𝐖𝐇𝐄𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐌'𝐒 𝐎𝐕𝐄𝐑

December 25

December 25, 2023

"Merry Christmas!" Ace woke Trin up from her sleep at the ass crack of dawn. Christmas was his favorite holiday, despite his upbringing. It was often just another day for Trin.

"Merry Christmas," she replied, groggily. "Get up, Babygirl. We making cinnamon rolls and opening presents," Ace enlightened her. She opened her eyes and saw him, smiling. So she had to get up and join in on his fun. "Okay. Give me 30 minutes," she said.

"Thirty is crazy. I'll give you 20," he said and left out of her room to go out on Christmas songs.

Trin got out of her bed and instantly made it up while she gave thanks to God for waking her up. She then went to her adjoined bathroom and started the shower. She grabbed fresh towels from her cabinets and looked in the mirror.

___

"Oh my goodness, I love it! Thank you so much!" she said, hugging his neck, almost knocking him over. He smiled and rubbed her back. When she wouldn't let go, he knew she had gotten emotional. It was something so simple like a necklace with her most important people in it that made her break down.

"You okay, Trin?" he asked. "Mhm. I'm okay. Thank you so much," she said when she finally pulled away. "You're welcome," he smiled. She then passed him one of her gifts from under the tree.

They took turns until they got to their final gifts. Trin would open hers first. She took the wrapping paper off of the box, revealing a Nikon camera box. She had dreamed of getting one of these for as long as she could remember. She wasn't able to get the one her mom had.

She just paused and looked at him. "That's the wrong one?" he looked concerned. "No! It's perfect, Ace. Everything is perfect and I appreciate the fact that you listen to me and that you value me enough to get me anything at all," she said to him. "You deserve it," he said. "Open the box though," he said.

She smiled and opened the box. The camera was the exact same as the one she wanted. And there were pictures stuck all around the box. She looked at each of them, and her smile grew. They stayed taking pictures of each other.

"This is so sweet," she said. "I did a good job?" he smiled. "You did an amazing job. I love you," she said. "I love you more," he said. He couldn't do anything but cheese.

"Enough about me, it's your turn," she said, passing him a big gift. "This shit big," he said as he received it and started to tear the wrapping paper off of it. Once he realized what it was, he paused. "No you didn't," he said. She just started giggling.

He tore the rest of the paper off, revealing a portrait of himself. It was an exact replica of him. It looked almost as if she had taken a picture of him.

In the picture, it seemed to be like he was in the process of getting his locs oiled. His t-shirt was filled with her kisses.

"Trin, this is crazy. When did you do this?" he asked. "I had been working on it for a while. It was hard hiding it from you, so I would work on it when you were at work," she said. "This shit so fye. Come here," he said. She moved over to him and he embraced her in a tight, warm hug. "I left a little something for you on the back," she informed him. He let her go and looked at her.

He picked the hand-painted portrait back up and turned it on the back. There, she left a little handwritten message for him, basically expressing her love and feelings for him. He fought tears. He had never received such a heartfelt gift.

"I can't even tell you how much I love you. I'm glad that you're giving me a chance, and I promise to do right by you. And I'm sorry for my behavior, again. And even though we will, if we don't work out, you promise we can be best friends, still?" he held out his pinky. "I promise, and I love you too," she said and locked pinkies with him.

___

Triniti reflected on the day she'd had while she stroked the paintbrush on the beautiful masterpiece she was making. Her cheeks were sore from nonstop smiling. He loves me she kept saying to herself.

Yes. He did love her. He would do anything for her; sacrifice anything for her. All he thought about was her and their future; how they would build together. Their future had already stopped.

Oh, who would've known that they would come this far? Even together it seemed like they hadn't done much, they had.

They went from two young, broke, inseparable best friends, trying their best to survive in this economy; with their minds filled with destiny. They had nobody but each other and God. As much as it hurt, they knew they had to keep going. Because who would if they had stopped? And when things were overwhelming, they held each other's own. They were good now.

But when they looked in the mirror, they still seen so much pain in their eyes. They were getting better, but the hurt was still there. There were voids that couldn't be filled. They still thought to themselves, what if? What if their lives had been different? What if they didn't have to suffer for years on top of years? WHAT IF?

Would they be as strong as they were now? Or would they been weaker? Would that have crippled them? Would they have each other? And that's where the questions ended. They didn't want to think about not having each other.

So they'll wait for the pouring rain comes to a halt, and for the clouds move out of the way of the Sun. And everything will be okay.

___