December, 2018

Okay, I knew forcing Kaden to go Christmas shopping with me would take a lot of convincing, but it was my only choice. I had previously asked Kendall, but she had to work an odd shift, which included both Cole and Francis, your typical old, cat lady.

Unfortunately, then I came to the realization that I had two more options, and one wasn't that plausible.

Either I go alone, which most likely isn't the brightest of ideas because I tend to get lost a lot and I had only been to the mall once since I moved here. Or, I try to convince Kaden to come along.

I knew he wasn't a big fan of crowds or shopping, so I could predict it wouldn't be an easy job.

Of course I bounced around the idea of asking Molly, but we aren't very close, and it would most likely be awkward.

So here I am, at Kaden's doorstep ringing the doorbell, hoping that it will be harder to say no if he see's I'm already here.

"Ave?" Kaden was dressed in his usual attire of jeans and a t-shirt, hair was slightly ruffled and his obvious lack of sleep was shown.

Right as the door opened enough for him to escape, Owen pushed his way through and lunged at me.

I laughed, slightly toppling over due to the sudden impact. My pale yellow winter jacket caused a dreadful static noise as he eagerly licked my face. Thank god it wasn't black, or his specks of white fur would be extremely visible as it shedded.

"Hey Kade." I finally spoke, getting to my feet and motioning for Owen to get back inside. Kaden lifted his eyebrows, implying that I should explain why I'm here.

"Okay, okay. So I know that this is completely out of the blue, but I figured if I texted you,
you would be more likely to say no than you would be if I just showed up here."

"Sorry Ave, no soliciting." Kaden smiled, as he spoke in a teasing manner.

"I literally hate you."

"Bad sales pitch, if you want something from me you should approach it nice and convincingly, make me feel like whatever it is you're trying to get me to buy is not a need, but a want-" Before Kaden could remark the whole first chapter of "Sales for Dummies." I cut him off.

"Take me Christmas shopping. Kendall is working so you're my last option."

"As honored as I am to be your second choice." Kaden put a hand over his heart. Here we go.

"I'd rather run myself over with a car than go Christmas shopping."

"Please! I don't want to go alone!" I practically begged.

"Why not?" Kaden was clearly amused.

I crossed my arms. "I'll get lost."

"Use Google Maps."

"I'll get kidnapped."

"Fight them."

"I don't know how to fight."

"Learn." It was obvious this conversation was gonna last forever, so I had to find some other way to get him out of the house.

I knew what I was about to do was the most immature thing I have probably ever done in my life, but as my eyes desperately scanned the interior of Kadens house, it was my only logical choice.

"Uh, Kade, what's that?" I asked in a fake cautious tone. Kaden furrowed his eyebrows before turning around to see what I was motioning too.

I quickly stepped into his house and reached out for the keys that hung behind him.

Kaden, who obviously noticed snapped his head to me. "Seriously? My keys?"

"Well, now you have to take me or I'll drive your car into a tree."

"Fine, you win. Let me grab my coat."

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" I exclaimed. Although Kaden rolled his eyes as he slid on a dark grey winter jacket, hints of a smile showed clearly.

"Wanna give me my keys now?" He said as he got into the drivers seat.

"Promise you won't run as soon as I do?" I questioned, remembering that Kaden didn't break promises.

"Yes."

"Okay." I hesitantly handed Kade his car keys.

When our surroundings started to move, indicating that Kaden had started to drive, I leaned my elbow onto the console and closed my eyes.

"Oh no way I'm letting you sleep while I take you to the mall Ave, get up." Kaden leaned his shoulders into me in an attempt to push my elbow off.

I groaned, shifting my weight onto the other side of the seat. Kaden, while looking both to the road and to me, moved his hand to push me lightly.

"Kaden, you're gonna crash the car and kill us both." I sighed, lifting my head groggily up.

"If you haven't noticed, I'm a great driver." He bragged. I rolled my eyes.

"Debatable."

"You know its true, or else you wouldn't make me drive you everywhere."

"I just like your car." I defended.

"Yeah, okay."

"Seriously! And it saves me gas money."

"Good to know you're using me to save money on gas." Kaden remarked in a tone that showed  that he was clearly being sarcastic.

I give him a proud smile before drumming my fingers on the dashboard in a fidgety manor.

Soon enough, we arrived at the Mall. The parking lot was filled with cars in every generic color known to man.

The exterior looked festive as it was covered with hung garland and had a large nutcracker in the front.

"After you." Kaden insisted. I opened the door and stepped out of the car, wrapping my jacket as tightly around me as possible.

Kaden sighed as he locked his car than walked next to me as we approached the main doors.

The second we walked in, I was overwhelmed with Christmas displays, festive smells and sales in every which way. I loved the Christmas season, so I wasn't complaining even the slightest.

"Care to explain why you dragged me here?" Kaden asked.

"First I need to buy my secret Santa gift because tomorrow is HCH. Then, I need to buy normal gifts for my friends and family and I also need to buy stuff for New York." I replied, counting the list on my fingers for effect.

"Jesus, way to wait until the last minute."

"Hey! Don't judge." I defended, poking him. "I know you haven't bought everything yet either."

"At least I bought my actual Christmas gifts already. It's already the seventeenth." Kaden pointed out. I rolled my eyes.

"We've been through this, I'm not the most organized of people. That's why I have you." I smiled, nudging him playfully.

"Make up your mind, do you use me to save gas money or do you use me to stay organized?" Kaden laughed.

"Both."

"Got it."

I could tell Kaden wasn't a big fan of shopping, but he kept an amused, neutral face most of the time.

We went to H&M, American Eagle, Urban Outfitters and Nordstrom first. I had gotten a few pairs of jeans, long sleeve shirts and jackets for New York. Kaden occasionally tilted his head back and let out a sigh, indicating that he was not exactly having the time of his life, but I knew he was purposely being overdramatic.

"Are we done yet?" He whined. I attempted to balance out the large bags that hung over my arms before answering.

"Not even close." I smiled brightly.

We took a seat on a bench near the food court so I could keep my debit card from sliding to the bottom of my purse.

"Remind me never to go shopping with you again." Kaden complained.

"Remind yourself that you won't have a choice." I spoke sarcastically with a laugh.

"Excuse me?" An unfamiliar voice caused my attention to focus off of my purse and onto a short girl in front of us. Her hair was tied neatly up into a pony tail and she was dressed in a simple t-shirt and jeans.

"Sorry if this is like, a weird question, but are you two dating?" As soon as she asked her question, my eyes went wide and Kaden started laughing.

"No." We said in unison.

Her somewhat awkward posture turned confident and her face lit up with a smile.

"Okay, so my friend over there-" She motioned to a girl with straight, dirty blonde hair who looked extremely embarrassed. As soon as she noticed us looking at her, she buried her face in her hands.

"Was wondering if she could maybe have your number?" She turned to Kaden as she spoke.

He shrugged. "Sure."

His answer shocked me, not in the 'I'm jealous' way, more in the 'Kaden usually rejects every girl that asks him out, this is new.' Kinda way.

I mean, we was undoubtably pretty, but I've seen prettier ask out Kaden. Lacey McClain tried to get his attention for the whole month of November and he barely even looked at her.

She seemed nice, at least from afar she did. But Emilia Sanchez is one of the nicest people on the planet, and Kaden still gave her a simple "sorry, I'm not really dating right now" when she asked him out and they never talked again.

So why random mall girl? Couldn't tell you.

I obviously spaced out for too long, because before I knew it the black haired girl was long gone and Kaden was waving his hand in my face.

"Hello? Earth to Ave." He said. I snapped out of my train of thought.

"Yeah?"

"You okay?" He questioned, his voice both amused and confused.

"Mhm. Why wouldn't I be?"

"I don't know, you're acting weird."

"I'm good, great actually. Time to go to more stores." I kept my voice enthusiastic as I sprung off the bench.

"Can't you just do the rest of your shopping another time?" Kaden sighed.

"Nope. We leave the twenty-first and you're the one always telling me not to procrastinate."

"But thats with school stuff, not when you're dragging me all over the mall."

"Go hangout with Santa."

"No."

"Than suck it up." I stated.

Giving up, Kaden stood to his feet and followed me to several more stores. I had gotten Cole three polo t-shirts in dark green, maroon and navy because, like Kaden, all he wears are polo shirts, but he usually sticks to the grayscale.

Now I'm just looking for the White Elephant gift, family presents and Kaden's present.

I'll probably just get my Mom a gift card to one of the overly expensive stores she shops at. I'm gonna get my dad a new coffee machine and Olivia some expensive makeup.

"Okay Kaden, next up is Sephora then Target."

"Kill me now." He groaned.

"Calm down, after that we're done." I smile at him, but he refuses to meet my eye, trying to seem mad when I know he's not.

At Sephora I ended up getting Olivia an eyebrow pencil, mascara and a palette shes been wanting forever.

To Kaden's relief, there wasn't a Target inside of the mall so we had to leave.

I had bags filling my arms, and even made Kaden carry a few. As we approached his car, I threw all of the bags into the back seat.

His car was always pretty close to spotless, probably since his car was the newest Range Rover. Another reason why we always take Kaden's car everywhere.

But he didn't seem to mind the heaps of stuff I had mindlessly thrown everywhere.

"Off to Target and then you're free." I say as I buckle my seatbelt.

"Hallelujah." He huffed.

"Come on Kade, I know you had fun today." I laugh, looking towards him even though he's driving.

Do I mention the blonde girl? Yes. Actually, no. Maybe?

Nope, why would you? I mean, he's your friend, I'd be wrong not to ask how he feels about it, right? Right?

Maybe not right.

Oh well, screw it.

"So... what about that girl?" I ask literally as awkward as I could've.

"What about her?"

"You gave her your number." I'm starting to regret asking in the first place.

"It would've been rude not too, she looked mortified." He furrowed his eyebrows as he spoke, his tone sounded slightly confused.

"Yeah." I tried to sound unfazed, but it obviously didn't work.

Soon, as if a realization had just hit him, his face lit up.

"Oh my God." He said, an amused smile covering his face.

"What?" I questioned.

"You're jealous." My mouth fell open at his accusation.

"I am not!" I exclaimed.

"You are! That's why you were acting so weird in the mall." He sounded as if he had just solved a ten thousand piece puzzle.

"You're crazy." I insisted, trying to brush it off.

"Don't worry Ave, if you don't want me to text to her, I won't." I felt my whole body freeze. My jaw dropped so low it could probably hit the floor.

Kaden's expression didn't change, it remained amused.

"What?"

"You heard me. All you have to do is ask." I was taken back by what his tone. He sounded way too confident.

Why would he think I cared if he went out with pretty girls at malls.

Because I didn't.

"I'm not asking you that, because I'm not jealous. You can talk to any girl you want and I won't care." I huffed.

"You're lying."

"No I'm not."

"You know, I always suspected you had a crush on me Ave, but I didn't think it was this bad." Kaden spoke with a smirk. He laughed slightly.

"I do not have a crush on you!" I responded a little too defensively.

"Ave, I just gave her my number. I'm not gonna go sleep with her like Cole would. Calm down." He laughed.

"Can we not have this conversation!" I raised my voice slightly, hoping to cover up my embarrassment. To my relief, we pulled into the Target parking lot.

Kaden burst out laughing. "Sure Ave."

I crossed my arms as we walked through the parking lot, partly to keep myself warm and partly to keep myself from fidgeting.

I didn't look over to Kaden, because I already knew he had a smug look covering his face.

"I have no idea what to get for White Elephant." I sighed, changing the subject.

"Who do you have?"

"You know I can't tell you that."

"Do you have me?"

"No."

"Then what's the harm?"

"It's secret Santa, Kade." I sighed, looking through the cheap children's toys in the dollar isle.

"Okay, okay."

As we scrolled through isle after isle, I couldn't find anything that would justify as a decent White Elephant gift for Cole. I was thinking maybe a baby toy or something uncreative like that but decided against it.

However, I came upon a nice Keurig coffee machine for my Dad, and several different gift cards for my mom.

It wasn't until we got to the book section, I finally found something that might save me from dressing up as Santa.

I had avoided conversation with Kaden since our talk in the car. As much as I absolutely hated to admit it, maybe I was the slightest bit jealous.

Which was annoying, but I'll manage.

"Cover your eyes." I said to Kaden, holding the gift behind my back.

"Why?"

"Because if you see it than you'll know who it's for." Kaden, being as stubborn as he is, refused. 

Rolling my eyes, I placed my hand over his eyes with one hand while carrying the gifts in the other.

I'd say Kaden and I were maybe four inches apart, five at the very most, so it wasn't a struggle for me to reach. The struggle was more trying to hold everything with one hand.

"Ave, we're literally in Target, get your hand off of my face."

"Sorry, but I can't trust you not to look, so follow me. But you can hold this." I set the coffee machine into his hands.

"How am I supposed to follow you if I can't see? And why is this so heavy?" He complained.

"Here, I'll lead the way, and that's the coffee machine you're holding, not the White Elephant thing." I walked towards the register, struggling to keep Kaden from removing my hand. but since he was holding the coffee machine, he could exactly grab my hand an move it. Sure, people looked at us like we were absolutely crazy, but I couldn't risk him seeing.

A girl around our age was at the register. She had dark burgundy hair and looked completely and utterly invested in Kaden.

Great, another one.

"That'll be $309.99." She smiled. I sighed when I realized ridiculous amount of money I spent today. I handed her my debit instead of credit card, because I figured I shouldn't make my parents pay for their own gifts. She set the items into the bag and I uncovered Kaden's eyes.

"Finally." He mumbled.

"Have a good day!" The girl handed me the bag, but smiled towards Kaden. He gave her an awkward nod before leaving the store next to me.

"You have a serious shopping addiction, how much did you even spend?" Kaden asked as, once again we approached the car. I kinda agreed with him on that one, the back seat was overflowing with bags.

"About twelve hundred, but to be fair my parents paid for a good nine hundred of it." I replied.

"Holy shit."

"Okay, you have no right to react. You drive a two hundred thousand dollar car." I pointed out.

"Fair point."

It wasn't until Kaden began to drive that I built up a fraction of the courage I needed to say what I wanted to say. As embarrassing as it was, Kaden was right. I did have a tiny crush on him.

I have never had a problem speaking to Kaden, at all. He's consistently been the person that I felt most comfortable talking too, so I wasn't used to this feeling.

"Hey Kade?" I asked quietly.

"Yeah?"

I took a deep breath. "I don't know... can you maybe, not text her?" I asked in a mumble.

A smile appeared on Kaden's face, he had clearly heard me. "What was the Ave? I couldn't hear you?"

I literally hate him so much.

"Can you maybe not text her? Like if you don't want too than you shouldn't feel pressured too because she was nervous." I spoke a little louder.

Kaden shook his head, a smile still present on his face.

"Ave, I wasn't going to anyways."

❦ Psychotic ❦

I drove myself to Mugs for today's HCH. Cole's gifts were neatly wrapped in my backseat and I was dressed in black jeans with a lightweight, white sweater.

So of course, knowing my luck, it starts snowing.

Living in warm climates a majority of my life, I had never actually seen snow. I heard both good and bad things about it, many good, few bad. Driving was one of the few not so great things and now I could understand way.

I should've asked Kaden for a ride, but I was in such a rush that I didn't really think about it.

My car slid slightly on the roads and my windshields were difficult to see out of, but I thankfully made it to Mugs in one piece.

Opening the door, Mugs was extremely festive. Kendall had a bag of Santa hats, that she had managed to get Molly, Helen and Kaden into. Cole refused, but she still grabbed the sides and sneakily slipped it over his head.

The large Christmas tree had presents underneath, clearly sorted into two piles too separate the categories. Classic Holiday
music flowed throughout the shop and the fireplace was lit, causing Mugs to be extra warm, which personally I enjoyed.

"Sorry I'm late." I spoke, taking my white poof ball hat off of my head.

"Merry Christmas!" Kendall exclaimed, basically skipping over to me and sliding a Santa hat onto my head. "We already made you hot chocolate."

"Thanks, it's freezing out there."

"I know, and it's snowing. Why didn't you ask me for a ride?" Kaden questioned sounding slightly concerned.

"I don't know, I just lost track of time." I shrugged.

"Well, you kids can do your gift exchange I have to go to the back and do some paperwork." Helen smiled warmly. We all returned her expression and waved her goodbye as she entered the back room.

I placed Cole's gifts under the tree and sat in my usual spot next to Kaden.

"Okay, who's up first?" Kendall sounded way too enthusiastic.

"I volunteer Avery, since it's her