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Mibba

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A Story to Tell Your Friends

Forty.

“I’m tired,” I whined, grabbing Jack’s blanket and pulling it back over my head. It was 4am. 4am. And here Jack was trying to get me out of bed. I wasn’t having any of it. Who cared if I was supposed to set off to be home for Christmas? I would be late and they would know it was because I was asleep. They knew me; they understood.
“I have coffee,” he responded. I lowered the covers a little, just enough to let my nose out and sniff the air. He was right. There was a caffeinated smell to the air that I just couldn’t deny. Oh God. I hated that he knew me so well.
It had been three weeks since we had returned from Chicago. May had remained in contact, texting me occasionally to check up on us both. Jack had had his ‘mini Christmas’ with his family last weekend and I had pouted at him before he left, sent him Snapchats pouting when he was gone and even pouted when he returned, because I was now more than happy to let him know I missed him when he left. I wasn’t going to have a repeat of the summer.
He, of course, didn’t take it to heart. Returning all my whiny text messages with equally whiny text messages that would have made me want to puke not 6 months ago. This was a minimal amount of our interactions during his weekend, mostly just messaging each other the same inane nonsense we normally sent, plus Jack keeping me updated on the family antics. I knew he had enjoyed himself, and that was all that really mattered.
As it was, it was the 21st of December and Jack and I had a long drive ahead of us to get to Washington. I had insisted we drive, knowing we could stop off here, there and everywhere on the way. I only really needed to be there from the 24th, which was perfect. Jack had tried to convince me to let us fly, but since I’d blown most of my money on gifts, I was almost flat broke and unable to afford the ticket. It sucked, but who doesn’t love a good road trip with their outrageously annoying other half?
“Come on, get up. Have coffee, I’ll be first driver and you can have a nap. Sound good?”
“Why are you so good to me?” I groaned, pushing the covers all the way down and opening my eyes to look at him. He had been up long enough to get dressed, but still had that dishevelled just-out-of-bed look he always had on a morning. I accepted the coffee as he pushed it toward me, sitting up.
“I’m not sure. It could be because I’m the best person you’ll ever meet, or it could be because you’re fucking adorable.”
“It’s gotta be the first one,” I laughed, taking a small, hesitant sip of my drink, taking a glance at myself and my bedhead in the mirror behind Jack. “My hair has birds living it in.”
“Cute birds though.” I rolled my eyes, allowing a smile to tug at the corners of my mouth.
“Okay, I’m up.” I stretched out, letting my back click and relaxing. “When do we need to leave?”
“About 15 minutes,” he shrugged. I groaned again, resisting the urge to throw myself backwards and into the soft pillows behind me. I basically had enough time to get dressed, wash my face and drag a brush through my hair. It was just about what I’d intended to do, but I didn’t like rushing myself. “Bags are already in the car, I’ve washed so the bathroom is yours. Get going.”
By the time I had managed to clean myself up to an acceptable level and dress myself, 20 minutes had passed and Jack was pretending to whine about how ‘girls take forever getting ready’. Of course, he took forever getting ready, so I did my best to ignore the complaint. Of course, once I got into Jack’s car, I immediately pulled my hair into a messy bun and went back to sleep. The perks of having a boyfriend with a stupidly comfortable SUV.
“Babe, wake up,” Jack said softly, nudging me awake what felt like five minutes later. “We’re here.” I groaned, opening my bleary eyes in confusion. We couldn’t possibly be there. There was no way Jack had driven over 1000 miles while I slept. Not a chance. Once my eyes focussed, I could see LAX spreading out in front of me. I blinked slowly, confused and unable to vocalise said confusion. “Surprise?”
“I told you not to,” I whined, finally realising Jack had bought our plane tickets behind my back. He spent far more on me than I was comfortable with as it was, so adding in the cost of flights to Washington at this time of year, and I wasn’t fully pleased. I mean, it was obviously a nice thing for him to do, but I’d had no complaints about driving.
“I know, but you know I hate driving everywhere,” he pouted back at me. “Planes are quick and comfy and I just want to chill.”
“So, this is your Christmas present to you?”
“Kind of. Come on, I’ll show you the next surprise.” I snorted as he grabbed the small bags he and I had packed for the week, hardly even remembering having packed so much. His spare hand linked with mine as he pulled us toward the airport. “Okay, so our plane is at Gate 20 in like an hour. Breakfast?” I squinted, peering up at the board and seeing no signs of a plane to Seattle in the next hour. Jack had checked our baggage and checked us in for our flight, so I was assuming he knew what he was talking about, but it still didn’t sound quite right.
“Jack, Gate 20 is…” I paused, my once squinted eyes widening as a grin spread across my face. “Baltimore?!”
“Surprise!” He grinned back. “You and Lisa talk about as much as me and Alex and I’ve seen Alex in the last six months. So, Merry Christmas, cutie. Don’t tell Lisa.” I pushed an excited kiss to his lips, promising I wouldn’t say anything. “Great, but you ignored the most important part of what I said: breakfast?”
“Urgh, yes, breakfast is the thing.”
“’Breakfast is the thing’? You’re definitely not awake,” he chuckled. “Come on, let’s get you caffeine.”
The next 10 hours were a blur. We messed about for most of the first hour, just having breakfast and finding stupid gifts for our friends and each other in the shops around the terminal. By the time we boarded the plane, I almost didn’t notice Jack leading us to the first class section of the plane, being so tired I just wanted to get into my seat and sleep until we landed, but of course when your seats are that huge and comfy, you frickin’ notice. I tried to give him shit, but he just put a grin on his face and said ‘surprise!’ again, so I just rolled my eyes and let him lead me to my nice comfy seat. Unfortunately, the comfort didn’t help me to sleep, my excitement to see Alex and Lisa again stopping me from settling properly. So instead, we watched the terrible in-flight movie and sent an ungodly amount of cryptic Snapchats (Jack being the first to send a picture of the movie we were watching to Alex and Lisa, and I joined in, saying I was taking the long way home for the holidays etc). By the time we landed, I was about bouncing in my seat (something Jack recorded and uploaded to Snapchat also, surprise surprise) and I couldn’t wait to see our friends again. If August had proved anything, it was that they weren’t Jack’s friends, they were our friends. It was cute; I loved it.
Jack filled me in on the plan to surprise Lisa – who apparently had had no idea we were coming, the same as I – while we were waiting for our luggage. Alex and Jack had apparently been planning this for a few weeks and it was adorable-but-alarming at how good they were at keeping secrets from us. Lisa had said nothing to me about any unusual actions on Alex’s part and, like Jack said, we talked a lot. Stupid amounts, really.
I grinned widely as we entered the café in central Baltimore, Alex facing us while Lisa had her back to the door. He looked up, but didn’t acknowledge us as we made our way over, knowing it would probably be more dramatic if we just appeared.
“Oh, my God,” I groaned, throwing myself in the seat next to Lisa. “How do you cope with that flight? I’m fricking exhausted.” She jumped at the sudden interruption, turning to me slowly and staring at me. She paused, turning back to Alex, then to Jack (who had sat himself down much more reasonably next to Alex) and back to me. “A hello would be nice,” I laughed when she continued to stare at us blankly and silently.
“You sneaky little – urgh, Alex!” I laughed at her attempt to speak, seeing that she really hadn’t had a clue that we were coming at all. She grinned as Alex looked at her sheepishly, turning back to me once more and hugging me. “It’s so good to see you! I wish I’d known you were coming!”
“I didn’t know until this morning,” I told her. “Until then I was under the assumption Jack would be driving me to Seattle for the holidays, next thing I know I’m at LAX boarding a flight to come see you guys.” She turned back to Alex, sending a small glare his way.
“Merry Christmas, babe!” He grinned widely, acting much more confident than he had looked when Jack and I had sat down.
“If you think this is my Christmas present, you’ve got another think coming, Mr.” I snorted, smiling at our friends. “Ugh, I’ve missed you guys. It’s been forever. We have so much to catch up on.”
“Literally fricking everything,” I gushed. The boys groaned on the other side of the table but we ignored them. “Have you heard about Tammy and Chris?”
“Oh, my God, yes! Aren’t they adorable?”
“Don’t you two talk daily?” Alex asked. “Haven’t you already spent an hour on the phone in the last week discussing exactly Tammy and Chris and how cute they are?”
“Bite me, Gaskarth,” I retorted, before smiling sweetly at the waitress who was putting down my glass of water and cutlery.
“I’ll leave that to Jack, thanks.” I raised my middle finger in his direction before turning back to Lisa.
“So, have you heard that they’re spending Christmas with his family?”
“Ahuh.”
“Well, you know that Jenny is still being a bitch about Tammy, right?”
“Oh, god, yes. She’s awful!”
“Jesus Christ, it’s like we’re not even here.” I scowled at my boyfriend as he interrupted me the same as Alex had. “Are we even necessary? Should we just leave and I’ll see you in Seattle?”
“Fuck off.”
“Gladly.” I grinned at him, seeing him smiling knowingly as Lisa and I caught up on things that, yes, we had in fact already discussed at great length. I leaned over the table quickly, pushing a small kiss to his cheek.
“Thank you for my Christmas present, cutie. Now let me enjoy it, okay?”
“Fine, catch up, but I’m going to need attention soon.”
“You guys are gross,” Alex scowled. “I feel left out.”
“I’m everybody’s favourite person, you are not,” I joked, Alex intensifying his pouting.
“Babe, tell her.”
“I’d love to, but she’s right.” My grin widened at Lisa’s words, despite knowing she was only teasing him. He knew this would happen. Frankly, Lisa and I got on like a house on fire and he knew he was going to be a little left out here.
“Really, Alex, you brought this on yourself.”

Notes

I had intended to upload this Wednesday (I'm developing a schedule, I swear), but it just wasn't done.
I suppose 10 days is better than 4 months though, right?

Comments

I’m back and yes I love it and hope you write more!!

Hopeless13 Hopeless13
8/3/21

I finally figured out my login again. And just reread the entire story. I hope we will get more of it. I love them

Hopeless13 Hopeless13
9/6/20

In love with thissssss. You’re doing amazing.

Larissa Larissa
6/12/19

Damn! That was a drama filled night at the bar! Go jack for standing up for her!

hopeless1313 hopeless1313
1/24/19

You’re back!! I’m so glad!! Aww they are being cute. That’s how it is when I go back home and see my friends there too.

hopeless1313 hopeless1313
1/9/19