A Shade of Cool

XV: A Little Help

What are you thankful for?

That was the common question of the day, what are you thankful for? I suppose it would seem dumb of me to say my family but ultimately it was true. My Mom had called for the first time in a week saying how well she was doing, how she was teaching herself to play chess and even made some good friends on the way. Marissa had gotten a job working as an assistant to a big Lawyer in Chicago, Avery was home and showed no signs of running away again. And then there was Noah. After years of crushing on him, it all finally fell through. We were closer than ever, in many ways. I could kiss him, talk to him, be with him. Although it was discreet, it was enough.

So what was I thankful for?

Life. Because everything had suddenly been going right, my bruises had finally ceased to exist and people no longer stared at me or whispered as I past them in the hall. So this Thanksgiving was time for me to relax and be happy and thankful for everything. Everything that happened these past few months.

The final day of school was writing an essay on this subject before we left to celebrate Thanksgiving. I wrote everything down (not the Noah thing). And although there was the issue with Ana, nothing else matter now.

Well... actually only one thing, where we were gonna spend Thanksgiving. Avery couldn't cook and neither could I. And we most certainly weren't going to spend it alone, especially since Marissa called to say she had to stay to make up for the weeks she'd missed off University to stay with us. We hadn't bothered to try our Grandparents, ever since Mom's first spout of alcoholic tendencies, they'd pretty much cut us off. Then there was Aunt Emma but she lived in Florida and would most definitely not pay out for our flights, the coupon collecting cheapskate!

So out of options, we'd considered going to the local church where they held a feast of locals every year. Avery loathed the idea, but I thought it was sweet. Ten dollars for all three courses which goes to different charities. I was not one for church or religion but in the options of places to go; it was our only choice.

"Church? You're going to Church to eat dinner?" Noah pulled a face.

"You go to Church on weekends!" I pointed out as we walked through the busy corridor of desperate students to leave for Thanksgiving Break.

"Yeah... to pray, not to have a three course meal!" He said, "It'll literally be you, widows and homeless people there."

"That's not too bad, I guess," I shrugged, though the thought of a crying woman on my shoulder and a smelly old crazy guy opposite me did draw me away a bit, "Don't they teach you not to judge in Church?"

"I ain't judging!" Noah frowned, "Just that, it's a bit sad. Thanksgiving is family time, you should be at home."

I shrugged, "I can't cook and neither can Avery and I don't think it would be that festive if we just stayed home and ate crap and watched those dumb cartoons on TV."

"Then..." Noah looked down, "Come to ours?"

Freezing, I looked at him quickly, "What?"

He looked up at me and bit his lip as he nodded slowly, "But! But if you do we have to be very discreet, very careful! Don't forget where we are and don't tell them that we've been going places, they might work it out.."

"They're not the CIA, Noah, chill," I rolled my eyes, "It's just, I don't want to intrude. It's family time, like you said. As much as we love each other; we aren't family."

"Nonsense! It's four people at an eight person dining table, we can easily fit in two more people!" He said, "Plus, my Mom has already taken a liking to you, she keeps asking if she'll see you next."