Lonely Together

26

VALENTINO

"Ah, wonderful morning isn't it?" Myles greeted me cheerfully as he climbed into the passenger seat of my car.

"I guess," I muttered, turning the car back on as he settled into the seat. "Where are we going first?"

"The mall. I know you two agreed to only get each other one gift...but I have three...and a half for you to get her," he sighed as I pulled off the curb and off towards the mall.

"She's gonna be pissed. She made me pinky swear"

"She'll get over it."

We arrived at the mall minutes later, Myles instantly rushing out of the car and towards the entrance as I lagged behind.

"Come on! We have somewhere else to be after this," he chastised me.

I met back up with him after the entrance and followed him into the first store—Pandora. Surprisingly, he allowed me to be the one to choose the pieces of jewelry I wanted for her, although he gave a bunch of input.

Next, he dragged me into a clothing store where we picked out three other outfits for her that I really couldn't wait to see her wear.

"Where to next?" I asked once we were back in the car as he typed the address into my phone.

"It's a surprise. But you'll like it."

I rolled my eyes but followed the directions nonetheless, leading me back to the other side of the city. Sure enough, I liked the place we stopped in front of—a lingerie store.

"Myles, mi sobrino! Myles, my nephew!" An short, older woman shouted as she rushed from behind the counter and towards Myles.

"Titi, te extrañé, Auntie, I missed you," he replied as he pulled her into his embrace, her gaze landing on me once she backed away.

"Es tu novio? Is this your boyfriend?"

"No, soy un amigo, No, I'm a friend," I told her watching as she nodded in understanding.

"He's Mariah's boyfriend," Myles told the woman, her eyes lighting up at the sound of her name as she clapped her hands. I figured it would be pointless to tell her than I'm not her boyfriend.

She waved us off to look around as Myles dragged me around the store to pick out pieces for Mariah.

"I like this one," I told him, sucking in a breath as my eyes landed on a pair of red, see-through matching tops and bottoms.

"I like the way you think," Myles replied, grabbing the pieces that would fit her.

Half an hour later, we were leaving with three other things with a total of almost three hundred dollars spent. I couldn't understand how such a small pieces of cloth could cost so much—but they were hot.

"I'm keeping these," Myles said as he grabbed the bag from the car once I was outside of his apartment. "I'll give them to her before the trip so she thinks that I got them...it would be weird if you gave them to her."

I nodded at his words, waving at him before heading back to my place where Mariah was waiting.

***

"You did all this?" I muttered breathlessly as I walked into my place, stunned by the way she had decorated it.

She had put up a Christmas tree and decorated it completely, white lights strung to it. Candles were placed all around the room, giving a romantic lighting to the entire downstairs level. All around the room were subtle Christmas themed decorations and she even had cookies laid out on the coffee table.

"Is it that hard to believe?" She giggled as she approached me, wrapping her arms around my waist as she gazed up at me. "Like it?"

"Love it."

She grabbed my hand and pulled me over to the tree, placing the bags in my hand down underneath the tree beside the gifts she had gotten for me.

"We both agreed on a one gift rule and still we got more than one for each other," she laughed as we sat together on the couch, biting into two of the cookies. "But I guess I can't be that mad at you."

"Okay, gift time!" She exclaimed suddenly, clapping her hands as she handed me the gifts she got for me.

"You know me too well," I chuckled as I pulled out the noise-canceling headphones I had been talking about for weeks.

"They're more for me than you. I'm tired of you waking me up in the morning with your loud music in the gym."

I rolled my eyes jokingly but turned to open the two others gifts she had gotten me. As it turned out, we had similar thoughts and she got me an outfit and some new rings as well.

"Your turn," I hummed, poking her hip as she pulled open the bag holding the three different outfits.

"You're amazing," she grinned after looking at all of the outfits, liking each and every one of them. "Oh my gosh...no you didn't!" She screamed as she opened up the box from Pandora, her eyes sparkling as she stared down at the matching necklace and bracelet in front of her.

"I did," I laughed, grabbing the necklace and putting it on her before doing the same with the bracelet. "I looked at them and immediately knew you would like them."

"Love them," she sighed, pulling me into her embrace and kissing me all over my face.

"I'm gonna miss you."

"It's only going to be six days apart and then we'll be in Hawaii," I whispered in her ear, running my hand along her arm.

"I can't wait!"

"Me neither."

She had no idea what I had planned—but she would love it.

a/n: this chapter was just a filler before they go on vacation. i thought it was kinda cute

but what do ya'll think val has planned???