Gifted Connections 4

His words melted my heart even though my head was screaming warnings.

“Okay,” Jace clapped his hands. “Let’s open gifts!”

“I’m not done eating,” Jaxson said mutinously as he brought in his plate with him.

“Might as well let mopey boy open his gift first,” Jace said mockingly as he came in with his own plate of food.

“I think I have just the gift for him.” Noah clamored to the tree and pulled out a gift for each of us.

I wanted to watch them open their gifts, even if they weren’t from me.

Jaxson seemed to perk up some as he unwrapped his. “No way!” Jaxson held up the NFL jersey of his favorite team and player.

I smiled because it worked perfectly with the gift I had gotten him.

“Thanks, man!” Jaxson said to Noah as he reverently ran his hand over the number on the jersey.

“This is really cool!” Remy stated as he slid on a new leather jacket. “Mine has seen better days.”

“Where did you find this?” Jace said in awe as he stroked an old vinyl. I didn’t see who the artist was, but he must really like them.

“At an antique store. The guy really didn’t realize what he had. I looked it up on eBay, and all the albums I could find were ten times the amount I got that one for.” Noah smiled.

“Do you listen to albums?” I asked in surprise. Jace really was an old soul in a young man’s body. I didn’t know many twenty-two-year old’s who had the taste he did.

He smiled at me. “One day, we will have to take a trip back to my place. You never did get to see my room. I have a wall full of them.”

I smiled back at him. “That sounds good.”

“This is awesome,” Troy stated as he looked down at two box sets of Blu Rays. One was a collection of war movies and the other the complete set of Bruce Lee films.

“Thanks, Noah,” Drake stated with a smile as he held up a new set of knives. “I had mine for a long time and kept contemplating whether or not I needed a

new set. These are even better than my original set.”

“I know,” Noah said smugly. “I contacted a friend of a friend, and he said that’s all Chef Morimoto uses.”

“Sweet!” Drake smiled. I knew Chef Morimoto was one of his favorite iron chefs.

“Why haven’t you opened yours?” Noah asked me as he looked over at me.

I smiled and shrugged. “I wanted to see what you guys got each other.”

“Well open yours, silly.” Noah rolled his eyes with a smile.

I lifted the box he had set in front of me, and it felt like it could have an outfit in it. I opened it up, and sure enough, it was a beautiful, elegant black dress. Two tickets came fluttering out when I held the dress up. They were tickets for the ballet about a month from now in New York City.

“I don’t know if it’s your cup of tea, but I would love for you to accompany me,” Noah said as he fidgeted, showing his nervousness.

I smiled. “I’ve never been, I would love to go.”

“Excellent!” Noah exclaimed. “Pops said we can borrow the jet, too.”

“Okay,” I smiled once more. I couldn’t wait to see how the dress looked on me.

“My turn,” I clapped my hands happily as I grabbed Noah’s gift once again and then handed the other guys theirs.

“Is this what I think it is?” Jace smiled at the package in his hands. It was, but he wouldn’t expect the sheet music I had hidden in the case along with his instrument. When we had time to ourselves, I fully intended to play him the song I had created especially for him.