Page 23 of Evil Queen

“Yeah, well, I noticed you would pick him every time we went to that one diner, so then I added a few to the stereo at home, and whenever he came on, you’d stop what you were doing and bop along. I assumed you must be a pretty big fan, and I know you have a record player, so it made sense.”

“Wow, Nathan,” Alistair said. “I’m astounded, really. This is one of the most amazing gifts I’ve ever gotten. Thank you.”

Nathan smiled. “You’re welcome. I’ll just go around the table from here.” He reached in and pulled out a hardcover book, then handed it over to Avery. “Avery. Merry Christmas.”

Avery reached out and took the book, and a similarly shocked look covered her face. “A hardcover copy of Invisible Man.”

“Yeah. I can’t take total credit for this one. Back when Cherri and I…” He side-glanced me quickly and then snickered. “Well, Cherri had been looking for a copy for you for a long time, but they were always in short supply or not with the original cover, so I just had one made.” He pointed toward the pages. “I can take credit for the pages, though.”

“The pages?” Avery flipped to about a sixth of the way through the book and gasped. “Whoa! My favorite pages are laminated!” She showed it to Alistair. “Look, baby. I won’t rip them anymore.” She looked back up at Nathan. “How did you know?”

He shrugged. “I’ve seen you reading those pages multiple times. I didn’t know the exact section, so I had that whole chapter laminated.”

“Thanks, Nathan.” She flashed a genuine smile that was rare for her as of late.

Kyle got a new set of rings, specially engraved with important dates like his father’s Purple Heart receipt date, his birthday, and his late grandmother’s birthday. Colette got a special notebook with an electronic pen that, when written in, would automatically convert all the notes to an electronic form that was automatically backed up to the cloud. It also had a dictation mode for whenever she wanted to dictate speeches or anything else, and it even had a photography mode for when she traveled.

Jaxon’s gift shocked everyone because he kept his personal tastes so close to the chest, but Nathan got him an art set with every kind of art supply imaginable. I knew Jaxon was into creating his own art, but he’d always kept that secret. Similar to Alistair and Avery, Jaxon looked at me, convinced I’d given Nathan a hint, but I knew better. Nathan admitted that he’d seen some of the doodles in Jaxon’s notebooks and in his car. Among the art supplies was a tattoo gun, and Nathan told Jaxon that he would love to get a tattoo as soon as Jaxon was ready to do it. The design was totally up to Jaxon. Jaxon was blown away, and for the fact that he was unemotional, he sat there looking at the art set like he’d just gotten a new car.

Then Nathan got to Brayden. He looked down at the junior with a furrowed brow. “I’ll admit, I struggled with you.” Everyone looked at Nathan with trepidation, and Brayden seemed to immediately take offense, but then Nathan laughed. “I wanted to buy you everything in the world. I realized while I was doing this that, out of everyone here, I probably know you the best.”

Brayden smiled. “It’s because I’m loud.”

“No,” Nathan said. “It’s because no matter how shitty I got, you stayed by me, always. I haven’t been fair to you. I always credit Nikki and Kyle with being my best friends, but there have been plenty of times when I looked up, and you were the only one there. I can’t repay you for that. Thanks, Brayden.”

Brayden recoiled a bit, and his lips pursed like he was fighting away emotions. “Yeah. Of course.”

“I struggled. I knew I could have gotten you the clothes you like, or concert tickets, or whatever, but that just didn’t feel personal enough for everything you’ve done for me, so…” With that, Nathan started fiddling with the white diamond watch on his wrist. He unlatched it, slid it off, and handed it over. Brayden took it, and Nathan nodded. “Look on the bottom.”

Brayden turned the watch upside down so that he could see the bottom, and then the emotions that he’d been fighting back seeped out. “Wow.”

Alistair leaned over Brayden’s shoulder and looked down at it. “Let no man fear a true king.” He looked up at Nathan. “Is that a quote or something?”

Nathan nodded. “Brayden said that to me not long after he joined.”

“That’s so sweet that you engraved it with one of his own quotes before giving it to him,” Colette said.

Nathan shook his head. “Wrong again. I had that quote engraved there two years ago.” Brayden’s head shot up again, and he locked eyes with Nathan. “You just said it like a passing thing, but it meant so much to me. I made sure to wear that specific watch every single day. Not because of who gave it to me or because it was expensive but because that quote was on it. Because of you.”

I looked up at Nathan, and my heart melted. It was beyond thoughtful. Nathan had found a way to give Brayden the one thing he always worried he’d never get—true friendship.

I smiled up at him, and he winked at me, then looked back at Brayden and smiled.

“Th-thanks,” Brayden said before sliding the watch on his own wrist and latching it. He just stared down at it like Nathan had managed to capture a piece of the universe and give it to him, and in the wake of that, everyone looked at their own gifts with smiles on their faces. After a few minutes, Brayden looked back up. “Well, there’s only one left. What did you get for Nikita?”

I waved my hand through the air. “Oh, Nathan and I were together for Christmas. He got me a bunch of stuff. Too much, one could argue.”

Nathan laughed. “That’s true, but I do have a gift for you.” He reached down and pushed some of my hair aside. “But if it’s okay, I’d rather give it to you in private. After lunch, maybe?”

“Okay,” I said, powerless to refuse.

With that, Nathan folded up the sack and tucked into his lunch. “I promise, next year, we’ll all spend Christmas together. Although,” he smiled over at Avery, “Miss Yale will have to come home and spare us a few minutes of her time.”

The smile that had been on Avery’s face instantly faded, and Nathan immediately picked up on it. He looked over at Alistair, who just shook his head. One by one, everyone’s joy faded out. It was the sobering reality of our lives crashing into us again after Nathan’s beautiful display, and despite his best attempts, our lunch ended just as dour as all of our lunches for a month had ended.

“I don’t know what happened,” Nathan said to me while we were walking out of the lunchroom after everyone had gone. “Did I do something wrong?”

My hand was laced into his, and I was choosing to remain blissfully unaware of my ever-present conflict. “No, you were wonderful. Something else is wrong,” I said. “You don’t think she lost her scholarship, do you?”

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