Drive Me Crazy

chapter twenty two

It was winter break and during the first week I spent it catching up on missed school work.

The second week, Harper and I hung out a few times and Jordan and I ended up going on a date or two. I got a job at American Eagle as a cashier, which meant Margot, Elyse and Harper would always come in to bug me while I worked.

Jordan and I also made the time to go visit Mrs. Margaret and her kids. They were all very sweet and through talking to them we both were able to give parts of Ray to each other. It was their first christmas without him so Jordan and I planned to get them a gift to remind them that they had people in their corner.

I went and bought Christmas gifts for everyone with my very limited bank account. I had the most trouble getting Jordan his gifts because I had to give him two gifts. One for his birthday and one for Christmas.

Jordan's birthday was December 24th and I always made sure to get him two gifts so he wouldn't be cheated out of both his birthday and Christmas. Travis Scott was coming to Chicago this summer and my dad got a discount on tickets through his work. So for his birthday I got him Travis tickets but I wanted something more sentimental for Christmas.

I was stringing Christmas lights up with my dad and asked for his opinion and he was no help. He told me to ask him what he wanted but um the point of Christmas gifts is the surprise.

I ignored him and asked my mom what to do. She tried to help me make a list by asking what he liked.

I tossed out a few ideas but the things he really liked were um a bit too risque for me to talk to my mom about.

In the end I decided to make him a series of gifts, which just so happened to include a gag gift. A shirt with my face on it, candy and popcorn and then movie tickets.

Harper was getting a new plant for her room and a gift card to Barnes & Noble. Margot and Elyse were getting butterfly bracelets that I found on etsy.

Carter got a lego set and my dad got a Prince vinyl. My mom was getting a bond bracelet and I knew she'd appreciate it because of my upcoming leave for school.

Lastly, Jordan and I bought the Mcalister's a star. We named it after Ray. That way we could all have it, a part of him. And that way we could see him, everyday.

***

After Christmas my parents decided to have a get together with Jordan's family. Josiah and Jasmine were home on their Christmas break so they would be coming too.

My mom handed me a shopping list and sent Jordan and I off to Target.

When we got there, there was this old couple in front of Jordan and I. We were walking down the aisle and they kept getting into small fights. They were moving very slowly and we were forced to follow their footsteps for a while.

Jordan was pushing the cart looking bored out of his mind but I was trying to focus on the list in my hand so we didn't miss anything. We followed them into the next aisle where the soda was. I was reaching for the liter of coke on the top shelf but it was pushed back too far. They were bickering very loudly about something that happened at Christmas and while I was trying to grab all the soda we needed and make a run for it Jordan wasn't even paying attention to me.

I started snapping my fingers. "Jordan, hello."

His eyes came to me and I pointed at the soda. "You never pay attention to me." I told him.

He started to speak before being interrupted by ½ of the older couple. The half that included the woman.

She turned to me. "Men, am I right?"

I sighed and nodded my head.

She gestured behind her towards her husband. "This guy over here. I tell him to do one thing. That's to get the house clean while I'm cooking Christmas dinner. It's 7 o'clock and our family is here. I have dinner on the table, I'm getting ready to open the door and the house isn't clean."

I gasped.

"I know!" She said.

Suddenly she leaned in like she had a secret. "A piece of advice. Don't let him sweet talk you. In the end they're all the same."

With that she started pushing her cart away while her husband looked at us like he wanted to apologize. Eventually he gave up and walked off after her.

I turned around to face Jordan and as soon as we made eye contact we started dying.

Once we regained some composure we kept roaming the aisles.

I turned to Jordan. "Do you think we'll be like that?"

He scratched his head. "I hope not."

"One day we could be old and have like 3 kids who don't listen to us. We could also be that couple who ends up fighting in the middle of a target."

"Or we could be the couple with 3 kids that do listen to us and we could be that couple that fights at home like normal people," he said.

I smiled. "I guess we'll just have to see which one we end up being."