AllFreeNovel
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"Oh, the Bourbon place?"
"Yeah." He gives me a huge smile. "And a certificate for a tasting of the Pappy Van Winkle. I didn't even know you knew I liked bourbon."
"I watch what you drink at Monroe's. If you're not drinking a beer, it's bourbon, and from what I hear, everyone wants to try the best."
"I've always wanted to give it a shot," he confirms. "This is awesome. Thank you, Kara."
"You're welcome. I'm so glad you like it!"
Alexis looks at me, her lips pursed. "You don't know him, but you do know me, so you better have given me a good gift, bestie."
I roll my eyes at her. "Your gift is my friendship and listening to you bitch all the time. Isn't that enough for you?"
She seems to ponder it. "I guess it is. I couldn't ask for a better friend than you." She gets up, and walks over, hugging me tightly.
"I still got you a gift," I whisper.
"I knew it!"
"Yours is right over there." I point to a meticulously wrapped box.
When she picks it up, she shakes it, tilting her head to the side after she does. "It's light, and it doesn't feel like there's anything in here. Is this a joke gift?" She purses her lips, giving me a look.
Everyone laughs at our antics. "No, I swear there's something in there."
Her fingers tear into the wrapping paper, and she rips it open with the same zest she has for everything. There's a huge smile on her face, and then it drops, before she looks up at me, her bottom lip sticking out. "Karaaaaa, I can't believe you did this." She holds up a check.
"I told you, I would pay you back."
"What's happening here?" Abel asks as he looks back and forth between us.
"When we were in college, I needed a hundred and fifty bucks to finish purchasing the taco truck. I hadn't been approved for my small business loan yet, and I was making food out of my dorm room. I was at the quad, crying and snotting everywhere, because the person selling the truck wouldn't take any less than what they were advertising."
Alexis interrupts. "I have to say here that Kara and I met during our first week in college. After that we were attached at the hip. She fed me when my dining card ran out, and I helped her run her little kitchen racket out of our dorm room. I knew what she wanted to do, and I fully believed in her."
"So anyway, I'm sitting there crying about how my life is over, and here she comes with the hundred and fifty dollars I needed. She'd gone and given plasma. For me. I knew right then she would be one of the best friends I'd ever have. I mean who else would go give plasma for a friend? I told her that I'd pay her back, with interest, and ten percent of earnings from my first successful year. That check is me paying her back, along with a certificate for a hotel room near Buffalo Trace."
"I can't take this." She goes to hand it back.
"You can. If not, I'm going to have to make you a partner, and we both know that I don't share well. You can choose not to cash it, or you can cash it and do whatever you want with it. The point is, I made it, and I never would've without you."
We hug again, and as everyone else opens the gifts I bought them, I realize being here with them? It feels like I've found my home.
* * *
Afew hours later, Abel and I are at his house, in front of the Christmas tree we so painstakingly decorated together. We’re about to exchange gifts, and I’m so nervous. “I hope you like this, I went back and forth over what I should give you.” I bite my lip.
“I’ll love anything you give me.”
He tears into the wrapping paper, fingers digging in. He opens it, his eyes going wide. “Oh my God, this is amazing,” he laughs.
“Will you be embarrassed to wear it?”
“Hell no, I’ll wear it proudly.” He turns the shirt around where it has Abel loves Kara in a heart, on a tree. He smiles widely.
“There’s one other thing in there too. That’s not it. It’s just small.”
He digs around again, the smile widening even further. “Is this for real?”
