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Something to Believe In
part 4:
 

 We walked back to where the guys were sitting, and Niall asks,
“So Jordan, did Lauren tell you how we ended up back here?”
“No, what happened?” she asked, and Liam explained,
“We were just trying to order ice cream, when a bunch of girls came running at us and we had to hide, so we came back here, and we’re just waiting until they all leave.”
“Where are you guys headed for tonight?”
“We’re going to the city tonight, and we’ll be here for a couple days.” Harry said, and flipped his hair. Zayn was awfully quiet, as he just sat there and quietly ate his ice cream.  He was carefully taking in his surroundings, and as our gazes met, he just smiled, and I asked,
“How’s the ice cream?”
“AMAZING!” Niall quickly said, and Zayn nodded his head,
“This is delicious.  Great choice.” He smiled, and I smiled at him, and looked away, afraid to hold his gaze for too long.
“Yes, I have to say, this is one of the best milkshakes I’ve ever had.” Liam claimed, as he threw the now empty cup away.
“Do you want anything else?” I asked.
“No thank you.” Liam said, leaning back and patting his stomach, “If I have any more, my trousers won’t fit.”
“Liam you’re such a girl, pft your trousers won’t fit.” Harry said,
“Niall is the only one who can miraculously eat whatever he wants without gaining weight.” Liam said, and we all looked at Niall, who had scraped his bowl clean.
“What?” he asked, confused.
“Nothing.” Zayn said, chuckling to himself, as he still worked on finishing his ice cream. Louis didn’t get anything, and Harry just noticed.
“Louis, why didn’t you get anything?”
“I ate too much of the samples, and the gummy bears.” He said, and looked shamefully at the ground.
“Understandable.” Liam said, as he looked through the book with the ice cream recipes in it.
“Can you keep a secret?” I asked, and he looked confused.
“If you tell anyone what’s in our ice cream, I might have to kill you.” He laughed, as did everyone else and me.
“I can keep a secret.” He laughed, as he continued to look through it.  Niall got up, and was looking through the freezers.
“Can I try some more?” he asked.
“Sure, try all of them if you want!” I offered, and his eyes grew twice the size.
“Really?!” he asked excitedly.
“Of course, I know it’s been Jordan’s goal to try all of them.”
“Do it with me!” he offered, and she happily went to join him to try at least 30 different kinds of ice cream.
“I don’t understand how you don’t weigh 150 kilos from working here.” Louis said, as he slumped in his seat.
“What?” I asked, confused.  “Kilos?”
“Oh right, you Americans use pounds?”
“Oh I get it, and I take it 150 is a lot?” I asked, and they all laughed at me, and I was looking around, and Zayn nodded his head.
“Yes, it’s about 330 pounds.” He laughed.
“Oh Jeez,” I said, and laughed.  “Yea I’ve worked here for a year I’m surprised I’m not a whale.”
“A whole year?!” Harry asked, shocked. “You must never eat!”
“Trust me, I eat.” I laughed, and challenged, “How do you think I knew what to recommend, I have to do something when there’s no one here.” Zayn laughed at that, and it grew silent.  Niall and Jordan were only on the second freezer when I looked back at them.  We had five in total, so they had a decent way to go.
“So, how do you guys like America?” I asked.
“It’s amazing!” Liam said first. “You do everything so fast here! Like you, you even talk fast!” I blushed.
“What?” I looked around, and they all nodded their heads. “Sorry, it’s just something I do!”
“It’s not a bad thing,” Zayn said, and we made eye contact again, “It’s funny, you just say so much in a short amount of time.”
“I just always have a lot to say.”
“Sounds a lot like me.” Louis said, and he stuck his finger in Harry’s ice cream and licked it.
“Mmmm, that is good.”
“So Lauren,” Harry asked, and swatted and Louis’ hand going for the double dip, “What is there fun to do in the city of Philadelphia?”
“There’s some fun things to do, I mean I’m familiar with South Philly because my mom grew up there and I go there a lot, but I’m not good with Center City, but I know a lot of things to do out here.”
“Wait,” Zayn said,  “Where’s your mum from?”
“South Philly,” I said, and looked around at the boys, and they all smiled. “What?”
“Another American thing, I guess.” He said, and shook his head. “What is ‘Souphilly?’”
“Oh, sorry.” I blushed again, realizing that I had put the two words together. “It’s South Philadelphia, when you go there, it’s just South Philly.”
“Is it supposed to sound like one word?” Liam asked.
“Yea, if you want it to.” I laughed. “I could show you guys around down there if you want while you’re here.”
“That would be awesome!” they all said, and Zayn nodded his head, “Yea, we’d love a native to show us around!”
“Alright, but the way to experience South Philly is through the food and the people.” I said, as the wheels in my head started turning.
“Sounds brilliant!” I heard Niall shout, when I mentioned the word food.
“When should we do this?” I asked.
“Are you free tomorrow night?” Louis asked.
“I think I’ll have to check, but I don’t work tomorrow.”
“Less, we have to take them lasertagging!” Jordan shouted from the freezers.
“What?!” Harry said excitedly, and Zayn looked at me, “Who’s Less?”
“It’s her nickname for me, it’s a long story.”
“You’ll have to tell me that one.” He said, and Louis asked again,
“Can we please go lasertagging?! It sounds like so much fun!”
 

Something to Believe In
part 3:
 
 “Sure!” I laughed, and realized I had completely forgotten why they were here in the first place. “You can look through the freezers and I can make them for you.  You’re more than welcome to eat them back here because the girls haven’t left yet.” I said, and looked through the window and they were all still sitting outside.  The boys stood up and started looking through all the freezers for ice cream flavors, and I brought back the sampling spoons for them to try a flavor that they wanted. 
“Can I have a milkshake?  I’m not a fan of spoons.” Liam asked.
“Of course!” I laughed, “What kind do you want?”
“What do you recommend?” he asked.
“I like cookies and cream, but if you want a smoothie I’d recommend the mango one, or if you want something sweeter there’s birthday cake with Oreos in it, and that’s my favorite.”
“Brilliant!  I’ll have that please!” he said, and I walked out and started making a milkshake, and another girl popped her head in.
“Who are you making that for?” she asked.
“I’m making myself some, I’m hungry.” I lied.
“What kind?”
“It’s cotton candy with gummy bears in it.” I lied again, and she made a disgusted face, and walked out.  I scooped and blended the milkshake, and brought it back to Liam, who tried it, and his whole face lit up.
“Wow that is delicious!” Louis then started singing “Milkshake” by Kelis, and they all broke out into laughter.
“I don’t remember what was in what I wanted.” Harry said as he looked through the book of flavors again, not finding what he wanted.
“I’ll get you another list.” I offered, and walked out front.  We had a stand up frame on top of the sneeze guard that doubled as a cheat-cheat for what was in the combinations.  I quickly grabbed my phone and texted Jordan, who I knew loved One Direction, and said,
“Don’t ask questions, just put on black pants and a t-shirt and show up to Maggie Moo’s like you’re going to work.  Wear close-toed shoes, and hurry the hell up.” She’d better get here fast, and I quickly added,
“Go around the back.” And I brought back the list for Harry.
“Thanks!” he said, and he Louis and Niall all huddled around it looking for one they wanted.
“Which do you recommend?” Zayn asked, still sitting on the desk.
“I like chocolate and peanut butter things.” I said, “So I get vanilla with peanut butter, Reese’s pieces, and peanut butter cups in it.” 
“Ohhhh!” Niall said, and looked up at me like I was the second coming of Christ. “Can you make me that one?!”
“Of course!” I said, and looked at Zayn who was shaking his head.
“That sounds good, but I really liked the cake batter.” He said, and his brow was furrowed in thought.  The way he said batter made me laugh, and then I suggested,
“I usually have birthday cake with chocolate covered pretzels and a ton of caramel.”
“That sounds perfect!” he said, and I ran out to make Niall’s and his ice creams.  Most of the girls had gone away, except for the red head and a few others.  I scooped Niall’s first, and then mixed Zayn’s.  I put extra caramel in it because caramel was my favorite so I figured it would taste good.  I brought both of them back, and got them each a cone to eat with it, even though I put it in bowls.
“Harry, what can I get for you?”
“I’ll have the better batter boogie board.” The way he said that made me laugh, as I heard him stumble over the words in the name.
“My sister gets that all the time!” I commented, and Liam elbowed him.
“How old’s  your sister?”
“She’s the same age as me, 17.” I said, and they all looked up at me.
“Twins?!” Harry asked.
“Triplets, actually.  I have a brother who is 17 too.” I laughed, and they all stared at me.
“That’s awesome!” Niall said, as he took a huge spoonful of his ice cream, and ate it.
“Hold on let me make this and I’ll talk to you more about it in a second.” I said, and ran out and quickly scooped Harry’s ice cream and mixed it on the slab. The redhead stuck her head in and said,
“I’m not leaving until I see One Direction.  There’s no other way out other than here.” She smiled evilly, and shut the door and sat on the chair, giving me darts with her eyes.  I just laughed, and brought Harry his ice cream in the back, and they all were satisfied with what they were eating.  I offered something to Paul, but he was lactose intolerant.
“Hey so is my friend.  She’s coming in for her shift soon, but she’s coming in the back.” I quickly lied, hoping Jordan understood the text enough to come in.  Patty was oblivious to all of this, because she was just going at cakes and whipping them out, because we were pretty much empty.
“What’s her name?” Liam asked, as he spun his straw around in his milkshake.
“Jordan, we go to the same school, she’s just a year younger than me.”  I heard a quiet knock on the back door, and they all look shocked.
“Don’t worry, it’s probably her.” Paul started walking back with me.
“There’s a hole, I can see if there’s anyone with her.” I said, and quickly peeped through the whole, to see Jordan standing there, looking around.  She was so confused, but luckily she was by herself.
“Hey!” I said, as I opened the door. She looked at me for a second, and I just nodded my head backward, and she looked past me and saw the boys sitting there.
“Oh, my, God.” She whispered, as she walked in, and I made sure the door was securely closed.
“Hey guys, this is Jordan.”  I walked her in, and handed her an apron, hoping she would just go along with it.
“Hey!” she smiled, and Patty looked up at me, as she finished boxing a cake.
“Patty, here, I’ll get the door for you, and Jordan you have to clock in, be right back!” I said, and all three of us walked out from the back and into the front.
“Alright, who are you?” Patty asked, as politely as possible.  I could understand how confused she was though.
“Patty, please pretend she works here, I just wanted her to meet the guys, I promise she’ll leave as soon as they do, and she can even work, she’ll make things up as she goes along.” I said, and she just laughed and said,
“Alright, but if Mark and Rhonda ask,”
“All my fault.”
“I didn’t know anything.” She said, and put the cake in the front freezer, I turned to Jordan, who was tying her apron on.
“Act calm.” I said, and she argued,
“I don’t know anything about here!”
“Don’t worry about it, just go along with everything I say.”
“How long have I worked here?” she asked,
“Doesn’t matter, just say you lost your normal shirt and broke your nametag, that’s all we need to cover.” I said, and she just sighed.
“I can’t believe this actually happened.” And I laughed, because I still couldn’t believe this was real life.

march 26th is national purple day!
it would mean a lot to me if you all could put your quotes in purple.  purple is epilepsy's color and march 26th is the day for everyone to wear purple to support ones that you love with epilepsy! i have epilepsy and it would mean so much if everyone could put their quote in purple or wear purple that day! if you want to, you can watch this video too : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzTd4M5lvLM 

 

Something to Believe In
part 2:
 

I bent down to grab a rag from the bucket with cleaning solution and ring it out when I heard the bell on the front door ring and I heard footsteps walking in.  Maybe if I stay under here Patty will handle them, when I glanced to the back, I saw her juggling two cakes and slamming the freezer shut.  Welp, Lauren, that’s your cue.  I threw the rag back into the bucket, and stood up.
“Woo, peekaboo.” This one guy said who was standing in front of the ice cream cabinet with his arm around another guy.  The one who had spoken had brown hair that was sort of defying gravity, with it flaring to the side.  His eyes were shining blue with little spots of black pupils in the middle.  The guy who he had his arm around had curly hair.  He was staring at all the different types of candy we had in front of the slab. I glanced over to the ice cream cabinet when I saw one guy with blonde hair staring at it like he’d never seen ice cream before, and I had to stifle a laugh.  He was adorable though, with his blonde hair going a bunch of different directions and his blue eyes curiously wandering over all the different flavors we had.  Next to him was a guy with Justin Bieber hair, who was reading all of the signs behind my head, which listed everything we had, and I never bothered to use them.  A guy with dark complexion and black hair styled neatly on top of his head, and shaved sides was reading the sign to the side with all of the ice cream combinations we could make.  They overall looked very confused.
“Hi, how are you?” I asked.
“Good,” the Justin Bieber-haired one answered.
“Fabulous” said “peekaboo” boy.
“Great.” The curly haired one responded.
“Is this all edible?!” the blonde one asked, and the dark haired on in the back didn’t say a word.
“Yea, it’s all ice cream, except for the sorbets.” I pointed out, and walked over to in front of the ice cream, and rinsing off spoons.
“What can I g-“ my voice completely cracked,”-et for you?” I asked, and laughed, they held back their giggles.
“Sorry, just went through puberty right in front of you,” I looked down and smiled, as I felt my face turn bright red. They all laughed.
“That’s brilliant!” the curly haired one exclaimed as he laughed a little harder. They all looked incredibly familiar, but no it couldn’t have been.  Then when the dark one in the back made eye contact with me, it all made sense.
“Oh, My, God.”
“What?!” the blonde one asked,
“You guys are One Direction, you’re amazing!” I laughed. “Don’t worry I won’t freak out, I just can’t believe you’re here, in Maggie Moo’s!”
“Yea we were stopping here before we went into the city.” Justin Bieber-hair said,
“I’m sorry, I get your names confused a little.” I blushed even redder.
“It’s fine, it happens a lot here in the states.” The one with curly hair said, “I’m Harry,”
“I’m Louis,” the one with hair that defied the laws of gravity said.
“I’m Liam,” Justin Bieber-hair said.
“I’m Niall,” said the one with blonde hair,
“And I’m Zayn.” The dark haired one in the back said, and smiled.  I instinctively smiled back, and then I noticed this guy with a dark jacket on near the door say,
“Uh, guys, we need to leave.” I glanced behind him when I saw a bunch of girls were running across the parking lot.
“We can’t go out that way!” Harry said, and the guy braced the door to hold it shut so the girls couldn’t open it.
“Come in the back!” I offered, and they all looked at him and he nodded his head, and they all ran back behind the divider that came up to my hip and swung back and forth.  They all ran past the sink and Patty looked incredibly confused.
“Crazy girls out front, they need to hide back here for a little.” I said.
“Okay,” she said nonchalantly and went back to making her cakes.  Normally we had a door propped open so we could walk back and forth, but I took out the chunk of wood holding it open and let it shut.  The security guards let go of the doors and acted like they were in line to get ice cream.  Smooth. I thought, and all the girls came in screaming, and looking around.
“Where are they?! Where’d they go!?” this paranoid red head pushed in front of the two guys and forced herself of the front of the sneeze guard.
“Who?” I asked.
“One Direction.  I SAW THEM IN HERE!” she yelled at me.
“They aren’t here.” I simply said.
“I JUST SAW THEM.” She shouted at me.
“Excuse me, they’re not here.”
“Well I’m not leaving, they have to come out eventually.” She said.
“If you’re not here to buy ice cream, I’m gonna have to ask you to leave.” I said at a louder tone so everyone could hear me. All the girls looked down, and started heading out the door. 
“I’m not leaving.” She said again to me.
“I really don’t want to involve the police here.  I have this little button under here that could easily call them, and my friend’s dad is the chief of Police, so I wouldn’t risk it.” I smiled, and she glared at me, and walked out.  They all sat down at the tables outside waiting for them to leave, but as long as they weren’t inside, there wasn’t really anything I could do about it.
“Nice work.” The security guard said to me, and I made sure it was empty before him and I pushed the swinging door open and saw the guys sitting around eating the huge tubs of candy we had to refill the candy out front.  I just laughed. 
“They got hungry.” Patty said, as she put a cake back in the freezer, and I exhaled slowly as I leaned back against the wall.  Zayn was sitting on the desk right in front of the wall munching on some Oreos.   Louis and Niall were sitting on a decorating table that had everything pushed to the side and were sharing the, now almost empty, tub of gummy bears.  Liam had the only chair and was eating M&M’s, and Harry was on the other side of Zayn, furthest from me, eating chocolate covered pretzels.
“How was it out there Paul?” Louis asked, shoving a huge hand full of gummy bears in his face.
“They’re all outside the store, but she handled them really well.” He pointed at me, and I just looked away, and Zayn corrected him,
“Lauren, her name is Lauren.”
“Nametags are key.” Liam said, as I laughed and looked up at Zayn, and we made eye contact.  Usually I would be the first to look away, but I blushed as he held my gaze a little longer, and finally looked away when Niall asked,
“Can I get some real ice cream now?”
 

Something to Believe In
part 1:
 

The clock in my car ticked to 3:10. Crap, I thought, they’re going to kill me. Being late for work was never a good thing. And this is my third time this week being late. I slid into the first spot I could find in the lot; jumped out of my two door black Civic, named Sheila, locked the doors, and ran inside. The door opened and I was greeted with the aroma of freshly baked cones and the chatter of a line that reached the door. Shannen, my on-duty manager looked at me desperately as I ran into the back. I threw my keys and phone in the first available locker, and grabbed a navy blue apron off the hook, and tied it behind my back. I hurried over to the desk, and sorted through the nametags until I found the one with “Lauren” printed on it, and stuck myself twice as I rushed to put it on. I clocked in at the register, and grabbed a scoop and a spade, and plastered on my fake smile to match my fake voice as I cheerfully asked the customer what kind of ice cream they wanted. I worked at Maggie Moo’s, well, the Marble Slab. We were currently in a transformation from Maggie Moo’s to the Marble Slab, but I still wore my ratty old blueMaggie Moo’s shirt that was given to me as a part of the uniform a year ago when I first started at the job.

“Sorry,” I quickly apologized, as I scooped out a small size of the Birthday Cake, and brought it over to the slab to mix in a combination of whatever the customer told me to. I was helping a little girl who was in about fourth grade, and her eyes lit up at all the candy that was in front of her eyes.

“It’s fine, not a big deal.” Shannen said, as she ran in the back to get something. We worked quickly and frantically in attempt to get through the line, and slow everything down. An hour quickly passed as the last little boy walked out happily hand in hand with his mother and his chocolate cone already running down his face

“That. Was. Nuts.”Shannen said, “I need to go make cakes.” And she walked into the back to finish the cake orders that were due in the upcoming week. One of the reasons I enjoyed working Saturdays was because I got to see people I knew, but I could still have a life if I got out of work at 9. I grabbed a few empty pans of ice creams to the back to wash them and refilled them with full containers. The hours from 4:30 to around 6 was pretty easy considering everyone was eating dinner and no one wanted to eat ice cream, but I had to prepare everything for the night shift. Shannen was scheduled to leave at 5, and I was scheduled to work with Patty and Sara. Both managers, and used Maggie Moo’s as their second job (their first being teachers) and they were best friends. Great, more conversations to be left out of, I thought as I walked back and grabbed my phone from the locker I threw it in and back out to the front so I could twitter creep. I had two unread texts, one from one of my best friends since first grade, Megan. We had been inseparable up until last year, when she found a boyfriend to put up with her. Not that I didn’t love her to death, she was just a handful, and as soon as she met him, she dropped Jenna, my sister Christin, and I like we never meant anything to her. So we just weren’t as close anymore. And considering I worked a lot I didn’t really get to see her. Her family was very well off, and she could probably never work a day in her life and still get everything she ever wanted. Not that I was poor, I just liked earning my possessions, and according to my mom, I got that trait from her. She asked if we could hang out, and I just gave the typical response: sorry, work. The second text was from my other friend, Jordan. Being a triplet, I’ve been asked over and over and over again, “Do you like read each other’s minds.” And with a brother, I never, ever would want to read his mind, but even with my sister, we just never were on the same page. People liked to joke that we would be the perfect couple, because we were the exact opposites. She had goals for herself, and specific steps to get her there. I knew where I wanted to be, I just didn’t know exactly how to get there, and it didn’t bother me that I didn’t have a definite plan, I liked life with a little bit of unpredictability. Christin was black and white, and I was every shade of gray. Jordan, on the other hand, could have been mistaken for being my twin. Well standing next to each other, you would never guess so. I have dark brown, incredibly curly, springy hair, with brown eyes, and Italian blended skin. Jordan had perfectly straight hair, no matter how she wore it, that was strawberry blonde, but in any light it changed from blonde to brown to red, with blue eyes and slightly paler skin than me. Not to mention that I was only technically one year older than her, but two grades, and she was taller than me. We just thought the same, like we were on the same wave length, all the time. I would no sooner say something out loud, and then get a text from her saying the same thing, when we weren’t even remotely in the same place. We jokingly called each other twins, but sometimes it was honestly scary how much we were alike. We listened to the same music, liked the same foods, hated the same foods, and music. She even introduced me to this band called One Direction. She first got my attention by saying, “five hot British guys,” but then she showed me a song and they were actually decent. She texted me telling me that she was coming into get ice cream later, and seeing what kind they had for her sister. I texted a few flavors that I knew her sister would like, and walked back out front to the monotonous cleaning routine. I just wanted this shift to be over; I need something new to my life.



 

• click to see this quote •

time after time
 part #59

 

i recollected myself, and walked over, and slipped into a seat in the back.  the priest was saying his final words as the casket was being lowered into the ground, and i had to look away.  after everyone got up and were making small talk with each other.  i didn't really fit in with the family,so i just sat there, staring at the men covering the hole with dirt.  i heard someone come sit next to me, and i looked over and cordin was sitting there.  i had a tear in my eye, and just as it slid, his slid off his face, and i wiped it with my finger. 
"god this sucks." he said.
"this really sucks." i said, and he looked at me.
"you just said 'sucks.' you might as well smoke." i stopped and looked at him gravely.
"kidding." he smiled. i looked back at the men.
"bad joke." he commented.
"not that funny." i said.
"sorry." he said, and looked again.
"i can't watch this. ray that's my mom. and they're burying her, into the ground."
"that's just your mom's body.  that's not your mom.  she's out there, somewhere looking out for you."
"i really hope so." he said. "hey wanna go shoot?"  he looked down at my cast, and his eyes were full of regret.
"more than anything." i said, and i stood up and so did he, and we walked out of the place of sorrow.  cordin wanted to drive me home because 1. he drove with his dad, so he didn't have a car.  and 2. he didn't think i could drive with my cast which 3. i already did.  we didn't need to talk, we just let the silence comfort us because we didn't know what else to say.  we passed my old high school, which i pointed out to cordin.  i remembered the first day of school there, just as i did with the other 32 billion.  this one was different though.  i had rob with me this time, and we walked into school on the first day, not holding hands to start any bad rumors about the new kids.  these girls were staring at him as soon as he walked in, which made me laugh.  i remember him walking me to my locker, when the girls lacrosse coach came up to me and started talking about the season and workouts.  after she left, the bell rang, so rob kissed me goodbye, and i had never been stared at by every single person in a hallway as i did that day.  after school that day i met him by his car with all his new friends, me of course not making any because i'm the quiet new girl, and a few of them were hitting on me.  rob just laughed, in his orange university of virginia  tshirt, his blue eyes shining, his hair flipped on his head, and his white teeth twinkled in the sun.  And i swear i fell a little more in love with the kid.  i was snapped back to reality when we got back to our houses, and of course at my house, no one was home.  cordin went to his house to change, and i went to mine.  after climbing into my dark blue shorts and white u of v tshirt, i grabbed my stick and walked outside.  i could almost shoot, it'll be okay.  i figured, and cordin was sitting on my step playing with the strings on his head.  his hair was all disshevelled, which made me laugh, and we walked to his car, and he drove us to the school.  no one was on the top field, so he grabbed the balls and we walked up to the top.  He was practicing on the wall, while i just sat there figuring out a way to make this possible.  I just sat there and cradled my stick remembering the christmas i had gotten it from my parents.  it was just last year, rob's last christmas, but he and his family were up in the poconos, so my family and i were opening up our presents.  I was sort of depressed because rob wasn't with me, but i knew he was having a blast snowboarding, so i just watched jason and kara's faces light up over their presents. i had gotten a new iphone for christmas, so i wasn't really expecting anything else.  we were pretty much snowed in,and the skies were darkening.
"hey ray, can you do me a favor and go turn on the lights outside?" my mom asked me.
"sure." i said,and i lazily got up and walked to the front door.  i saw headlights pull into the neighboorhood, but i ducked to the side to turn on the icicle lights we had hanging from the overhang to the front of our house. all of a sudden i heard a  "hey!" and i knew i was home.  i looked up to see rob outside his car holding a lacrosse stick in his hand with snow blowing all around him.
"rob!" i shouted and lept barefoot in the snow and jumped into his arms.  he braced my weight and dropped the stick, as i wrapped my cold feet around his waist and i looked up at him in the snow.
"what are you doing here?" i asked in shock.
"christmas is for spending time with the people who mean the most to you.  i was missing just one person." he smiled as i buried my hands under his hood and he kissed me in the snow.
"oh, i almost forgot." he said, still holding onto me,and grabbing the stick.
"merry christmas!"
"you're the only present i could've asked for." i pecked him on the cheek as he carried me inside to greet the entire family.
"she found her gift." my mom said as she opened the keurig to put in a new container to make for rob.  my feet were freezing so i went to dry them off as rob took off his coat and sat down.
"you knew he was coming?" i asked.
"of course.  why would i ask you to turn on the lights at 11:30 in the morning?" my mom asked rhetorically.
"good one." i said, and i jumped into rob's arms.  that day we did everything, made christmas cookies, he opened my gift for him, it was just a northface, but he loved it.
"i've wanted one for forever!" he smiled, and leaned in to kiss me.  i took a shower and he just sat there and tried to play the piano.  even when i got out he was still trying to play, and i just laughed. 
"how are you so good at this?" he asked, clearly frustrated.
"i'm not sure.  why are you so good at lacrosse?"
"it's a gift." he smiled at me, and wrapped me up in a huge hug, and i knew i had gotten everything i could ever ask for. the thunder of cordin's shot echoing off the post rocketed me back into reality, and i felt empty.