Love Me | Series Book #1

NINETEEN

I got it. With less than twelve hours left before Christmas morning, I finally figured out what I was getting Chase. After all, I felt bad for missing out on so much time with him. I was too busy worrying about myself for these past few weeks to even consider how he was feeling. Hopefully this gift would make up for it. I headed to the register with the USB in hand. The cost came to twenty which was the exact amount that I'd brought with me.

I payed and headed back to the parking lot, where Dad's car sat. I carefully opened the door, making sure not to scratch it against the adjacent car. It was only after I'd begged thousand times that he finally gave me the keys. I didn't need to give him a reason to never let me drive again.

I drove home in one piece despite the holiday traffic. As soon as I was inside, I headed down to the basement, and straight for the television set. The bottom shelve housed a row of dvd's, but I still didn't see what I wanted. I pulled open the double doors which enclosed the dvd player and VCR. There were only a few tapes on the side, but none of them were even close to what I was looking for. They were marked with titles that only fit home-made videos. My first baby steps, first birthday-party, my...birth? I tucked that tape away as quickly as possible.

Damn it, where were they? I knew we had a collection of movies down here somewhere. I leaned down farther, and peered inside. There it was. A cardboard box sat behind the movie players. I sat forward on my knees, and inched the VCR onto the carpet, with the DVD player sitting atop of it. Breathing in, I was almost suffocated by the wave of dust that filtered out. Struggling through a coughing fit, I dragged the box out, and closed the doors behind me. The box was filled to the top of tapes still clothed in their covers. I navigated through them, picking out every kind of suspense/thriller that I could find.  In the end, I came up with a set of ten. I arranged the tapes back to their original places, and carried the leftovers upstairs.

Around nine o clock, I was finally finished with his gift. The conversion took about four hours in total. I hooked the usb to a keychain, and tied a blue ribbon through the loop. Next, I folded his card into and envelope and placed them both into a four by four cardboard box, and wrapped it in snowflake paper. With a black sharpie, I addressed the box to him, and signed my name underneath.

I went downstairs, and placed it under the Christmas tree.

"Kaya?"

I turned around to find Aaron at the bottom of the stairs, in pajamas.

"Aren't you supposed to be heading to bed soon?" I asked. He shrugged, and walked over to the couch, taking a seat.

"What's the point. It's not like I believe in Santa anymore."

"Of course not," I said, sitting next to him. "So what's the reason you're still up for?"

"Don't know. Can't sleep."

I nodded, and sat back. The lights on our tree glistened like the stars outside. It was a clear night, and for once, I could actually pick out the constellations if I wanted. If we owned a fireplace, it would be a blaze, and all of the deafening silence would be masked by the humming flames and a holiday record. I hated that the only audible sound was the two of us breathing. It beat the crinkling of papers that could usually be heard from Mom's office. For once she'd put her work to rest, and was upstairs in the room with Dad.

"It doesn't feel like Christmas Eve," Aaron commented. It was like he took the words right out of my head. I wanted to know his reason.

"Why not?"

"It just..doesn't."

"But, aren't you excited about all the gifts you'll get tomorrow? Imagine how great those will be."