22 November 2006

“Mom, please,” I pleaded, following her around the house. “Is it really that big of a deal?”

“Yes, it is,” she said sternly. “Thanksgiving is about family.”

“Thanksgiving is about giving thanks, Mom,” I said blankly. She glared at me slightly. “Sorry, but please, Mom. He was in LA this past week, and he’s getting back tomorrow. I mean, his family left two days before our sixth month anniversary.”

“Sorry, Dani,” she said, getting something out of the fridge. “My decision stands as it is: you stay here for the entire day on Thanksgiving. It’s always been a family thing. I won’t let this boy ruin it.”

“Mom, Brian is not just a boy. He’s my best friend and, incase you forgot, my boyfriend. He has been for the past six months. You know, normal parents would be happy their daughter is sticking to one guy instead of whoring around. Would you rather I do that?”

“Danielle, I don’t want to argue about this. Just take my decision and go.”

“You fucking suck,” I told her before walking away.

“Dani,” she called after me, but I kept walking to my room. I pulled out my phone and went to my recent calls and clicked the first one.

“And the decision is?” Brian asked in a hopeful voice.

“That my mother fucking sucks and I must be adopted if she hates me this much,” I said with a sigh as I sat in my chair, spinning around to look at my desk. I smiled at the picture me and Brian had taken. It was supposed to be a sports picture, but they did cheer and football on the same day. Brian talked the photographer into taking a picture of us. Of course, we were in our uniforms. He was giving me a piggy back ride and had turned around to kiss my cheek. My mom hated that she paid for the “waste” of a picture.

“She doesn’t hate you, Dani,” Brian told me softly. “She hates me.”

“That’s just as bad,” I told him in the same tone. I smiled slightly. “I miss you.”

“I’ve only been gone five days,” he said with a laugh. “It’s not as bad as the whole week you left me alone.”

“That wasn’t my fault. Besides, it was fall break, and your family normally goes somewhere. Who was I to know they’d cancel last minute?”

“I told you a week before you left.”

“Psh. So? That’s last minute enough for me.”

“Hey! I just got an idea.” I could hear him moving around, but I didn’t know what he was doing. I heard other people’s voices in the back, and when he spoke, his was faint, so he had moved the phone. “Mom, Dad. What if instead of just Dani for dinner, her mom and sister came, too?”

“I don’t know, Brian,” I head his mom say. “It might be hard because your cousins are coming, too.”

“Mom, it’s only two more people,” Chris told her. “You know there will be plenty of food. Just say yes.”

“Fine, if her family is okay with it, then it’s fine,” their mom said.

“Dani, go ask your mom if-” Brian’s voice said, but I cut him off.

“I heard. I’ll go right now.” I got up and hurried to the kitchen. I rested my arms on the counter and watched my mom.

“What now?” she asked me impatiently.

“I have a bargain,” I told her. “According to you, Thanksgiving is all about family and staying together as a family, right?” She eyed me skeptically but nodded. “What if we combined two families on Thanksgiving and had one big dinner?”

“Danielle, you are not getting married.”

“Mom, don’t overreact. I’m just talking about all of us going over to Brian’s house for Thanksgiving. His mom already said that it’s okay. We don’t have to go over at the crack of dawn if you don’t want nor do we need to stay until the middle of the night.”

“Who else will be there?” I was winning her over, I could tell.

“Well, his parents and brother and some of his cousins.”

She wanted to say no so bad, I could tell. I made a small pout that she barely saw.

“Fine, but if anything bad happens, all the blame goes on you.”

“Thanks, Mom! You don’t suck anymore.” I skipped from the room smiling. “She said yes,” I told the phone.

“I heard,” Brian said and I could tell he was smiling. “It doesn’t matter what time you guys come over, just preferably sometime before dinner starts.”

“You should probably tell me when it starts then.”

“Probably around four. And then you have to stay for pie. Oh, and I almost forgot to tell you… You have to dress up.”

23 November 2006 – Thanksgiving

“I don’t know why you picked that dress, Danielle,” my mom said as we walked up to the front of the house. “This is supposed to be a nice dinner, and that dress doesn’t even say anything about Thanksgiving.”

“Sorry, I should have bought one that said, ‘Thanks for a crazy mom,’ I said sarcastically. I was wearing the white and orange polka dot dress that Brian had bought me. I had a little orange sweater and white heels to match, so it’s not like I was terrible looking.

My sister rang the doorbell and crossed her arms over her chest. She was angry that I had gotten my way and that she didn’t get to go to her friend’s house. I didn’t care. The door opened to reveal Brian in everyday clothes. I smiled and took a step forward to give him a kiss.

“I thought we were supposed to dress up,” I said as we made our way into the house.

“I haven’t changed yet,” he told me. He put an arm around my waist and led the way to the living room.

His dad and brother were sitting on the couch that was facing the doorway. Across from them were Brian’s uncle, Tom, and Tom’s son Bryce. There was a dark coffee table in between the two couches and at the far end of the room, there was a fireplace. At the opposite end of the room, there was another couch with a wide window behind it. They had their TV hanging over it. The four boys had been talking about the football game between the Buccaneers and Cowboys.

“The Cowboys will win,” I said, getting the attention of all four. “Mr. Donahue, I believe you’ve met my mom, and this is my sister, Kara. You’ve both met Chris.”

“And this is my Uncle Tom,” Brian said. “And my cousin, Bryce.”

“Nice to meet you,” my mom said stiffly.

“If you guys want, you can go to the kitchen where my mom and aunts are,” Bradley told us. “My other cousins are probably in there, too.”

“You’d have to show us to the kitchen,” Kara said and Brian smiled.

“Go down the hall from the front room and it’s the first door on your left.”

Kara rolled her eyes and left the room and my mom was right behind her. I made sure to make faces at them after they had left which made Bryce laugh. I was half a year older than him, putting him the same as Chris age-wise.

“Brian, why aren’t you dressed?” his mom asked, coming into the room. She smiled when she saw me. “Hi, Danielle.”

“Hi, Mrs. Donahue,” I said as she pulled me into a hug. She released me and smoothed out her apron. “Did you guys have a good trip?”

“It was wonderful, darling.” She turned from me to Brian. “Go get dressed,” she snapped. She left the room and I noticed she had on heels. Who cooked in heels? I sure didn’t, but then again, I didn’t cook.

Brian grabbed my hand and led us from the room. In the front room, he led the way up the stairs and into his room.

“I think my mom likes you more than she likes me,” he told me as he dropped my hand and went into his closet.

“That makes two of us,” I told him. I smiled even though he couldn’t see me.

Brian’s room was my favorite place in the world. He had a double bed to the right of the door. The closet was on the wall to the left. Directly across from the door was s small, leather couch. He even had a coffee table in front of it. That’s because he liked to rest his feet on something. On the right wall, he had two bookshelves and in between them was a desk. All three things had pictures of the two of us. He had the eight-by-ten picture of us that the sports photographer had taken hanging above his desk.

“Damn, I need to learn to tie a freaking tie,” he grumbled coming out of the closet. He was wearing black socks and black pants. He had on a black shirt but left it unbuttoned over his white muscle shirt. In his hand he was holding an orange tie and I laughed a bit at him.

“Hun, you have to button your shirt first,” I told him, going to stand in front of him. I began to button it, but he pulled me into a hug.

“I’d be lost without you,” he told me quietly.

“I know,” I said, moving back a half step to finish buttoning his shirt. I took the tie from his hand and put it around his neck and began to tie it. “I like you all dressed up. You look even better.”

“I hate being dressed up,” he said, adjusting his tie to be a tad tighter. “I’m terrified of spilling something on myself.”

I put my arms around his neck and pulled him into a kiss. He had a thing with messing with my hair so I had to pull away.

“Don’t do that, you’ll mess up my hair,” I told him and he rolled his eyes with a smile. “I’m serious, Bri. Kara took a freaking half hour to do it.”

“Fine, I’ll leave your hair alone.”

“Thank you,” I said, pushing my lips against his. “Now let’s go back downstairs before my mom comes to find us.”

He stepped away from me and went to his couch. His shoes were sitting on the table, still in their box. They had been in there ever since his eighteenth birthday. I smiled as I watched him pull on the black dress shoes that he hated.

“Are you watching me?” he asked with a smirk.

“I might be, but I do believe I’m allowed to,” I said with an innocent smile. He got up and walked to where I was standing. I smiled up at him and he gave me a small kiss. He grabbed my hand, lacing our fingers, and led the way from his room. When we reached the bottom of my stairs I let go of his hand and he frowned.

“I’m gonna go annoy my mom,” I told him. “I mean, you can come if you want…”

“I’d rather not,” he replied. He kissed my cheek before going into the living room. I made my way to the kitchen and breakfast area where all the girls were.

“Who was that coming down the stairs?” Brian’s mom asked me.

“Her and Brian,” his cousin, Shay said. She hated me because I spilled gravy on her at Brian’s eighteenth birthday dinner crap. Well, she hated me before then, but that’s what she gets for sitting next to me, right?

“You were in his room?” my mom asked and I smiled slightly. “What were you doing there?”

“We were having sex, Mom,” I told her. “And I managed to keep my hair perfect. I’m quite amazing, don’t you agree?”

“I think her question was serious,” Brian’s aunt, Maggie, said. I bit back a smile at her. She was older, but still acted a little young. She wasn’t like Brian’s grandmother (on his dad’s side) who nearly had a heart attack when I said sex.

“Sorry,” I said, slightly meaning it. I turned to my mom. “Bri has yet to learn how to tie a tie, and being the wonderful girlfriend I am, I tied it for him. I apologize for not wanting my best friend to look like crap. I won’t do it again.”

My mom narrowed her eyes at me, but the other girls found it a little funny. Even Brian’s mom let out a little laugh.

“Why don’t you go sit out with the guys?” Shay asked me. I wanted to tell her off, but I knew I’d get in trouble.

“I think that’s a great idea,” I said brightly, mostly to annoy her.

I walked out of the room and went back to the living room. I found Brian sitting on the couch in front of the window and I took a seat next to him. He looked down at me and I just shrugged. I’d rather be with him anyways and he knew that.

My mom and sister were silent through the whole dinner. I didn’t mind and I don’t think anyone else did. I know for sure the Brian didn’t. He didn’t really like my mom but only because she didn’t like him back. Dinner went by without any mishaps; Shay knew not to sit next to me or Brian. Instead, I was sitting in between Brian and Bryce. I didn’t mind, Bryce was pretty entertaining.

After dinner, we went into the living room. I snuggled up next to Brian on one of the couches so we didn’t take up much space. Bryce and Kara took up the rest of the couch. Across from us sat Brian’s parents and my mom. Brian’s uncle Tom and aunt Maggie had taken residence on the couch by the window along with Shay. Everyone else had gone home. I kicked off my shoes because they were hurting my feet.

“We should probably be heading out soon,” my mom said, looking at me. I looked down at the ground. “You can stay if you want, Danielle.”

I looked up at her, surprised. “How will I get home, then? Walk?”

“I can take you,” Brian suggested and my mom nodded. She turned to Brian’s mom.

“Thank you for the food, Mrs. Donahue,” she said. “It was a lovely dinner.”

“Thank you,” Brian’s mom replied. “But please, call me Toni.”

“Come on, Kara,” my mom said leaving the room. Kara said a quiet thanks to Brian’s parents before leaving. We all waited for the front door to close and it seemed like everyone let out a sigh of relief.

“When do we get pie?” Bryce asked.

We all laughed, but no one answered the question. Brian’s mom put in some Christmas movie. I wasn’t paying attention at first, but I smiled when I realized she had put on It’s a Wonderful Life. I knew Brian was smiling, too. I also knew his parents never knew about what we did on our first date, so they didn’t know why we were smiling. After the movie, we had pie. I had cherry pie with quite a bit of Cool Whip. After pie, I was walking through the hall with Brian.

“I should be going home soon,” I told him. “My mom might think you kidnapped me and took me to Vegas.”

“I would never,” he said, pretending to be offended. “Besides, you’re only seventeen and they wouldn’t marry us.”

“So am I going home?” I asked quietly.

“Nope because I have something for you upstairs.”

He grabbed my hand and led the way to his room. He pointed to the couch and told me to sit. He went in his closet and returned a second later with a rather large box. He put it down and took a seat on the couch, facing me. I realized he was holding something in his hands but I couldn’t tell what.

“Now, there is a condition for this first present,” he said and I smiled.

“Out of how many?” He gave me a look and I frowned a little. “Sorry, what’s the condition?”

“Well, my theory is that even if we stay together forever, one of us will die first, right?” he asked and I nodded slowly. “Well, if I end up with a broken heart in the end, I’d prefer I get this back. However, if it goes the other way, I give you permission to do whatever you want with it. You can keep it forever, give it to a stranger, or set it on fire. Whatever you want. Do we have a deal?”

“We do,” I said, giving him a small kiss.

He opened his hands and there was a small, black velvet box. I took it and opened it slowly. Inside was his class ring. I was speechless. He loved that ring. I took it out and put it on my left hand because when I got my class ring, I wanted it to be on my right hand.

“It fits perfectly,” I said quietly. “So either you have skinny fingers or mine are fat.”

“Or it means that we’re a perfect match,” he told me. I looked up from my hand to meet his eyes. He pulled me into a kiss and I didn’t mind him messing up my hair. He pulled away after a few minutes and I frowned.

“There’s another present,” he said.

“How come I get two?” I asked as he put the box on the table in front of us.

“Well, I gave you my ring for our anniversary. This one is for… Well, you’ll see.”

I moved to the edge of the couch and pulled the lid off of the box. The sides fell to reveal the moon. I swear I stopped breathing. I turned to see his smiling face.

“I made a promise and I never go back on my promises,” he whispered. I was just staring him in the eyes and I could tell he was trying to read me.

There was only one thing that I could come up with to say. “I love you.”

I could tell he was slightly surprised; we had never said it before. Not even jokingly. He pushed his lips against mine for a second before pulling away. He pressed his forehead to mine and whispered, so quietly that I barely heard, “I love you, too.”