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EJ smiles as he holds his phone up in front of his face, waiting semi-patiently for the FaceTime call to connect. His heart is pounding wildly in his chest, the hand holding his phone is starting to sweat, and his knee is bouncing where he sits in the chair at his desk. He quickly switches his phone to the other hand to wipe his palm off on his jeans.
It takes a second, but then the call connects, his smile brightening when he sees the face on the other end. "Gina, hi."
She smiles back at him. "Hey, EJ. What's up?"
"Uh, not much. I just…I was wondering if you wanted to go on a Christmas lights walk with me this weekend."
"Christmas lights walk?"
He nods. "Yeah. Everyone in my neighborhood always does incredible light displays, so every year they pick a night for others to come walk around and look at them. Obviously, they leave them up all through the holiday, but Friday's the night that was picked this year. There's even hot cocoa and apple cider and cookies to munch on while you walk. Usually, Ash comes over and we look at them together, but she's got plans already, so I was hoping maybe, if it's not too short notice, you'd want to join me."
Gina blinks. "Oh." The tiniest hint of a smile forms on her lips. "Um, yeah, actually, that sounds like a lot of fun."
He can't help the smile that pulls at his lips. "Really? Awesome. Uh, do you want to meet me at my place and then we can walk around?"
"That sounds perfect. What time should I meet you?"
"How does six-thirty sound?"
She nods once. "Six-thirty Friday night. I'll be there."
"Great, I can't wait."
"Me neither. Do I need to bring anything?"
He shakes his head. "Just yourself. Though you will want to dress warm, but I figure that's a given."
She laughs quietly. "Yeah, I definitely won't be wearing shorts and a tank top in the middle of winter."
"You know, I actually knew a kid who did that. Well, it was a t-shirt not a tank top, but he wore shorts too." EJ laughs at the memory. "It could be the middle of a snowstorm and this kid would still be wearing shorts and a t-shirt."
Gina laughs. "Oh my goodness. Did he ever freeze?"
"I honestly have no idea. He moved right after middle school, I think his dad got another job somewhere, so I have no idea where he is now."
"Wow. That is…a brave kid."
EJ smiles. "Definitely." He shifts a little in his seat, leaning back. "You ever know anybody like that at any of your schools?"
Gina shakes her head. "Moving around so much, I never really let myself get attached. It was easier that way."
He nods slowly. "I understand that. But I didn't mean a friend or anything, just something someone did at one of your schools that you found a bit bizarre. Could have only happened once, but you noticed it and thought it was weird."
Gina's brows furrow slightly as she thinks, her lips pursing the tiniest bit as she no doubt moves through her memories. After a minute she shifts, her face relaxing as she looks through the camera again. "Okay, so this is definitely really weird."
EJ shifts, getting more comfortable, and smiles. "I'm listening."
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.
.
EJ's been giddy since the moment he woke up, a feeling he never once thought he'd be feeling in his life. But there's just something about the thought of spending an extended amount of time with Gina Porter that's making him feel giddy. He doesn't entirely know where she stands on her feelings towards him, given that it wasn't that long ago that they'd both been using the other to try and make other people jealous. But he'd be lying if he didn't admit his feelings towards Gina have majorly shifted since opening night. He hasn't quite put a name to them and isn't sure if he can yet, but he thinks that wanting to spend time alone with her is a pretty good indication of where those feelings are heading.
He spends a lot longer than he's willing to admit getting ready for the night ahead. He goes through nearly every outfit combination in his closet, wanting it to be perfect even though it probably doesn't matter much in the grand scheme of things. Comfortability is more important right now in the winter weather than looking good. Though, he knows he can do both.
Once he's finished with his outfit and making sure that his hair looks nice, he bundles himself up in a heavy coat and gloves and then stands on his front porch to wait. It's 6:25 and he's hoping Gina will show up soon so they can get started on their walk to see all the lights. Also, the cider is calling his name from its place a few feet away.
The minutes tick by, and he smiles politely at everyone who passes by and stops to admire the lights on the house. He repeatedly checks the time on his phone, to assure himself that he hasn't been reading it wrong, and his nerves only get worse the later it gets.
He sends her a few texts, then tries to call, hoping that maybe she's on her way and her phone died and she doesn't have a way of getting in touch with him yet.
When it hits the half-hour mark, he heaves out a heavy breath and dials a different number. He leans back against the front of the house as he holds the phone to his ear and waits for the call to connect.
"Hello?"
"Ash, hey. Have…have you seen Gina at all today? It's just…she was supposed to meet me so we could look at the lights but she's not here and I'm…I'm just wondering if everything's okay."
"She didn't call you? She said she was gonna text you at least."
"No, I haven't heard from her. That's why I'm calling you."
"Oh. Well, she woke up feeling pretty sick this morning, so she went back to sleep."
EJ breathes deeply and nods. "Okay, thanks. Uh, sorry for bothering you."
"Hey, you know you're not a bother. All the time. Want to pass a message along when I get home?"
"No, that's fine. Uh, thanks again, Ash."
"Of course. Bye, Eej."
"Bye."
Ending the call, EJ runs a hand down his face and turns to head back inside. There's no point in going to look at the lights now, he's seen them dozens of times before. The whole point was to show them to Gina, but now that's not an option. And now he has no idea what he's going to do with the rest of his night.
.
.
.
Breathing deeply, Gina shifts under the heavy comforter, stretching out her limbs and letting her mind come back to consciousness. She still feels somewhat under the weather, but not as much as she did when she woke up earlier, so going back to sleep has definitely helped.
A soft ping comes from her phone a second later and she carefully rolls closer to the nightstand and reaches out. She squints against the backlight from the phone as she checks what's on the screen.
Her eyes go wide a split second later when she sees the notification on the screen and then checks the time. It's a little after midnight, she's definitely late to meet EJ to look at the Christmas lights.
Swiping on the text message to open it all the way, she shifts so she's sitting up more and lets her eyes focus on what's in front of her.
Ash said you weren't feeling well, so I'll forgive you for standing me up. :) Hope this makes you feel a little better when you see it.
Opening the video file that's attached, Gina leans back against the wall behind her bed, turns up the volume enough to hear, and then watches as EJ's smiling face pops up in the center of the screen.
"Hey, Gina. Um, I know you're not feeling well, so obviously you aren't coming to look at lights with me, but I thought you might still like to see them, so uh, here."
The camera flips, no longer focused on EJ's face, but on a beautiful, colorful display of lights on a two-story house. The view slowly starts to move, showing off another display, and then another.
It's on the fourth display of lights that it finally clicks, thanks to her sick-addled brain. She couldn't go with EJ to see the lights, so he recorded them for her instead so she could still see them. All that's missing is the apple cider and cookies he said would be available.
Once the footage has circled back around to the first lights display, the camera flips, showing EJ's face again, the lightest shade of pink dusting his cheeks and nose.
"I uh, I hope you liked all the lights. And I hope you feel better, Gina. Merry Christmas."
Closing out of the video player, Gina sends a quick reply, very aware of the smile that's on her lips.
First the plane ticket back and now a video of Christmas lights? You're setting a very high bar, Caswell.
It doesn't take long for a new message from EJ to come through.
So you liked it?
I loved it. Thank you. That was really thoughtful.
You're welcome. I'm glad you loved it. I felt bad that you couldn't come see them in person, so I figured a video would be the next best thing.
Well, it was. The lights were all so beautiful. I wish I could have walked around with you to see them in person, cider and cookies included.
Me too. But…there's always next year. If you'd still want to.
Her smile grows bigger.
I would love to.
Perfect. I can't wait.
And Merry Christmas, Gina.
Merry Christmas, EJ.