Pride

I bet you’re all wondering what exactly I’m doing at the mall on Christmas Eve. Well it’s pretty simple, I’m searching for a Christmas present. For who? Not who you think, I bet. I kind of forgot to get Mindy a present. She called me earlier today, asking me when I planned on arriving at her house to give it to her. The moment she asked that I practically shit my pants. Kai, the useless bastard, already got her one and decided to stay behind to help my mom with dinner while I searched for Mindy’s present.

It sucks coming to the mall on Christmas Eve. Everyone is hustling and bustling to finish the last of their Christmas shopping. It’s busy and shit. I hate it. Sighing, I continue searching for something that is in my budget. Last year I managed to get her something nice but I do not have it this year so she has to put up with something simple.

I should rephrase that. I have to get her something simple that she won’t kill me for…and what exactly should that be? Clothes? No, girl clothes are expensive as shit. Perfume? I don’t know what she likes and that’s probably worse than the clothes. I guess I could get her a movie…the freak likes all those drama TV shows.

I make my way to the movie store and damn that woman for making me search through the drama section. I end up picking up a season of Lost, some show she told me about before and I know she doesn’t have any on disk. After grabbing it I head towards the counter and standing just behind it is a far too familiar person that I really did not want to see.

“Hey Shiloh,” Garrett says with a smile. “Fancy seeing you here.”

“Yeah…fancy that,” I grumble. Shit, I forgot he worked at the movie store. Why didn’t I just go with the perfume? All girls like that prissy shit.

Garrett doesn’t seem at all bothered by me being here but I sure as hell am bothered by him. Has he forgotten that he was dating Kai or did he really not care at all? It really pisses me off thinking that they were just using each other. I really want to kick his ass.

He takes the movie and scans it. I’m too busy staring at the floor to notice the way he’s staring at the movie. Laughing, he asks, “You actually like these kinds of shows?”

I finally look away from the floor and towards him. “No, it’s for Mindy.”

“Mindy?” Garrett’s eyes narrow in on me. “You two sure are close.”

“If you think I’m messing with Kai you’re wrong. I wouldn’t kiss a guy for no reason,” I growl and maybe I am imagining wrapping my hands around Garrett’s throat and squeezing until he’s blue but I have no desire to spend time in jail.

“Oh? So you’ve kissed him?” Garrett asks, seeming pleased to have gotten that much out of me. I flush the moment I realize that I let that out. Damn him. I really hate this bastard. Can’t he just…go die in some deep dark hole in the middle of no where?

“Just give me the damn movie,” I hiss, holding out my hand for Mindy’s present. Garrett chuckles and hands it over after I pay for it. I am more than pleased to leave the store. I’ll have to make a mental note to never go in there ever again…or allow Kai to go in there either.

“Is there something wrong hun?” Mom asks after I arrive home. I don’t blame her for thinking something’s wrong. Mindy asked the same question when I stopped by. I guess the scowl on my face is enough to tell them I’m a bit more than pissed off thanks to a certain blonde haired bastard.

“Nah, I’m fine…is dinner done?”

“Yeah but your dad isn’t home yet so we’re going to wait to eat. Kai is in your room.”

Nodding, I head into my room and like mom said, Kai is there. For once he isn’t reading or doing some nerd related thing. He’s actually playing video games. Holy shit, is the world going to end? I look around me for anything that could cause the world to suddenly explode but see nothing.

“You’re back,” Kai says happily, patting the floor beside him. So maybe a small, very, very small part of me wanted to sit as close as possible to Kai but I don’t do that. There’s no reason to. He doesn’t need to cuddle with me every second of every day.

I jump on my bed, burying my face in the pillows so I won’t see the disappointed frown on Kai’s face. With a sigh, I say more to myself than Kai, “I ran into Garrett.”

“Y-you did?”

“Mm,” I hum, turning my face towards Kai who scrunched his face in concern.

“Did h-he say a-anything?” Kai moves to my side. My entire body stiffens when he lies down on top of me, intertwining our fingers. His soft breath hits against the back of my neck. I bite my lip to keep myself from making any strange noises.

“Just that Mindy and I are close,” I grunt. “He probably thinks I’m just fucking with you.”

“…a-are you?”

Hell no! Without warning, I sit up, causing the back of my head to slam itself against Kai’s nose. He yelps in pain while I ignore the slight throbbing to turn and angrily say, “If you ever think I’d kiss a guy just to fuck with him ever again I swear I will rip your balls off and shove them up your nostrils.”

Kai, while rubbing his nose, blushes at the odd threat. A moment of silence passes before he laughs softly to himself, “Sorry…I just…t-think that it’s too g-good to be true sometimes…and I l-like to hear you admit that y-you care.”

“Well I don’t like doing it so stop your shit!” I throw my hands around his throat. “I should kill you for making me act like this.”

Kai bites his lip to hold back a smile. He doesn’t seem at all bothered by the fact that my hands are currently around his throat. I could kill him! “You would never.”

There is no need for him to sound so confident about that. Honestly, my pride is getting smaller and smaller every day thanks to this kid. He needs to pay for it!

“I really do hate you…you worthless piece of shit.”

Kai pouts. “I love you too, Shiloh.”

Ah! He said it again!

I pull my hands away and quickly scurry under the covers before the idiot can see the red tint on my cheeks. I know it’s there. I can feel the heat beneath them. It’s not like I have any control over my reaction. He just says it so…earnestly. How can he just say that? Especially to me, his male best friend.

I really do wonder what his problem is.