* * *
As much as I wanted to get all my Christmas shopping done before my parents came back, I couldn’t. It wasn’t that I had a ton of presents to buy, but I wanted to find the right present. Maybe I was over-thinking it, but I wanted to make sure that it was thoughtful. I didn’t want to get just anything, just to give something.
The only thing I had left to find was something for Patrick’s mom to let her know I appreciated all her kindness. I decided to get Emily and Cassie a little gift– that’s what girls do, exchange presents with their girl friends. Right? Besides, they had accepted me from the beginning, never making me feel like I was barging in on their best friendship. I made a collage of pictures from the Winter Formal and just had to pick it up from the Photo Center and place it in the frame I bought. Their pictures were slightly different because I made sure they each had plenty of pictures with their boyfriends in it and a few of the entire crew.
Then, there was Patrick. I knew him so well, so it should be easy, but somehow that just made it harder. I listened even when he didn’t think I was listening to get different ideas. It took me a while, but I finally figured out what to get him. I don’t know why I didn’t think of it before. Tickets to an NBA game. The question is what game?
I could get tickets for when the Celtics came to LA. Okay, so the Celts were my favorite team. But he never told me his. He had to have one, he loved basketball so much. But it was weird that when I told him about being a Celtics fan, he didn’t look disgusted, like most people seemed to San Diego. When you live in San Diego, or anywhere in Southern California, you’re supposed to be an LA basketball fan—usually the Lakers. So, the Celtics being rivals of the Lakers, gets you a lot of hate from San Diego basketball fans, especially at school. No, he didn’t look upset or shocked when I had told him. He just smiled. We’d talk about the Celtics game the next day in class sometimes. I always thought he was just being nice to me, finding something—other than school stuff—to talk about.
The more I thought about the conversations he’d had with the guys about basketball, I realized they never talked about Lakers like all the other guys at school did. I decided to ask Lindsey, his sister, about it. She was home from Stanford for winter break.
I called her up. “Hey, Lindsey. It’s Liz.”
“Oh, hi Liz. What’s up? Everything okay?” We’ve talked before, but not with me calling her up, it was always when Patrick did.
“Yeah. Everything’s fine. I just need your help with something. Are you busy?”
“Nah. How can I help?” She seemed happy to.
“So, I’ve been thinking about what get Patrick for Christmas.”
“Cutting it a little close, aren’t you?” She teased.
“Yeah, well, he isn’t exactly the easiest person to shop for.” I chuckled.
“Don’t I know it. And I’ve had to do it for years!” She laughed. “Need ideas? ‘Cause you know he’d say that he doesn’t want anything.”
“I know. But I want to.” I sighed. “So, I was wondering if you could tell me what Patrick’s favorite basketball team is.”
“How can you not know that?” Lindsey seemed shocked. “I thought he told me that you guys have talked basketball.”
“Well, yeah, we have. That’s why I can’t believe I don’t know. But I don’t remember him really saying what his favorite team is.”
“Come on. You must have some idea.” She challenged me. I didn’t say anything. I felt like a huge loser for not knowing something so basic about my best friend. “God, Liz. He’s a big Boston fan.”
“Really?!” So he wasn’t just being nice talking to me about the Celtics?
“Heck yeah.” I swear I could hear her grinning. “He wanted me to go to Harvard or M.I.T. or any school over there so he had an extra excuse to go to a Celtics home game.”
I laughed. “I would have suggested it too.”
“We have some family out there. If they happen to be playing when we visit, we try to go to a game”
I still couldn’t believe that I had found one of the few non-LA fans in San Diego and he was a Celtic fan too! “Why didn’t he just tell me? All this time…” I shook my head, still in disbelief. “When was the last time you guys went to a game there?”
“They went over Spring Break. I couldn’t go this year.”
Ah. That kind of explains it. He probably didn’t want to tell me how great his Spring Break was when he knew how awful mine was. That had to be it. Somehow he just danced around us having a team in common. “Have you guys ever gone to a game here? I mean, a Celtics game in LA?”
“No. Once he visited me at school and the Celts were in town playing the Warriors, so we went to a game there. He had a great time.”
“Hmmm… Okay. ‘Cause I was thinking of getting him tickets to a Celtics game in LA. What do you think?”
“That’s a great idea!” She exclaimed. “Wait. Do you know when they are playing in LA?”
“Umm. Hold on, let me check real fast.” I went to my computer and looked up the schedule online. “They are playing next week in LA, then again in February.”
“Get him the one next week.” She told me.
“You sure? That’s not too short of a notice?” I was leaning toward the February one.
“Nah. That way he’d get to go now versus waiting two months.” She explained. That made sense.
“You sure it’ll be okay with your parents?” I knew her parents were cool about a lot more stuff than mine, but it was short notice.
“Oh, yeah. Don’t worry about that.” She didn’t seem concerned.
“Okay. I’ll get him tickets for next week’s game. But you need to make sure your family doesn’t go anywhere on the 27th.” I insisted.
“Yeah. Yeah. I’ll take care of it.” She paused for a moment. “I just want to be there when you give it to him.”
“Sure.” I didn’t see why not. I was glad to find something that he would love. I’d get him two tickets so he and his dad could have a father/son day of it. I think he’d enjoy that.
Falling (Bits and Pieces, Book 1) Page 92