I sighed. “I just don’t even know if that’s the right shade of green,” I said, letting my hands fall at my sides.

Noah stood on a chair, holding a bunch of green balloons near the fireplace like I’d asked him too. And he’d so kindly done.

He raised a brow at me. “Not the right shade of green?” His mouth twitched up into a smile, and I could tell he thought I was being ridiculous, but I really wanted this party to be perfect.

I shook my head. “They’re obviously too lime green and not forest green like they should be. Take them down. I think we’ll stick with the red ones.”

He stepped off the chair and let the balloons float to the ceiling while he came in close.

“Noah,” I said, trying my best not to whine. “We’re never going to finish decorating this place if you insist on doing this every five minutes.”

But when he pecked me on the cheek and then moved to my exposed shoulder, I smiled. Even so, I nudged him away. “We still have the rest of the decorations to go out and buy. We don’t have nearly enough.”

He brushed his thumb on my bottom lip and kept his gaze there. “Who cares? You know this party is gonna be great. Color-coordinated decorations or not,” he teased.

But I didn’t have just decorations to go out and buy. I still hadn’t found the right dress.

And then there was the most important question of all.

What was I going to get Noah for Christmas?

As if I wasn’t under enough pressure to host the perfect Christmas Eve party, which the entire school was invited to, I had to also find the perfect gift for my boyfriend of several months.

The problem was that Noah was impossible to shop for. He didn’t care about clothes (even if he somehow pulled off what we wore). Besides, he just wasn’t a materialistic guy.

But I wanted to give him something that would light up a smile in him on Christmas Eve.

Noah waved a hand in front of my face. “What are you thinking about?”

I gave him a tight-lipped smile. “Nothing. Just that I have a ton of shopping to do before the stores shut down tomorrow night, and I should get going.”

He stepped away and looked down for a second. “Are we still on for later?”

Later? I opened my mouth, trying to remember what he was talking about. “Uh…”

“Hanging out with Isabella and Emma? We’re supposed to make gingerbread houses and stuff?”

I groaned. “That’s tonight?” I asked, finally remembering that we had indeed set this up last week.

“Kind of,” he said.

“Oh, man,” I said. “I still have so much to do, though. I mean, just look.” I gestured around the room. The decorations were hardly done, I had Christmas shopping to finish, and I somehow had to find a dress within the next twenty-four hours. “Are you sure we can’t…do this tomorrow maybe?”

But we both knew tomorrow would be even crazier than today with the party happening that evening. “I’m sorry, Noah. I just—I didn’t expect all of this to be so much work. And I’m struggling as it is.”

He nodded but didn’t meet my eyes. “It’s okay. Maybe another time or something.”

But I could tell he was disappointed in me for forgetting and now ditching.

I could not have felt any guiltier, especially when he gave me a quick kiss on the forehead and mumbled something about needing to get home.

I bit my lip to keep from calling out to him.

If our first Christmas together was going to be just as amazing as I hoped, I had to get everything right.

This party. Noah’s present. My dress.

I didn’t have a choice. We’d spend tomorrow night together.

So I did my best to push those feelings of guilt away and got back to decorating.