The Pencil She'll Never Trace
A glitch showed me I got her as secret santa. She got someone else, and I'm still up disguising my own handwriting.
The gift exchange app at work glitched two weeks ago, showed everyone their assignment early for about eleven minutes before someone caught it and locked the page. I only saw mine because I happened to be checking on my lunch break. Priya. I got Priya.
Before it reloaded I also saw who has me. Not her. A guy in accounts I've spoken to twice.
I've been at my desk since everyone left tonight, wrapping the same box for the fourth time because the corners keep turning out crooked. The building's on motion lights now, so every time I stand up to find more tape, the hallway goes dark before I sit back down.
It's a mechanical pencil. The exact model she borrowed from me in April and gave back with a note that said sorry, keep forgetting to bring my own. I found it online and bought three in case I ruined the first two.
The card just says happy holidays, from your secret santa, written with my left hand so she won't recognize it.
To her it'll be a pencil. To me it's the only thing I've given her that I actually meant, and the only reason it works is that she'll never trace it back to someone who could mean it that much.