The school bell rang to signal the end of the last lesson. The students packed their books as fast as they could and poured out of the classrooms. Sarah felt Castiel’s arm slink around her waist as they walked down the hallway. They got some looks from other students, and Sarah fought back a blush. Some people still seemed surprised to see Castiel and her together, and she was still embarrassed about the attention. But she smiled and leaned closer to Castiel.

“Do you want to come over?” Castiel asked.

“I’m going shopping with Amanda.”

“Oh. What are you gonna buy?”

“Trying to find a Christmas gift for certain someone,” Sarah said, “since we leave early on Saturday.”

Their Christmas holiday would start the next day, and Sarah’s mother had decided they would waste no time at home. The entirety of the weekend and the next week they would spend at Sarah’s grandparents who lived a few-hour drive away. Their house was in a nice area with a lot of nature surrounding it, so Sarah didn’t mind the visit at all. She just wished they didn’t spend the entire week there. It would’ve been nice to spend some time with Castiel on the holiday.

“Oh, right. Would you come over tomorrow then?”

“I’d like to. But I’ll have to ask. I assume it’d be fine.”

Surely Sarah’s mother wouldn’t be so mean that she’d say no and stop the young lovers from seeing each other one last time before being separated for a week.

Amanda was waiting by the front doors. She greeted Sarah and Castiel with a smile. Leon nodded at them.

“I hear the girls have decided to abandon us,” Leon said to Castiel when Sarah hurriedly pulled on her coat. She didn’t want to make Amanda wait.

“So it would seem.”

“Wanna hang out?”

“Sure.”

It had been a while since they had spent some time together. Spending time with girlfriends was nice, but they shouldn’t forget about bro time either.

They left the school ground together but soon their paths diverged. Sarah and Amanda headed towards the shops, and Leon and Castiel directed their steps to Castiel’s house.

“Have you thought about what to buy?” Amanda asked when they approached the shops. Groups of students had gathered near the shopping centre to pass time. Streets were decorated with Christmas lights and somewhere in the distance a street performer was playing Christmas songs.

“A little bit. I think I’ll get Castiel some music related stuff.”

“Always a good option.”

“What about you?”

“It has become somewhat of a tradition that I buy Leon a notebook as a gift,” Amanda smiled, “he goes through them so fast there’s barely time to replace them.”

“Oh, I love notebooks. The selection of different covers is so amazing. I don’t even want to look up any online stores. I’d probably spend all my money on notebooks even though I don’t really even use them that much.”

“Yeah, I’ve found out there are too many options. Sadly, Leon doesn’t really care for the bright colours and cute animals. Except for rabbits. He adores rabbits.”

“That’s so cute.”

“I know right. We joke all the time that he dates me just so he can see my rabbit. At least I hope they’re jokes…”

Sarah laughed.

“How long have you been together?” she couldn’t remember if she had asked about it before.

“Around two years. We started dating a bit after Lucy and Morgan. Like maybe six months after.”

Sarah nodded as they walked in the shopping centre. Warm air blasted on her face, and Sarah loosened her scarf and took off her gloves.

“Do you want to head to the bookstore first?” she asked. That was probably a good place to start with the shopping. Notebooks galore. And maybe she could find something for Castiel or her family from there as well.

“Sure.”

The store was bustling with people who had been lured in with a promise of bundle deals: buy any three paperback novels and get the cheapest one for free. Sarah let her eyes roam on the tables that had been piled full of books ranging from horror and biographies to romance, fantasy, and erotic novels. Her eyes quickly darted away from the book cover that featured two shirtless men and one woman in her underwear. The imagination of some people…

Sarah hurried to catch up with Amanda who was heading to the second floor where they could find office supplies, arts and crafts materials and school books. She had to come here way too often to buy new books for her courses even though she always tried her best to buy used ones.

They stopped in front of the shelves that presented the store’s wide selection of notebooks. Most were simple and had solid colour covers. There were few with cats and dogs or floral prints in them, but Amanda didn’t seem impressed. Her brows were knit together as she perused the shelves. Her hand reached towards a black notebook with white dots sprinkled all over it. The label called the design ‘Milky Way’.

“Maybe,” Amanda muttered to herself.

“What kind of notebook are you looking for? Maybe I can help,” Sarah offered.

Amanda straightened herself after she had been looking at the offers of the bottom shelf.

“No bright colours, no crazy patterns, it can have animals but not like that,” Amanda said and waved towards a full cover art of a cat painting, “no references to pop culture, preferred colour is black or some other dark colour like green or blue. Lined pages and preferably hardcover. And no text on the cover. Bonus points for rabbits.”

“Woah. That is quite a list.”

“Yeah, Leon has pretty specific tastes,” Amanda sighed. “If I don’t find anything here, I’ll just order online.”

“Let’s check here first. We have four shelves. Surely there is something that fits those standards.” At least Sarah hoped so.

They looked for a good while, systematically checking the shelves. Out of dozens and dozens of notebooks, Amanda only found three solid options.

Sarah was starting to lose hope until she walked around the shelf to the other side and struck gold.

“Amanda, come here! There’s so many rabbit covers.” Her voice was excited and drew the attention of few nearby customers.

Amanda hurried over and gasped in delight. Finally, they could get somewhere with their search.

“Oh my god, look at this!” Sarah exclaimed and pointed at a beige notebook that had a cotton flower print. Except the white cotton flowers were actually tiny white bunnies. It was the cutest thing Sarah had seen all day.

“Adorable! And look at this one. This is cool too.”

Amanda pointed at a black journal. A white rabbit with stars on its fur tangled on a wreath of pink flowers decorated the cover.

“I think this is a solid option. It’s a bit more Leon’s style,” she said, “but let’s look at a couple of other ones.”

They went through few more notebooks but none of them gave Amanda the same feeling as the notebook she was holding.

“I think it’s this one,” she confirmed.

“It is a good one. I’m sure he likes it,” Sarah said as they headed to the check out. She glanced at her phone. Goodness, they sad spent almost forty minutes looking for the notebook.

“Okay, where to next?” Amanda asked when they headed out of the store.

“The music store probably?”

It would’ve been easier if she had a proper idea of what she wanted.

They walked past a group of young men, and Sarah’s attention was caught by a guy who had three piercings on his ear. A thought struck her.

“Amanda, do you know what kind of earrings Castiel likes?”

Sarah hadn’t paid much attention to the piercings even though she really liked how Castiel looked wearing them.

“I’m not sure but think usually they’re simple studs. We can go see if Morgan has anything.”

“Let’s. I think the music shop is that way too.”

They headed outside. The winter breeze cooled down Sarah’s warm cheeks and felt refreshing after the stuffy air of the shopping centre. They directed their steps towards their next destinations, the local music shop and Morgan’s jewellery store. Sarah hoped one of them would solve her Christmas gift problem.

Sarah had never felt so lost anywhere like in the music store, and the place was barely bigger than her home. The walls were lined with instruments and other equipment, and the floor space was mainly reserved for hundreds and hundreds of CDs, cassettes, and vinyl records. Rock music blasted from the speakers, but there were so many of them on display, Sarah couldn’t even tell which were plugged in. She had no idea where to start looking for a gift.

Luckily, her small budget helped to limit the options. Instruments were out of question, so was most of the other equipment. She could’ve afforded some cable but considering the amount that was coiled on Castiel’s floor like a pit of snakes, he didn’t need it.

Amanda and she wandered around in the shop, dodging other customers who were much more determined with their goals. Sarah could hear two guys with mohawks arguing about which guitar was better. She barely understood half of the talk. They paced in front of the large crate full of old CDs. Sarah picked few out to read their back covers. They seemed like music Castiel would like, but she didn’t know if he already had these. There was a high possibility since this was the only music store in town.

The clerk had noticed the unsure aura radiating from the two girls and made his way over.

“Hello, can I help you?”

Sarah turned to look at the young man, who had two piercings on his bottom lip and green highlights at the tips of his hair. The card on his shirt revealed his name to be Albert.

“Hi. Yes, actually. I’m looking for a Christmas gift to my boyfriend, but I don’t really know much about…this,” she said and waved her hand towards everything at the store.

“Hmm, alright. Were you thinking about some music?” Albert asked and nodded towards the CD Sarah was holding.

“I was, but I don’t know what all he has. Because he has a lot.”

“Ah, right. Maybe some accessories then? We have a small selection of headphones, guitar picks and wristbands.”

“Let’s look at those then.”

Albert smiled and led Sarah and Amanda to a display shelf that was tucked in the corner of the shop.

Sarah glanced the selection, and her eyes were caught by a selection of guitar picks.

“Those look nice,” she said pointing at them.

“They are brilliant. They are made of ethically sourced water buffalo bones and horns. They make a great sound and look stunning as well. And they come with a gift box.”

Sarah was relieved that she had found something so quickly.

“I think Castiel would like them,” Sarah said and glanced at Amanda, who shrugged her shoulders.

“They look very nice,” she said.

“Alright. I’ll take them.”

Alberts smiled and instructed the girls to go to the check-out while he would go retrieve the chosen item from the storage.

“This was pretty easy,” Sarah said and shifted weight from one foot to another while they waited for Albert.

“Yeah. Always good when we find something quickly. Do you still want to go see if Morgan has anything?”

“We could. Just to see if there’s something more. Unless you’re busy.”

“No, no. I have time.”

Sarah smiled. It was so nice Amanda was with her.

Albert returned with a small metal box. He quickly opened it to show the three picks inside. Sarah approved of them and paid for them. She dropped the box in her bag and with smiles and good byes, they exited the shop.

The walk to Morgan’s store was quick. A bell chimed as they walked in to the shop. Every shelf glittered softly under the lights.

Morgan was serving a customer when the girls walked in, but he greeted them with a nod and smile before turning back to the two women comparing necklaces and matching brooches.

Amanda led Sarah to the display case that had men’s earrings.

Sarah let her eyes glide over the rows of dozens of designs. Many of them she dismissed as being “too much” (or too expensive), but a handful of earrings piqued her interest. Namely a pair of dark green studs, ones with some sort of black gems and ones with also black stone or metal. They all looked very Castiel-like.

“What a pleasure to see you two beautiful ladies in my humble store again.”

Morgan’s voice shook Sarah from her thoughts, and she turned to look at Leon’s brother. The other customers had left, and they were alone in the shop now.

“Hi,” Amanda greeted him, “I hope we didn’t bother.”

“Never. What do I owe the pleasure? I see you’re looking at some earrings.”

“I’m looking for a Christmas gift to Castiel,” Sarah explained, “I wanted to check if there’s something nice here.”

“Oh, I hope there is. Have you found anything?”

“Yeah. I like these three,” Sarah said and pointed at her favourites.

“All good options. This green one is glass, this is black zirconia — the synthetic material, not the real stone as you can probably guess from the price — and this one is made of rhodium. All have a sterling silver plating.

“Hmm, this is hard.” Sarah gnawed on her bottom lip.

“I can take them out so you can look them a bit closer.”

Morgan pulled out a set of keys and fit one of them in the case. He picked the three tiny boxes and gave them to Sarah.

She brought them right in front of her eyes and squinted to see properly. She swapped back and forth while Amanda and Morgan observed.

“I think I’ll take these green ones,” Sarah said finally, “I really like the small details in these, and how the light plays in them. The others are nice too but they’re just so black.”

The green ones were also the cheapest, but that hardly paid any role in the decision.

Morgan nodded in understanding and put the black earrings back in their case.

“Anything else?”

“Nothing for me,” Sarah said and looked at Amanda.

“I don’t need anything either.”

“Fine. Do you want me to gift wrap this?”

“No thanks. I’ll do it myself.”

Sarah paid for the earrings, and they wished each other Merry Christmas.

Outside Sarah sighed in relief. The hardest part was over. She hadn’t looked for anything for her family, but she didn’t have the energy for it anymore. She’d bake more cookies. Maybe even a cake.

“Do you want to grab some hot chocolate?” Amanda asked.

“Sure.”

It’d be nice to relax a bit after the stress from gift shopping. Even though it had been easier than Sarah had feared, she still felt quite exhausted.

Amanda and Sarah were hit by the scents of coffee and gingerbread when they walked in the nearby café. Christmas songs played in the background, and the employees were wearing Santa hats. Most tables near the windows were full, but luckily there were a few free ones in the corner so they could enjoy a little break.

Sarah was stuck by awe when she saw all the things on behind the display case: massive gingerbread cookies decorated with icing, a variety of cupcakes, carrot cake, black forest cake, mochi cake with black sesame caramel (Sarah had never even heard of something like that), chocolate and tahini brownies, fruity rum bundt cake, and lemon meringue pie. The selection left Sarah’s head spinning.

“There so much…”

How could she choose just one thing?

To make things worse, the drink list was equally packed with deliciousness. Unicorn hot chocolate, hot chocolate with peppermint cream, matcha honey hot chocolate, Mexican hot chocolate, and cinnamon hot chocolate were all options alongside the traditional hot chocolate with whipped cream and marshmallows.

“What are you having?” Sarah asked, hoping that Amanda could help her. Maybe she’d pick whatever she was having.

“I think I’ll go with mochi cake with matcha hot chocolate.”

Sarah chewed her bottom lip. There were too many options. She was starting to panic. And of course, the server had to come to them just then.

“What can I give you?”

Amanda gave her order, and Sarah tried to hurry her brain with making a decision.

“Brownies and Mexican hot chocolate,” she said then, after the server had looked at her expectantly for half a minute.

Sarah’s face burned when they walked to a free table. At least the brownies and chocolate looked amazing.

Amanda’s looked even more fabulous. The caramel on top of the cake was deep black, and it looked like there where little hints of gold mixed in it. Sarah didn’t even know how it was possible. Amanda took out her phone to snap few pictures of the cake.

“To make Leon jealous,” she said and tapped her phone a few times to send the image.

She had barely put her phone on the table when it already pinged. Amanda checked the message and snorted a laugh.

“He says he hates me,” she reported to Sarah, “should we invite them?”

“Sure. Would be shame to leave them without cake.”

“Come to Roasters if you want some. But hurry or we’ll eat without you.”

Amanda read the message out loud as she typed it.

The phone pinged again within seconds.

Deal. Me and Castiel will be there soon. Hold on to that cake.

Sarah smiled and took a tiny sip of her hot chocolate. It was warm and spicy; chili tingled on her tongue. She tasted hints of cinnamon as well.

The boys arrived ten minutes later; cheeks red from the chilly air. They looked like they had run, but both quickly composed themselves at the door.

They went to get their treats while Sarah and Amanda moved to a bigger table so they could all fit around it.

Sarah struggled to hold back a smile when she saw the unicorn hot chocolate in Leon’s hand. The cup was full of whipped cream and sprinkles, and probably enough sugar to put a five year old into coma. He had a cupcake to go with it. Castiel had picked Mexican hot chocolate and brownies. Noticing it made Sarah smile.

“Aww, you ordered the same thing,” Amanda cooed as she noticed the same thing, “so adorable.”

“Sarah just has impeccable taste,” Castiel said, “as has been proven already.” He gestured towards himself.

Sarah’s face heated up as everyone chuckled.

Leon took a sip of his cocoa and sighed. A cream moustache stayed on his upper lip.

“You have a little cream here,” Amanda said, gesturing half of her face.

“You’ll be bouncing off the walls after all that sugar,” Castiel grumbled, “so I’m going home before you get hit by the sugar rush.”

“Nah, I’ll be fine,” Leon said and waved his hand. He took Amanda’s spoon and snatched himself a piece of her cake.

“Hey, get your own cake. You drool after mine but then get yourself a cupcake?”

“Sharing is caring.”

“Lucky for you that I care.”

Sarah listened to Amanda and Leon’s bickering and took a bite from her brownie. It was warm and rich in chocolate, and the tahini cut through it as a distinct and refreshing flavour. Sarah closed her eyes for a moment to enjoy the flavours in her mouth.

“Did you get your shopping done?” Castiel asked.

“We did.”

“What did you buy?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know,” Sarah huffed and moved her bag to the other side of her chair, out of Castiel’s reach.

“Come on, just a little hint?”

“It’s not what we talked about at your place,” Sarah said, as vaguely as possible.

“A shame,” Castiel sighed.

“Uuuh, what did you talk about,” Leon asked, waggling his eyebrows, “is she buying you something spicy?”.

Sarah and Castiel replied at the same time.

“No!”

“None of your business.”

Leon faked a pout and turned to Amanda.

“What did you buy me, baby? A notebook?”

“Yes.”

“Sweet. I can always trust you with getting the perfect gift.”

They continued chatting for a while, until everyone had an empty plate and mug in front of them.

“I have to get going,” Sarah said after glancing at the clock, “dinner’s soon and I need to start preparing to pack my stuff.”

“Same. I have to get some clothes washed,” Amanda sighed.

They gathered their dishes into a neater pile so it would be easier for the employees to clean them out. As they headed out, Leon had a particular spring in his step. Sarah assumed the sugar was starting to kick in.

Amanda and Leon headed to their own direction, and Sarah and Castiel walked hand in hand towards their homes.

“How was your day with Leon?” Sarah asked after a while.

“It was nice. Was good to just hang out a bit.”

“Nice. I had a great time with Amanda as well.”

“That’s great.”

Snow crunched under their feet as the walked.

“So, you really aren’t gonna tell me what you bought?”

“That’d ruin the surprise.”

“At least tell how much it cost? Did you buy several things? I want to know so I can adjust my gift.”

“You don’t need to adjust it. Whatever you get is fine. But I bought two things. They cost less than 30 dollars combined. But that doesn’t mean you need to buy something for 30 dollars.”

“Two things. Damn. Now I’m even more curious.”

“You’ll have to wait,” Sarah smiled.

“I hate waiting.”

Sarah bumped Castiel’s shoulder with her own.

“You’ll survive.”

They stopped in front of Sarah’s house. Sarah dug into her bag to find her keys.

“So, you’ll come over tomorrow?” Castiel checked.

It was such a pain Sarah had to go away for a week. It was weird to realize that he’d miss her. He hadn’t really missed other people much before. Not in this way at least. Just thinking about not seeing Sarah made him feel sad.

“Most likely yeah.”

“Good. I’ll find us something fun to do,” Castiel said and smiled. He tugged Sarah closer and kissed her on the lips.

“I’ll look forward to it.”

Another quick kiss before Sarah headed inside.

Castiel looked after her until the door closed. He sighed. Now he really needed to figure out a nice present for Sarah. Maybe just this once he should ask his mother to help?