I tear off the wrapping paper and find a pair of brown socks. Huh, kind of boring. Then they unravel and I laugh for the first time all day. They're turkey socks. Toe socks, kind of like gloves for your feet. Each toe is a different color and there's a big silly turkey face on the top and gobble-gobble printed around the top.
I love them, and I love that Jean left me a little surprise just when I needed it most. I smile as I text Jean a thank you before crawling under the covers with a textbook.
* * *
A knock on the door wakes me. It's dark outside but my room is ablaze in light. I fell asleep studying with the lights on and now I'm disoriented. The knock sounds again as I walk over and swing the door open. Luke is filling my entire doorway, leaning one arm against the frame.
"How did you get in here?" I'm confused. You can't just walk into the building, even if you're a student.
He takes me in for a moment then places his hands on my hips, backs me into the room and shoves the door closed with his foot. Then his mouth is on mine like he's starving for me and I gasp when he wraps a hand in my hair and tugs, angling my head exactly how he wants it.
"Why did you leave?" He stops kissing me and stares at me, waiting for an answer.
I pull away from him and put some space between us. "How did you get in here?" I repeat.
"Did you not want me here?"
"Stop!" I'm louder than I meant to be and I lower my voice. "Just stop it with your non-answers."
He crosses his arms across his chest and rubs his bottom lip with his thumb. Which is annoying, because it always does things to me and I'm trying to focus. "A blonde girl named Paige told security I was with her and brought me up." He drops his arms and stuffs his hands into his pockets. He's wearing the same thing I saw him in earlier, but he looks wrinkled now, tired. "You weren't answering your phone," he adds. "Are you ignoring me?"
"I fell asleep," I say, picking up the phone and glancing at it. "I forgot to turn the mute off when I left your parents' house."
"You put it on mute to meet my family?" he asks with a tiny smirk.
"I wanted to make a good impression," I reply, then sag as I recall the day.
"You did," he assures me. "You did make a good impression."
I look at him in disbelief. "They hated me. Your mother tried to set you up on a date while I was sitting right next to you."
"You made a good impression with me," he clarifies. "And that's all that matters."
My eyes burn then. Tears form and I fight them off. "Those people are awful, Luke." My voice catches. "Who raised you?"
He closes the distance between us and wraps me up in his arms, my head resting under his chin. He kisses the top of my head as he says, "A lovely British woman named June."
I laugh. "Really?"
"Of course. You don't think my parents got their hands dirty, do you?"
"No," I sigh and bury my face in his chest. He still smells of aftershave and faintly like hospital disinfectant, but I like it. "I was too upset to eat the pumpkin pie."
"I'll buy you all the pumpkins in Philadelphia and we'll make our own." He runs his hands up and down my back. "I'm sorry, Sophie, I shouldn't have brought you there."
What? "You didn't want me to meet them?"
"I wanted you there for myself, Sophie, because you make everything better. It was selfish of me to bring you." His hands slide under my flannel pajama bottoms and cup my ass. "I should have ordered takeout and kept you naked in my condo all day persuading you to let me fuck this perfect ass."
I shove him away. He looks surprised for a second until I say, "Gina."
His expression closes, giving me nothing. "Gina is a non-issue, Sophie."
"You were engaged to her!" I'm outraged. How can he be so dismissive of his relationship to her and my feelings about it? Will I be nobody to him someday too?
"A long time ago."
"I was in high school."
He looks confused for a moment then asks, "When I was engaged to Gina?"
"Yes," I reply, but I don't meet his eyes.
"That bothers you? That I was engaged or that you were in high school when I was engaged?"
"Both. Neither. I don't know."
I'm staring at my toes as Luke tips my chin up to look into my eyes. "I'm a lot older than you, Sophie. Is it an issue or not?"
"It's not." I shake my head. "Unless I'm thinking about her." I stress the last word.
"She's hardly the only woman I've…" He stops when I glare at him and laughs.
"Why is she still around?" I sound like a crazy person. He can't be friends with his ex? But she was a bitch to me, wasn't she? "Never mind."