#21 homemade gift
880 words

Miley Stewart blinked warily at the instruction manual resting by her side then looked down at her 'project.' No wonder she failed home economics in eighth grade. Writing a song in the moment and memorizing it an hour before a show she could do, but apparently, making anything seemed to be an epic disaster.

Martha Stewart would have been ashamed of the teen queen.

She mentally slapped herself for coming up with such a stupid idea. She could have gone shopping and bought something professionally made that actually looked nice, rather than her lopsided mess.

Obviously, Lilly's suggestion to try Knitting for Dummies hadn't worked out so well. Maybe she needed Knitting for the Homemaking Handicapped - if there was such a thing anyway.

She sighed and gingerly lifted the 'scarf' (if she could even call it that) up with a disappointed frown. With Nick out of town for a few days to film his show, Miley had decided to do something special for her boyfriend. Naively, she believed her welcome home gift would be perfect. She knew that he loved anything homemade, an inherited quality from his perfect homemaking mother, but who knew she would be so terrible at it? Obviously, Miley was going to suck at being a wife.

The sound of jingling keys floated in and Miley immediately froze. He was home early. Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap. She mentally chanted as she hastily ran around, tidying whatever she could in the living room. He was probably using the extra key hidden under the hideous cowboy-clad garden gnome her father had excitedly bought at a garage sale.

"Mi?" His soft voice drifted in the air, causing her insides to melt and she to become momentarily distracted as her heart thudded painfully. In her hurry to clean up the mess, a ball of yarn was somehow missed and she yelped as her foot perilously slipped and she came crashing down in a heap of tangled limbs and colorful yarn.

And that was how Nick Gray found his longtime girlfriend. He had sprinted in, thinking she had hurt herself until he came upon the scene. The brunette was wrapped in an oddly-shaped long piece of cloth as she tried to untangle various colors of yarn from her form. He tried to hold back a laugh as he watched her fume and adorably pout in frustration.

"You okay?" He chuckled as he knelt down next to her, cupping her chin in one hand and pulling a piece of yarn away from her auburn bangs. Padding his thumb across her smooth cheek, he captured her lips in a sweet kiss. "Hi."

She sighed, shaking off the yarn on her arms as he leaned forward to hug her. "Hi."

"Do I want to know what happened?"

"I had a fight with the yarn and lost." He could hear her breathe deeply into his neck, her warmth causing goosebumps to pop up all over his skin as he rubbed her back soothingly. His eyebrows furrowed in confusion as he picked up the piece of cloth hanging off her shoulder. Nick heard her groan and dig in closer to him, as if she was trying to hide.

He unwrapped the cloth around her before holding it up for examination. "What is this?"

Miley let out a horrified squeak before trying to snatch it away from him. Being at least a few inches taller than her, Nick easily held up the item far above her head. He watched her jump and make a grab for it. "Niiiiiiiiiiiick." She whined huffily, her arms crossed

His lips curled as he tilted his head in amusement. "Just tell me, Miles."

Obviously fighting a losing battle, she sighed and anxiously looked away. "It's for you."

"For me?" He straightened to look at said item again.

"I wanted to make you a welcome home present and it was supposed to be a scarf. But I kind of suck at knitting and it looks something ate it up and spit it back out then ran it over with a truck. Uncle Earl would definitely use it as a bib."

Delicately running his fingers over the scarlet scarf with its clumsy threads, he shook his head and tugged his girlfriend closer. He threaded his fingers through her chestnut curls and kissed her head. "I love it."

She pulled away and stared at him. "Seriously? Are you delusional?"

"Of course, Mi," he laughed, pulling her into another hug. "You made it. It means so much more that you really tried."

"Even if I can't be like your mom and knit our kids stuff?"

"I think they'd be too embarrassed, babe," he teased, before feigning injury from the spot she had smacked him.

"But really," His intense amber eyes smoldered into her vivid cyan eyes as he clutched her gift, kissing her tenderly. "I love you so I love whatever you can or can't make." And like a flower blooming into beauty, a glowing smile formed and he knew all was right in the world as she pulled him in for a fiery kiss.

"But for future reference, you might want to just buy scarves for everyone else. I don't think anyone else loves you enough to take one homemade from you."

"Nick!"

Please review? Here's a part of the next one if I feel like uploading it.

Standing a few feet away in the same bus, two Grays had watched the scene with mixed reactions. Joe nudged his brother in amusement. "Better hurry up, Nicky. Someone's moving in on your girl reaaaal fast."