章節 48: Warm Person Vs Cold Person
When the horribly awkward lunch ended, Justin waved goodbye to Alexa in the parking lot and opened the car door for a very quiet Emily. He knew she was mad but was she mad at him for bringing Alexa along?
It was Emily's idea to celebrate in the first place but in the end it hadn't seemed like much of a celebration. He really wanted to apologize but Alexa had strictly told him not to say anything because it would ruin her plan.
"Alexa's an interesting girl," Emily finally said.
"Yeah, she's one of a kind," he replied truthfully.
He had never met anyone quite like Alexa. She was sharp, to the point of being able to practically see right through you.
"I wouldn't have pegged her as your type."
Justin's brow furrowed. He didn't have a type, as the only girl he had ever liked was Emily, but he wondered how she'd come to that conclusion.
"What do you mean?"
"I don't know how to explain it," she said helplessly. "She's smart and pretty but seems…cold. You're really warm so I can't exactly see you with a cold person."
She thought he was warm…the compliment made him smile despite the serious tone of the conversation. That was actually one of the nicest things she had ever said to him. He was savoring her words so much that he was startled when she spoke again.
"I'm sorry, that was probably rude."
"No, no, you're fine!" he assured her. "I thought you'd say something like she's too pretty for me. You know Sam gives me a hard time for being too casual."
"She's definitely not too pretty for you," Emily said. "Don't worry about that. You're cute."
His heart stopped. Not too pretty for him…Justin's face was already burning but when she finished her sentence he thought the car would catch on fire from the heat. 'You're cute' bounced around in his head on repeat, leaving him in a state of shock. She thought he was cute.
His happiness deflated like an old balloon when he remembered that she previously compared him to a puppy. Puppies were cute. Cute and attractive were different things.
Justin had always thought of himself as plain. But she said Alexa wasn't out of his league so that had to count for something.
"Good to know," he managed to get out.
When they arrived back at the apartment building Emily's face lit up like she remembered something and she dashed up the stairs, hollering behind her. "Wait right there! Don't move!"
He obeyed her surprise order, hardly daring to breathe. When she came back down the stairs she had a gift box in her hand.
"Your Christmas present! I'm going home tomorrow so I figured I should give this to you now."
Justin shook his head and came back to life. "Give me a minute to go get yours."
He ran up to his apartment, tearing apart his closet in search of the gift he had wrapped shortly after they returned from Thanksgiving break. He made sure to be prepared before Christmas this year!
Exiting his apartment, he was startled to find Emily on his doorstep. "I figured I should wait for you here so you didn't have to do the stairs again," she explained. "Let's open them together."
Exchanging boxes, Justin shakily opened his gift. It was a silver keychain that said World's Best Gymnast on it. He turned to her, bewildered, and was rewarded with her cheeky grin.
"This is payback for the Pepe le Pew shirt."
Burying his face in his hands, he realized this was because of the balancing game incident. "You're the worst. The absolute worst. Why do I even like you." He stiffened when he realized what he let slip but Emily failed to notice which kind of 'like' he was referring to.
Emily flipped her hair. "Because I'm awesome, that's why."
She opened her own gift box and put a hand over her mouth to suppress her emotions when she saw what was inside. It was a bracelet made out of colorful bits of stone like the kinds you'd see in a fill-your-own-bag-of-rocks station in a gift shop. It was quirky and beautiful, exactly the sort of thing she would have chosen for herself if she had money to spare on jewelry.
"How did you know?"
"I noticed you like colorful things," he said before looking up at her expectantly. "Do you like it?"
"I love it!" she exclaimed before her face darkened. "You got me a real present and I got you something dumb. I'm sorry."
He waved it off. Even if it was embarrassing it was still a gift from her that referenced a memory they shared together. He would put it on his key ring and treasure it.
"I got you something dumb last year. Now we're even."
She perked up a bit. "I promise I'll get you something better next time!" Putting the bracelet on her wrist, she admired it before giving Justin a brilliant smile. "Merry Christmas, Justin."
"Merry Christmas," he said softly. "Let me know when you've made it home tomorrow, okay?"
Emily seemed surprised but nodded happily. "I will. See you after New Year's!"
"Yeah, see you," he called behind her as she went down to her own apartment.
Once Justin was back inside he slipped the keychain onto his car keys and sent Sam a picture. As predicted, she understood the gag gift and cracked up, sending him a long string of laughing emojis and a message that said '11/10, definitely wife material'.
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Mcllorycat
Mcllorycat I decided to give you guys two bonus chapters for TGIF. Enjoy! (Also, please shoot me a review if you like this story. I keep losing readers and it's getting me down)
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