The Party Gift bygetoverit©

“I will see you after class.” Said Heidi’s 20-year-old boyfriend Danny, waving to his lovely 19-year-old girlfriend as he walked away to catch his own lecture.

Heidi thought to herself that she was very lucky. It was their second week of class, but their third in the country and she had already begun to feel comfortable.

It helped that they were both already quite fluent in English having been brought up to learn it as a second language from a young age, which is quite common where they are from. However, even though they were fluent, they were still often confused by American custom and tradition. Greetings, social rituals, societal norms, etc.

Heidi was quite happy that day to be entering her composition writing class, because she was making a very interesting friend in this class. She was a small, charming, bubbly girl named was Haley.

On the first day of class Haley engaged Heidi immediately, revealing that she was really into her country’s culture and music.

Heidi was initially overwhelmed by the small girl’s bright blue hair, and her cheerful over the top personality, but resolved that she definitely liked her. And therefore very much wanted her as a friend.

As Heidi entered the small classroom she saw Haley sitting in her regular seat, and was delighted to see her friend, but was immediately deterred by Haley’s behavior.

For the two weeks that Heidi had known Haley she was always very very happy, but today she looked quite distressed, and exceptionally contemplative.

Heidi walked up to Haley, and gently pulled out the chair to sit next to her.

“Oh hey beautiful girl!” Said Haley immediately perking up once she noticed Heidi’s presence. Heidi blushed at the compliment. She was a very pretty girl, but in her culture such overt compliments were not commonly shared. Especially between relatively new friends.

“Hello Haley.” Said Heidi tying to gain her composure. “Are you feeling well today?” She asked referring to her friend’s former downcast.

“Oh sure! I’m just trying to solve this issue I’ve got on my plate.” Said Haley, staring for a prolonged period of time at Heidi’s face. “Yah know. You really are quite the looker Heidi.” Haley said suddenly still staring.

“Thank you very much for saying these kind things to me.” Said Heidi, her round cheeks blushing again.

Ever since she got to America another thing she noticed is that people, mainly guys, would stare at her often. She was petite in stature and had long dark brown hair with bangs cut above her deep, dark eyes. Her face was very very pretty. This fact was commented on often since she was little. Her body was quite nice as well. She had thick thighs, a very nice butt, and sizable breast that weren’t necessarily characteristic of a girl of her nationality, but these things she was always very modest about. In her country sexuality of any sort in public was very much frowned upon.

“It’s my pleasure cutie.” Said Haley still staring at Heidi, her eyes narrowing slightly. She only turned away when the professor walked in to begin the lesson.

After class Haley stopped Heidi in the hall.

“Hey! Heidi!”

Heidi turned around confused and a little startled by her friend’s loud greeting.

“Hello Haley. Did you enjoy the lesson today?” She said as they walked side by side down the hallway.

“Yeah it was great.” The small pixie like girl responded brushing off her foreign friend’s inexperienced small talk. “Listen. I just wanted to tell you that I told all of my friends about you, and they’re just dying to meet you.” Heidi beamed at this excited to make new friends. “And they want to throw you a party this Friday to get to know you and welcome you to our country!”

“That sounds wonderful Haley!” Said Heidi the happiest she’s been since she had first gotten to America.

“OH! And we had even been thinking for a while, and we think we’ve come up with the perfect gift to give you to welcome you officially!” Said Haley.

“Oh you did not have to do that.” Said Heidi very seriously.

“But we wanted to!” Said Haley insistently.

“What is it?” Queried Heidi hoping that it wasn’t anything expensive.

“It’s a surprise silly.” Said Haley laughing. “But I’ll give you a hint. It’s very unique, and a very special tradition in America.”

“Oh okay.” Said Heidi a little confused. “Well thank you very much. For everything.” She said bowing.

“Don’t thank me yet sweetie!” Said Haley grinning as she pulled out her phone. “Here let me get your number and I’ll send you the details.”

Heidi felt overjoyed by all of this, and couldn’t wait to tell Danny all about it.

As Danny and Heidi walked up to the apartment they stopped at a street lamp to check to see if everything was in order.

Heidi looked gorgeous. Her makeup was done up with cat like eyeliner and red lipstick that extenuated her already full lips. Her hair was tied back in a careful ponytail with black ribbon, and she wore a purple short sleeve button up blouse she had tucked into a black skirt.

Danny looked at her in the streetlight, brushing a stray hair out of her face. “Beautiful.” He said.

Heidi blushed. Even romantic gestures in public as simple as this were a bit taboo back home.

She thought her boyfriend looked quite handsome as well. He had his black hair combed back and wore a long sleeve purple button up with black slacks. They had matched on purpose. This was a common cultural theme among the more recent generations of their country.

Confident everything was in its place the couple walked up to the door and gave it a knock.

“Hiiiiiii…” Said Haley as she opened the door happy to see Heidi, but a little surprised she brought company.

“Who is this?” She asked a little uneasy.

“Oh I’m so sorry!” Said Heidi completely forgetting to ask if it was okay to bring along a plus one. “This is my boyfriend Danny.”

“Great!..” Said Haley still uneasy. “Well come on in!”

The couple walked into the living room to meet their prospective new friends.

“Hey everyone! This is my friend I was telling you about Heidi!” Said Haley grabbing everyone’s attention.

“Wow she is gorgeous.” Said a pretty, voluptuous girl with dark hair and blonde bangs. “Hi. My name is Destiny!” She said with a wave.

“It’s nice to meet you.” Said Heidi bowing, cheeks a little pink from all the attention.

“And who is this with you?” Destiny said gesturing to Danny.

“Oh! This is Danny.” Said Heidi. Danny bowed to the room.

“Her boyfriend.” Added Haley. At this statement the room suddenly felt a little off.

Danny uncomfortably rocked back and forth wondering if he was welcome until a handsome guy with brown hair stood up to break the silence.

“How’s it going man?” The guy said sticking out his hand. “My name’s Jackson it’s nice to meet you.” He said hospitably.

“Nice to meet you too.” Said Danny deciding he liked this guy. He had not made friends as quickly as his girlfriend and was excited for the opportunity.

“This is John.” Jackson said gesturing to a guy with clean cut military style hair who stood up to shake Danny’s hand.

“Nice to meet you.” Said Danny extending his hand, but winced a little at the man’s strong handshake. Danny wasn’t so sure about this guy.

“And then there’s Meredith.” Said Haley gesturing to a plain looking girl with a hippy looking dress on. “And Mackenzie.” She said gesturing to a dirty-blonde, cold looking, but otherwise very pretty girl wearing a large brimmed black hat, a favorite of hipsters.

“And then there’s Brady, but you’ll meet him soon.” Said Jackson looking at Haley questioningly.

“Yeah he’s actually on his way with your gift!” Responded Haley quickly. “Oh I really hope you’ll both like it.” She said smiling at the couple.

“Well thank you all so much for doing this for me.” Said Heidi addressing the room. “It is hard making new friends in a new country, so I am very glad to know you all.” She said bowing.

“Aweeeee. So sweet.” Said Destiny endearingly eyeing the shy girl.

“Let’s get you both a drink, and kick this party off.” Said Jackson patting Danny on the shoulder.

“Sooooo. Tell me about where you both came from?” Said Destiny sitting across from the couple beside Jackson as everyone else went about their partying business.

“Uhm… Well we are both from XXXXX.” Said Heidi nervously running her fingers along the red plastic cup in her hand filled with wine. She knew she wasn’t yet great at American small talk and really wanted these people to like her.

“It is very different culturally.” Said Danny gesturing with one hand, a drink in the other. He tried to sound confident for them both.

“How do you mean?” Asked Jackson inquisitively.

“It’s very uh… Conservative. A lot of the things we see here are considered… Unusual in Korea.” Said Danny.

“Like what?” Said Destiny leaning forward inadvertently, and a bit ironically, showing off her bountiful cleavage.

“Like uhm…” Said Danny embarrassed trying to avert his gaze. His cheeks were burning red at the sight.

“Like dating!” Said Heidi a little abruptly also a little flustered by Destiny’s breasts.

“Dating?” Said Destiny leaning back to take a sip of her drink.

“Yeah.” Said Danny regaining his composure. “Back home if you are young and you date it is considered inappropriate if you are too… Too…”

“Affectionate?” Said Destiny helping the struggling guy out.

“Yes.” Said Danny a little embarrassed.

“So you all are saying it’s just more conservative overall?” Asked Jackson.

“Yes.” Answered Heidi. “But Danny and I are open to American culture and hope to learn a lot and grow by meeting new friends!” She said to assure their new friends that they were going to try to be cool.

“Well that’s great to hear.” Said Destiny smiling artfully.