You'll Be Seeing Me In Your Dreams
Chapter Twelve
Cardan
Despite the way people reacted at the dance, the general population of the school got over Jude and I pretty quickly. They didn't much care when I when I sat by her and her friends at lunch, Taryn occasionally joining us.
"Secret Santa time!" Liliver exclaims, pulling a Santa hat out of her bag.
Jude rolls her eyes and Garret audibly groans.
"What's so bad about secret Santa?"
"Nothing." Van answers me "These two just hate Christmas."
"I do not hate Christmas." Jude tells him "I hate the way capitalism influences Christmas."
"Make your own gifts then, Jude." Taryn says
"I would if I could Taryn." She slurps the rest of her drinks out of her juice box and then spears it on the end of her switchblade
"Stop complaining and pick a name." Liliver instructs, holding the Santa hat out to Jude. With a long, exaggerated eye roll, she rummaged in the hat for longer than she needed to and plucked out a strip of folded paper.
She unfolds it, scans her eyes across it and then tucks it in the breast pocket of her jacket.
I am offered the hat next. I put my hand in, and pull out the first scrap of paper my fingers graze. I unfold it and read the name scrawled in messy handwriting
JudeI try not to exhale in relief. Jude is the only one here who I would really feel comfortable buying gifts for. I know her best, and I am mildly acquainted with her friends.
I hid the slip of paper in my phone case, folded so no one could see the name through the clear back.
The Santa hat is passed round until every slip of paper found an owner. Liliver tucked it into her bag just as the bell signalling the start of our next class rang.
I started to get up, roughly shoving my phone back into my jean pocket. Jude's gentle touch glanced over my back. I turned to her.
"There's a twenty dollar exchanging of gifts happens on Christmas Eve, at Lili's house. I'll text you the address."
She walks into the corridor and joins the crowd, her shirt a spot of sapphire against the white walls. One week, and today's the last day of school, which gives me a bit more time to ponder what to get Jude.
Is it legal to buy a switchblade in Maine? Maybe. I haven't ever looked into it.
I think it over for the rest of the day, driving home in pre-occupied thought. When I finally have time to sit down with my laptop, Amazon open on the screen, I just drum my fingers uselessly against the space bar, not even sure what to search for.
_
"Merry Christmas!" Liliver yells as she throws open the door, immediately bedecking me in a crown made of fake white roses.
"Uh, you too." I say as I step inside her home. It's like stepping into a sauna. There's laughter echoing from the bowels of the house somewhere. I shrug of my jacket and drape it over my arm.
"You're late." She chastises as she leads me further into the house, past an empty sitting room and through a kitchen, picking up a plate of mince pies.
"Fashionably late, I hope."
We come to a stop in a big room at the very back of the house, with a billiards table pushed to one corner, a heavy looking leather sofa in the other, a trashcan and various other clutter objects, including a dozen or so cushions strewn along the floor.
Jude is lying on her stomach on a make-shift bed out of exclusively floral patterned cushions. When she sees me, she shifts over slightly and pats the space next to her. I throw my jacket on the floor, sit cross legged on the floor beside the cushions and lean so I am supported by then, with my head resting on the small of Jude's back.
"Now that everyone is here," Liliver says, settling down while glaring at me. "It's time for presents."
"Who first?" Van asks, twisting the handle of a gift bag around his nimble fingers.
"Well, we're all inherently selfish and indecisive, so I'll use a random name generator."
There's silence apart from Liliver's nails clicking on her phone screen as she types. She's dyed a few braids red so that her hair looks like a candy cane.
She holds the phone out to the group and clicks the spin button on the little wheel. It lands on a yellow segment.
Liliver turns the phone back to her "Taryn goes first."
Taryn reaches into her over-sized handbag and procures a medium shaped parcel, wrapped in sparkly wrapping paper. She hands it to me.
"Merry Christmas." She says, avoiding eye contact and reaching for a mince pie.
"Thanks."
I unwrapped it, balling up the paper and tossing it into the trashcan. It's a hoodie, black and oversized with an embroidered snake around the neck. Laying on top of it a collection of enamel pins, a dagger; a beetle; a rose.
"No way that cost under twenty dollars." Van says.
"I sewed it myself." Taryn tells him defensively. "Overall the pins and the hoodie were about fifteen dollars."
Van holds his hands up in surrender.
"Thanks." I tell her again.
"You should give yours." She says "Like, the person who just got given a gift gives the next gift."
"Sounds like a plan." I dig around my bag for Jude's gift and hand it to her.
She unwraps it quickly, and then holds the blade reverently between her fingers. It's small and curved, when closed it looks like a leaf. She trails her fingers along the sharp edge.
Van whistles "What's your excuse for this? That's definitely not under twenty dollars."
I shrug, but it doesn't really work because I'm still lying down. "I found it at my old house. I think it was my brothers."
"You stole it?"
"No. It didn't belong to anyone and now it belongs to Jude."
She pats my head, winding a strand of hair around her finger.
We went on, Jude gifting Liliver a set of lip-glosses and a box of hair dye.
Liliver gives Garret a family bag of Cheetos and babyish animal erasers.
Garret gives Van a mini cactus and a lock picking kit.
Van gives Taryn a box of chocolates and a yellow cushion.
We sit and laugh for the rest of the evening, with the wafting scent of cinnamon and a nearby fire. I don't see her parents all night, but there are definite signs of them living in the house, discarded mugs, thick wads of paper with all sorts of legal looking text. There's a mini Christmas tree in the corner, with homemade ornaments, one of which is shaped like a bomb. There's a shelf lined with trophies and certificates with Liliver's name on them.
This must be what a loving family's home looks like.