"Hi, you're Maisee, right?" Startled out of my train of thought, I looked up, finding the tallest people I'd possibly ever met. I didn't bother replying, knowing it was a rhetorical question that was just being used to start up a conversation. "My name's Crystal and this is my husband Xav. We-" She stopped half way through the sentence, successfully halting my assessment of her too. I'd been looking at her clothes – obviously designer – but her odd behaviour piqued my interest a lot more than her outfit choice.
"Crystal, are you ok?" The guy who'd been presented to me as Xav, spoke up, worry blossoming on his features. But she wasn't listening to him, that much I could tell, if the lost expression on her face was anything to go by.
"Oh- Oh my god." She then grabbed my hand, taking me away from her husband and everyone else. She found what she was looking for quickly – a reclusive spot in the kitchen away from everyone else. Afraid now, I tried tugging my arm away, but she held fast. When I saw her expression though, I stopped my attempts of going back to the living room. She looked like all of her Christmas and Birthday presents had been rolled into one. "You- Do you- Gah, sorry I'm so excited I can't even speak."
"Ok?"
"Do you know you're his soulfinder?" She said this so fast that I would've missed it if I hadn't been paying so much attention to her. It was a technique I'd picked up at the monster's – the closer you looked, the higher the chance of being able to block a blow would be. And Crystal had dragged me away from witnesses, it'd been the first motive my brain could come up with.
"I… Um, yes." Had Gray not told his family about me? Wiping my hands nervously on my dress, I took a deep breath. This was even worse than I'd thought it to be, seeing how I was sure that he'd be announcing it at some point tonight. "Don't tell anyone though, I think he wants to keep it a surprise-"
"Hey, what're you guys doing here?" Gray cut me off before I could finish, coming into the kitchen. He reached for the litre coke bottle that had been set up amongst the rest of the other drinks, cocking his head to the side in curiosity.
"Just having a drink sweetie. God I haven't seen you in ages, come give Auntie Crystal a hug." She was good at diverting attention away from his question, keeping him busy by asking him quick-fire questions about everything. How school was going, how he was getting along with his brothers and even whether Sky was thinking of bringing another kid into the already large family.
This gave me time to sneak out, but instead of heading back to the party I went outside. Once there, I sat down on the log I'd become accustomed to perching on, and waited. I'm not sure what I was waiting for, maybe for the night to be over, but whatever it was, I simply gazed off into space. I didn't bother trying to collect my thoughts about Crystal somehow knowing him and I were soulfinders, knowing I'd just give myself a headache. Instead, I listened, every bird and little scurrying animal coming to the forefront of my mind. I played around with imagining being able to see them for a while before the spell was broken by the sound of a door opening. The person's footsteps were quiet, alerting me as to who they belonged to.
"Hey." Not needing to open my eyes to know it was Gray – no one in his family knew about my perversion to loud noises – I greeted him blindly, not wanting to be ripped away from my daydream just yet.
"Hey yourself." He sat down next to me and soon, without me even realising, I was sat in his lap, leaning against his chest. He started drawing patterns up and down my arms, making me drift slightly into sleep rather than nature. Sitting with him like this, comfortable silence surrounding us, felt completely natural, as if we'd both been made for this moment. Which, in a sense, I supposed we had, considering we'd been created for each other. It was just a shame I had to break it.
"You didn't tell your family about us?" My sentence was barely above a whisper but I knew he'd heard. He always did. Stiffening behind me, his movements stopped before restarting at a slightly quicker pace.
"I wanted to tell them all tonight, in person."
"Your aunt scared the crap out of me when she asked me if we were soulfinders."
"Yeah, she does that. She's a soulseeker so she can tell if two people are soulfinders. I'm guessing she was just doing her routine check, the one she does on anyone, and she must've seen that I was closer to home than expected." Nodding along with his words, I was prepared to fall back into the calm ambience we'd had before. But he spoke up again, seemingly having something important to tell me. "I have something for you."
"You do?" Craning my neck, I turned slightly to be able to look at him in the eyes. I'd never been given anything so this was monumental, even if it only turned out to be a packet of haribos.
"Yup." He glanced away from me nervously, reaching into his back pocket. From there, he took out a small, elongated box that was most certainly not a packet of haribos. It was going more towards jewellery than anything else. Astonished, I cradled it for a second in my hands, too shocked to do much else. The blue ribbon tied around it felt like silk under my fingers, making me pass my hands over it in admiration. "You know, the present's actually inside the box."
"I know, it's just… Well, I've never gotten given a present before." Shocked at my words, he seemed speechless for a couple of seconds before threading his fingers with mine.
"Wow. I hope it doesn't disappoint then." Trying to calm myself down, I played with the ribbon for a little while longer before no longer being able to hold back the anticipation. Undoing the bow, it fell into my lap, the dark blue matching my dress. Which probably meant it was similar to the colour of my eyes. At this thought I blushed, wondering if that was just a coincidence on his part. Not wanting to continue that train of thought, I pushed up the lid slowly, afraid of what I'd find inside.
But when I did see, I felt my jaw hang open. The ribbon I'd been admiring paled in comparison to the beautiful necklace in the box. It was nestled in blue velvet, making the dark blue gem in the middle stand out even more. It was surrounded by swirls made of delicate strands of silver, hanging in a simple chain. Without even realising, my eyes had watered up, not able to comprehend why someone would spend as much time finding a beautiful gift like this one.
"...Do you like it?"
"I, god, Gray I absolutely love it. This must've cost a fortune." Turning around, I motioned for him to help me secure the latch. He did so, slowly letting his fingers trail down my neck once he was finished. Goosebumps rose wherever he touched, but I wasn't cold. Quite the opposite, in fact.
"So? I want to spoil you rotten and give you all those things you deserve. Hell, you deserve ten times this, but I'm a little on the poor side." Seeing I still looked a little dazed, he placed a kiss on my cheek, causing me to blush even more than I was already. "I love you."
"But my present for you isn't even half as good as this one." Without allowing him to try to persuade me that he'd love my present no matter what, I took his hand, making him stand up. Then I took him to the meadow I'd prepared a while before the Christmas party started. Thank god it wasn't raining or it would've all been ruined. We soon got there – a beautiful meadow covered in small lilac flowers. It was illuminated by candlelight, making it illuminated with a warm orange glow.
"This is amazing Pet, how did you have time to do all this?"
"I had a little help, I couldn't make the perfect spot for a midnight date without some assistance." Sky had come out with me, as I couldn't carry all the candles here on my own. Not to mention I was still too afraid to come out at night without someone by my side.
"Well I love it, I can't believe you thought I wouldn't."
"That isn't your gift, this is just… Part of it, I guess." I then went behind a tree, grabbing the present I'd stashed there. I'd made sure the tree had some over grown leaves in that area so that if it did end up raining, at least it would be safe. Handing it to him, I smiled as his eyes widened in surprise.
"You made me a scrap book?" He passed a few pages, scanning them to get the gist of it until got to the last one I'd decorated. That one said 'And this is where our story continues…' I couldn't keep the joy off my features when he scooped me into his arms. Laughing I wrapped my legs around his waist, allowing him to kiss me senseless. "This is possibly the best Christmas present I've gotten. No, scrap that, it is the best one."
"It isn't that great. But yeah, it turns out Sky's been taking pictures of us in secret since she discovered we're soulfinders, thinking it might come in useful one day. I also got your phone password from your brothers, and got access to the selfies you force me to endure every once in a while." In my explanation, I didn't bother mentioning that in each page there was a reason why I cared for him written carefully in cursive. He'd find out soon enough, but I didn't want him reading them with me in front of him.
"Well, hey, speaking of my phone-" Cutting himself off, he took it out of his pocket, tapping on the screen until a soft melody started playing. He then got down on one knee, sending me a playful smile as he extended a hand towards me. "May I have this dance, milady?"
"Why, yes, kind sir." As we both laughed, he got up, stepping closer to me. Still amused, I placed one hand on his shoulder and the other in his hand. He started spinning us in slow circles, me just following his lead. I'd never danced before but didn't let it deter me, simply hoping for the best as we danced around the clearing. It was magical, and for one second everything was ok. Gray hadn't told his family about us yet, and I still had self-esteem issues, but we watched all of our problems disappear as we danced the night away. Everything was perfect.
I should've known that such a thing didn't exist.
Hi :)
Ok guys, although you could probably tell from the ominous cliffhanger, the second plot's about to start. The way I've been looking at this story is that there's the plot of these two falling in love, and then there's the... other thing ;) Haha, I'm not gonna tell you guys so easily. Tell me what you thought! I know this is just a filler, but I wanted one last fluffy chapterbefore all hell breaks loose :)
Guys we reached the target yet again! I want to hug you all for being so amazing to me :) Also, we reached the front page when the stories are ordered by reviews! Gosh, I never even imagined I could get close O.o You're all too great. But yeah, so in celebration, I've decided to let you guys pick a bonus chapter :) It'll be posted instead of next chapter, and can just be something cute you guys would like to see. If you're struggling for an idea I've got these few out:
A) Another date?
B) Them playing with Vincent (Gray's tiny little bro) in the snow?
C) A separate character's POV of a chapter you particularly like?
Tell me what you think :)
Whoops, almost forgot :/ The goal for this chapter is 101 :) Holy applesauce guys, we're going onto three figures O.o I can't even believe it, I love all of you so much :)
Bye bye! ^.^