Sorry for the late update! I'm going to be more free as off Friday so I'm hoping you won't have to wait as long again :)
≡unedited≡
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"Good lord," I scowled as I looked around the shelves, and the objects there; I generally love Christmas, but this little shopping trip is reminding me why I shouldn't idealize it as much.
"Stop complaining," Liam mumbled from behind me, checking out some Christmas-themed vase; which I wouldn't use even during the holidays. "We should have done this, like, three weeks ago. Mum kept telling me they had every kind of product you'd want to give someone."
"Well why didn't you just go with her, then?" I frowned and crossed my arms over my chest, "The crowd here is creepy."
I looked around the store just to confirm my thoughts; and I did - it was packed. The amount of people that could fit in actually stunned me. The amount of people that would buy something they found there, stunned me even more.
"I was lazy," Liam interrupted my thoughts as I leaned against a shelf, "Why'd I want to go shopping with my mum, anyway?"
I breathed out a laugh at his somewhat reasonable excuse, and turned my head to look at him. He was putting extra effort into finding Christmas gifts for everyone, since finding something that anyone would be happy about was quite a challenge.
"Well, this is what you get for being lazy and deciding to buy gifts three days before Christmas," I said, slowly and loudly so every word would sink into his brain, and caused hum to sigh; bingo.
"Now you sound like her, this morning," He said through another sigh and walked past me toward another shelf. I was actually a little surprised by how much he cared about presents; I guess he never seemed like someone that would put this much effort into making someone else happy.
"Didn't you say we just came here to buy the Christmas lights?" I asked as I looked around again, but since all I could see were people, I leaned off of the shelf and stood close to Liam. "And, half an hour later..."
I trailed off, but he just gave me a weird look. "Here we are."
He pressed his lips in a line, continuing to move the objects around. I wanted to help him - mostly so we'd get out of the blasted store as soon as possible - but I had no idea what his family, or friends liked. So I could just stand and watch him.
Not that I minded, though.
"I told you you could just wait in the car," Liam mumbled as he pushed his way further down the shop, and I snorted as I followed him. Not that he could hear me, or anything.
"Yeah, right. How'd you explain having a frozen dead body in your car to the police, then?" I teased as I shoved my hands in the pockets of my coat, my lips forming a small smirk.
"Point taken." I smiled wider as he said the two words loudly, stopping every now and then to look at something or check it out, at most. I was wondering if it'd go to the point where we'd start looking at stuff we've already seen before.
"Did you get me anything?" I asked nonchalantly, though I was genuinely interested in his answer to that. I mean, of course I was.
I noticed him shrug as he casually observed the objects on his right, "I've got something prepared."
Well, that answer made me smile a lot more than it should have. "Did you get me anything?" He repeated my question, and looked over his shoulder at me, his eyebrows raised.
I didn't exactly buy him anything, but I also had something prepared. "Let's say I did," I grinned and stood on my tiptoes for a second, looking like a complete child as he watched me, trying to fight a smile even though he was more than obviously failing at it.
"Great. I'm glad," He nodded, a bit of an impressed look on his face as he continued searching for anything pretty. I, on the other hand, didn't know if I loved how casual and chill he was being, or hated it.
"So... where'd you get it?" He asked in his damned flat voice, "Like, a clothing store, or... your pants?"
I blinked twice at the side of his face, my lips a little parted so I was gaping at him, "Wow," I said loudly when his words sunk into my brain, "What is that supposed to mean?"
"Nothing," He gave me another weird look, but was again clearly trying to hold a smile back, "I'm just curious."
"Well then," I began, still watching him the same way; I knew he was joking, obviously, but that didn't mean I'd have to find whatever he said funny. "You aren't getting anything for Christmas."
"What?" This time not even he could contain a laugh, "I said I'm just curious, no need to take away what I love most."
Sometimes his choice of words would make me boil on the inside - like what he said barely a minute ago, and other times it'd make me smile like an idiot.
Good thing I was able to bite my smile back now. "Correction, you're being a curious twat."
He frowned, as if hurt, "Well that's not very nice."
"I wasn't intending to be nice, either."
The amused look on his face disappeared; I could sense that he was beginning to realize his words had an effect on me. "Nothing new there, I suppose."
Well, I guess I was wrong.
I rolled my eyes and turned away from him, "Dipshit," I muttered to myself. On the other hand, it's not like I was expecting him to apologize for making me feel like a whore, or anything. He wouldn't have done it even if I told him to.
"Oh, come on," I heard him say, with a smile that was definitely on his face, "I just wanna know whether I should pretend to be happy because it's a piece of clothing or something, or be actually happy because it's..."
Dammit, there he goes with his smooth word choice.
"You know what?" I managed to push my flattered thoughts aside as he trailed off, "You shouldn't be either of those."
"How come?"
"Because you're not getting anything," I explained and walked further down the shop, toward the exit. I was sure my 'anger' would be long forgotten by Christmas; hell, it'll be forgotten in fifteen minutes, but I just wanted to see how he'd react upon not getting 'what he loved most'.
Damn, I still smiled whenever I repeated those words in my head.
"Sal, would you take a teddy bear from a crying child?" I stopped in my tracks and frowned harder than before, as I turned around to face him again.
"What? No, why'd I do that?"
"Then don't take you away from me." He gave me a lopsided smile as he walked toward me, probably proud of how he worded that. "You're my teddy bear."
"Because you like playing with me?" I raised my eyebrows when he reached me, and he grinned as he pinched my cheek.
"You took the words right out of my mouth."
"Well, to be fair," I narrowed my eyes at him, once again refusing to let him know his words made me melt a little on the inside, "You do look a lot like a crying child."
"Wow," He laughed as I started to walk away, biting my lip even though he couldn't see me, "Here I am, trying to be a Romeo, and you're, you're just... not being a Juliet."
"I'm just tired, is all," I explained through a small sigh.
"Ah," He said in a flat tone again, and I could hearing walking toward me as I pretended to look at Christmas cards. "Like sleepy?"
"Yeah, sleepy," I retorted loudly, in a sarcastic tone, "I'm sleepy of your shit."
"Alright, you know what?" He began with a sigh, and I actually felt like he was getting sleepy of his own shit too. "I'm gonna come back in the morning, this is torturous."
"Isn't it always?" I mumbled to myself, trying to hide how excited I actually was about getting to leave the godforsaken shop. It genuinely was torture, the past thirty minutes.
"Okay then..." When I turned to face him, I noticed him looking around one last time - probably so he wouldn't feel guilty about leaving without any gifts, "Well, let's go."
"Yay!" I clapped my hands, honestly excited about leaving, and walked out first. When we walked outside in the mall, I couldn't help but stretch my arms; air became so much breathable, all of a sudden.
"Wow, why did I even make you go with me?" Liam asked, and even though I knew it was a rhetorical question, I couldn't help but answer it.
"Because you didn't want to leave me alone in your new, fancy apartment," I stuck my tongue out at him as we walked, and he nodded in agreement.
"Yeah, you're right, I shouldn't invite you over when I know I should be somewhere," He looked over his shoulder for a second, "Which reminds me, if you change your mind about giving me my present, you should do it earlier."
"Earlier?" I repeated, "How earlier?"
"Not much, just... during the day."
That wasn't something I could not laugh at, "What? Why during the day, is that a kink of yours?"
He grinned, for a reason unknown to me, "Well thank you, for letting me know what my Christmas gift actually is."
I rolled my eyes and decided to ignore that comment, "Yada, yada, yada, nothing new there. Now tell me, why during the day?" I didn't have a problem with that - far from it actually, but he must have had a reason for wanting it that way.
"I'm going to a party in the evening." And there's his reason.
"Really?" I cocked an eyebrow, "You're not gonna spend Christmas with your family?"
"No, I'm gonna be home for Christmas Eve. That's enough."
I shrugged to myself; if I had a choice like that, I probably wouldn't have done it any different. "Okay then. Tell me though, what is it with you and parties?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, you always have some party to go to," I smirked, "Like, name one holiday that you don't spend on a party."
"Name three parties I've gone to since you met me," He chuckled as we reached the exit of the building, and I closed my eyes for a few seconds as he pushed the door open; it wasn't snowing, but the wind was being far from kind.
"Well," I started in a loud tone, "Hugo's birthday the other day... this Christmas thing you're going to, and..." As we reached his car, I realized I didn't have anything else to add; he actually didn't go to many parties, he just went out quite a lot. Well damn.
"And," I suddenly remembered something as I sat in, and waited for him to walk around the car so he'd get in as well, "Adelaide's birthday!"
He frowned as he slammed the door shut, "Who?"
I rolled my eyes; of course he's gonna pretend he doesn't remember. "The first party we went to, together. It was my friend's birthday."
What was I, expecting him to remember the person's name? How foolish of me.
"Oh, no," He laughed, "You took me to that party. So it doesn't count."
"How does it not count?"
"Because I wouldn't have gone if you didn't ask me to be your date."
"I didn't ask you to be my, you weren't my-" I trailed off with a heavy sigh as I noticed the more than entertained smile on his face; I didn't quite know what was going on inside his head, but I bet that teasing me was one of his favorite hobbies.
"Relax, darling," He said in an overly cheery tone, placing his hand on my knee as I crossed my arms, "Since we're talking about parties, I wanted to ask if you wanted to go with me? And, you know, since I don't live in denial or anything, I want you to be my date."
Well it was about damn time. "Why'd I want to go with you?" I decided to procrastinate, just for fun.
"Because you love me."
Well, that's not very fun. "Why do you want me to go with you?" I raised my eyebrows, deciding to ignore his answer to my first question.
"Because I... I want to show you off?"
Unexpectedly, this answer made me laugh. "What? Why'd you want to show me off? I'm poor and skinny, I'm basically like a child from Africa." As horrible as that sounded.
"And, you have a good sense of humor," Liam gestured toward me, referring to what I'd said last. "Who wouldn't want everyone to know their girlfriend has a good sense of humor?"
"Um, people who are imagining they have a girlfriend?" I more asked than said, looking at the side of his head, and becoming a little annoyed when he smiled in a knowing manner and shook his head - something he'd always do whenever I reminded him I'm not his girlfriend.
"If you just want to show me off as your girlfriend, you can forget about it," I said but bit my lip right after; he's not gonna take the offer back, right?
"Okay, fine," He sighed, "Then how about I show you off as the girl I'm sleeping with, does that sounds better?"
I glared at the side of his head; if he wasn't driving, I'd definitely strangle him with the Christmas lights we bought. "Ha ha, very funny. Just so you know," I licked my lips, "As off now, I'm not that either."
"There you go," He started, sighing in an overly dramatic manner, "Taking the teddy bear from the crying child again."
"Is that all I am to you, really?" I asked, for a minute putting our conversation aside.
"You wouldn't be, if you'd let me," He looked at me for a few seconds, until he broke the eye contact to look at the road again. I knew he was referring to the fact that I refused to be his girlfriend - or to admit it really, but I still couldn't take that risk. As much as I actually wanted to, I'd always chicken out.
"Uh, well, in that case," I shrugged, forcing myself to act chill, "I'm okay with being the girl you're sleeping with."
Of course I wasn't okay with being the girl he was sleeping with.
"Good. I'm glad," Liam said, sounding actually pleased, "So you'll be my date, right?"
"Sure," I shrugged again, "Wouldn't want you to go to a party alone, right?"
"I'd rather go alone than with someone else."
It was weird, but I actually loved how quiet his voice was as he said that; he wasn't all cheesy lines and Romeo acts - I found it cute how he'd always be embarrassed when saying something like that. Literally, always. He'd get all awkward and barely audible.
"You're cute when you're uncomfortable," I grinned from ear to ear, and heard him huff a smile.
"I'm even cuter when I'm comfortable." For a second I didn't understand what he'd meant, but then, "You know that best, don't you?"
I knew exactly what kind of comfortable he was talking about, because of the satisfied smile on his face. What did I do to deserve him?
"Still the same twat," I shook my head as I sat back in my seat, and watched the side of his head. His hand reached up for the rear view mirror, and he adjusted it so he could make eye contact with me.
"Still the same teddy bear thief."
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Next chapter won't be filler and it'll be longer, promise :) 250 comments until then? x