OUT OF THE RED ↝ dave grohl

thirty-two.

IN A DECISION that was very un-Reagan like, Reagan did the unexpected and even took her own self by surprise on Christmas morning. She phoned Dave, and after a deep breath that she exhaled through her nose, she invited him to join her family for their Christmas dinner.

"Are you sure, Reags? Your parents won't care?" Dave had asked, sounding hopeful. The idea had come to Reagan after she'd realized that Dave would be without his family for the holiday, having decided not to fly home to Virginia. In his voice, she could already tell that her assumption that he'd be lonely was right.

"Not at all," she'd said. The truth was that Reagan had yet to ask Richard and Kimberly if Dave could attend dinner. She had not felt the need to, knowing that Richard loved Dave, and even though Kimberly had been snotty towards the idea of her eldest being in a relationship, she admittedly liked Dave and would very well not kick him out of her home.

She waited, of course, until she was helping set their meager little kitchen table later that night to announce Dave's impending arrival.

"Dave's coming," she said bluntly. Kimberly, who was across the table setting down glasses, looked up quickly with a snap of her head.

"You didn't mention inviting him," she replied tightly, her eyes flashing.

Reagan shrugged, hardly fearing her mother and her hostility. She had felt nothing but resentment towards Kimberly ever since she'd made the cynic comment in the kitchen the night of her first meeting with Dave.

"He's not with his own family. So why shouldn't he at least be with ours?" Reagan argued.

Everyone else warmed immediately to the idea and some of the Abners, namely Kate and Robbie, seemed truly excited that Dave was coming. Reagan felt content to see her siblings so happy. Not only a few days earlier had she condemned the thought of Dave being around her family, but now, she welcomed it.

Oddly enough, Reagan could not place her finger on what had caused her change of heart. She could not decide whether it was Dave's eagerness to get to know her family despite their neurotic tendencies, or her family's joy (minus Kimberly) over Dave's arrival in her life. Either way, it felt nice to not worry about Dave mingling with them. It was one less thing off of Reagan's already overflowing plate, at least.

"Dave's coming?" Kate said under her breath, zipping into the kitchen and catching Reagan by her elbow as she finished organizing the silverware. She was smiling.

"Yeah," Reagan smiled back. "Don't be crazy, though, please."

"I won't. But what about the other guy, Kurt? Didn't you say that he and Dave would probably hang out together for Christmas?"

"I thought they would. But Dave told me that Kurt's biting the bullet this year and going to his mom's. He was going to bring Dave, but I intervened."

When Reagan went upstairs to get changed, she bumped into Robbie who was coming out of the bathroom. Since she had told him that Dave would be coming to Christmas dinner, it appeared that a light had been switched on within her younger brother, shining outwardly through his smile.

"When's Dave getting here?" Robbie asked excitedly.

"Soon. But I'll tell you the same thing that I told Kate. Just be cool, okay? No scaring him off tonight."

"I'm not going to do that," Robbie said confidently, sticking out his chest. He paused, before his gaze swept towards the ground in what Reagan guessed was a fit of shyness. "I was thinking of growing my hair out like his. Would that be cool?"

Reagan felt a tickle of something familiar in her chest, something like pride and love, all tied into one. She stared into Robbie's eager face and smiled, deciding that even though Kimberly would have a mega-meltdown if he let his hair grow past his ears, she would lend her support.