“Definitely. And she loves meat, so it was a sacrifice for her to agree to a meal without it on Christmas Day.”
The first thing I do when we get home is get on the Internet. I didn’t bring my laptop with me, so I haven’t checked e-mail and Facebook for a while, and I’m behind on my YouTube channels and Web comics. This is why I don’t miss cable TV. We had it at the group home, where I had no computer and no privacy, but I much prefer controlling what I watch and read. Since my friends talk to me on my phone, I don’t really have any e-mail but I catch up their status updates. Ryan in particular is great about posting funny, stupid things. I take a picture of myself making a weird face and then just type cheese log, and tag Lila with it.
Shane texts me late. Sorry I couldn’t come over tonight. Done with overtime now. Have tomorrow off.
What time can you be here? I send back. It will be Sunday, which means school starts the next day. I feel like a miser, hoarding this one final day of winter break. The snow is thick on the ground, so it’ll be hard for him to get here—they don’t always plow out where he lives—but he must think I’m worth it.
Ten too early?
Nope. My dominant feeling is yay! Though I’m not sure if that qualifies as an actual emotion. So I’ll call it excitement. The prospect of seeing Shane is more thrilling than Christmas, even though I got a few cute shirts and a new pair of jeans, as well as a gift certificate for an online bookstore. I guess that means he’s better than all presents combined.
And he’s writing me a song.
I’m up by eight and in the shower, which is extreme. Usually I stay in bed, read, or watch something on my laptop. Not today. I waffle over what to wear, going back and forth between a couple of outfits, then I remember what Shane said about taking me with no top on, and that makes me laugh. Then I put on jeans, a camisole, and a white hoodie with silver writing. I leave my hair to dry naturally while I have breakfast, then I put on a little makeup, omitting the lip gloss.
Shane’s fifteen minutes early, but I’m smiling as I throw open the door. He hugs me hard, drops a kiss on my mouth, then we step into the house. My aunt’s still asleep. He’s got his backpack, and I peer at it. Surely we’re not spending the day on homework. I had plenty of that while I was gone.
“I brought your present,” he explains. “Since we weren’t together on Christmas.”
Oh, wow. I’ve never gotten anything from a guy, unless you count the valentine I got in second grade. “Yours is in my room. I’ll be right back.”
He looks surprised, like I’d fail to get him a gift. I bring the wrapped package out and we swap them. “You first.”
Shane seems like he might argue, but in the end, he tears open the paper. It’s two things, actually: my iPod, loaded with songs that I think he’ll like … and a package of printed sheet music, so he doesn’t have to draw his own. “Whoa. This is too much.”
“It isn’t if you like it.” I can listen to music on the radio and online. He doesn’t have either option at the trailer.
He kisses me sweetly, until I forget I’m supposed to open my present, too. “Your turn.”
I feel like a little kid as I pull off the wrapping paper to reveal a little white box. When I removed the top, there’s a delicate silver chain with a finely made musical note for the pendant. I think that’s the eighth note, the one with the single flag, and I totally get this present. It’s as if he’s giving me part of him to keep with me always.
“Do you like it?”
“It’s beautiful,” I whisper. “Put it on me?”
The odds are excellent that I’m never taking this necklace off.