“You’re the most talented person I know, you know that, right?” I kiss her forehead, watching her blush. “I’m so proud of you.”
“Stop it.” She hides her face.
“How about I take you home?” I encircle our fingers together.
“I have to tidy—”
“Your mother said she would deal with that.”
“Really?” She asks excitedly.
“Yes, baby.”
The drive to our apartment is fairly quiet. Juliette holds my hand as she tries to keep her eyes open because she still doesn’t trust me with driving her car. Once we get home, I hold her hand again and try to get her to walk in slowly, but she’s so tired that she just stumbles into our apartment. That exhaustion seems wiped out when she sees everything.
“Baby, oh my god,” she utters in pure disbelief.
I spent the whole day decorating the entire apartment. There are fifty balloons for the fifty pieces of art displayed in her gallery, a banner congratulating her, gardenias scattered around the floor and a bouquet placed on our dining table. I also spent the whole day prepping all of her favourite foods and getting all of her favourite snacks. Samantha knew and generously offered to tidy the gallery so I could bring her home for this.
“Congratulations, baby.” I smile widely and she jumps in my arms, her legs wrapping around my waist.
“Baby! You already threw a party for me last week!” She plants a kiss on my lips.
“This is just for us.” I kiss her back, feeling her giggle into my lips.
“This is amazing,” she says.
“How about you look at what’s behind your flowers and see what’s really amazing?” I whisper in her ear.
She squeals before jumping off me and running to the dining table. I watch as she rummages through everything and finds her gift, wrapped in baby pink paper and a cute little bow that took me two hours to tie because I’m stupid.
“Open it.”
Before I can even say anything else, she’s ripping into the paper like a little kid on Christmas Day.
“Oh. My. God.” She breathes out.
I’ve been planning this gift for weeks. I picked up tutoring again to make extra cash for it and just told Juliette that it was for experience. Juliette is used to lavish things, not that she has ever expected or asked for these things from me. She’s much more of a giver than a receiver. I write her letters, make her gifts and buy dinner when I can because lack of money doesn’t mean I don’t show effort. I wanted this to be something different, and it all happened the day that I went thrifting.
I found it in a small vintage shop tucked away on a side street, the kind of place you only notice if you’re already looking for something specific. I stepped into it because something was telling me to, and I’m so glad I did. Because I found the perfect gift just sitting there.
It’s a Back to the Future DeLorean time machine replica. Not some cheap plastic replica either, but detailed and heavy metal. The kind of thing that feels important in your hands. It cost just under five hundred, and my stomach flipped when he told me the price, but I didn’t hesitate buying it.
I thought of Juliette when we started tutoring and she told me about the movies, explaining them as if they were sacred to her. Every two weeks she makes me rewatch the movies with her and it just makes me fall in love with her more and more.
“Adaline,” she says. “This is insane.”
“You like it?” I ask smugly.
“I love it,” she says immediately. “I love it. But what the fuck. How much does this cost?”
“About five hundred.” I feel a little shy telling her, because that amount is like pennies for Juliette.
She stares at me. “What? No. No, absolutely not. You shouldn’t spend money on me like that.”
I shrug. “You’re always spending money on me.”
“That’s different.”
