Better Than You | ✔️

46| You Did Not Just Call a Planner a Lovely Lady

I groaned. "A present for Logan!" I exclaimed. "Come on, guys. I brought you both because I need serious help finding the perfect thing for her. Not for you guys to eat pretzels and sniff candles that smell like spiced gingerbread swirl!"

"But it smells so good!"

"And it tastes so good... The pretzels, I mean."

I rolled my eyes. "Can we please focus?"

Cayden sighed. "Fine, fine. But I'm buying this candle first. I would say I'm buying it for someone's Christmas gift, but that would just be a lie. You know we're getting lit tonight."

Ugh. Maybe bringing them hadn't been my best idea.

Once Cayden had bought his gingerbread-whatever candle (which I can admit, did smell really really amazing, but I wasn't going to admit it to him), we started our walk around the mall. Truth be told, none of us really knew where to go when it came to looking for Logan's gift. We basically just walked into any store that caught our eye, looking for anything that she might have liked.

"Let's go into this one!" Cayden exclaimed as we stood outside of Columbus Jewels.

"I don't know... Logan's never really worn jewelry," I said.

"Yeah, but she's still a girl, Noah," Cayden said.

"And jewelry is the number one romantic gift!" Porkchop added. "It's perfect for any and all occasions. Trust me."

"I don't want it to seem like I'm just buying her something expensive," I said. "Just 'cause I can, you know? I want it to mean something."

Cayden grabbed my arm and pulled me into the store, motioning towards all of the jewelry. "It won't seem like that if you personalize it," he said, grinning at me. "You're Noah Locke. Of course you could totally just buy her something pretty and expensive and call it a day-"

"But you won't do that because you're Noah Locke and you're sweet as pie," Porkchop added and ruffled my hair. I rolled my eyes. "Only you know what reminds you of her and what reminds her of you. So if you personalize something... it's the perfect gift."

"And maybe she doesn't always wear jewelry because maybe she's not the exact definition of a girly-girl," Cayden said. "But girls are girls. Jewelry is always appreciated."

"This is why I brought you two," I said and smiled. For the first time, I actually knew what I wanted to get her. And you bet I was going to get it.

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Logan was going to be here any minute. I was helping my mom put the finishing touches on the dining room table. She was very big on having an aesthetically pleasing dining experience, especially when it came to Christmas Eve. She had the entire table covered in a red table cloth. Green fir lined the middle of the table with red candles. White dishes and champagne glasses for everyone, even Amelia. Even though my parents were inevitably going to feed us sparkling cider.

She went all out this year for dinner. The bread rolls, maple and mustard glazed ham, green bean casserole, and her famous bread pudding. My mom kept saying how she wanted it to be perfect. She was about as much of a romantic as Porkchop.

"I just want you two to have this lovely memory together," my mom said as she set the silverware out on the dining table. "Years later, you can look back on the time you spent Christmas Eve together. Eating your mom's famous and delicious bread pudding, drinking cider, and... you know... whatever else happens tonight." She winked at the end and I groaned. She was being too suggestive for being my mom.