to Chad and watch him leave my front yard in his black Jeep. Silently, I get back in the house. Once I'm sitting on my bed I grab my phone and tell him that I got his gift.

Without waiting for a reply, I start opening it. I can't help but giggle effortlessly when I see what it is.

A book. Love Is a Mix Tape.

I frown when I see the post-its coming from between the pages. I open a random page and find out that he highlighted sentences and made notes. Not wanting a spoiler, I close it and a little breeze reaches my nose. That's when I notice a certain smell, too personal to be a recently bought book. Smiling like a kid who got her desired present I take my phone.

But my smile disappears from my face when I almost hit the call button. I stop myself. Sighing, I text him "you're the best friend i had in my entire life" and lay in bed to start reading the book.

He really is the best friend I ever had, and it's kind of sad that I have no clue what he looks like. He's hiding something and I don't wanna rush him into telling me, but it would be nice to at least get a picture.

I shook my head. I don't need to. When he's ready, I'll meet him.

I trust Harry.

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hey!

it's kinda intimidating to narrate what's happening since english is not my first language, but i think this is the best way to show some details that are hard to express through text messages, so i'm sorry for the mistakes i could have made and i hope you're liking it so far. <3

have a great day/evening/night!

- au