Rock Prodigy

Chapter 32

She gave a vague wave of her hand and said, “It was just the general feeling I got from you today. There’s nothing I could pinpoint.”

I raised an eyebrow at her and leaned back on the bench, narrowing my eyes in suspicion. “You’re embarrassed because you were being nice, aren’t you?”

She shrugged and turned away from me, heading towards the corner of the studio where she’d tossed her jacket. “I have a reputation to uphold, okay? I’m not nice.”

My lips twitched as I watched her pull on her jacket, her movements jerky and awkward as she tried to rush out of there. “Wait,” I said when she had her jacket on and hastily, I rummaged in my purse that was sitting on the floor for the gift that was inside, clumsily wrapped by me. “I got you something,” I said, standing from the bench and moving towards Jenna holding the package out to her.

“Oh,” she said, reaching out to grab the first half of her present, beginning to unwrap it immediately.

“Shouldn’t you wait until Christmas?” I asked but she’d already opened it and I couldn’t keep the grin off my face as she glared at me. “Do you like it?” I asked, gesturing to the signed copy of our record on vinyl that she was holding.

“No,” she said flatly but she didn’t move to hand it back to me like I expected her to.

I laughed and shook my head before going back to my purse and taking out the second half of her gift. “Here,” I said, handing it to her. “This is your real gift.”

“If this is a signed t-shirt or something, I’m going to be pissed.”

“Just open it.”

She narrowed her eyes at me in irritation but she started unwrapping it anyway. “Rose,” she said quietly when she saw the leather bound notebook with her name engraved on the front.

“I know you don’t write much of your own music but the one song on your album that is an original is my favourite so I just thought I’d give you something to jot down ideas in. Do you like it?” I asked, feeling a little nervous. I didn’t have a lot of experience giving gifts to my friends. Mostly because I never really had friends aside from Sheldon before now so I couldn’t help but wonder if I’d gotten her the right thing.

“It’s great,” she said, her voice soft and genuine as she ran her hand over the soft cover and when she looked up at me, I could tell that she was being sincere. “Thanks.”

“No problem. It’s fine if you didn’t get me anything but I just wanted you to know that I feel like you and I have become really good fr─”

“Whatever,” she said cutting me off as she tossed her hair over her shoulder and went back to the corner where she stored her stuff. “Don’t get all sappy but I got you something too,” she said, bending down to pick up a box about the length of my arm and the width of my forearm. She thrust it into my hands, with an eyebrow raised and a hip cocked, her usual attitude shining through. “Take it,” she said, shaking the box slightly.

I took it as a wide grin spread across my face, touched at her gesture. “Thank y─”

“I knew you’d get sappy,” she said, cutting me off again and turned on her heel. “I’m leaving. If you don’t like it, then throw it out,” she said over her shoulder just before the door clicked shut behind her, leaving me alone in the studio with her present in my hands.

I shook my head at her attitude but I forgot about it as I sank down on the piano bench and carefully peeled back the wrapping paper, revealing a flimsy white box underneath. When I opened the box, I gasped, seeing the dark purple material that sparkled in the dim lighting. Slowly, I pulled out the dress and held it up in front of me, letting it unfold to its full length, the end pooling on the floor. It was strapless and cinched in at the waist, the skirt long and flowing. It was beautiful and even though I wasn’t one to wear dresses, I wanted this one.