I was on Christmas Break for two weeks. I only had a couple of days to go get Jazmine a gift for Christmas.
I didn't think we were going to be exchanging gifts, but Caesar suggested we spend time together on Christmas Eve and exchange gifts.
The others agreed with him and they all started shopping for each other. I wasn't going to stress myself trying to get them all something so I was just going to give them money.
What I was going to give them they were all possibly going to throw away. Well to be specific, Riley and Cindy would throw it away, Hiro and Ming would keep it to be nice, and Caesar and Jazmine would try to put it to good use.
So no wasting money there. The only person I am buying a gift for is Jazmine.
The question is what am I going to buy for Jazmine? There are so many things she likes. I know for a fact I can't buy her a few of my favorite things because those aren't her favorite things.
Jazmine likes cute meaningful things unlike me who likes serious artist stuff. So basically to help pick out Jazmine's gift I have to get the opposite of what I like.
One of those things I don't like is stuffed animals. I was in GameStop at the Woodcrest Square Mall trying to find Jazmine a stuffed animal.
Most of the stuff they had was Mario Brothers characters, Sonic characters, blockheads, etc. Not something she is really into. I kept looking around and couldn't find anything that looked girly.
The only thing I found was Princess Peach, Princess Diana, Amy, some anime action figures, and other girl toys. I know you're wondering why I didn't go for Princess Peach. The reason is that's too corny.
She's gonna think I didn't put much thought into her gift. And I know it's Jazmine, she'll like anything pink and cute, but I know she can be judgy at the same time. So I'm trying to put a little thought into her gift.
I kept looking around and couldn't find anything. Some of the stuff in here she already has. It got to the point I went up to the front to ask the cashier if they had what I was looking for.
It was a kid around my age that looked like he didn't want to be here. I didn't blame him! In a couple of days, it was about to be Christmas and he had to work longer to get paid less.
"Hey, I got a question?" I asked approaching him.
"Yes?" he sighed looking at me without a care in the world.
"Might you guys possibly have any Kirby plushies here?" I asked as he looked at me like I was dumb. Kirby was one of the toys I knew Jazmine liked. Every time Riley and I play Super Smash Bros with her she always chooses Kirby as her character.
So I'm going to try and get Kirby for Jazmine since she loves the character. I don't even think she even loves it because of its abilities I think she only loves it because it's pink and cute.
"What do you think?" he asked me like I was dumb.
"Well, I don't know, that's why I was asking you because you work here, Simon," I said giving him the same energy.
"Bruh do you see any Kirby plushies around here, whatever is set out in what we are selling. If you wanted a Kirby plushie you should have ordered it in advance like everybody else," he said being smart with me.
I glared at him and just turned around to leave. I didn't fin to deal with a smartass today. All he had to do was say no.
I decided to go to the toy store to look for a Kirby plushie. I guess that should have been my first option.
I had to walk through a large crowd to get to the toy store. You would think people would buy their stuff in advance.
I know I don't have room to talk because I didn't buy my girlfriend a gift in advance but to be fair I wasn't told in advance. I don't have to buy her a gift, but for the first time, I want to.
When I was at the store entrance I had seen a bunch of people in the toy store. It was mainly kids that were in the understandable store. It is a toy store and it would be odd to not see kids running around picking toys out.
I walked through the store with judging eyes looking upon me. Even the kids were looking at me funny. I honestly wouldn't blame them. Seeing a guy that looked like a grown man in a toy store without a kid by his side.
That was a screaming pedophile. I walked up to the girls' section which was mostly filled with pink. Mothers were standing right next to their daughters giving me an odd look.
The one right beside me pulled her daughter close by her away from me. That's fine I don't even like when kids are near me. They irritate my fucking soul, I'm never gonna have kids in the future.
Society makes you think you need to have kids. You don't have to have them. People especially couples think they need to have babies when they don't. If you ask me having kids makes the situation worst than it is.
You have kids coming out fucked up in the head because the parents aren't meant to be parents, they don't have a mother or father figure in their life, it prevents the parents from getting out of the relationship, and they cost way too much money.
I just sighed as the staring was about to get to me. That was until I felt an arm curl around my arm. Then I heard someone say: "Hey babe which doll should we get Aisha?" I heard a girly voice ask.
I look down to see it was Aaliyah who was right by my side. I decided to play along because I didn't want to be viewed as a pedophile in a kid's store in the girls' section.
I looked at the dolls to see they were black Barbie dolls. It looked the same but at the same time different. I decided to go with a random pick because I didn't see what was wrong with either one of them.
"I think she'll like this one," I said pointing to the one in her left hand.
"Excellent, I think she'll love it!" she said with excitement and then kissed me on the cheek. Okay, I wasn't expecting that. I looked around to see people were starting to take their eyes off of me.
"Come on let's go to the front," she said trying to drag me to the front. That was until I spotted a Kirby plushie. And it was a big one! It was the last one in the bin and I was determined to get it.
"Wait!" I said stopping Aaliyah in her tracks and untangling her arm from mines to go retrieve the plushie. I reached my long arm in there and grabbed the last one they had.
"I think she'll also like this plushie," I said showing Aaliyah the plushie.
"Excuse me Mr?" I felt someone tugging on my pants. I looked down to see it was a little girl that looked to be about 8 years old.
"Yes," I replied as she started to have a pleading facial expression. "Is there another Kirby plushie in the bin?" she asked as I shook my head. "No, this is the last one, this is for my girlfriend," I said telling the little girl the truth.
"Can I please have the plushie?" she asked in the most convincing tone she could pull off. I had to think about it and I was spending my time looking for this plushie. And it was the exact one I needed.
"Please sir, I've been looking for this plushie all week so I could buy it for my little sister. I even saved up money from my allowances and sold candy just so my sister can enjoy having a Christmas gift. We live in an orphanage and we don't get much," she sadly said.
That's sad. I didn't want to ruin a kid's Christmas because of my selfishness. I was turning into something that would satisfy the white man and it wasn't the good threatening way.
I had to ask myself was it worth it. Was it worth hurting a little girl's feelings for a plushie that I could go buy somewhere else? Was it worth ruining her hopes to get her little sister a Christmas gift?
I had to look at myself in the mirror and ask myself this. Was this the man I wanted to become? I looked at the little girl who still had pleading eyes and couldn't help to be this cold-hearted.
I gave her the Kirby plushie as she gently took it. "Here you go, I hope your little sister enjoys the gift," I said.
She smiles at me and then that smile soon turned into an evil smirk. "So long sucker!" she said before kicking me in the leg and then running away towards the front.
It hurt a little bit and I rubbed it out to soothe out the small pain. "That little brat!" I angrily mumbled as I heard Aaliyah laughing. I wanted to walk over to the little girl and steal the Kirby back, but that would look wrong.
She had already bought the Kirby plush and left out of the store. Bitch! That's another reason to add to my list. I know it's not good to call a little kid the B-word, but today I made an expectation. Not out loud though!
Aaliyah walked back over towards me and looped her arm around my arm once again. "And that's why you don't give into kids like that, but hey, you learn your lesson the hard way," she said as we walked towards the front.
"I didn't think a kid can get this low down and dirty," I defended as we got behind this one lady and her daughter. "Kids are two-faced just like any human being. They don't get passes either," she said.
She wasn't wrong. When she mentioned two-faced I immediately thought of Riley. Growing up he was always being two-faced when he wanted something or when he was trying to get himself out of trouble.
It went so far as to him being on tv because a teacher used the n-word towards him, him pretending to be retarded ( which in my case he is) for LGBTQ, trying to get a chain, etc.
There's a lot of stupid shit my brother has done over the years. Too many to name out.
"I know that now, but where the fuck am I going to find another Kirby plushie?" I asked as she looked at me like I was slow. "Order it on Amazon, they'll get your order here in time, that's if you pay extra for it," she said moving her fingers around to signal money.
Was it worth it? I looked around the store to see people at this point fighting for gifts. I didn't want to be involved in crowded places with long lines. So I decided to suck up my dignity and order it offline.
I pulled out my phone and immediately started looking for that plushie. There was a lot that was in the size I was looking for. I was just trying to pick the one that could get here in time before Christmas Eve.
The fastest delivery was gonna be made tomorrow but the price was reasonable. At the same time, the price almost turned me into Robert Freeman. I can almost see why my Granddad liked to spoil his Cutie Pies as he likes to call them.
I always wondered how he could easily burn money on women he just met. I wouldn't want to do it with any random woman I mainly wanted to do it with Jazmine. Jazmine is my woman whether we are semi-dating or not.
But for her next part of the gift, I was going to do it on my own. Cause that delivery was a little too expensive.
"So who's the Kirby plushie for?" I heard Aaliyah ask me as she was next in line. "The plushie is for my girlfriend," I simply said leaving it at that.
"Oh okay!" she said slowly untangling her arm from mine.
"You're exchanging gifts with her this year?" she asked as I nodded. "Must be nice, I'm spending the holidays still single," she sadly said.
Why do single people always get sad that they are single? Shouldn't they be happy they're not in any drama caused by their relationships? I'm not saying being in a relationship causes drama, but some relationships have drama.
"That must be nice to be drama-free," I said as she rolled her eyes. She paid for the doll I picked while the cashier had bagged the toy.
"It must be nice getting your girlfriend some meaningless gift," she said coming back.
"My girlfriend loves Kirby, that's not meaningless," I said defending what I got Jazmine. "Freeman everybody loves Kirby you didn't do anything special," she said as I smirked.
"That's just the first part of the gift, I'm getting her a photograph," I said as she gave me an odd look.
"Of what?" she asked.
"I'm getting her a photograph of the art piece we both like. It's significant because the day we both saw it was our first date," I said. Aaliyah didn't come up with a comeback so that let me know I was doing a good job on that part.
"Okay I have to give you props on that part," she said as we made our way out of the store.
"But you know it's bad to copy other people's work right?" she asked me.
"Look I know it's bad, but I'm going to do it on my own and not publish it," I said having everything in mind.
"So you're going to paint and draw everything you had seen from the art piece?" she asked me as I had to think about it.
"Yes!" I answered as she cocked her eyebrow.
"Do you even know how to paint or draw?" she asked me once again. "Good question, I'll let you know when I get done, but if you excuse me I have to go home and work on my art," I said parting ways from her.
"You mean someone else's art!" she said correcting me. I raised my finger and flicked her off while still walking.
I made it back home and I was in my room about to start on Jazmine'g gift. I had all my color pencils and regular pencils ready. I was going to draw for the first time in a while.
I actually can't remember the last time I drew something. It had to be a long time ago. All I know is that I made an A in art class when I took it.
I had my phone open to the art piece Jazmine and I were looking at and I started sketching. I thought I was doing pretty good because everything seemed to be coming together. I think Jazmine was going to love the gift I did for her.
I heard the front door open then sudden footsteps coming up the stairs. I smelt bullet-powered and I immediately knew who it was.
"Riley, where you coming from?" I asked already knowing the question. I knew he could hear me. I heard the footsteps come closer and I knew he was at my entrance.
"I was hanging with Ed and Rummy at the gun ring," he said as I rolled my eyes at his lie. "You were at the mall weren't you?" I asked to be greeted with silence.
"You know you can't keep assaulting Santa for the rest of your life, the dude doesn't even exist. It's just some fat ass cosplaying as an old man," I said as I heard him 'tsk'.
"Huey whether Santa exists or not that nigga gone pay what he owes. At this point it's creepy some old ass dude giving off pedophile vibes," he said as I heard him come into my room.
"By the way, what yo' gay ass doing?" he asked as I sensed him now behind me.
"If you're wondering, I'm recreating an art piece I saw at the museum with Jazmine," I said.
"I ain't tryna be some know it all but ain't that copyrighting or some shit?" he asked as I sighed. "Yes, but as long as I don't publish it I'm good," I said defending myself.
"Right!" he said. I soon felt him looking over my shoulder at what I was drawing. "You know you doing all that shit wrong right?" he said as I rolled my eyes.
"All that looks very uneven and it looks as if you making all of this the off-brand version of that art piece," he said as I kept trying to finish the sketching part.
"You need to give those characters less expression in their face and put more expression into that landscape," he said as I started to scowl at the drawing.
I was trying to not mess up anything because I felt I was doing good, but I keep forgetting one thing my brother has full mastery at is art. I wasn't expecting him to fully be good at it but he managed to improve in the hobby in more than one way.
"You know I will give you props for being book smart but you are not artistic smart. You're messing up everything!" he said as my pencil snapped and I turned to look directly at him.
"You know since you keep talking all that shit why don't yo' smart ass do it," I said raising my tone as he smirked. "Give me till the end of the day and my art will be better than yo' shitty work you tried to recreate," he said sitting down at my desk.
"Fine, if you're able to recreate this into a small frame before the day ends I'll give you $100," I said hoping he'll fall for my trap. Riley will do anything for money, well except go out with a guy.
"Nigga if I can get this done in 2 hours you owe me $200," he said as I smirked. "Deal, time starts now!" I said looking at my watch. "Tik Tok!" I said before leaving my room.
"It's on bitch!" I heard him say.
And that's how you get someone to do your work. Well, I don't know about anyone, but I know that's how you get Riley to do something.
If you're wondering, it wasn't my intention for Riley to do this, I just know he can get the job done the right way unlike me. So Jazmine's gifts should be in before Christmas Eve.
Thank you for reading!