Presents (Part 1)

It was starting to get a little suspicious. Isabelle picked gifts ‘at random’, and it certainly seemed so at first. Grace gave Sarah a new pair of shoes, Sarah gave Alice a new pair of driving gloves, Alice gave Mila a new shirt, Mila gave Noelle a new sweater… Honestly, it was hard to keep up. Everyone was giving everyone a gift, which my frugal self couldn’t stop equating to the amount of money being spent. Sure, not all gifts were super expensive, but it was enough to make me think that next year I’d suggest we play secret santa.

…

As an aside, I did suggest it that next Christmas, but I was shot down. The girls liked buying and receiving gifts.

But yes, all the girls were getting their gifts… but I was getting none. She was also NOT picking my gifts for the girls. Isabelle was purposefully avoiding any gifts that had my name in either TO or FROM.

She was actually also avoiding those meant for her, but… Still, my 7th (fake, fictional) sense was onto something. This reeked of another scheme, and one I was sure all the girls were involved in. So with that in mind, I just let it happen. I admit, though, that the thought that maybe there weren’t any gifts for me did cross my mind, and it… scared me a little, but there was no way that was possible, right?

…

Right?

The pile of presents started to disappear little by little until I could only see my gifts for the girls and some others, which had to be Isabelle’s.

“So… Is it okay if I start opening mine?” Isabelle asked mom.

“Yes.”

Isabelle fist-pumped and grabbed one at random.

“To Isabelle from… mom and Oliver?” It was a big box, wrapped in red paper with Santa faces all over it.

“Your brother picked it,” mom said. “I don’t know much about this stuff.”

My sister, very much unlike our mother, tore the wrapping without care, excited to get to lay beyond. She ripped and pulled on the wrapping paper until she saw the picture on the box. Then, her jaw dropped and her eyes widened.

“No fucking way!”

“Language,” mom chided.

“You bought me a new computer!?” Isabelle asked, her smile widening by the second.

“If you’re going to continue doing editing work, you’ll need a better computer,” I told her.

“This was your idea?” Isabelle asked. “I… I didn’t tell you…”

“You’re finally sticking with something productive,” mom said. “When Oliver suggested it, I agreed. He picked everything, however, since I don’t know much about computers.”

“Wait, that’s just the tower, isn’t it?” Noelle asked, grinning. “No way! You built her a PC?”

“Wait, what?” Isabelle tilted her head, and that confusion was shared with Mila, Sarah and Grace.

“That tower is empty,” I told Isabelle. “The rest of the components are in my room. I’ll put it together tomorrow.”

Isabelle’s lip started to quiver and her eyes began to water. She put the PC tower down and threw herself at me to give me a strong hug. “Thank you! I promise I’ll put it to good use! I double promise!”

“H-Hey…” I hugged her back while laughing awkwardly. “Don’t thank me so much. Mom paid for most of it.”

The girls also giggled at the sight. As Isabelle went to hug mom, Sarah asked me a question. “You know how to build a PC? That’s pretty impressive.”

“It’s really not,” I told her. “You just need to know what components work together and just put them inside that.” I pointed at the tower. “It’s pretty simple, actually.”

Isabelle couldn’t stop grinning, and she had to wipe some tears away. I’d never seen her so excited over a present. I had to guess she was really getting serious about her editing.

She opened two more gifts. One was a perfume from Noelle and Alice, the other was a purse from Mila, Grace and Sarah. Again, my frugal self was relieved that at least they were making those group purchases.

As Isabelle thanked them all, I looked under the Christmas tree. There were only five presents left. All those were the ones I got for my girlfriends.

…

Well, whatever.

Since Isabelle was busy looking at her gifts, I stood up and went to get the remaining ones myself.

“I need to go to the bathroom,” mom said. “Continue without me. I’ll be right back.”

“Ah. Sure…” I watched mom go up the stairs, but decided not to think too hard about it. I picked one of the presents, a small box the size of my fist. I turned to Mila and saw her stiffen.

“It’s not much, but I hope you like it,” I said, handing it to her.

Mila blushed deeply and took it, her finger brushing against mine. She unwrapped it carefully and opened the small, blue box. Her eyes shone when she saw the necklace. It was a thin chain of gold, but the drop-shaped emerald was an imitation. Nevertheless, Mila smiled from ear to ear.

She took the necklace in her hand, stood up and gave it to me. She then turned around and moved her hair out of the way of her neck. It… took me a few tries to put it on her, since the clasp was so small.

Mila turned around again. The length of the chain made it so the imitation emerald sat right at the top of her cleavage.

“How does it look?” she asked me, grinning.

“It matches your eyes,” I told her.

Mila wrapped her arms around my neck and pulled me into a firm kiss. Thank god mom had gone to the bathroom.

Mila pulled away with a gasp, still smiling at me. “I love it. Thank you. I’ll wear it every day.”

I had to admit I’d be happy if she did. Still, as much as I’d like to, I couldn’t linger. The others were also waiting.

The next present I picked was for Grace. She stood up from her seat to receive it and pecked my lips even before opening it.

“Thank you,” she said.

This one came in a big pink bag with a teal-colored bow, which made it easy to open by pulling on the scotch tape sealing the top.

“Oh my God!” Grace exclaimed with a huge smile, immediately pulling out her gift out of the bag. It was a pink teddy bear about the size of my torso, wearing a sky-blue summer dress and a straw hat. She gave it a tight, powerful hug as she squealed in excitement and rubbed her cheek against it. “It’s so soft! It’s adorable!” She looked at me with eyes shining. “You remembered!”

“Of course I remember,” I told her.

Grace very rarely brought it up, but she adored plushies. She told me on our first date and never mentioned it again since she was a little embarrassed of it.

She stroked the teddy bear’s head, examined it a bit closer, then gasped in shock. “W-Wait, is this custom made?” She gasped even harder. “You went to a bear-building workshop without me!”

I smirked and shrugged. “Had to keep it a secret.”

God, that had been nerve wracking and awkward. The little girls at the store looked at me like I was a weird bug.

Grace pouted. “Take me next time.”

I swallowed. God, she was cute. “O-Okay.”

Alright. Two down, two successes. Three to go.

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