Remember Me

Chapter 17: Wingman

Lulu's always excited when it comes to shopping. It's been like this ever since we were kids. She could spend hours at the mall just buying things for herself, mainly skirts. But you know those scenes in movies where people literally shop till they drop with several bags in each hand? That's exactly how she is.

Before leaving, I made sure to grab my leather jacket. I don't want to get sick right before winter break, only for my mom to give me a stern talking to about how I should have brought my jacket to prevent this very thing. With my jacket on, I walked out of my room and out of my house. Once I reached the stone steps, I grasped the railing as if my life depended on it. Yeah I'm still mentally scarred from slipping down the stairs yesterday. Even though my mom made sure to ice down the steps, I just cannot get over the fact that that happened and I don't want it to happen ever again.

"Fang, let's go already!" Lulu yelled from the passenger seat. "Why are you walking so slow?!"

I gulped and bit the bullet. I hurriedly took the remainder of the steps and hopped into the back seat. Gone was Dante's blonde hair and instead he was sporting a freshly shaved head. He still had his apron on which he promptly tore off and tossed behind him but landed it right in my face.

"Sorry about that Fang, didn't mean to throw that at you. Just set it somewhere back there, will you?" he asked as he turned up his music.

It was the British band, Pale Waves. I didn't think anyone else listened to them in this town let alone Dante. I'm used to him blasting his usual gibberish rap that people call music so this is a surprising change of pace. They have this alternative pop sound that I'm not used to hearing when it comes to the usual top forty. They're not exactly mainstream or well known here in the states. Oh crap, please tell me Lulu's joke isn't actually based on the truth.

I frantically shared a wide eyed look with Lulu but she just shrugged it off and laughed to herself. Realizing that his apron was still clung to my face, I quickly chucked it behind me, situated myself right behind Lulu and buckled in with my arms crossed. That rush of awkwardness enveloped me again and I had no idea how to let go of it so I made sure to keep my gaze looking out the window and focusing on the lyrics of the songs lip syncing away. I could feel someone constantly looking at me but I didn't look back. At this point, I'd rather have a ghost staring right at me than to find out who it was that was looking at me. But just to set my mind at ease, let's just say it was Lulu since she just loves messing with me today.

The whole drive I just stared out into the field of white but as we got closer to the mall I noticed far less snow. I guess this neighborhood didn't get that much snow or maybe the plows did a lot more work here than it did in Haven. Either way, it was sad knowing that the snow would soon be gone and all we'd be left with was the bone chilling air of winter. We finally arrived and there was literally no snow in sight. There wasn't even any remnant of it, no puddle or anything. It felt like we were in a completely different place than what we were. It was so depressing. As soon as he parked, Lulu busted out of here and sped straight for the mall leaving me behind with him. As soon as I reached for the door handle, I felt him grab hold of my arm.

"H-Hey can we talk for a second?" he asked nervously.

"Can we talk later? I really should get started before things start selling out," I asked trying my best to get out of this situation.

"I promise it'll only take a second. I really need to get this off my chest and you're the only one I can share this with."

Oh great. What am I supposed to say to something like that? I did the only thing I could think of at the time and shrugged. Yup, I just shrugged. Pathetic. Dante got out of the front seat, opened the door to the back, and sat himself next to me. He looked so nervous and honestly if I didn't look it, I definitely felt it. Just another moment of me internally screaming. My mind was flashing code red in big, bold fiery red letters. Why oh why did you leave me here Lulu? My heart was beating rapidly and I'm sure I was building up a cold sweat. Where's a shock or a chest pain when I need one?

Dante was dressed I would say pretty comfortably and very gray toned. What I mean by that is that he had this loose gray top with our school's name on the front. It looked as if he had cut it across for his own DIY crop top that showed off his six pack. He also he had this baggy gray cotton jacket and of course gray sweatpants. The only color he had were the pair of tanned Timberland boots. He sat there with his legs spread wide open with his hands in his jacket pockets.

"I just wanted to say that I'm--"

"Before you finish that sentence, I just want to say that I'm flattered and everything but I'm with Carver and even if I wasn't I just don't look at you the same way that I look at him. I mean you're like the big brother I never had but always wanted and--"

He just sat there with this confused look at first, his brows furrowed, but then started laughing, well it was more of a chortle. He looked away to as he covered his face from all the laughter and I think it was mainly to help stifle his laughter but when he looked back at me he just couldn't stop laughing. I started to feel like an idiot again. Thanks for putting these thoughts in my head Lulu. You're such a great friend.

"Okay, okay, I get it. Get it all out of your system," I said dryly.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to laugh at you but come on man! Me...like you? Me?" he asked still laughing behind the closed fist he placed in front of his mouth.

"What do you mean `come on'? You always make a comment about what a catch I am. You really expect me to think that you couldn't come on to me?"

He sat there with his full lips pursed forward with his dark brown, almost black eyes peering at me. He then began to nod his head as he looked away from me. I think he was starting to agree with my thought process.

"You right, you right, I do say that a lot but in my defense I'm usually saying that when you're doubting yourself like how you were when you were first getting to know your man. I'm trying to hype you up so you can go after what you want and I think I'm pretty good at it. You two are together now so you're welcome."

"Uh we didn't get together because you hyped me up, you know that right?"

"You think you'd be with him if I didn't hype you up?"

"Uh yeah."

"Riiiiiight," he said as dug his hands deeper into his pockets. "So who said I liked you? Lulu?"

"Yeah, she was reveling about how she conned you into driving us here and then she made a comment about how you `eye fuck me' or something. She ended up taking it back after I freaked out though," I explained.

"You freaked out?"

"Maybe that's not the right phrasing? But I just--I don't know. I'm sorry. I just see you as a big brother so I got grossed out at the thought of...well us in that light."

"Don't be. There's nothing to be sorry about. Let's be real, I would probably freak out if the shoe were on the other foot. Just like you said earlier, I think of you like one of my siblings. I don't think I'd be able to let you down easy."

"You sure? You could always just laugh in my face again. That pretty much worked real quick."

"Sorry again, I know that was messed up. I really didn't mean to."

"It's fine. Maybe we should just change the subject? What exactly did you want to say to me?"

"Oh right, um well I wanted to get your advice on love. You see, I'm jealous...of you."

"Ad-Advice? You want my advice? An-And j-jealous? Of-Of me? Why would you ever be jealous of me? All the girls want you and all the guys want to be you. I'm sorry, I just don't understand why you'd be jealous of someone like me."

"You're right. Everybody wants me and I was okay with that for so long but then after watching how you are with Carver I-I just--I realize that I want what you two have but I can't seem to find anyone who wants to be with me too...in that way."

"There's no one? Not even one person?" I probed. There's absolutely no way I'm going to believe that Dante, the alpha of my school can't find that one person. There has to be someone, there just has to be. I believe there's a person out there for everyone.

"Well there was a guy. Remember that guy I told you about? The one I lost my gay virginity to? He was really into me, like really into me. He wanted to do more than just sex. We started texting and calling everyday just to talk which is weird to me, you know? I've never had someone be into me like that before. He would always ask me how my day went and he wanted to know when was the next time we could hang out. And I guess you could say that I got scared so I ghosted him until he just stopped. After realizing that I wanted an actual relationship, not one rooted in just sex, I tried texting him back but I'm pretty sure he blocked my number. He was so good to me and I neglected him because I was scared to be with someone who actually liked me for me."

I could tell this was really eating him up inside. I've never seen him this way, so vulnerable, in my whole life. It was strange. I didn't really know how to respond to any of the things he was saying.

"Dante, that's um...wow that was...a lot. I-I didn't know this type of person was in you. I-I mean you seem like the type of guy who can bounce around from relationship to relationship and end up unfazed. You know you just exude so much confidence that everything that you're saying right now is just so out of left field."

"I know what you mean. It's with all this confidence that I can do what I do without anyone knowing how I really feel. I thought I could thrive off of being the happy go lucky type, but I don't know about that anymore. A part of me wants what you have, but I'm so scared of commitment. What if I decide to commit to one person and then down the road I find someone else better? Serious relationships have always freaked me out. You know I know what people say about me. That I'm a player and I accepted that role in life but after meeting him, it was nice to be around someone who genuinely liked me instead of everyone else who just uses me to climb higher in their social ranking. So I thought that if I imitated you, like the same things, believe in the same beliefs that he'd come back and notice that I'm willing to change. But now that I think about it, he'll never know because he doesn't even live in town. He lives in Azure. You know I tried to even go there to find him but I don't even know that much about him besides his name," he said as he continued to be bummed about the whole situation.

"Well what do you know about him? Besides his name, what do you like about him? What makes him someone worth going back for? Is it just because he wants more than sex? Is that enough for you?" I asked. What? I'm curious as to what Dante is attracted to. It's not every day I get to talk to him like this.

"Well he's like me, you know, a man's man. Tall, dark, and handsome. He's Mexican or something."

I looked at him with my left eyebrow cocked.

"A man's man?"

"You know, a guy. He's not feminine, no offense."

Wait, is he trying to say that I'm fem? Sure I'm not the least bit macho but I never thought of myself as fem. Maybe somewhere in the middle? Is that a thing? Is there a word for such a thing? I looked at him with my brows furrowed. I take it back. I don't think I want to know what his guy type is.

"He's into sports like I am. I'm pretty sure he's on the football team at his school, I think at Azure Academy if I remember correctly. He was really nice and gentle. He's just as tall as me and just as buff and hairy in all the right places. He's like a teddy bear. And he's got these thick thighs and his ass. Fuck I miss that ass. He knew how to ride dick like no girl I've ever been with."

I could clearly see a stirring in his pants. I could tell that he was trying to rearrange his junk but at this point I had already seen more than I would ever want to see.

"Okay, okay, okay, can you stop thinking about him?" I asked freaking out covering my eyes.

"Sorry, sorry, I guess I got a little carried away," he paused. I could hear him shuffle about his seat and then he continued with, "Okay, you can open your eyes now."

When I did, I found him sitting with his dirty apron over his crotch with his arms weighing it down. Well I guess that's one way to fix that awkward problem. Note to self, never touch that apron ever again though and never talk about guys with him ever again.

"Well I'm not sure if mimicking me would even get you the results you want. I mean I don't really know the whole relationship thing. I'm just rolling with the punches. I've never been with anyone before either but I guess the best thing I can say is to be genuine. If you really like him and you're willing to actually change, like really change, not being some weird fusion of the two of us, but what you believe will be a better version of you then I think he'd be really dumb to pass up on another chance with you. Because I think you're so cool and I wish I looked as good as you and have as much confidence as you."

"Yeah well, how am I going to make him notice me now if he won't even reply back?"

I sighed and reluctantly said, "Well I guess I could give you my phone really quick if you think he'll--"

"You'd do that for me?" he asked as a glimmer of hope shot back into his eyes.

"I guess? Maybe you should open with an apology? Just promise me that you'll actually mean it instead of saying it as some throwaway. I get the feeling he'd know if you were lying just to get on his good side," I said unsure of my own advice. I pulled out my phone from my jean pocket, unlocked it, and then waved it in his face with lips pulled back in this weird and awkward smile.

"You're a lifesaver man!" he cried out as he pulled me in close. "Even if he doesn't, I'd rather try than not try at all."

He began to dial the mystery guy's number and I heard the ringback tone go off a couple times and then I heard this deep, low raspy voice answer.

"Hey Henry, it's Dante. Remember me?" Dante replied back.

That was my cue. I quietly slipped out and tried my very best to shut the door as silently as I could. Slinking back down against the cold, bare asphalt. I hope I did the right thing by helping him. I don't think my advice was all that great but if there's even a sliver of hope for him to be happy with someone, I'll be happy for him. Maybe he can even stop modeling himself after me too. That'd be great. Never thought I'd be role model material, let alone him. Jeez it has been one hell of a day.

I waited a few before I poked my head back up towards the back seat window and found Dante talking up a storm with Henry, the mystery man. He was positively beaming. Whatever they were talking about has Dante absolutely beaming, smiling from ear to ear with the whitest teeth possible. Lightly tapping on the window and then waving at him, I tried to let him know that I'd like my phone back. He had the nerve to hold up his finger at me while still talking on the phone. You know those scenes on movies and tv shows where time moves so slow and the main character is just slowly progresses into several different positions as time slowly passes? That's literally me right now. How did people back then survive without having a mini computer in their pocket?

"I am so bored!" I cried out looking up at the clouds. "Universe, if you mercy kill me right now, I honestly would not judge you. I'll even give you an easy one."

I slid down a little too hard and hit my head right as I hit the pavement.

"Ow!" I yelped as I pushed myself up off the ground and swiped my fingers across my forehead. As I brought my fingers back in view, I didn't even have to look as I could smell the familiar scent of iron. "Oh great I'm bleeding, just my fucking luck."

And if things couldn't get any worse as I'm standing there looking at my bloody fingers, Dante finally steps out and walks around back to me.

"Fang, you're a lifesaver! He's gonna catch the next tra--" He stopped and stared at me intensely. "What the fuck happened to you?"

"Wh-What do you mean?" I asked as I very obviously placed my right hand over my freshly made wound. I could still feel the blood tickling my face as it trickled down past my jawline.

"This!" he belted out as he pulled at my hand. "What's his name? I'll fuck him up."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, easy. No one hit me. I may or may not have hit my head on the pavement as I was impatiently waiting for you to get off the phone. Looking back on it now, I probably shouldn't have been so dramatic about it but well, yeah."

"Well that's just great news. You literally put a target on my back," he whined.

"What are you talking about? You make it seem like he has anger issues or something."

He paused again. This time he looked annoyed as he rolled his eyes at me.

"What? Come on Dante, I'm being serious. Carver wouldn't hurt a fly."

"Have you met your boyfriend? Once he finds out this happened to you on my watch, he'll kill me or at least try to."

"You're overreacting."

"He pushed Brock down the stairs."

"First off, that was me."

"Bullshit. Do you really expect me to believe that you did that?" he asked.

"Why not? It really was me who did that."

"Right and let me guess, the next thing you're gonna tell me is that you have an OnlyFans? Get outta here with this nonsense man! Quit trying act so tough. You know, you're not good at lying."

"It really was me though," I protested.

"I'm not even gonna argue with you. Let's just agree to disagree and move on."

"But--"

"Now let's get you inside and clean you up. Wouldn't want it to get infected, right?"

"Ugh fine!" I groaned giving in.

Replacing my hand on the wound, we walked into the nearest department store and into one of the family restrooms. When I had asked why not just the men's room, apparently Dante wanted privacy from unwanted attention. After all we did live in a small town. Once one person starts talking the whole town would know in a matter of seconds. The townsfolk here would probably believe Dante had beat me up first before thinking that we'd be hooking up in a public restroom as crazy as that sounds. People in this town are so quick to judge and it usually doesn't benefit anyone.

Once in, he locked the door behind us. He pulled the lid down on the toilet seat and motioned me to sit. Tearing off a few sheets of the dark brown paper towels out of the dispenser and immediately crumpling them up in his hands, he began to douse the ball of paper in soap and water. I removed my hand and looked down to find my palm stained red. Fuck how much did I bleed out? Without saying a word, Dante pulled my attention back to him as he began to dab my head with the damp ball of paper.

"Looks like the bleedings stopped," he said as he continued to dab. Each dab caused me to wince. "Does it hurt?" He looked concerned but still continued.

"A little. It stings but I can handle it."

"Good," he said as he pushed my chin up with his index finger. The dabbing stopped but only for him to wipe off the remainder of the blood off of my face and then to scrubbing the blood off of my hand.

"So..." I asked pursing my lips forward and avoiding eye contact.

"So what?"

"Tell me about the guy. I'm assuming it went over well since you seemed pretty excited earlier."

"Oh yeah, I completely forgot. We didn't really say mu--"

"Excuse me? You talked forever! You even flipped me off...asshole!"

"Sorry about that. I guess I just got so caught up in our conversation that I completely lost track of time. We just caught up with each other."

"Meaning what exactly?"

"Uh not much. We just talked. I don't know. What do you want me to say?" He asked all flustered again. This is definitely not like him. Whoever this guy is must be special. "We just caught up is all. We agreed to meet up later today. He's catching the next train here and I told him to meet me back at the restaurant so we could talk more. Oh here's your phone by the way. I was meaning to give that back to you before I saw the blood."

"Finally!" I whined snatching my phone back from him.

"You know he asked me if I was calling him from my girlfriend's phone," he said scratching his head while laughing.

"Girlfriend? Are you dating someone right now?"

"What? No, I think I was dating someone at the time when I met him."

I thought about it for a second and then it clicked. "Oh my god, you were dating Chloe when you met him didn't you! That's why she broke up with you!"

"What? Oh come on, do you really think I'd do that? Well maybe? You know what? I really don't know if I met him when I was with her but if I did then I'd say I'm better off."

"I don't disagree but," I paused. While I do agree that I don't ship him and Chloe because they really did make an awful couple, I don't like the idea that he was fooling around with other people when he was committed to someone no matter how terrible of a person she is. It's just not fair. Break up with them if you want something else.

"But?" he probed.

"Never mind, forget it. I-It's not important."

"Oh okay, whatever you say," he said as he reached into his back pocket pulling out an orange bandana that I never noticed before. He then tied it around my forehead. "Now no one's gonna ask about that lil head wound."

"Do you always keep this in your pocket?" I asked curiously.

"You never know when someone might notice. I gotta stay ready just in case," he chuckled.

"Notice what? Your bandana?" I asked confused.

"Well yeah, I like having fun so that's why I keep it back there."

"Okay? And what does that have to do with anything?"

"You don't know?"

"Know what? What are you talking about?"

"Eh forget about it. It's not important. It doesn't seem to be your kind of scene."

"There's a bandana scene?"

"Something like that," he smiled and winked at me. "Before you start freaking out, it means nothing when its tied around your head like that."

"I wasn't gonna freak out."

"Right," he said unconvinced.

"I mean it. I wasn't going to freak out," I said playfully punching him in the arm. "Okay maybe a little bit but what do you expect? I still don't know what this bandana has to do with anything and judging solely on the basis of who you are, I don't want get mistaken for it. No offense."

"Don't worry about it," he said as he returned the favor by lightly smacking my face. "Now let's get outta here. Don't you have some shopping to do?"

"Oh crap, yeah I do," I said getting up. I walked up to the door, unlocked it, and we both walked out. Thank god no one was around. Dante started to walk the opposite direction from me when I stopped him. "If you're not doing anything, I could really use a guy's opinion on something. You know what I mean when I say that right?"

"Sure, I'm actually off the clock for the rest of the day. Grams made me promise that I'd get her something nice while I'm here." 
God he's so easy to manipulate. First Lulu, now Mama Rose? I'm learning so many new things about Dante today. Maybe I could get him to do something for me to down the road. I'm saving this information for later.

"So what do you need?" he asked.

"I need advice on what to get Carver for Christmas or maybe just your opinion on the things that I was already planning on grabbing for him. I'm honestly at a loss."

"Why are you asking me? He's your man. You should know what he likes."

"I know, I know, it's just--I-I don't know. I just want to get him the perfect gift. He's already gotten something for me and it's huge and when I saw huge I mean it."

"So you know what he got you?"

"Well I've only seen it wrapped up by their tree. But I don't actually know what it is though. I don't remember talking about anything that massive before."

"Well what were you thinking of getting him?"

"Well he likes to run so I thought I'd get him some nice running shoes but I have no idea what's even good. As you can see I only wear boots. Also I don't know if that's good enough to compete with whatever he got me so I was gonna try to find a jacket, a plaid jacket since that's his thing, you know his aesthetic. But still I don't know if that'll be enough and I'm just spiraling farther and farther down the rabbit hole of self-doubt."

"Okay well first off relax, just chill. Remember what I said about you freaking out? You're doing it right now. You're overthinking like you always do. Now what you have already sounds good enough and I can help you with the shoes but I've got an idea. I know we've talked about sex before but I have to ask, are you still a virgin?"

"Yes and no. It depends on what you mean by `virgin'."

"What the hell does that mean?"

"I'm not a mouth virgin but I am a butt virgin."

"Why would you--only you would word it like that," he said shaking his head. "No one says what you just said."

"Really? Oh well I didn't really know how else to answer your question. Cause we've done some things but not the main thing, you know, butt stuff."

"I got it, Fang. You're such a dork," he laughed. "Well why haven't you done...that? Are you still scared?"

"Well kinda. I'm just afraid it's gonna hurt. Me and pain don't mix well."

"You literally bashed your head open a few moments ago and now you're saying you can't handle pain?"

"I guess so," I shrugged.

"Has he brought it up?"

"Yeah he has, but I always say no or come up with some bullshit excuse. I've almost said yes a few times but, I don't know, I just can't."

"Well do you trust him?"

"Of course I do! What kind of question is that?"

"Then you have nothing to worry about. All your fears are in here," he said pointing at my head. "Just be yourself and be confident. You already have the guy. If it hurts, tell him. He doesn't seem like the kind of guy who would want to hurt you. But he better eat your ass."

"Dante!" I yelled smacking him in his arm.

"What? It helps. Trust me. You're gonna love it."

"But that's where I--you know."

"That's why you clean down there first."

"But how do I--do I just shower first or--"

"Google it. But trust me, let him eat you out first before he fucks you. It's life changing, well that's what I hear anyway."

"Um okay, I guess I'll look into it. Thanks."

"No problem. He's gonna fucking love you for this. Trust me, I'm an expert."

Well if you're going to jump around from girl to girl to guy to guy then I would hope you're an expert on this Dante.

"Do you really think that'll be enough though?" I asked already second guessing myself.

"Fang, relax. Breathe. There's nothing wrong with using your body. It's the gift that keeps on giving. I'm probably gonna give a special guy the gift of the holiday co--"

"Oh my god! Just stop! For the love of God, please don't finish that sentence. I swear to God I will lop it off if you do, I'm not kidding."

"Chill, damn man. Just the thought of that, I--I can't," he shuddered covering his crotch with his hands. "Sorry, just thinking about seeing him again has got my blood flowing and well I'm DTF."

At this point, all I could do was roll my eyes and cover my ears. I've never realized just how much of a horn dog he is. I'm starting to get the feeling that this is one of those moments when you're blinded by someone's true colors because you idolize them so much. And no I don't idolize him, but I do, well maybe I should say did see him as someone to look up to.

Anyway shopping with Dante is well...interesting. He talks...a lot; he was literally talking my ear off and the whole time I would just smile and nod. He would constantly go off about brand loyalty and blah blah blah. There was a lot of needless information coming out of his mouth and tuning him out just wasn't cutting it today. I just need to know which shoe is the best for running. What I don't need to know is which brand is better. I swear he went into a whole backstory between Nike and Adidas. This rant went on for what seemed like forever and when he wasn't talking he would walk around in each shoe like he was strutting down his own makeshift runway while still talking about the differences between Nike and Adidas or something like that. By the end, I just gave him some cash and sat myself outside the store.

When he came out, he handed me the bag while saying something along the lines about how "fresh" Carver's gonna look in them. I know, I know, I probably should have stayed with him just to make sure he didn't pick something too flashy or out of character but it's too late now, I don't think I have it in me to go back and return it if it's bad. I just have to have faith in Dante. He's not like he's ever let me down before.

I do want to say that it wasn't all bad though. We got discounts literally everywhere we went. At first I thought it was like a secret sale that I wasn't made aware of but really it was all him, flashing his smile or suggestively looking at the person helping us. I don't even think the people helping us were even that into him he's just that charming. I guess this warrants his enormous fan following on social media, not just at our school. I just thought it was the whole alpha male thing this whole time. Guess you really do learn something new everyday.

It took us a full three hours to finish my shopping for Carver and I only got the two things I mentioned earlier. Dante grabbed a few things too, but I'm pretty sure he was just shopping for himself. Speaking of, shopping with him is just like shopping with Lulu, a long drawn out process where we have to touch literally everything in stock before we can even talk about buying something. It was a bad idea to have him model the jackets because he kept asking me if "he looked good in it" and then before I could even answer him, he would compliment himself on how good it looked on him. I just wanted to see if the fit would work since they had similar body types except that he was a little buffer than Carver. It was mentally exhausting and as much as I tried to hurry it along, I would just get dragged back into it. The only thing that kept me sane was knowing that I could see Carver's smile. I really want to give him the best Christmas that I can muster even if it means I have to be tortured for it happen.

We passed by Lulu and my mom with Mr. Lane hand in hand a few times. I would try to wave them down but I was clearly invisible to them in this moment, tunnel vision is a thing today apparently. What I did see was that both of them were carrying a shit ton of bags, well Lulu was carrying her own bags but Mr. Lane was carrying all of my mom's bags. I'm pretty curious as to what is in those bags. Knowing Lulu, the majority of them are for her, wouldn't surprise me if all of them were for her though. My mom on the other hand, I don't know. I really hope it's not all for me. I know she said she still had some shopping to do and I really, really, REALLY hope it's not for me. I don't think I'm the type of person that can handle being showered with gifts. It really has to do with the whole dislike of being the center of attention. Let's hope she's sharing the wealth and is gonna shower everyone with gifts this year, now that would be cool.

The only person I had left on my list was Lulu and she was pretty easy. She's a huge Tarantino fan if it wasn't already pretty obvious when she dressed up as Gogo for Halloween this year. We have an Asian store that sells everything between anime and Bruce Lee memorabilia. They do carry replicas and movie props from time to time and yeah I know Kill Bill isn't exactly from Asia but Gogo was and they sold her weapon here. It's fake though. I mean why would they even have a real weapon in a mall? That doesn't sound very safe. I went into the store and this was the only time Dante didn't follow me in, something about how he couldn't be seen in someplace for nerds. Don't know what he meant by that but at least I can finally have my freedom even if it's just for this brief moment.

Browsing around the store I found lots of Naruto and Sailor Moon related media, mainly action figures but they weren't your regular run of mill toy store action figures. These were more the type I would imagine seeing in a glass case meant to be shown off just based on the intricate designs. Some of them were more in action props like their weapons or powers lit up with sound effects. They were pretty cool. Okay I get the nerd aspect now. It's VERY geeky in here. Towards the back I could see what looked like the iconic yellow tracksuit Uma Thurman used in the Kill Bill Volume One movie.

As I got closer to the display, my hand just inches away from the glass display, Yukiko Kirijo steps forward from the back of the store.

"Sorry, we're closed!" she said in an annoyed tone yet unbothered as she tapped away on her phone.

"H-Hey Kiko," I said as waved at here trying to get her to look up from her screen.

"Oh it's you," she said surprised once she noticed that it was me. "Sorry about earlier, I really don't want to deal with people right now but since it's you I'll make an exception."

"Thanks Kiko."

Yukiko is probably one of the only other Asian's in town that I know of. She's sweet and kind with just a hint of edge to her. She's tall and skinny like a model with fairly pale skin. She used to have this long, straight black hair that went down just past her shoulders until about a month or two ago she gave herself these neon green streaks in her hair. I thought it was so cool and honestly a little envious that she could pull that off, but her parents threw a fit and told her to dye it back to black or else she'd have to cut it all off, which she promptly did. I think that was her plan all along. The long hair never did suit her anyway and now she has this tight black pixie cut. I think in a way that was her way of rebelling against her parents. She's a grade above me so I don't really see around much. She usually keeps to herself tucked away in Mrs. Davis' art class, painting in her usual tattered overalls splattered with different swatches of paint so I really shouldn't be surprised that that's what she's wearing today.

Her parents inherited this shop about a year or so ago from her uncle who passed on and when I say passed on I mean he passed on from inheriting it from their grandparents who are the ones who died. Weird phrasing right? I thought so too, but that's how Kiko tells it whenever people ask her about the store. I don't know if it's obvious but Kiko hates this place. She wanted her parents to sell it to the highest bidder arguing that this store was a bad investment and it's gonna bite them in the ass one day.

"So where are your parents? I don't think I've ever seen them step foot in this place since you guys took over."

"Probably what they do every weekend. Gamble at that casino up in Azure chipping away at my college fund. They say I'm going to end up a starving artist anyway so might as well use my college fund for their own selfish needs."

"Oh I'm sorry to hear that, what assholes!"

"Hmph, tell me about it," she sighed. "My goal is to graduate and try to get a scholarship that'll pay my way into Yale and if that doesn't work...I'll find some other way. In short, if they don't support my dreams, I'll support myself. But before I do that, I'm going to try to drive business away from this place as fast as I can."

"Oh...well maybe I should leave then? I was planning on buying something but if that goes against your plans, I should probably just go."

"Oh right, you were looking at that tracksuit earlier," she pointed back at it with her thumb. "It's pretty expensive. I know you won the Hunt and everything but I still don't think you'll be able to buy that."

"Crap. Well do you guys sell anything else similar to that but cheaper?"

"Let me check, give me one sec," she said as she walked back to the front desk and started typing away at their store computer. "Hmm the only thing I can find here is a foot tall figurine. Still expensive but I won't have to harvest your organs to pay for it."

"Crap, that won't work. Lulu's not much of a toy person."

"You're buying this for her?" she asked looking over at me. "Hm maybe we can kill two birds with one stone."

"What do you mean?"

"Wait here for a second," she said as she went to the backroom. She came back holding a long worn wooden case in her left hand and what looked like a paper scroll about the same length as her arm tucked under her right arm. "If you can give this to her, I'll give you the tracksuit for one fifty and I'll throw in what's in this case for free."

"Uh what are they exactly?" I asked curiously. "I don't want to give her something unless I know what they are. I mean I don't think you'd ever try to pull one on me but still. Never hurts to be cautious, right?."

"Well let's just say the contents in this case go with the suit. Just trust me on this okay? As for this?" she said pointed to the scroll. "It's a painting I did of her. I've been trying to draw up the courage to give it to her but I keep chickening out at the last second. Here let me show you, but don't judge me too hard. It's not my best."

With that, she unraveled the scroll unveiling a photo-realistic painting of Lulu's face. If she hadn't told me that it was a painting, I honestly would have thought it was photograph.

"Holy shit! This is incredible! You painted this?"

"Oh you're too kind," she said. I could tell she's not used to praise as she shied away because her face was turning this rosy hue. "So um do we have a deal?"

"Um sure but why did you paint Lu--oh my god, you like her don't you?!" I asked in disbelief.

"Can you keep it down?" she asked freaked out. "Yes, I like girls and one of them happens to your best friend. Big whoop."

"Well I hate to tell you this but I don't think she's into girls."

"I beg to differ," she said with her eyes wide open.

"What's that supposed to mean? Wait are you guys secretly dating?"

"What? No nothing like that, we just--i-it's complicated okay? Look do you want the suit or not?"

"I do, I really do."

"Good, nice doing business with you. Now give me a second to pack up the suit."

She gleefully strolled over to the display and carefully packed it in a plain gift box lined with lavender colored tissue paper which coincidentally was Lulu's favorite color. She then rolled the scroll back up and tied it up in a similar colored bow.

"Here you go," she said handing me everything. "Oh and don't worry about my parents. I'll just tell them that the tags got switched. So at the end of the day, it'll be their own fault."

"I guess we have all of bases covered then," I replied as I grabbed the wooden case and pulled it towards me. Once I got it off the desk, I realized just how heavy it was. It wasn't super heavy but still I could barely hold onto it. How in the world did Kiko carry this thing so easily? "Oh my god, what's in this thing?"

"It's a surprise, but she'll love it. I promise," she said with a devilish expression.

Okay now I'm worried. What in the world could be in this thing? No use wondering what's in this thing now, I just need help carrying this thing. Turning around, I signal for Dante to come in and help me out.

"Let me guess, you need a big strong man to carry it all for you?" he joked.

"Oh shut up, Dante. Can you just carry it for me please?" I asked nudging him with the case.

"Yeah, yeah, I got it," he said as he took the case out of my hands and hoisting it over his shoulder.

"Wait isn't that heavy for you?" I asked perplexed.

"What, this? No, it's as light as a feather."

God just how weak am I? I turned back to Kiko who was clearing snickering at me behind her hands. Sighing, I told Dante to grab the box and the scroll as well while I took the bags from him and we both headed out of the store and back into the parking lot where we saw Lulu waiting for us.

"Took you guys long enough! Hurry up and unlock the door, I'm freezing over here!" she said overtly shivering surrounded by a barrier of various different bags.

"Why didn't you just call or text?" I asked huffing and puffing from carrying all these bags.

"I would but...my phone's dead," she said flashing a cringe-worthy smile. "What you'd guys get and which one is mine?"

"I thought you said you wanted to be surprised?"

"Fine! I won't snoop," she said defeated and then she tilted her head looking at the worn case. "What's that?"

"I don't kn--" I quickly jabbed my elbow into his side and cleared my throat. "I-I mean it's a surprise."

He set down the box and case on the ground as he unlocked the trunk. Once unlocked, we all stuffed our stuff in the back but I made sure the box and the scroll were tucked safely in the back away from anything heavy so it wouldn't get smashed under the weight of everything.

"Are we ready to go?" Dante said from the driver's seat.

"Yes!" Lulu whined. "Hurry up and turn up the heat! I'm dying back here!"

While Lulu was badgering him about the heat, all I could do was think to myself and say, "This Christmas will great."