Chapter 26 Marco
Marco
Brin was not kidding about the white elephant gift needing to be weird. I was nervous sitting down around the tree with Eva’s friends, knowing what I’d brought to the party.
Now that it’s my turn, though, three gifts have been opened and two have already been stolen. Neither of them are the gifts Brin or I brought—there’s a bag of miniature rubber ducks, a resin toilet seat with flowers encased in it, and a pack of Jane Fonda workout VHS tapes.
Eva’s nineteen-year-old cousin hadn’t known what they were, which made me feel every one of my thirty-two years.
That’s what I’m choosing between, or one of the many presents that sit unopened under the tree.
I lean into Brin. “Do you have a particular attachment to any of the open ones?”
She bats her eyelashes at me. “’Cause you’d steal it for me?”
“Hell yes.”
“Hmm.” She taps her chin and looks thoughtfully at the pile. There are twenty of us here, so there’s a lot to choose from. Some of the gifts are fairly innocuous looking, like the two we brought, but some of them are wonky shapes.
Like the dick-and-balls-shaped one wrapped in green paper with a bow at the tip. Surely it’s not actually a sex toy?
Well, there’s only one way to find out.
Laughter fills the room when I grab the “penis” by the tip. Right away it feels vaguely familiar, but it barely weighs anything, so I doubt it’s an actual dildo.
The whole room quiets while I open it. As I suspected, it’s not a sex toy, but instead is an inflatable cylinder that says “Go Wildcats” and two poop-emoji stress balls. I wave the cylinder around and realize it’s a thunder stick.
“A-plus for the packing effort,” I say to the group.
“Thank you.” Eva tosses her hair over her shoulder. I gently bonk her in the head with it.
Two turns later, someone steals from me and I have to go back to the drawing board.
Once I’ve made my choice and unwrapped a gently used game of Guess Who?, which the gift bringer modified to have pictures of KPop Demon Hunters characters instead of the normal people, Brin hops up from her spot next to me to use the bathroom.
Eva sidles in to take her place. When we walked into her apartment holding hands, Eva didn’t bat an eye, just started introducing us around. Even now she doesn’t have to say anything, she just looks at me smugly.
“You’re not surprised,” I say.
“No.” She takes a sip of her chocolate mint martini. “I knew the first time you came to the bar late at night to walk her home that you two were gonna end up together.”
That must have been ages ago. I don’t even remember the first time I walked home with her. It doesn’t happen all that often—only when I’m out late enough either with Greg or with William.
“She could use a guy like you. Someone to protect her. I hope she never loses that spark of innocence.”
I’m not sure if Eva knew about Brin being a virgin, but she fixes me with a firm look. “If I have to protect her from you, I’m going to take every single aspect of your life down and you’ll be forced to flee my city, do you understand?” Eva’s glaring at me now.
I swallow, fifty percent glad that Brin has someone else who will watch her back, and fifty percent terrified.
“I understand.”
“Good.” Eva leans back on the couch and we watch someone pick up my gift and unwrap it—a book titled The Fart that Changed the World.
Eva cackles, and Brin returns from the bathroom to push her aside and sit between us. “Oh good, your gift was opened.”
Brin goes a few turns later and steals the flower toilet seat. Someone steals that and then she unwraps a life-sized ceramic hissing duck.
We stay at the party long after the gift exchange is over. The food is good, the group is loud, and I’ve never seen Brin laugh so much.
It’s no longer Christmas when we leave the party, hugging Eva goodbye. She makes sure we leave with our gifts—a box of penis pasta for me and the miniature rubber ducks for Brin—which both fit in a wine gift bag.
I wrap an arm around Brin as we walk toward the subway.
She leans her head on my chest. “Thanks for coming with me.”
I kiss the top of her head.
“I wouldn’t have had as much fun if I had to think about you being home alone.”
“This was definitely better than being home alone.” I pause for a moment. “Actually, I think this is the best Christmas I’ve ever had.”
Brin stops in her tracks and looks up at me. She’s tipsy and tired, swaying on her feet. But her eyes are clear when she reaches up on her tiptoes and kisses me.
I don’t let the kiss get too deep—we are standing on the sidewalk, people passing us occasionally and everything tinged in red from the stoplight at the corner.
“Come on,” I say when I pull back. “Let’s get home.”
We ride the subway back to our stop and are home a few minutes later.
We take turns in the bathroom, and when Brin slips back into the room, I hold my covers up.
She smiles and slips in, reaching to turn out the light before I pull her back into my arms. How many nights will it take of Brin sleeping in bed with me before we get rid of the futon?
With her soft body next to me, I want it to be now.
“How are you feeling?” I ask instead.
She hums and turns slightly toward me. “I took some Midol after my shower.”
“Cramps?” I ask, lowering my hand to her belly.
“Lower back pain.”
I push her, turning her gently away. She lies on her stomach and turns her head toward me. I kiss her shoulder and run my palm down her back to where her cotton shirt meets her pajama pants and dip my hand underneath to the small of her back.
She hums in pleasure when I knead first one side and then the other with my thumb. All it takes is a few minutes and Brin’s breathing evens out, deepening.
Leaving me in the dark, wondering how I could have fallen so hard for my roommate.