Easy To Fall In Love

My best friend and little sister paced back and forth with a textbook in her hand. I watched her curiously as she stopped, looked up, sneezed, cursed, and then looked back down at her Chemistry text book. I would never understand how she could understand that shit.

“Lizz?” I asked. She drew in a deep breath and closed the book, dropping it on the floor before she turned to me. She cocked her head to the side.

“Yeah?”

“Maybe it’s time to take a break from studying… It’s Christmas break…” She stared at me for a minute in silence before she sucked in a deep breath, let out a scream, and ran and jumped on the couch.

“Are we going to set up the Christmas tree?!” she asked, sitting up. She smiled as she picked up her small dog and kissed its nose. She sneezed again.

“Lizz, I set it up over the last week.”

She looked up at me and her eyes got wide. “Wha? I missed it? How the hell did I miss it?” She put Molly, her dog, down on the couch and turned to look at the tree by the sliding glass door. She shook her head. “What do you want for Christmas? I obviously missed EVERYTHING and judging by the fact that I have no clue what day it is, I’m guessing that Christmas is in the next two weeks and I’m a loser!”

“You know that one band?” She nodded. “I want the singer.” She blinked twice before she went to her room. I wondered what she was doing until she came out wearing a pair of skinny jeans, a black shirt with a vest over it, and a pair of boots.

She stopped and grabbed her coat at the door. “You meant Patrick Stump, right?” I nodded. “Cool. I have to go pull some strings! Bye, Claudia!” She skipped out the door leaving me to wonder what she meant.

This left plenty of time for me to make sure her present would be here on time. I grinned as I picked up the phone and dialed the number.

Christmas Day
“WAKE UP WAKE UP WAKE UP!” Lizz shouted, jumping on my bed.

“What?” I groaned.

She stopped and sat Indian style at the foot of the bed. “Don’t you know what today is?” she asked innocently. “It’s Christmas and I got you some really cool stuff.” She smiled. “So get your lazy butt out of bed and meet me in the living room!” She got up and jumped off the bed before she ran out of the room.

I groaned and rubbed my eyes before I sat up. “Couldn’t have a normal sister,” I mumbled. I crawled out of bed and brushed my hair before I straightened out my pajamas and left my room.

“Finally!” Lizz sighed over-dramatically. I shook my head. Of course she would choose today to wear everything Batman. I honestly wondered if there was something wrong in her head that she needed medication for… Then again, if she needed medication, I probably did too, and that was a road we were not going to go down.

I smiled as she patted the spot beside her on the couch and decided to humor her. I picked up a box wrapped in blue paper. “This is for you,” I said, handing it to Lizz as I sat beside her. She smiled widely as she ripped the paper off.

“CANDY LAND! I LOVE YOU!” She dropped it and hugged me tightly before she got up and ran into the kitchen. I turned and watched as she pushed out a box that was half her size—and she was only 5’4”.

“You promised nothing over the top!” I whined. “Now I’m going to feel bad because…” She stopped and lifted the lid off the box and someone stood up. “Patrick?” I tilted my head to the side and raised an eyebrow.

“Hi, Claudia,” he said, smiling as he got out of the box.

“I, uh, one second…” I got up and pulled Lizz into the kitchen.

“You can thank me later,” she said smiling.

“How did you get him?” I demanded.

She shook her head. “You don’t even want to know.” She cringed. “Never again! I hope your list next year has stuff easier to find…” The doorbell rang. “Who’s that? Why would anyone visit us on Christmas?” She had a thoughtful look for a minute.

“The best present you’ll ever get,” I smirked. Let’s just say, I did a little digging and made a lot of phone calls. I watched her as her expression went from confusion to panic.

“What? Oh shit!” She ran out into the living room and I followed, standing by Patrick as she opened the door. She turned and mouthed the words Thank you before she turned back around. “Uh, hi, Garrett…”

“What did you do, Claudia?” Patrick whispered.

“It had to be the best Christmas ever,” I shrugged. “I had no clue you were going to be here, though…”

He wrapped his arm around my shoulders and kissed my cheek. “It definitely is.”