Act 2 | Chapter 5

  The sound of Christmas music played over Riley's radio as the two of us drove out of the mall and down the road. Riley's mother had taken her own car and was planning on heading back to start setting up the tree while we went back to my place to pick up a few things. As we drove, the two of us sang along to whatever was playing. They were well-known Christmas songs, but I seemed to be the only one that actually knew the lyrics. We were both singing along to "Jingle Bell Rock", but I was the only one getting the words right.

"Come on, how do you not know this song?!" I chuckled, listening to Riley's butchering interpretation.

"I just don't I guess?" She shrugged. We both giggled and looked at each other. This was fun. Spending time with Riley. The two of us alone. I had the grey bag with Riley's gift in it placed between my legs. Some time passed, and Riley soon pulled up to my driveway. Both my parent's cars were parked, so I knew they were home at least.

"Alright, I just need a few minutes," I explained before climbing out of the car. The front door was unlocked, so it was easy to get in. My mother and father were sitting around the kitchen table. Both of them had different forms of work out. My mother had a stack of large papers beside her, as she typed away on her computer, while my dad had things to order for the hotel he ran.

"Hey Mom, Hey Dad," I said, attempting to sound cheery. They didn't respond though. It felt like I was invisible to them most of the time. After sighing, and walking upstairs, I opened my closet and pulled out the gifts I had wrapped for everyone not too long ago. Riley and her mothers were wrapped up into small boxes. For Riley, I had gotten her that one other game she was looking at in the stores. It was related to the small plush I had just gotten her, so putting them together as a bundle would work nicely. I got her mother a nice warm sweater from a couple of months back. It was when Miss Blackmar took both of us shopping for new clothes at the start of the school year. She pointed out a sweater that she thought was absolutely adorable, and I chose to get her that. The other two gifts were for mom and dad. I had stopped getting John gifts after he was sent off to college. He hardly spoke to me, and never even bothered to address me, like the rest of my family. For my mother this year, I got her an old family photo from her camera. It was taken from when I was still little, like my brother. I had gotten her this smooth wooden frame, and it was all set up and everything. Perfectly wrapped up in the bright red, and green paper. I got my dad a new briefcase. Nothing too expensive, because those would most likely leave me broke, but it was a nice black leather suitcase. I was hoping he would replace it with his old and worn out one he has been using for years.

Before I started packing, I took out Riley's new gift and placed it gently into a small cardboard box sitting in my closet. I grabbed the wrapping paper and made sure everything looked neat before using one of my sharpies and writing Riley's name onto the top. All that was left for me to do, was to pack up. I put some clean clothes into my backpack and zipped it up. I got my toothbrush with some toothpaste, my shampoo and conditioner, and my phone charger, as well as my sketchbook with a few spare pencils. I stuffed them all into my bag, put one strap around my shoulder. With my other two arms, I stacked the gifts into a pile and started carrying everything downstairs. I stopped at the bottom and looked at my parents in the kitchen.

"M- Mom... Dad..." I waited for a response and got nothing in return. I repeated myself and caused my mother to look up at me with a look of irritation.

"What, Zoey?" She hissed.

"I just wanted to tell you guys that I'll be spending Christmas this year at Riley's place. I got you guy's these." I held up the stack of neatly wrapped gifts a little more.

"What?" She tilted her head, "Fine, whatever, just put them under the tree." My mother then looked back down at her work. I couldn't help but frown a bit. "They don't care." The tree wasn't even fully set up yet. It was a fake tree, with only half of the attachable branches put onto it. I put the pile of gifts down and placed the two for my parents under what little tree there was, and stood back up. Before I left, I took one last look at them and tried speaking in a chipper tone, but at this point, I couldn't bring myself too.

"Merry Christmas."

"Mhm." Was the only response I got from my mother. I looked down and sighed, pushing the front door open with my feet, and walking out. Riley was still waiting for me in the driveway, listening to the Christmas music as she messed around on her phone. I put the gifts into the back seat and climbed into the passenger's side. The expression on my face changed to hide what I was feeling inside.

"Alright, let's go."

***

"We're back!" Riley called out as we stepped through the doors of her apartment. Miss Blackmar was just setting the tree down out of the box. It was fake, much like the ones my parents had and could be used every year. Judging on how Miss Blackmar was just now opening the box, I questioned what she had been doing this whole time. We weren't gone for very long.

"Welcome back." She greeted us.

"The tree looks good." I complimented, "Need help setting it up?"

"Well, things would surely go much faster if you did." Miss Blackmar smiled. Riley and I got onto our knees and started helping put the tree together. Each branch was color-coded with a small circular sticker. It didn't take long to put the tree up, and soon after, we started putting the ornaments on. As we were wrapping everything up, Miss Blackmar cleared her throat and pulled two small boxes from the shopping bag. She handed one to each of us.

"What are these?" Riley asked.

"The ornaments." She explained, "don't tell me you forgot about them."

I opened the box and looked at what was inside. It was a thin crystal-like material. The illusion it was giving off, made it look like the area inside it was much larger than it would look. The image taken of me and Riley had been lasered into it, and as I turned it around, the image would shift to make it look like the picture was three dimensional. There was one for both of us.

"These are so cool." I chuckled and held mine up by the string.

"Mhm," Riley smirked and turned to put her on the tree. I placed mine right beside hers, and Miss Blackmar placed one of her above the two of us, making a small triangle. Her's was just her smiling into a camera, looking much happier than usual. Finally, we were done. The sun was starting to set, though it was still pretty early in the day.

"So, Zoey." Riley started, "You want to play the game I bought?"

"Uh, yeah!" I replied, enthusiastically. For the rest of the night, the two of us played that game. It brought back some nice memories from when we were kids, and I had a blast. Miss Blackmar was taking pictures of us and the tree the whole time. She made us some dinner, we ate it around the table, and as it got later, Miss Blackmar sent us off to bed. I couldn't sleep on the foldable couch this time, with the tree in the way, so Miss Blackmar suggested that I sleep in Riley's bed with her. It was just big enough for the two of us. I got changed into my pajamas and climbed into bed beside Riley. We both gave each other a smile. It felt weird, to be sleeping in bed together. I mean, we did it as kids, but we were just friends back then. We were more than that now. We were in love.