Kimberly chewed her bottom lip nervously as Connor tore into the gift. For a moment, she held her breath without even realizing she was doing so, noticing it once he smiled. She joined him in smiling and when he gave her a squeeze, she relaxed and returned the gesture with a one-armed hug of her own. Even with the smile on his face, she felt the need to explain the reason she'd chosen it.
"Uh, yeah," she laughed, smiling brightly. "I'm really glad you like it. I wasn't sure, because you hadn't said anything about it and it's probably not as cool as Skyrim but...I mean, you know, with it being set in London and everything I just...thought...you know, kind of a piece of home," she admitted awkwardly. "Plus, like...you know, Mario Kart is how we got close and I just kind of figured with it also being a Mario game it was kind of in the same family..."
In an effort not to continue sounding like an idiot, Kimberly shook her head and rolled her eyes at herself, smiling sheepishly. "My turn," she said more than asked before beginning to open her own gifts. The gift card made her grin widely. "Awesome," she breathed, eyes sparkling as she looked back at him. "I've totally been eyeing a new lens and a tripod from here, seriously, this is so awesome, thank you!" she beamed. Slipping the gift card into her purse, Kimberly moved to open the second gift, feeling a bit badly that she'd only managed one for him.
At first, she'd thought it was an album he intended for her to use for her own shots and she smiled to herself. She could not wait to start taking pictures again. She'd have to try some new things; things she'd been dying to try in college but hadn't ever gotten around to.
But then, she realized it felt heavier than an empty photo album would normally feel and so, she opened it and her smile fell away as her breath hitched. she could tell by the clothing and settings that these people were not really her friends, but it was close enough for her. "Oh, Connor..." she said quietly, turning the pages slowly and feeling the sting of tears prickling in her eyes. She slid a finger gingerly down the glossy golden locks of a woman bearing a striking resemblance to her best friend and found herself whispering Shaina's name without even noticing she'd done so.
The tears flowed more freely as she flipped through the pages of Dano's face and Frankie's and she stopped cold when she got to the first page on which her father's face was looking back at her. she sniffed and let out a soft huff in attempt to hold back a sob as she looked back up at Connor. "Wow," she whispered, staring back at him with a ghost of a smile. Fuck it, she thought, I'm not waiting until midnight.
Kimberly leaned forward and took Connor's face in her hands, drawing him closer and she pressed her lips against his for a long moment before pulling back just enough to pull him into a hug, her eyes still closed and leaking tears. "This is the best gift, like...ever," she whispered. Then she pulled back a little further to look him in the eye. "I...thank you," she said softly before leaning in to kiss him again.