I'm Just a Kid That Tried Too Hard

We all swap little gifts with each other. I got the two girls that I hadn’t met before cute bracelets I had seen while looking through the one of the little indie shops I stumbled upon just to give them something. They seem to love them, putting them on right away.

Everyone loves all their gifts. I got Patrice really cheesy things for his car like fuzzy dice and for Tyler I got him a mug with nude chicks with black boxes over what made them nude. I got Ariel tickets for Simple Plan (and one for me obviously). For Ross I got him this clay dying kit that he’s been looking at online since forever but was too cheap to ever buy himself.

I go to hand Brad his gift, but he stops me, “I’ll open it when everyone else goes home okay?” I nod before sticking the gift back under the tree. I turn to Greg, “Do you want to see your gift?” He nods slowly and gets up after I do. I lead him into the spare bedroom and shut the door behind us. There are a couple whistles and hollers before a thump which I assume came from Brad to shut everyone up.

I flick the light switch and the Christmas lights that are set up to line the room flicker on. He raises his eyebrows, asking me what’s going on silently. I giggle and shake my head at him. No of course this isn’t what he thinks it is. I go to my easel and remove the cloth that covers it. I turn to Greg with a huge grin.

He’s staring at the painting that landed me my Italy trip. The painting of the rink. All he did when he saw it for the first time was how perfect it was and how much he loved this rink. On the way home from that night he told me that he saw me the night I had snuck out onto the ice. He said he did the same thing sometimes. I can’t think of a better person to give it to.

He steps towards the painting and me slowly. He pulls me into the tightest hug I’ve ever received. We stand like that for awhile. It makes me so happy that he appreciates the painting. He takes a step back and is smiling down at me, “Devin this is perfect. I’ll put it right behind my couch in my apartment so everyone can see it.” I nod, and he keeps going, “I’m glad I caught you alone actually. I wanted to give you your gift in peace.”

He pulls out a little envelope and hands it to me. I gingerly take it and dump the content into my hand. It’s a silver chain with a circular charm. It’s simple and classy. After inspecting the charm I notice that in impossibly small letters it reads “We’ll stagger home after 12:00am.” I let out a quiet chuckle. It’s been my latest ringtone and has come to be my favorite song off of Blink’s new album. Whenever Greg and I are in the car I put it on and sing at the top of my lungs with him. This is so sweet. I look up at him and peck him on the cheek. “Greg this is so precious. Thank you so much.” He hugs me again after he helps me put the necklace on. “Anytime sweetheart.”

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After everyone leaves, Brad settles onto the couch and pats the spot next to him putting our unopened gifts on his lap. I jump onto the couch, excited. He hands me a box while he sets to unwrapping my gift to him. He smiles at the rolex case and opens it up. Inside is an impeccable watch. On the other side of the clock face the Bruins B is etched in and so is “Sir Stanley 2011” which is what we started referring to the cup and to some of the guys when they did something really sweet on the ice.

He smiles at me and kisses me quickly, “You’re turn!” He’s practically jumping for me to open my gift. I unwrap the large box slowly. Cardboard. I fold the flaps back and inside is many things. An incredibly thick moleskin that looks very expensive. My favorite brand of water colors. A pocket sized Italian dictionary. A new saddlebag. Nice pens. A Bruins scarf. Then at the bottom of the box is, what I’d think to be customized, are a pair of Bruins Toms.

I look at Brad, entirely astonished. In my eyes, this is some serious cash. I would never self indulge like this. “Brad, this…” The look he gives me shuts me right up, so instead I place the box on the floor and crawl into his lap. I wrap my arms around his neck and kiss his cheek, “Thank you so much.”

He smiles at me, “I like to think of it as your personalized international art student survival kit. The thing is though; you can’t use any of it until the trip. Except the scarf.” I laugh and nod. That makes enough sense to me.

I move to straddle his lap and kiss him again. His hands move to my hips, which soon start moving against his jeans. He smiles into the kiss. I break off and move to his neck, trailing kisses from his jaw line all the way down to the top of his collar. Deciding it’s time to impress him, I quickly undo his top two buttons of his shirt with my teeth.

He brings my face back up to his and we start making out again. His hands are toying with the zipper on my dress and he doesn’t need to tell me what he wants. That shirt is off in a matter of seconds. I praise myself for yet again choosing the right day to wear some of my finer purchases from Victoria’s Secret. I blush, still not entirely okay with him seeing my body because I’m so self conscious.

He stands up so I can finish taking his shirt off before picking me up and carrying me to my room. I go to flick the light on, but think better of it and leave it off. The light coming in through the window is plenty enough without being too harsh. He lays me down while hovering over me. He smirks at me which sets my nervous giggling. Somewhere in all of that his pants disappeared. You’d think I’d remember this happening.

Before things go any further he gets up and shuts the door. I laugh at him, “I live alone Brad. Do you not want the cat to come in?” He lets out a laugh that almost comes out shaky, nodding. It makes me feel a bit better that the infamous Brad Marchand, the partier, the lady’s man, is a tad nervous too. He looks at me once he returns to propping himself up over me, still smiling, “I don’t want to wake the neighbors.” I laugh and pull his face down to meet mine.

I think it’s safe to say we still woke the neighbors.