Total pages in book: 69
Estimated words: 68459 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 342(@200wpm)___ 274(@250wpm)___ 228(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 68459 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 342(@200wpm)___ 274(@250wpm)___ 228(@300wpm)
Quincy did, reaching out and catching my hand, really selling the whole ‘fake boyfriend’ thing.
My dad didn’t pay attention, though, he was so engrossed in his phone.
There was stomping from somewhere above our heads, and then my sister and brother finally made their way downstairs.
“Tayson and Humfrid,” I murmured, then thought better of it and tacked on, “Tayson is the boy.”
Tayson was nineteen. Humfrid was seventeen.
Both of them were selfish assholes, and were perfect replicas of my parents, who were also assholes.
Selfish ones at that.
“Let’s open presents so I can get back online,” Tayson murmured.
“I have to be at the mall in forty-five minutes,” Humfrid agreed.
“But what about dinner?” my mom asked as she bustled in, an apron around her middle, giving her the perfect ‘housewife’ look.
Mom and Dad both looked very similar. Brown hair. Brown eyes. But Dad was tall and skinny, while Mom was very voluptuous.
Tay took after Mom and was a bit heftier. Meanwhile, Humfrid looked like she could drift away from a swift breeze.
“Dinner will…” Tay paused. “We can eat dinner.”
“We can?” Humfrid sniffed. “Speak for yourself.”
“We can eat dinner,” Tay repeated.
Humfrid rolled her eyes but didn’t argue.
“Who the fuck is this?” Tay asked in his snarliest of tones.
I ignored him, knowing he was talking to me, but not liking the way he’d voiced his words.
If he wanted to know who I was with, I’d tell him. But not until he asked nicely.
Obviously, Quincy was of the same opinion, because he didn’t answer. Only leaned over and said, “So far, it’s not looking good.”
No. No it wasn’t.
“Here.” The presents were now being slung across the floor as Humfrid and Tay handed them out.
“You first, big sister,” Tay called out, looking a little too smug for my comfort.
Then, he pulled out his phone, as if he was about to record. Which only made me more nervous.
“Oh, this one is special.” Mom clapped her hands, leaning against my father’s chair as she watched me slowly rip the paper off the present.
I opened up my first present with everyone watching.
The moment I ripped the paper off, my heart skipped a beat.
This was what I wanted…could it be?
A brilliant smile overtook my face, and then my mom started to giggle. Tay leaned forward in his seat, and I knew I was being recorded.
That smile fell off my face so damn fast it might as well have never been there.
Because I knew with that stupid giggle from my mother that the computer I’d been needing for the last six months wasn’t what was actually in the box.
I opened the box, and sure enough, there was a sticky note inside it that read ‘IOU.’
I gritted my teeth and set the box on the ground, more than aware that Quincy looked down at the box and stiffened.
Purposefully not making eye contact with Quincy as he stared at me for my reaction, I crossed my arms and waited patiently.
My sister opened next, and I watched as she ripped open a huge messenger bag that she’d been going on and on about for the last three months.
She squealed and hugged it to her chest, her face a mask of excitement.
She paused, her face tilting slightly toward the bag, and then she ripped the bag open and pulled out…my computer.
“Oh my God!” she cried out, bouncing on the couch excitedly. “You are the best, Mom!”
I gritted my teeth.
The man beside me stiffened even further.
“Your turn, Tay,” Mom urged.
Tay opened the present from me—something I’d had to save up for over a four-month period—and grinned. “Thanks, Hollis!”
It was a new amplifier for his guitar.
It’d cost me almost eight hundred bucks, and it’d drained my savings account to buy. But looking at the smile on his face, it was worth it.
“Oh,” Dad looked sheepish. “I didn’t realize you got him that.”
Nausea churned in my belly at his words.
I frowned. “I told you I was getting it for him two months ago… Why?”
Dad pushed a box toward Tay.
A bigger box than the one I’d given him.
Tay ripped it open and gasped.
Because inside was an even bigger, and better, amplifier.
The same one I’d gotten him, only twice the price, and twice as good.
I deflated as Tay went nuclear in excitement. “Thanks, Dad!”
“Your turn, darling,” Mom urged.
I reluctantly reached for the present Tay got me.
I ripped it open to find four gift cards, and my stomach sank.
I’d gotten the same gift last year.
All of the gift cards would have some money on it, sure. But they’d have like seventy cents, or a dollar twenty. Something that Tay got last year for either Christmas or his birthday and had used it all but a little bit.
Grinding my teeth, I placed them also on the floor.
All of this would go into the trash can as I left.
The man at my side said, “Gift cards are good, right?”