Tyler

It was Christmas Eve, and I was ready to party with Ana and Chris. We had decided that we were going to start a tradition: sleep over at my house and watch Batman. Or just hangout.

My mother and father had gone to do some late Christmas grocery shopping. I was at my house alone waiting for Ana to show up. She was staying the night, since things with her and her mom weren’t going so good. She’d never had a good relationship with her mom. Her mom always got drunk and got violent. That was actually how we became friends.

I was about five, and I saw Ana sitting on a bench in the park,, crying. She was also five, but she had bruises all over her body.

“What’s wrong?” I had asked and she told me everything. “Do you want to come home with me instead?” I had asked her.

She smiled and nodded.

“I’m Ana,” she told me.

“I’m Tyler,” I replied.

And so the friendship went. As it turned out, she went to my school and was in Kindergarten as well.

My parents took her in without a problem any time she didn’t want to stay at her house, and so the best friendship grew. She was my only friend, and even though she had the bigger problems, she was always there for me. Always.

We were there for each other whenever the other needed it.

Ana arrived and I ran to the door to open for her. We stood there and hugged. When I looked up I realized my parents had put a mistletoe above the door.

“Sorry, I like boys,” I said jokingly. She laughed and hugged me, again.

We chilled and listened to my Pierce The Veil CD. We danced and sang along to every song, having a two man rock concert.

When Chris arrived he was holding two wrapped boxes. He set them on the table next to the door and looked up: the mistletoe.

“Hello,” he smiled.

Suddenly all the music faded away, and I was left with only myself and the wonderful boy in front of me. This was how life was supposed to be: perfect bliss.

“I guess it’s time for the… unwrapping,” Ana said in a spooky voice as we exchanged gifts later on. “Tyler, you go first.”

I opened Ana’s first. She knew me like a book, so I knew it was going to be something I liked. I ripped up the wrapping paper, not really caring about it, and saw what she had given me: Two of my favorite band’s T- shirts. I smiled widely.

“You know just how to please a person, Ana.” She laughed.

“I knew I could shop for you at Hot Topic,” she added.

Then, I opened Chris’s gift to me. There was an envelope inside, a Vampire Academy shirt, my favorite book, and a Batman fleece blanket. I opened up the envelope and there were two movie tickets and a beautiful drawing… of me.

I looked up at Chris.

“You drew this?” I asked. He nodded, blushing. The picture showed my every feature, only more beautiful. He made me look beautiful, something I couldn’t pull off in real life. I smiled up at him. The movie tickets were for Vampire Academy, which was coming out in February. He’d pre-ordered the tickets and everything. He knew I wanted to see the movie. This was going to be a date, when we went.

“Thank you.” I said, smiling more than I thought possible.

“Ana’s turn,” Ana said.

She grabbed mine first and ripped it open. I had gotten her the Paramore album she didn’t have, and a Kellic shirt. It was always fun to see a genuine smile on Ana’s face. It was so much more beautiful than the fake one she put on every day.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!” She said to me repeatedly as
she slipped the shirt on over her head.

“Well, I got you something similar to what he got you, so now it’s just pointless. Open,” Chris said, a lazy smile playing at his lips.

She opened Chris’s present, and inside of the neatly wrapped box, was a Jalex shirt. If no one could tell, Ana really liked shipping band members, especially when they looked cute together. Even I couldn’t deny shipping Kellic.

“Chris’s turn,” Ana said, putting her new Jalex shirt on her lap. She slipped her Paramore CD into the CD player, and it blasted out of the speakers.

Chris opened Ana’s. As expected, she got him Batman PJs so whenever we had a Batman marathon, we could all match. I handed Chris my gift to him. It was in a small box, with a ribbon on it. Chris slowly removed the ribbon, then opened the box. Inside the box was a locket. It had little gold swirls on the front and the string was long enough to be worn over or under a shirt.

He opened the locket, and inside it was the picture Ana took of us kissing. He smiled and looked up at me. He leaned over and kissed me.

“I’m going to wear this every day,” he whispered in my ear, sending chills down my spine. I smiled widely, a real smile.

After that, we put our gifts on the couch and danced and sang to Paramore.

When my parents came back we helped offload the groceries to the house. And then after that, Chris had to leave. Ana and I helped my mom with dinner while dad sat in his study.

Dinner was full of laughs from Ana and I. After we had done the dishes, Ana and I started watching the Batman movies the rest of the night.

It had been two years without my best friend by my side, but it felt like no time had passed. That was how it should be. That was the way it was. And that was the way I liked it.

*****

Do you think Tyler is finally happy?