Oliver was about to object about another present, but he knew better than to do so with Jenny. Once she had her mind set on something like this he knew there was no use in arguing. He took the box, smiling at the wrapping paper, it was definitely a Jenny paper.
“Are these - they have a name…I know that -” he laughed, as he saw the homemade bracelet inside of the box. “Thanks, Jen” he pulled her close into another hug “I’m not very good at wrapping but,” he reached into his pocket pulling out two things that were oddly and poorly wrapped with some of the paper they used to wrap the burgers with at Fagin’s when someone ordered take out.
Inside the one he handed to Vanessa was a putty knife he’d stolen from Handy Felix’s, and inside the one for Jenny were some earrings with little cats on them that he’d stolen from Axiom’s.
Vanessa opened the small present first, smiling to herself when she saw the friendship bracelet woven in mint green, white, and purple threads; her eyes automatically flicking up to locate and study the matching bracelet that Jenny was wearing, before glancing toward Oliver to confirm that he had gotten the same thing. “We all match!” she exclaimed happily as she began to tear at the wrapping paper around the other two presents, unable to choose which one to open first. “I love it, Jenny. Hold on, lemme just…”
Dropping her gaze, she focused on unwrapping the second gift from Jenny first, her smile taking on an additional quality of genuine surprise and endearment as she held the charms between her fingers one by one, marvelling slightly at how pretty they were and how she had never owned a piece of jewellery like this in her life before. Before looking up, she tore open Oliver’s present as well and broke out into an even wider grin, recognising the putty knife instantly from the shelves at Handy Felix’s. After her encounter with Anita, she had lost the metal ruler that she normally used to break into cars, so a replacement was in order.
“You’re both too much,” she quipped while reaching out to pull them both into a hug, squeezing tightly before letting them go and running off to where she had dropped her backpack by one of the tables. Pulling out two rectangular presents, she quickly returned and glanced down at the labels before handing them one each. “So, uhm, I made these myself, so… I hope you like them!” Inside both were two wooden frames connected by a hinge, all handmade and hand-painted, with photos already inside them; one featuring all three of them, and one featuring her and the person the present was for.
“They’re friendship bracelets!” Jenny confirmed for Oliver, grinning and blushing only slightly as he pulled her close in another hug. “I made them myself.” She exclaimed happily over the cat earrings, immediately taking out the ones in her ears in order to put them in, watching as Vanessa opened the gift from Oliver. She didn’t understand it, or why Vanessa seemed so happy about it, but she accepted the hug from Vanessa readily.
When she opened the gift from Vanessa, she gasped softly. “Oh, Nessa! You made this? It’s so beautiful.” She ran her finger over the edge of the frames, smiling at the photos inside each. Her chest felt so full, she could feel tears prickling the corners of her eyes, but she wiped them away quickly, moving to set the frame on the mantle.
“Okay!” she said, turning back around as she clapped her hands together. “Are you guys hungry? Let’s eat! I have some games we can play too, if you want? We have cards and Monopoly and Apples to Apples . . . if there’s a game you guys want to play that takes four people, I can get Winston to play with us.” She grinned.
