Chapter 15

Chapter 15:  Barrie

 

 I was looking forward to the Christmas break.  Two weeks to relax and unwind after final exams.  Lizzy and I were planning a trip to Barrie again so that we could do some shopping.  James and I had been invited to the annual Worthington Christmas Party and benefit dinner. It was in one week, just after final exams. I only had to write three exams, oh joy oh bliss, NOT.   My exams were on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, so Lizzy and I planned our shopping trip on Friday.  James had asked what I wanted for Christmas and I told him that I just wanted to be with family, which meant him as I considered him my only family now.   He got all bashful on me, when I told him that.

Lizzy picked me up Friday morning in the black BMW and we were off.  We got to Barrie around eleven in the morning.  Lizzy went to a fancy dress shop on Main Street.  She found a gorgeous baby blue silk dress with spaghetti straps. It was a very flattering colour for her.    We went to Moxy’s for lunch at Georgian mall after we finished shopping for shoes.  When lunch was finished I wanted to go to a jewellery store for a minute so we decided to meet back at the restaurant in one hour.  That way we could get our Christmas shopping done too.  I went to a small silver store, I wanted to get Lizzy a necklace as I knew she liked jewellery.  I found a sterling silver necklace with a crystal butterfly.  I thought it would go nicely with her dress as I wasn’t going to see her for Christmas.  Next I went to find something for Alex, just in case I thought to myself, I knew that we hadn’t been on the greatest of speaking terms since Halloween and the break in but I still had a huge crush on him.  I was wondering through an eclectic store with all kinds of ethnic trinkets and I saw an unusual leather book which was black with a strange swirling pattern through it.  When I opened it, it was full of blank pages for writing.  Alex was always writing on scraps of paper and losing them, he would get so annoyed when he did that.  This would be good for him.  I also found a really good pen that went well with the writing book.  Next I went to find something for James.  That wasn’t going to be the easiest thing.  I finally went into a men’s clothing store and found a pull over sweater, cream in colour.  He didn’t have a lot of casual clothes that I had noticed.  He always wore his work clothes.  I just hoped that this would fit he looked like a 2XL kinda guy.  As I walked down the hallway I noticed a pretty bracelet in the window of Mappins jewellery store.  It was white gold with diamonds and sapphires I’ve always loved sapphires.  Lizzy came up beside me and looked into the window too.

“Do you like it?” she asked pointing to the bracelet.

“Yes.  I love sapphires, they were my mother’s favourite too.  I have a necklace of hers that I’m going to wear Saturday night.” I said.

“Well, I can’t wait to see it.  It should be fun to see you all dressed up” she said giving me an appraising look.

“Well I’m sure you’ll out do everyone there.  The dress you got will knock Will’s socks off and I’m sure every other guy’s socks too.” I laughed warmly.

“Do you want to get ready together?” she asked.

“I think I’d rather surprise you.” I laughed.

“I hate surprises, I always peek, that’s why Will and Alex have to hide my presents every year, they usually go shopping on Christmas Eve so that I can’t find out what they got me.” she giggled.  I just shook my head. 

“So what did you get me for Christmas?” Lizzy was almost bouncing where she stood.

“You’re impossible.”  I teased.  “You’re just going to have to wait, I’ll give it to you tomorrow morning.  Not a second sooner.”

“No fair!!” she whined.

“Hardly, Will warned me to keep whatever I could a secret when it comes to presents for anyone. He said you can’t keep it to yourself” I looked at her with a knowing stare.

“That traitor, he’ll pay when I get my hands on him” she glared at me and then started the big eyes and pouty lip routine.

“Nice try” I turned and started walking to the next store pretending to ignore her.  She stomped her foot and followed.  I couldn’t help it, I burst out laughing.  She punched my shoulder as we started heading for the car.

We got back to my place in record time and James had pizza waiting for us.  We talked all night about the party.  I could hardly wait it was the first fancy party that I was going too.

“So are you planning on dancing the night away girls?” James asked.

“You bet” Lizzy commented.

“Well I’ll try but I don’t have a partner.” I confessed.

“Don’t worry kid.  I got you covered, I’ll lead you follow” James beamed at me.  I smiled happily at him.

“What if I step on your foot?” I said teasingly.

“It can’t be worse than what you put me through on Sundays” he joked.   I laughed too.  Lizzy and I headed for bed around ten at night because we wanted to get a good night’s sleep or at least the best sleep I could get.

It was Saturday morning and Lizzy was almost ready to go.  I pulled out the small box from its hiding spot and handed it to her.  She opened it with enthusiasm.

“It’s so pretty” she beamed. “It’ll go perfectly with my dress”

“I knew you would like” I smiled.

Lizzy handed me a medium sized box.  “Lizzy. This is perfect. This shawl will be great with my dress. Where did you find it?”  The shawl was a shear silver fabric with purple embroidered flowers.  It was so light and soft.  I’d never seen anything like it.

“Oh! I have some cool friends who make some amazing items” she smiled whimsically. 

“I’ll see you tonight” Lizzy called over her shoulder.

“You bet.  And don’t steal the spotlight completely ok” I said jokingly.

She smiled and waved as she got into her car and drove away.