Social Suicide

T H I R T Y - S E V E N : Enemies Of The State

SOCIAL SOLITUDE: ARISTELLE
Tuesday, December 25 2018
"Crap, I'm so late!" I chastised myself, noticing that the clock on Spencer's nightstand read ten past seven. Elijah was probably already at my place—he's very punctual. I usually am as well, but I was a tad preoccupied at the moment.
I slid out of Spencer's bed sheets to get dressed.
"Where do you think you're going?" He reached out to grab my arm and pull me back. "Late for what?"
I fought the urge to let him have his way with me again. "You're coming, too. Molly and I are having a party. I was supposed to start cooking at seven."
"A party?" He raised an eyebrow. "In that little place?"
I took a swipe at him with my shirt. "Hey. It's not that little," I defended. "At least I actually own some property."
"Easy, darling. I just meant, how many people did you plan on inviting?"
"Not many. Six, I think, including us."
He mimicked me, pulling a tee over his head. "That's not a party."
"Whatever. Does that mean you're not coming?"
He chuckled. "Of course I'm coming."
Spencer tugged me back again by the hem of my shirt and this time I gave in. He buried his face in my neck, raining kisses all over my skin again. His lips were languid, as if he were savoring the moment.
I sighed. "I'm afraid I'm gonna have to disappoint you."
"No," he whined.
I patted his shoulder. "Let's go."
We dressed as quickly as we could. When we got to the bottom of the stairs, Spence was bombarded with the cheers of his frat brothers, but he barely gave them any mind. He only stopped to actually acknowledge one of them—Hunter. I had nothing against the guy. I just needed to get over the way seeing him kiss Spencer made me feel.
"He hates the holidays," Hunter said to me. Spence was walking toward the door now. "In all the years I've known him, he'd be holed up in his room or working overtime to avoid it. You must be special."
I wasn't sure what to say to that.
"Merry Christmas." He winked before walking away.
The rest of the brothers dispersed and Spencer held his hand out to me at the door. "Keys."
"What for?"
"Keys," he demanded again.
"How about—" I opened my passenger door for him. "—you just get in, so I'm not any more late than I already am?"
"You get in the passenger seat."
"It's less than a mile away. Get in," I asserted firmly.
He rolled his eyes at me.
I pulled into my designated spot at seven-twenty. Elijah's car was parked next to Lucian's on the other side of Molly's.
"I'm blaming you if Eli yells at me for being late."
Spencer stilled at the name. There was an edge to his voice. "Matheson? Since when are you two talking again?"
"Today." I side-eyed him in the elevator. "Is that a problem?"
"Not at all," he lied. "Just wondering."
"Mm-hm."
Elijah was lounging on the couch next to Molly, chatting away. Lucian was sitting on the other side of her with a book in his hand and looked up in relief when Spence and I walked through the threshold.
"Holden!" He stood to give him a hug.
"Molly?" I requested, nodding toward her door. "In the room, please?"
She led the way without question. Elijah asked me if I wanted him to start without me so I told him where to find everything we needed.
Molly closed the door behind us. "What is it? Why is Holden here? What happened?"
Oh, where to start?
She raised her eyebrows. "Are you...?"
I couldn't keep the smile off my face.
"Did you two—"
"We did," I beamed.
I felt an uncomfortable sting in my nose and blinked the tears away. Mol pulled me into her embrace and I exhaled in complete solace. As much as I didn't want to feel this way—to be so into someone that it was actually painful—I couldn't deny the instantaneous relief I felt when Spencer kissed me.
It felt right. It feels real.
"But how did it happen? Where did it happen?"
"I went to his place and we got to taking."
She grinned. "And?"
"We are..." I started, briefly grimacing, "officially a label."
"Well, it's about damn time."
A knock at the front door cut our conversation short. We stepped out together.
It was a tad too early to be Zander. I walked toward it, expecting to see Miles. In his place were the last two people I ever anticipated to see.
My eyes widened. "Jasper? Mer?"
Molly ran past me and threw her arms around my brother. "Jazzy!"
I laughed nervously. "What are you doing here?"
"It's Christmas, kid," he jested, then turned serious. "We haven't heard from you in months."
"Ahh, yeah, I..."
Esmeralda crossed her arms. "Don't you dare. What gives?"
I huffed. "Come in. Where are Evan and Dallon?" Shortly after their college graduations, Jasper moved to Denver with his high school sweetheart, Evan, and Mer moved to Paris with her relatively new boyfriend, Dallon. I've only met them each once or twice.
"We told them we needed to come down here alone. They're back home, spending the holidays with their families," Mer explained.
They always did have impeccable timing. "Mm-hm. This is Elijah and Lucian. Guys, this is my older brother and sister, Jasper and Esmeralda."
"Mer," she corrected me.
"Nice to finally meet you," Eli said.
"And this..." I started. Spence was standing a safe distance away, probably giving me a minute to think through what I was going to say. "...is Spencer."
He grinned, holding a hand out for them to shake. "Holden. Holden Spencer." He winked at me.
"Whatever," I mouthed at him. Aloud, I told everyone, "Dinner will be ready soon. Why don't you surprise guests find something to sit on for when the time comes." I gave them a sarcastic smile. They were unfazed.
Mer was confused. "There are enough seats for the seven of us."
"I have two more on their way."
"Who?" Spencer asked.
I tried to stay neutral. "Miles and Zander."
"Oh, sweet, Miles is coming?" Jasper stepped away with Molls as they started their own discussion. They had a lot to catch up on.
Spence lowered his voice. "Zander? You invited Zander?"
"And?"
"'And'? Do you think I don't know about you two fucking a few days ago? You really think I want to have Christmas dinner with him?"
I whipped my head around to look at him. "What? Who told you that?" But I knew the question before I asked; I turned to shoot daggers at Molly.
"Does it matter? It wasn't you."
"Can we not do this right now? I haven't seen my siblings in over two years."
"Avery."
"Zander is my friend," I told him firmly. "He has been for a long time. What happened doesn't change that, and us being together doesn't change that, either. Especially because we weren't together when it happened." I tried a softer tone. "I'm not saying you need to be happy about it. But can you just be civil tonight? Please, for me?"
Spencer's jaw clenched. Several seconds passed. "Fine."
It was still a few minutes before eight o'clock when a knock sounded at the door. Behind it stood our two remaining guests.
Miles stepped in to kiss my cheek then he caught eye of Jasper and Esmeralda. He jogged over to embrace them. Zan stepped in and closed the door behind him.
I briefly grabbed his hand. "Thanks for coming. It's a little more crowded than I had planned, so it should be an interesting night."
He chuckled. "I hope so. Merry Christmas, Ari."
"You, too. Come meet my brother and sister."
Dinner was rambunctious. The immediate bond between Elijah and Miles was unexpected. Spencer and Mer were discussing Europe travels. Molly and Jasper were recounting a few of our family vacations. Zander, Lucian, and I were going over baseball strategies.
Spencer also kept giving Zan the evil eye every so often. It didn't help that they both sat on either side of me, either—Spencer was on my left and Z was on my right. He finally stopped when I put a hand on his knee under the table. I hoped no one else noticed.
"I'm still mad at you, you know," Miles piped up at me.
"Oh, yeah? Why's that?"
"You never called me to tell me you were okay."
I tried to subtly tell him to shut his trap, a pair of wide eyes with just a slight shake of my head.
He went on, oblivious. "I was under the impression you were still in a hospital bed when this one—" He points at his sister. "—calls to invite me to Christmas dinner so we could bury the hatchet."
Jasper goes quiet and Mer drops her silverware. I inhaled to prepare for what was coming.
I glared at Miles. "I'm gonna fucking kill you."
"Hospital bed?!" Esmeralda screeched.
"Oh, my god..." I whispered to myself.
Spencer put his hand on top of mine.
"What the hell happened?" fretted Jas.
"It was nothing," I insisted. "Clearly, I am fine now."
"Aristelle Aurora—"
Molly chuckled nervously. "Okay! We have guests."
Esmeralda stood silently and ambled to my bedroom. "Get in here."
I didn't turn to face her. "You're not my mother."
"Now."
"Sit down, Esmeralda."
Miles and Jasper leaned into each other. "Here we go," Miles chortled.
Mer moved to stand next to me. "Excuse me?"
I finally stood, blood boiling. This was beyond embarrassing at this point. I was just angry she would do this in front of my guests—mostly Zander, since everyone else at the table was family—and on Christmas, no less. She always had a thing for the dramatics.
I kept my voice calm. "Whose house do you think you're in right now?"
My sister blinked.
"This is exactly why I didn't tell you."
"We made a promise—"
"Yes, I know." Call when it mattered. "I also know you would have dropped everything to come here and that's just not what I needed. So please sit down. We can talk about it later."
I waited for her to respond. We stared each other down for another few seconds before she rounded the table to find her seat again.
I sat and cleared my throat, a smile etched on my face. "Who wants pie?"