Is This True Love? (DNF)

Chapter 50: A Christmas Gift

Talk of Christmas?
But it's May.
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George POV.

“Do you think that you could go and get these from the store please?” Niki asked, holding out a list which she passed to Clay. “I need them to make dinner tonight.” The blond’s brows furrowed as he read over the list but then he nodded.
“I’ll come too.” I added, wanting to spend some time with the blond.

“No.” She quickly responded. “There was something that I was wanting to talk to you about.” For a moment I hesitated as Niki’s gaze drifted from one of us to the other. “...alone.” She added.
“Oh.” I was caught off guard. In the entire time that I had been staying here with Clay and Niki, I didn’t have many chances to talk with Niki alone, especially with her sending away Clay to talk.

The blond glanced over to make sure I was okay with this, and when he saw that I was, he went to grab his stuff and leave, stating that he will be back in an hour. “See you.” Niki smiled, watching him walk out of the room and the sound of the door opening and shutting followed a moment later.

“What were you wanting to talk about?” I asked, turning to look at her as I settled myself at the table. It occurred to me how little Niki and I actually talked to one another. Most of the time when we interacted it was when Clay was around, aside from some basic comments shared around.

“Well it is Christmas in a few weeks.” She noted, continuing to move around the kitchen as she talked. It seemed intentional how she ignored meeting my gaze. “And I was wanting to talk to you about what we should get Clay for Christmas.” I only now realised how far through the year we happened to be at her conversation. I could have sworn it was still late November.

“So I had an idea.” She added on. “What if we used Q-K’s cologne for men?” My brows furrowed as I had never heard of it before. “It’s a brand of cologne made by this guy who owns a chain of casinos. It is completely environmentally friendly and it comes in over twelve different scents which last for up to forty-eight hours.”

I listened to her explanation, although there wasn’t really a reason to. It seemed that she was completely confident in what she wanted to get him. Perhaps it was a way of coordinating with me so that I didn’t accidently get Clay the exact same gift, yet she didn’t need to since I had no idea what Q-K’s cologne even was.

“So what do you think?” She asked, seemingly out of her rambling headspace and now focusing on me. “Would Q-K’s cologne be a good gift for Clay?”
“Yeah, I guess so.” I shrugged and her brows furrowed.

“You guess so?” She repeated. “Act a little enthusiastic. This is for Clay after all.” I subtly rolled my eyes before doing as she requested.
“The cologne sounds great, Niki.” I smiled. “It is a perfect gift for Clay. You did a great job choosing it for him.”

Niki turned to continue making something in the kitchen, and I decided to continue to talk, mainly to myself. “Maybe I could look at flights.” I muttered. “We could go somewhere warm for January and February, after Christmas.” I heard Niki pause, she stopped moving around the kitchen and after a long moment she responded.

“Why would you want to go somewhere warm?” She asked. “Why not stay here for Christmas with me and get all the extra pay for working over Christmas.”
“It’ll be fun though. I’m sure there will be flights to Hawaii or Australia or somewhere.”
“And what about work?” Niki questioned, cutting me off.

“Truth be told I have considered leaving my job, and I am pretty sure Clay is jobless.” I shrugged blatantly. I had not really said anything about it before now to anyone, yet work had just felt like a drag. It was the main thing tying me here and it just didn’t feel worthwhile to go back to day after day for the next forty years until retirement.

“So do you think that Hawaii or Australia would be good?” I asked. I had pulled out my phone and began searching for flights.
Niki solemnly shook his head, “He's been to Hawaii and Australia. Didn’t really like either of them, I doubt he’d want to go back.”

“Oh well what about somewhere else? The Bahamas perhaps?” She didn’t say anything, just giving a small shake of the head. I sighed, since I doubted there would be any other options she liked better than that. Perhaps she didn’t want him to be away from her after Christmas, which I guess made sense.

“How about a cruise?” I questioned. “There is one in January.” I figured that I would be able to get over my fear of water by then. I’d have the chance to get used to it, plus it would be a lot more manageable to spend time on a large boat other than a small boat.

“No.” Her voice remained kind the entire time, yet it was still completely disheartening. “I understand that you want to spoil him, and I believe that it is cute, however I doubt it is something that would work.” I didn’t say anything, standing up and heading upstairs. As I left  muttered about how I was going to go for a nap.

She didn’t say anything, and when I was outside laying on the bed I turned my phone on again, curling myself under the covers. Niki had given me some ideas, with the information that I shouldn’t take him to Hawaii, Australia, or the Bahamas. It was something to start with and I continued researching some nice places.

I continued to research before a knock appeared on the door. It clicked open and Clay walked in. “Hey.” He smiled as he approached and without a word sat himself down on the edge of the bed. “Niki said the two of you had been talking and that you went to have a nap.”
“Oh… yeah…” I muttered. “Was feeling tired.”

“Yeah… you seem tired.” He responded as he rolled his eyes. “Using your phone like that, it really shows how tired you are.”
“Shut up.” I murmured. “This was to see how far away you were, not because I was trying to stay up. Now I’m going to sleep.”

“Okay, do you mind if I join you?” He asked, hand running up my arm. I blushed, thinking that perhaps he was wanting something else. The blond rolled his eyes and realised what he meant before joining me on the bed. “Let’s just cuddle and sleep.” I nodded and allowed him to join me, deciding to organise this holiday later.
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1179 words

Also Ezra uploaded earlier today, so if you are craving some more smut then check it out.