Paint You Wings // Ashton Irwin [au]

Fifty-one

Luke pushes the loveseat out of the way to make more room for us to sit and gather around the tree. Each gift is distributed and we all take turns opening our gifts from each other. It's fun to watch their faces glow as they each reveal what they got and smile in appreciation. Michael seems to really enjoy the remote controlled mini helicopter from Ashton which apparently is a replacement helicopter because Ashton broke Michael's last year. It didn't take long for him to break it out of the box and let it take off in the living room.

After he crashes the helicopter into the wall, he moves on to opening my gift to him and I am baffled that he actually cracks the book open and begins reading it with a radiant grin which puts a smile on my face. Julia loves the peacoat that I got her and puts it on immediately and twirls around in circles, admiring the way the loose pleats fan out at the bottom.

Calum freaks out when he sees the Cards Against Humanity Game that Luke and I bought for him. Of course, the first thing he does is look through all the cards and answer some of the questions in the most inappropriate way possible (which is literally the goal of the game). There is even a card that asked the question: What's there a ton of in Heaven? And Calum decides to answer it with 'Incest.' It is then that I appropriately rename the game: You're going to Hell.

When it's Luke's turn, he's gets excited to see the beanies from me. He even switches out the gray one that he's wearing already for the black one and his blonde hair that peeks out from underneath it really stands out more. Even though it's something small, he's extremely appreciative of it.

"Here," Luke says, handing me small square box wrapped in royal blue paper with little snowflakes on it. "This one's from me." He bites his lip as I shake the box to try and figure out what it is.

I rip the paper off and pop the lid off the white box, revealing a rose gold bracelet with leaf shaped crystals surrounding the entire band and three spaced out emerald crystals that reflect off the light as I hold it up and examine the stunning piece of jewelry. I wasn't expecting him to get me something so beautiful and now I feel terrible for only getting him beanies; I should have gotten him something more.  

"These aren't real, are they?" I ask, mentally praying that they're not because then I'll feel even guiltier for not getting him something better.

His silvery chuckle and shake of the head ends the guilt trip that I was heading down. "No, that would have cost a fortune," he says.

"How much was it?"

"I'm not telling you," he teases, flashing his bright smile at me. "Do you like it?"

I run my fingers along the band, feeling every cut of the crystals. Even though I'm not much of a jewelry person, this will be an exception. "I love it," I say, struggling to clasp it around my wrist until Luke helps me with it. "Thank you so much, Luke."

He only smiles and darts his eyes over to Ashton who despite having his lips curved up, is less than pleased with Luke's gift to me. Sensing the tension, Luke tosses Ashton a slightly larger box than mine.

"Don't think I left you out, Ash," he says. I don't even know what Luke got him and I'm intrigued to see what it is.  

Ashton slowly pulls the red and gold paper off, exposing a sturdy black case. His eyes glance over to Luke before returning to the box and removing the top. His eyes widen and his jaw slacks as he stares down into the box. I scooch over closer to see what's inside and resting safely in a block of gray foam is a sleek wristwatch. The silver timepiece with roman numerals contrasts greatly with the black leather band. The modern design is extremely elegant, but somehow it's casual enough to be worn daily.

"I figured you could use a watch," Luke says. "You always seem to lose track of time, especially when you're in your artsy mode. I thought that this might help with that and if it doesn't, at least you'll have a good looking watch."