I was nervous. I blowdried and straightened my hair, singing old Evanescence songs to keep my mind busy. I didn’t want to think about whatever my big surprise was. “Gotta relax,” I told myself.
My sister came upstairs and knocked on the bathroom door. “Mikey’s here,” she singsonged.
“‘Kay. I’ll be down in ten minutes.”
It was good to see him. He looked awake and alive. He was wearing a Joker beanie with holes for the eyes and he was just as happy to see me as I was to see him. He sat at the table, so I bent down to kiss him — over and over. I wrapped my arms around him and stood behind him, refusing to let go.
“I should probably let you go, huh?” I said a few minutes later.
“Yeah, you don’t wanna choke me.” He paused. “Can I give you your presents now?”
“Uh — shouldn’t we wait? ‘Til after dinner?” I chewed on my lower lip.
“Can I at least give you one? I’ll give you the smallest.” He reached into a ginormous JCPenney bag and pulled out the latest issue of The Dark Tower: Treachery.
“You got my Stephen King!” I flung my arms around him again and smothered him with kisses. “Thank you!”
I managed to get him to wait until after dinner. He reminded me of a kid on Christmas morning, he was so excited. We went out for a cigarette after dinner and he said he wanted to give me my presents when we got back downstairs.
“I got you three — no, four — things.”
My eyes popped out of my head. “Four? Dammit, I lose! I only got you two!”
“It’s not a contest,” Lauren said when we came back downstairs and I told her about my defeat.
“Yeah, well, he said his present was gonna make me cry, so it kinda is,” I grumbled.
“Can you hand me my bag?” Mike was practically bouncing off the walls. I tried my best to be cool and not explode into a million little pieces as I handed him the large white bag. Continue reading
