Lucas And The Time-Traveling Fog Party Animals
Chapter 13 The Greatest Gift Pt. Two

I was in the kitchen dumping my paper plate and can of coke in the trash when to my horror, I heard Liz’s mother calling me and her siblings to be in the living room so we could have a nice family photo. I ignored her and thought, Pictures...are you kidding me now...that’s the last thing I want to do to her because she probably won’t remember a thing once I leave. I ran to the nearest bathroom and hid. But I didn’t think that was the smartest thing for me to do because I could hear her mother shout from the living room, “Elizabeth Mary Ross, this isn’t funny. Get your butt over here this instant so we can take pictures, or else you’re going to be in a lot of trouble, young lady.”

I pounded the bathroom counter out of frustration and said to myself, “Gosh dang it, anything but the middle name ugh! What do I have to do to get a break from these people, and is the middle name really necessary?” Not wanting to get in any more trouble, I pretended to flush, wash my hands and dried them, opened the bathroom door, and shouted back, “Coming, Mom,’’ then I said quietly, “but please don’t kill me,” and headed to the living room where she and the rest of her family were waiting for me.

When I got to the couch, Liz’s mom, who was unamused by my sudden absence, announced, “There she is. Where were you when I hollered?”

Looking sheepish, I replied, “Sorry...I-I-I was in the bathroom.” She raised an eyebrow at me, and I said, “Yes, really I was. It was an emergency. I couldn’t hold it anymore.”

Liz’s mom replied, “What do you mean by--” she then sighed big, mumbled something to herself and put her hand on her head, and said to me, “Just go stand behind your brother Tom before I lose any more patience with you...now!” as she pointed to the couch.

When I wiggled my way through the couch, I could hear all the little siblings snicker to themselves and one of Liz’s little brothers saying, “Oooo, looks like someone’s in trouble with Mom.” I then see Liz’s father smack Jake behind the head and said, “Just look and smile at the camera before your next.”

Meanwhile, I looked and smiled right at the camera.

After the photos were taken with me and "my" family doing different poses and one goofy one. I thought I was finally free to do whatever I wanted. That was until one of Liz´s Aunts said, “Now, Kids don’t get too comfortable over there because it’s the cousin’s turn with the birthday boy.” Judging by the heights and looks of her cousins, I knew this was going to take a while. It took a lot of screaming and complaining, but somehow, we got there. When this party finally started to cool down, I decided to just sit on the couch, relax and watch whatever was on TV with a couple of her family members.

I at least earned that much, but as I sat on the couch, bored as ever, the birthday boy decided now was a good time to sit right next to me and ask, “Hey Liz, you alright? Shouldn’t you be helping mom with getting the finishing touches on my cake?

I answered, “Yeah, I probably should, but today, I’m just not feeling it. I fell asleep super late last night researching for a project, and I got woken up earlier than I wanted to by my roommate and--”

Tom interrupted me and said, “Geez, I just asked how you’re feeling. I didn’t want to know your whole day but anyway I’ve been meaning to ask you something since you got here. You know how today is my birthday and all?”

“Just get to the point,” I said without a care in the world.

“Can you please spend the night here, please? I promise I won’t bother you for the whole day tomorrow.”

I raised an eyebrow at him, to which he said, “Yes, I will this time, I promise. I don’t want to spend another day alone with Jake and the others, that’s all.” He mumbled then made a quick evil glare back at the other party goers and said to me “I don’t know how you make it look so easy. So, can you spend the night...for me?” While giving me the puppy dog eyes and the lip quiver. Hmmm, that got me thinking.

Tom does drive a hard bargain, but I can do that too. So, I smirked and said to him, giving the benefit of the doubt, “I’ll tell you what? If you can ask mom right now if I have any pajamas and at least something to wear for…church tomorrow, I’ll stay the night. Sounds good?”

Tom replied excitedly, “Really, you would? No ifs...no buts, no anything? Okay, uhhh, I’ll go ask Mom right now before you change your mind.”

Tom left and went to go replace Mom.

This didn’t come to bite me in the butt till like half an hour later when I was sitting on a chair downstairs in the basement finishing up a slice of his birthday cake where he tapped me on the shoulder and said, “Hey, I did what you asked, and mom told me that you still have plenty of stuff to wear for church and you still have a few pajamas left too. But you took all your stupid makeup stuff with you, but Mom is willing to let you borrow some of hers if you don’t have what you need in your purse.”

I thought, Great...I have no choice now but to spend a whole night here and probably a day with them because a few hours isn’t enough for this family. I said, “T-t-t-that is so lovely to hear.”

As soon as I said that, Liz’s father announced, “Hey everyone, sorry to interrupt, but in just a few short minutes, we’ll have Tom open presents outside while it’s still warm, so start to head on out now.”

All of the family then got up, headed upstairs to go outside and watch Tom open his presents. But someone pulled me aside from the rest of the family as they went upstairs. I realized it was Liz’s father when he said, “W-w-woah….where do you think you’re going Missy? You’re supposed to help me record, remember?”

“O-o-oh. Yeah, whoops. Thanks for reminding me,” I replied as I followed her father upstairs, where he helped me get the camera gear on. Apparently, it takes a long time to get everything together, like the battery pack, strap, etc. He then gave me instructions on how to properly hold the camera, zoom in and out, but most importantly, he told me how to stop and start recording. After a few more attempts, I was finally vlogger-ready to go.

Looking through the camera lens, I think I accidentally hit the record button. So, I asked her father, “Is it recording, Dad?”

He answered, “Yep, it’s recording alright...now, remember, if you see a red dot, that means it’s on.” He then waves at me through the camera lens and says, “Come on, let’s go outside while the family is still waiting before they start opening presents without us.”

As he left, I walked slowly to the big closet mirror near the front door and saw her holding the video camera.

I asked myself, “Man, how do camera people hold this all day long? This thing is so heavy.” I then slowly turned around and walked towards the side door leading outside while I was walking. I then decided to comment or vlog what was happening around me, and when I finally walked outside, I saw those presents. I said, “Hey, let’s take a closer look at those presents, shall we? Wow, that’s a lot. so, which one are you opening first?”

“This one,” Tom said, as he pointed to the black color-wrapped present with a skateboarder on it.

I then recorded Tom opening like ten of his presents. Each one, I tried to sound more enthusiastic than the last, which was hard, and when there were only a few left, I was ready to throw in the towel. Just then, I was saved when her father tapped me on the shoulder, meaning that now’s the time to grab the mystery gift from the basement earlier. So, when he asked, “Hey, Liz, you look a little tired holding that camera. Here, I’ll take it off your hands, and can you be a dear to your old man and grab me a Budweiser from downstairs?” I knew exactly what he meant.

Soon as he took that video camera off my shoulder, I replied, “Oh sure, anything for you, Dad,” as I smiled and headed inside. Little does anyone at this party know that I’m not really grabbing his Budweiser. Instead, I’m grabbing Tom’s surprise present that was in the basement. As I grabbed Tom’s little surprise present with both hands, walked up the steps, and once I got to the kitchen, I put the box down to catch my breath because this thing weighed a ton, and wearing heels didn’t help. In the corner of my eye, I noticed through the window that I made it just in time because he just finished opening his “last” present. So, I waited for a few more seconds till the excitement vanished from his eyes, and when everyone was about to head inside, I made my move and slowly walked outside with the surprise gift in my hands, where I happily exclaimed, “Here’s your Budweiser, Dad!”

Liz’s mother, who was quite the actress herself looking shocked, replied, “Wait, Lizzie, that’s not your dad’s Budweiser.” I gave a big laugh and as I put it on the table. I said, “Hey! It could be….you don’t know? Tommy, do you want to open this and replace out?”

Tom replied with an enthusiastic “Yes!” and started to tear the wrapping to shreds until he saw what was really inside. As he was tearing that thing to shreds, I was wondering what was inside there, too, because I wanted to see what the hype was all about.

Turns out it was some boombox that Tom really, I mean, really wanted. Her parents did a great job hiding it away from him, and I could see why it had to be kept a secret. I’m just glad they let me in on the surprise. Thinking that was the end of it, I slowly walked back inside until I heard Liz’s father say, “You should really be thanking your older sister for this, Tom, because it was all her idea.” I turned around in shock and thought, “Wait, she was the one that thought of this surprise gift for her brother. I thought her parents were the ones, but wow, I had no idea that Liz really cared about someone like him before.”

Now I see why Liz’s parents and her friends are so close to her. I mean, who wouldn’t want to be friends with her with that attitude and thoughtfulness towards others. Anyway, I replied while nervously laughing, “I don’t know about that.”

Liz’s other little brother Jake chimed in and said, “Are you kidding? You’re the one who insisted we should get him that because that’s what he could only talk to you about for like the longest time. Remember!”

I smirked and replied, “Well, I guess if you put it that wayyyyyy.” All of a sudden, Tom got up from his seat and surprised me by giving me a giant hug. As he was hugging me, I thought, Wow, who knew Liz had this kind of effect on people, and if it means making a stubborn person like Tom happy, then that makes me happy. You know I can get used to being a girl just a little bit more if this keeps on happening. With that out of the way, I said something really nice to Tom, and after that, the party was pretty much over until Liz’s family left.

As soon as everyone other than her immediate family left, I didn’t even bother to grab her purse; I just ran upstairs and went to the first open door with the lights on and walked right in. Turns out the room I walked into was Liz’s. I could tell it was hers because I saw her purse and this cutout framed photo of her in her old high school cheerleading outfit that looked like it was taken outside on the football field during the day. As I looked closely, I could see these hands wrapped around her stomach.

I put the photo back down on her desk and closed the door. Just as I closed the door to her room, I decided that a little exploring around couldn’t hurt. So, despite being tired, I had to look around a bit more. I noticed that all the walls were very teal. There was a big round pink shaggy carpet next to her bed, which was also pink but had white stripes across with different kinds of white stuffed animals on top. Now, this is my kind of nightmare.

While rummaging through her drawers, looking for something to wear to bed, I found a picture of Liz’s boyfriend hidden at the bottom of her underwear drawer instead. I first thought it was some guy that she didn’t like, but as I looked closely, I realized it was her boyfriend because he looked like he was holding someone in his arms and was smiling. He was taller than Liz and had my old Lincoln South high school logo on his varsity jacket.

But the photo looked like someone had cut it with a pair of scissors because his hands were missing, and so was the girl. Could this really be the other...I had to do a double-take to the photo on her desk and tried to match the ripped framed photo, and I didn’t believe what I’m seeing. This photo is a perfect match. But why was this photo of the guy in her underwear drawer, though? This doesn’t make any sense unless...I turned the back of the photo… and I knew why. On the back, there was a word written in black marker in big letters saying “DICK.”

I said to myself, “Ohh, that’s why he’s there, because he was a total jerk to her. It all makes sense now.” I looked at Liz’s mirror and said, “I wonder how that turned out and...Elizabeth, I’m so sorry I misjudged you and your friends earlier. They are so lucky to have a girl like you, and I know I would, and I hope I’m making you proud. Whatever happened to you that day, my heart goes out to you for dealing with that guy. Now, soon as I’m done helping my parents, I promise I will replace you the right guy.”

When I was just about ready to sleep, I silently said to myself, “Well, this has been one long exciting day, that’s for sure.”