Merry Christmas Laney Penn!
"I could check to see if we have any in the back," the young woman behind the counter responded.
"Please," Laney nodded. "That would be great."
The young woman smiled and disappeared behind several tall stacks of boxes. Laney sunk down till her chin hit the warn glass counter with a dull thud. It was Christmas Eve and once again she procrastinated in finding a gift for Corey. For two years in a row she couldn't find anything special enough to give to him, so for two years in a row she didn't give anything to Corey rather than give something that wasn't special. It was stupid, but that's why Laney was going to get a gift no matter what this year!
This drive to find a present had started to show on Laney. For the past three days Laney had been staying up late researching gift ideas. On top of that she'd been doing extra chores around the house to build up enough money to buy the gift. By the time she would show up to band practice she was tired and cranky. She even stopped wearing eyeliner after she ran out. Now she found herself in a hole-in-the wall trinket shop looking for anything really cool or weird that Corey would love.
The young woman emerged placing several items on the counter. Already Laney could tell they didn't have anything interesting. She originally asked if they had anything really cool 80's metal era memorabilia, but the woman seemed to have just heard "80's" and brought out a sun bleached The Real Ghostbusters figurine, a giant wireless phone, and a second edition Dungeons & Dragons manual. She stared at the items for a few moments then gave a remorseful smile and shook her head. The woman looked slightly hurt when Laney showed no interest in the items.
"Are you certain you don't see anything that catches your eye?" she asked hopefully, checking the clock. It was 9:00pm.
Laney glazed over the collection of junk placed in the room. She saw mostly old t-shirts and broken appliances. Then she spotted something out of the corner of her eye. It looked like an acoustic guitar sticking out from one of the many boxes. Laney carefully pulled it out avoiding tipping over everything piled on top of it.
"Whoa!" Laney exclaimed as she held a cute ukulele with various old stickers on it. She instantly imagined Corey declaring Grojband to now being a beach resort band playing island music. This actually could be a pretty cool gift for him. She blushed thinking how happy Corey might be and might even say it was the best gift that he'd ever received!
"Long shot, Laney," she muttered to herself, pulling herself back from her fantasies.
Laney placed the ukulele on the glass counter and smiled. "I'd like this please."
The young woman seemed very relieved that she finally made a decision and she could start closing up. She instantly pressed a few buttons on the register, "That'll be $11 please."
Laney produced a few coins and three crumpled up bills that definitely didn't add up. She gave a look of panic and started rummaging through her backpack hoping beyond hope that she somehow had lose change floating around. Just as she was about to turn her backpack inside out she heard, "Relax."
The woman scooped up the money on the counter and gave a wink, "Happy holidays eh?"
Laney beamed and nodded as the woman began wrapping the ukulele up in blue shinny wrapping paper with snowflakes on them. Laney bolted out of the shop and into to cold. As she was making her way to Corey's house she felt bad that she didn't properly thank the woman behind the counter, but decided she'll try to find the shop another day and show how grateful she was.
Light snow fall was visible from all the street lamps that were on. Laney could feel her nose getting colder, which she couldn't stand. She slowed down and pulled her sweater and coat up to cover her cold nose. After a about a minute she uncovered it and ran at a faster pace. She was out pretty late already and wanted to deliver her present before her parents would start to worry. She could see Corey's street just a few blocks away which caused her to pick up the pace and going into a light sprint.
Laney knocked her head into something hard. She fell back gritting her teeth as she heard another girl scream in pain. Laney's head hadn't hurt this bad since she fell off some monkey bars when she was little. She heard a distant ringing sound as she put her hand on her forehead feeling a giant lump start to swell.
"Oh, my gosh! You OK Trina?" a familiar voice asked franticly.
Laney's eyes adjusted to see none other than Corey's older sister Trina sitting upright on the sidewalk with a stunned look on her face with her cohort Mina standing over her. Trina slowly stood up, shaken and wobbly. She didn't seem to understand what just happened. Suddenly Mina gave a high pitched cry while looking at Trina.
"Uh, Tr...Trina?" Mina stammered uncomfortably.
Trina blinked, looking at Mina, "What is it?" she asked shakily.
Mina bit her lower lip and held up a make-up mirror. Laney got back on her feet at this point, head still ringing and hurting badly. She prayed she didn't just get a concussion. Before she could finish her thoughts her ears were assaulted by a horrid piercing scream. Trina was staring at the make-up mirror for a few uncomfortable seconds before throwing it down with a crack as it bounced away. Laney was in pain and disoriented, but she knew she had to get out of there. She weakly picked up her gift and started wobbling toward Corey's street.
"Come here, you slime!" Trina hissed as she pulled Laney backwards by her coat's hood.
Laney was dragged to the ground then felt Trina's cold boot solidly press against the side of her face. Laney opened one eye and saw Trina seething with anger staring down at her.
"Ugh, hey...Trina," Laney muttered in her most casual tone. "Something wrong?"
"Something wrong?!" Trina repeated through her teeth. She leaned in closer to Laney. "MY FACE!" she screeched.
Laney then noticed that Trina now had a huge black eye on the left side of her face. She wanted to laugh but Trina started to apply more pressure to on her face.
"I was going to be hunky Nick Mallory's sexy secret Santa!" Trina spat. "Now you ruined everything!"
Laney rolled her eyes at Trina's creepy obsession statement and was about to give the burn of the century when she saw Mina pick up a gift wrapped in shiny blue wrapping paper with snowflakes on it.
"Hey!" Laney now struggled to get up, but Trina firmly held her in place.
Trina glanced over to see what was making Laney squirm so much and caught sight of the gift.
"Wow," Trina said flatly, "I know you have horrible tastes and all, but that design is totes terrible. I almost feel bad for you," Trina cooed mockingly.
"Hey Trina," Mina held to present up. "It looks like it's for your brother."
"COREY..." Trina hissed slowly looking like it made her sick to even say her brothers name.
A sickeningly sweet grin suddenly slithered onto Trina's face. She looked down at Laney and cheerfully smiled. "You should be totes careful when handling presents. An accident might happen!"
Trina shot a glare at Mina. "Mina!" she barked. "Accident, NOW!"
Mina nodded and swung Laney's gift into to pavement. Laney thrashed around, screaming for them to stop. She could hear her gift being repeatedly smashed against the ground. Trina's foot held Laney in place as she helplessly struggled. Finally Laney heard the distinct sound of a ukulele snapping in two. Trina gave a satisfied squeal as the two pieces hit the ground. Laney shut her eyes. She didn't want to see Trina's look of satisfaction. She tried with all her might to hold back tears, but she let out a quiet sob.
"Don't cry just yet." Laney opened her eyes in time to see Trina pull back her foot and send it crashing into her face. Laney gave a gasping yelp as she rolled over in pain.
"Maybe next time," Trina yelled, "you'll watch where you're going, you disgusting piece of trash!"
Trina took a few steps before turning her head, "Oh, by the way," she said in a condescending tone, "this sick obsession you have with my brother is seriously messed up. Homosexuality is, like, a sin, you know."
The pair walked away leaving Laney and her ruined present. She sat up wiping away tears and a running nose. She didn't bother picking up the pieces. She left them where they laid. It was cold, she was tired, she wanted to go home.
[BREAK]
Laney kicked off her boots and left her coat on the floor as she walked into her house. She washed her face before her parents could see her. Now all she had to say was she bumped her head on the way back. She found a note on the refrigerator, Went to Susan's Christmas party, should be home by 12:00. -Mom.
Laney felt a bit better that she didn't have to deal with her parents tonight. She tossed the note in the waste basket. She noticed some hastily scribbled on the back, Package left for you on the door step. Took it up to your room. -Mom
Laney ran up the stairs and got to her room. Sitting on her bed was a crumpled blown bag rather than an actual package. Scrawled across one side was To: Lanes. She found a found a card and a small object wrapped up in tissue paper. She examined the card.
Hey Lanes!
Sorry about the wrapping, I was in a hurry. I hope you like my gift. Noticed you weren't wearing it at band practice. Let me know if its the right type, if not I'll exchange it. I don't get to say this often, but I might as well now: you rock! Grojband couldn't ask for a better bass player than you. Here's hoping to another awesome year of playing with ya, bro!
Merry Christmas Laney Penn!
-Core
Laney slowly unwrapped the tissue paper to find a new eyeliner container. She suddenly felt tears slide down her cheeks. She held the card and gift tightly to her chest and smiled.
"Someday," Laney sniffed through her tears. "Someday, I'll tell you Core, just how much you really mean to me."
The End
Author's Note: I just felt like writing a Christmas one-shot for the heck of it. I still need to finish my Nick Mallory fanfiction which should be soon. Now I must get back to playing GTA V. Happy Holidays everybody!
-R