1001 Insomniac Nights

I usually don’t have a problem with Christmas shopping. My parents are easy to shop for; I could get them a stuffed mongoose and they’d like it. My brother and sister are easy, too. I get them a shirt or something and just let them return it for something they actually want. I had already gotten Brent’s gift. He was never that hard to shop for, but I had gotten lucky this year and found his present almost by accident. So that left me stuck on one person: Holly.

And that was why I ended up at a jewelry store looking for something that ran for under thirty dollars. After all, jewelry was always a winner with girls, right?

“Excuse me sir, can I help you?” a voice asked.

I looked over at the girl. She was dressed as a store attendant, giving me a genuinely polite grin. Something you don’t see a lot during Christmas.

“Yeah, I guess. I’m trying to pick out a gift for a girl.”

“Oh!” She sounded excited. “Girlfriend?”

“Well, no, not really.”

“Oh,” she said, sounding a lot less excited. “A relative then?”

“No, not that either.”

“So,” she said, sounding confused, “just a friend?”

“Yeah.”

She paused, torn between wanting to say something and wanting to sell me something. Finally, she decided on the latter. “Well, we have these over here. How much were you thinking of spending? Ten, fifteen dollars?”

Oh, c’mon. I’m not that cheap. “Actually, I was hoping to spend around thirty.”

“Oh.” She brightened a little. “Well, we have this selection over here.”

She pointed to a section of the cabinet. It was filled with a variety of pieces, some of them running for a little over $30, all fairly nice. But honestly, I didn’t really like any of them. I looked up at the girl. “These are kind of extravagant, don’t you think?”

She considered. “Were you looking for something in particular?”

“Well, yeah. I need a gift that says something.”

“Like what?”

“I need a gift that says we’re not dating, but I still kind of like you. But we’re not dating.”

“What?”

“She’s a really nice girl, but if I give her something too nice, she’ll think we’re dating.”

“If you give her any jewelry, she’ll think you’re dating. Why don’t you give her a pair of socks or something?”

I scowled at the girl. “Because I know she’ll like jewelry and won’t like socks.”

She scowled right back at me. “I just don’t think it’s the right gift if your message is, ‘We’re not dating.’”

“But I don’t… Look, do you want to sell me jewelry or not?”

“Not if you’re using it to string the poor girl along!”

“But she deserves a nice gift.”

She crossed her arms and gave me an annoyed look. “Are you dating this girl or not?”

I felt my cheeks go red and was glad she couldn’t see my eyes. “Fine,” I said, turning around, “I’ll go shop somewhere else.”

“Come again,” the girl said sweetly as I stepped out.

Whatever, I thought.

Well, so much for that idea. I could get her a shirt, or pants, or something generic, but I didn’t want to just grab something so she could take it back. It’d be nice if it was something more personable.

I managed to shove my way into a crowded Gap, but everything I liked was out of my price range. I did find one shirt I thought would look good on her, but there were only two on the rack and I wasn’t certain about her size. I checked the Limited, too, and didn’t find anything better. I didn’t even try to get into Banana Republic.

After an hour of finding absolutely nothing, I decided to grab something to eat and take a break. Naturally, all the tables at the food court were filled, so after spending twenty minutes in line to get a lousy hamburger I had to go find a spot against the wall to lean on. Did I mention I hate the mall this time of year?

I finished my hamburger in short order, but didn’t return to the hunt immediately, just took a few minutes to watch the crowds of people bustle past. Why didn’t I just get her a nice piece of jewelry? And if she made some stupid assumption about what was going on between us because of it, that was her problem.

But I didn’t want to hurt her feelings. It wasn’t that I didn’t like Holly, or that she was unattractive, but I just wasn’t certain what to do with her. She was three years younger than me and at least a little obsessed. That was complimentary and I couldn’t complain, but I didn’t want to be stuck in this city for the rest of my life. I doubted she’d want to move just because I got tired of living here, and definitely not before she finished school. And anyways, if we did start dating and it went wrong, we’d never be friends again.

I realized I was staring blankly at a window advertisement of a woman in her underwear. Well, hell, I thought, I could just bite the bullet and buy her some lingerie. Except I didn’t know what would happen if I did, and I didn’t think I was ready to deal with the consequences either way.

I stopped thinking about it, threw the hamburger wrappings in the garbage, and walked on.

One hour. Plus the one I had already spent made two. So, two hours. Two hours I spent looking for one lousy gift and hadn’t found anything. By that time I was too sick of the mall to care and was wondering whether or not it would be considered tacky if I just bought her a quart of ice cream from the Baskin Robbins where she worked.

But as I fought my way out of the mall, I noticed something golden hanging from a rack at Dillard’s. I made my way towards it and realized it was one of several lockets looped around a wire frame. I picked one of them and popped it open. It was hollow inside, but you could probably glue in a picture if you wanted. It was light weight, and looked like it was pretty good quality. I considered it for a second, then gave it a succinct nod. Holly actually had pictures of her family in her wallet. She’d love something like this. It was only fifteen dollars, but I figured I had spent a good two hours hunting for it, so it should even out.

Besides, it was the thought that counted.