Love Unwrapped

by Hayden Hunt

  Okay, so this was starting to feel like more of a Valentine’s Day gift, but I don’t care. I know he’ll love it, and that’s all that really matters to me. I’m positive he won’t find it overly-romantic, even if some people would.

  Now, I just had to pick out bags and a card. This was almost as fun as buying the actual gifts for me. I was a pro at making gifts absolute adorable. Whether it was wrapping them with wrapping paper or just picking out a bag and tissue paper, my presents were always adorable.

  And a specialty card and giftwrap store like this one made it so much easier. There were an insane amount of bags to choose from, all more adorable than the next.

  For Cody, I decided on this oversized bag with little bones covering it. The background was black and the bones were white, so it was really simple. But I was going to toss bright red tissue paper on top of it. It’d be the perfect contrast; I had no doubt it would be cute.

  Then came time to pick the giftwrap for Eli’s presents. For the shirts and sweaters, I decided to get simple cardboard boxes into which I could easily fold them. Then, I’d wrap the flat boxes with some gold wrapping paper.

  Not just any gold wrapping paper either. This wrapping paper was covered in gold sparkles that shimmered from every angle. It was absolutely gorgeous. I grabbed a white ribbon to tie it all up with, as well.

  Now, for the DVD and popcorn/snack bundle, I definitely had to use a gift bag. And I wasn’t fond of the gold color in most gift bag brands, so this was disappointing, because I really wanted to match. But, I ended up finding another gold bag that was equally as sparkling as the wrapping paper. It was gorgeous. I grabbed some white tissue for the top and then headed for the cash register.

  On my way, I heard a familiar voice call out my name.

  “Gene?!”

  I whipped around nervously. My eyes widened as I looked for the voice, though I knew damn well who it was already.

  Standing behind me, a shit-eating grin on his face, was my ex-boyfriend, who I’dd successfully managed to avoid for years.

  I tried to continue to ignore him, to make my way toward the register and exit before he even had a chance to say anything to me. But it became pretty obvious it wasn’t going to go down like that.

  He jumped in front of me. “Hey, what’s your hurry? No hello?”

  “No, no hello,” I said, coolly. “I have nothing to say to you. So go ahead and move along,”

  I tried to side-step him, but he wouldn’t let me. I didn’t stand a chance forcing my way by him; he was both stronger and quicker than me.

  “Dude, can you please leave me be?” I pleaded. “I’m just here doing my holiday shopping. I don’t think I need to be bothered by someone like you right now.”

  “Someone like me?” he scoffed. “And what does that mean?”

  “You know. Someone shitty, like you.”

  He ignored the statement entirely. “Do you know how much I’ve been thinking about you lately?” he asked, in a flirty tone.

  “Nope. I literally don’t know at all. Though, I feel like you are about to tell me.”

  “All the time. Every damn night and day.”

  I laughed. “Yeah, you’ll understand why I have a hard time believing that.”

  I couldn’t believe this was happening, now of all times. I did not need to be dealing with his attitude right now. I just wanted to get my damn shopping done and leave.

  It’s a little funny, though, that I ran into my ex boyfriend while shopping for my current one. Funny in a weird, cosmic, what-the-hell-universe kind of way.

  “I do. I was actually just thinking about you. How you were the best thing that ever happened to me, and that I blew it all to fuck some twink that ended up being nothing to me. I think all the time about what a giant mistake I made, and how I’d be able to move forward without you. And you know what I’ve realized?”

  “What?” I asked, rolling my eyes.

  “That I can’t. I can’t ever move forward without you. You were the best thing that ever happened to me, and you’re the only one that I want. And then I see you walk into this store and it’s like… it’s like fate, Gene! Do you believe in that kind of thing?”

  Oh my god, always with the sweet-talk with him. He’s always been this way. Always trying to manipulate me with his words.

  And it used to work. It used to be the reason I fell so hard for him every damn time. But now? Now that I had a man who didn’t try to use his words as a weapon, I couldn’t be fazed by him.

  “No, I don’t believe that fate makes your boyfriend leave you and then come crawling back two years later. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go.”

  I side-stepped him, but he side-stepped, too.

  “But you do believe in fate, right? You do believe that two people who are meant to be together will find a way, no matter how much time it takes, or what kind of obstacles get in the way?”

  Yeah, actually, I do believe that. But not in the way he’s assuming I do. I believe it because I see it between me and another man, Eli.

  But there is no destiny between him and me.

  “I’m going.”

  He grabbed both of my hands, pleading with me not to walk away.

  “Come on, Gene. You used to love me, you know. You used to be in love with me. That kind of thing doesn’t ever fade away. Let me take you out on a date.”

  “You know what?!” I snapped, nearly yelling in the middle of the store. “You’re right, love doesn’t die. True love stays no matter how much time has passed. But the truth is, I never truly loved you. All that I felt for you was just… it was infatuation. And I know that because I’ve found true love. The love of another man, a man to whom you would never in a million years compare. So, back the fuck off, let me buy his goddamn gifts for him, and leave me alone from this point forward. And if you don’t let me fucking walk by you, I’m going to call out for a store manager to get security. Got it?!”

  He went slack-jawed, and I knew why. I’d never gone off on him before. We’d had plenty of fights in our relationship, but never any when I’d stuck up for myself. I had been a slave to him.

  But not anymore, fuck this guy. I absolutely can’t stand looking at his smug face anymore. God, I spent years being upset over this man?! That seems impossible when I compare him to Eli.

  I walked by him, and, this time, he let me. He didn’t say another word, I had clearly stunned him.

  I had never felt like I had truly gotten closure after the abrupt end of our relationship. But, I gotta say, walking away from him with his jaw dropped open felt pretty damn good.

  I slammed the door shut on that relationship, and now he knows it.

  11

  Eli

  While Gene was at work, I had to take advantage of the time to go shopping for him.

  I was already planning to do my gift shipping today, but, after talking to Gene this morning, another great idea popped into my head.

  He’d told me that enjoys baking for friends and family for Christmas. I thought maybe I’d surprise him by going out to get all the ingredients he needs to bake as well as cute little goodie bags and ribbon.

  It doesn’t sound like a super big deal, but, if I know Gene, and I think by now I do, he’ll find it the sweetest gesture ever. Seriously, he’ll melt over that. And I can’t wait to see the smile on his face.

  Plus, we can get started with baking right away. This should be his last day working before he gets the weekend off, so it’s the perfect time to start baking. I’ll get some candles lit, some Christmas music going; it’ll be absolutely perfect.

  And I think it’ll remind him of the first night we met. It’ll recreate some of that Christmas romance that got us going in the first place.

  I decided I would first go to the mall to look for goodie bags. I’m sure they’ll have some at the grocery store, but I don’t think they’ll be up to my standards. I want, like, really cute ones.

  And there’s this adorable holiday card and giftwrap store
down at the mall. It’s a small specialty little shop, definitely overpriced, but it’ll be worth it to get something I really like.

  At first, when I got there, I was a little confused, because there was this guy who looked exactly like Gene.

  It couldn’t have been Gene, of course. First off, because Gene had to work today. And second, because he was speaking very closely to another man.

  I brushed it off at first, thinking about how I’d tell Gene later that I had seen his doppelganger at the giftwrap shop. But, the closer I got, the more I realized that it was, in fact, Gene standing there speaking to this man.

  I totally froze. He didn’t see me yet, so I managed to duck behind a shelf. I could see him, but he couldn’t see me.

  My mind went to the worst possible scenario. I thought Gene and I had a completely honest relationship with one another, but then… maybe not. He had clearly lied to me about going to work today.

  But why would he lie? Was this the reason? Did he want to be with another man today? Did he maybe have another boyfriend?

  No, okay, that can’t be right. Not after the way he reacted to finding out I was cheating on him, though I hadn’t been. He wouldn’t have been so self-righteous when he was, in fact, cheating himself, right?

  And, yes, he was standing intimately close to this man… but that didn’t mean anything! I didn’t really know why. You definitely don’t need to be dating someone to stand next to them. Maybe it was just an old friend.

  Yeah, that’s it, and hey, maybe it’s an old friend who had a crush on him, and that’s why he’s standing unnervingly closer. Or it’s just some random guy that’s hitting on him. Yeah, totally, this could just be some unreciprocated flirting.

  Everything inside me told me to turn around and walk out of the store. Nothing good could come from me snooping. This probably wasn’t anything, and I didn’t want to imagine that I saw something and drive myself crazy.

  Nor did I want to sit here, watching him, and see something weird and then ask him about it later. I didn’t want to have to tell him that I had been spying on him.

  Then again, I’m going to have to tell him anyway, right? We have a policy of honesty in this relationship. Or, at least, I’d thought we had.

  Okay, Eli, just turn away. Just walk out of the shop, go to the grocery store, get him a present, and stick with your original plan. That’s what I told myself to do, but I pretty much never take my own advice.

  I decided to take one last look over at Gene before I left, and what I saw left me speechless. Now he wasn’t just talking to the guy, he was holding his hand!

  I wanted to vomit. This felt so much worse than when I had caught Joshua cheating on me. And I was with Joshua for years, and Gene only a few weeks. But, already he meant so much more to me than Josh ever had. The thought of him betraying me was like a punch in the gut.

  Even more than that, I was disgusted with the fact that he had acted so high and mighty when he had thought I had been cheating. He hadn’t even talked to me! He had just refused to come over and refused to address any of the issues. He hadn’t even asked me.

  But then it hit me all at once. Suddenly, I understood his reaction completely, because it was what I wanted to do right now. I wanted to leave. I wanted to run out the door, never look at him again, and never discuss this with him.

  I couldn’t do that, though. I’d be a complete fucking hypocrite if I didn’t at least talk to him first. I told him that if he ever had any issues in the future, he should always come to me first, and now I wasn’t going to give him the same courtesy.

  Like, yes, he had lied to me about working today, and the evidence against him did seem pretty damning. I won’t deny that. But, then again. He was only holding hands with this guy. He had actually caught me in the middle of a kiss with another man, and I still expect him to trust me.

  I had to give him the same courtesy. But how?

  I didn’t feel like it would be appropriate to just march up to him and ask. But, I didn’t want to keep staying here, spying on him, and then have to explain things later. I was torn between making a scene and looking like a fucking creep.

  Or, maybe I could do neither. Maybe I could walk up to him without making a scene. I’ll just step up, act like I’m casually running into him, and then based on his reaction, I’ll probably know pretty quickly if there’s actually anything weird going on here.

  Okay, yes, that’s a good plan. I decided to stroll up as if nothing was wrong, like I was simply surprised to see him.

  But, when I started walking up behind him, I began to actually hear what the two were talking about.

  “Come on, Gene. You used to love me, you know. You used to be in love with me. That kind of thing doesn’t ever fade away. Let me take you out on a date.” I heard the stranger say.

  Okay, wait, on the one hand, it sounds like he had some intense feelings for him. But, on the other, it doesn’t sound as if they were currently seeing each other or anything. Maybe I actually have been mistaken about this.

  I could feel my heart pounding with every step that I took, anxiously awaiting Gene’s answer to this very emotional statement.

  It didn’t take long, though, because shockingly Gene’s voice suddenly boomed out..

  “You know what?! You’re right, love doesn’t die. True love stays no matter how much time has passed. But the truth is, I never truly loved you. All that I felt for you was just… it was infatuation. And I know that because I’ve found true love. The love of another man, a man you would never in a million years compare to. So back the fuck off, let me buy his goddamn gifts for him, and leave me alone from this point forward. And if you don’t let me fucking walk by you, I’m going to call out for a store manager to get security. Got it?!”

  I was grinning from ear to ear. Relief washed over me as I realized that I had, in fact, gotten it all wrong this whole time. Gene wasn’t cheating on me! Whoever this guy was, Gene did not share his feelings.

  And those things he said about me! I melted.

  He actually believes that, with me, he’s found true love. To think, he spoke about me like that when I wasn’t even around him. That’s how you know the truth about what someone feels about you, when you’re not around to hear it.

  God, I am so fucking glad I listened to my own advice and didn’t jump to conclusions. Imagine if I had actually run away when I had seen him holding that guy’s hand… it would’ve been the same situation that Gene had been in when he’d ‘caught’ me with Josh.

  I can only be grateful that I learned from his mistakes. Because I didn’t want to lose him over a misunderstanding. Not again, not when I had already come so close to that.

  I was still in awe of what I’d heard while I watched him pay for his stuff. It wasn’t until he was walking out of the store that I snapped back into reality and made a move to run after him.

  I called out, “Eli, wait!”

  12

  Gene

  “Eli, wait!” I pushed my bags to my back so he wouldn’t see any of the gifts I’d bought. “What are you doing here?”

  “The same thing as you, apparently,” he grinned. “Don’t worry, I didn’t see your bags. Is this why you lied about working today? So you could go Christmas shopping for me?”

  “Well, actually, yeah. I wanted it to be a surprise. Guess that’s ruined now…”

  I stared at him awkwardly, not because he had caught me shopping for him, but because I now found myself insanely worried about what he just saw.

  “Did you, uh, come out of the gift shop?” I asked sheepishly.

  “If you’re trying to figure out if I just saw you with that guy, yeah, I did.”

  He didn’t seem mad, but I felt the need to explain myself. I had no idea how much he had seen, and that could have looked really bad.

  “Look, Eli, that was my ex, and I swear I haven’t had any contact with him. We haven’t talked in years. But then he just walks up to me and the things he said—”

  �
��Stop, you don’t have to explain yourself. I didn’t even hear the full conversation,” he interrupted me. “I’ll admit that for a moment there, when you two were holding hands, I was a little bit suspicious. But, I heard what you said about me at the end, and I know that you didn’t invite that kind of attention in any way.”

  “Oh…” I blushed. “You heard that. I, uh, I know that probably came on really strong, but you know, I just really wanted to get him off my back—”

  He interrupted me again. “I thought it was incredibly sweet.”

  “You did?” I asked, a little worried. I mean, I had just called the guy my true love, and we’d only been dating a matter of weeks.

  “Yeah, I really did. And I feel the exact same way about you.”

  I tried to suppress a smile. “You do?”

  “Absolutely, without a doubt.” He gave me a quick peck on the cheek. “Look, I don’t want to keep you waiting here, obviously you have gifts to get and errands to run. I’ll let you get to all of that. I just wanted you to know that I heard what you said, and I’m glad you said it. We still on for tonight?”

  “Yeah, of course!” I nodded.

  “Excellent, I’ll see you then.”

  Eli walked away and left me with such a weird combination of emotions. On one hand, I felt completely embarrassed about everything I’d said and everything my ex did. And, on the other hand, hearing that he also thinks I’m his true love has me totally swooning. I swear, I’ve never had a relationship like this one before. And I fell more and more in love with Eli every damn day.

  Before I went to Eli’s that night, I wrapped up his and Cody’s presents so that I could bring them over. It was a little early, but I wanted to put them under his tree.

  I had a tree of my own, but it was small, and we barely ever came to my apartment. They’ll look better under the big, beautiful tree in his house, and we’ll get to look at them more often.

  I arrived at Eli’s a little early that evening. And, when I got there, I ended up waiting at the door for several minutes.