𝐫𝐮𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐫, 𝗲𝗺𝗶𝗹𝘆 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝘀𝘀

𝟎𝟖𝟔

"C'mon," Emily says as she stands and holds out her hand, "Go get ready and come downstairs, honey," She adds as she helps the teen stand as well.

"Okay!" Noah beams and walks to the bathroom, freshening herself up.  She goes back to her bedroom and changes into a white long-sleeve sweater and matching pajama pants to Emily's.

The teen bounces her way downstairs and smells the cinnamon rolls coming out of the oven.  She looks over at the Christmas tree and sees presents all under it.  She smiles to herself and waltzes into the kitchen.

"Here, baby," Emily says as she passes the teen her coffee.

"Thank you," Noah politely says and takes a sip.

"You want your cinnamon rolls now?" Emily asks.

"Yeah," Noah nods and watches her mother plate her some rolls.  The teen takes the plate from Emily and takes it over to the coffee table in the living room.

"Alright," Emily exhales as she sits on the floor beside the teen, "You ready to open some presents?"

"Yeah," Noah mutters and looks at all the gifts.

"Why don't you start with this one?" Emily suggests and hands the teen one of the gifts.  The mother can sense that the teen is nervous.  She can see that the teen has not seen presents such as the ones under the tree in a long time.

"Okay," Noah replies and sits criss-cross with the gift in front of her legs.  She tears the wrapping paper off the box and feels the anticipation swell inside her.  She opens the box and takes out a bag, realizing that it is a new bookbag.

"I know the one you have is old, so I figured I'd get you a more grown-up looking bag," Emily explains the gift and sees the teen smile.

"I like it!" Noah chimes.

Emily hands the teen another present, which is a Marshall speaker.  Emily watches Noah open her matching Marshall headphones as well.  The teen seems to be really excited about the upgrades, considering her headphones are old and her speaker is huge and does not play the music loud enough.

"These are so cool!" Noah beams and crawls over to Emily, giving her a hug.

"You're not done, honey," Emily giggles.

"I know, but this is enough," Noah says and pulls away from her mother, "Thank you."

"You're welcome, sweetheart," Emily chimes and hands the teen another gift.

Noah opens some sweatshirts, beanies, a pair of Converse, and a pair of Nikes.  Emily also got her some rings since she has noticed Noah wearing more of them.  She got her an antique necklace as well that she found at a cute thrift shop in town.

"What is all this?" Noah asks as she opens the third board game.

"It's for us to have game nights," Emily says, worried that Noah does not like it.

"Cool!" Noah exclaims, "How'd you know I like Life?"

"I remember you told me a while ago that you used to play it with your brother."