Infinite (Strange and Beautiful, Book 1) (44 page)

Before
long, it was getting late and we decided it was time to get going. We instructed
Jackson, after asking if he needed to take her home, that he could just drop
Tegan at my place because Tierney was picking her up on her way home from work.

When
we arrived at my house, I let Tegan out of the backseat, but I only lingered
behind long enough to thank Jackson again for paying for us to get into the
movies. After a quick goodbye and well wishing for the holidays, I scurried
after Tegan, seeking the warmth of the house. After hanging up our coats and
kicking off our shoes, I called out to let whichever parent was watching
television in the living room know that I was home before making a beeline up
to my room.

Tegan
hopped onto my bed and announced, “Jackson was flirting with you tonight.”

I
paused on my way to sit down on the bed and shook my head. “No, he wasn’t.”

Tegan
raised an eyebrow. “He put his arm around you at the movies.”

“He
probably just needed to stretch,” I shrugged, climbing onto the bed.

“He
tried to talk you into reading some of your writing,” Tegan scoffed.

“So?”
I didn’t follow how that was considered flirting.

“I
doubt Jackson’s generally interested in poetry,” Tegan pointed out. “If he was,
he could go check a book of poems out from the library. He wanted to hear
yours
.”

I
rolled my eyes. I didn’t bother saying that he was probably just curious.

“He
said you smelled good,” she pointed out. She raised her brows up and down and
grinned, as if a general observation about how I smelled really meant
something.

I
shrugged as she fell back against the bed. “So?”

“You’re
being intentionally obtuse,” Tegan glared. “Jackson likes you. It’s so
obvious.”

“You’re
delusional. We’re just friends,” I argued.

“I
am not delusional!” Tegan exclaimed, sitting up. “If anyone’s delusional, it’s
you!” Then, taking me by surprise, she pulled the pillow out from behind her
and hit me on the back of the head with it. 

“Tegan!”
I turned, my eyes wide with disbelief, and stared at her. She looked
unrepentant, and she raised a single brow as if to say, “What?”

My
eyes narrowed as I grabbed for another pillow. Then, smiling deviously, I hit
her square in the face with it. She fell back against the bed, and I burst into
laughter.

She
sat up sputtering and pushed her hair away from her face as she declared a
pillow war.

I found
celebrating Christmas with the extended Granger clan comparable to a visit to
the dentist. No one I knew ever really wanted to go—I sure didn’t—but it was
still required. Grandma and Grandpa Granger’s outdated décor was kind of like
thumbing through the old magazines the dentist offered. While they served as a
distraction, it was always almost a relief when my name was finally called,
which was what it was like waiting my turn to open presents. Aunts, uncles and
cousins were kind of like the technicians vying for human interaction. As soon
as I’d take a bite of food, one of them always felt inclined to ask a question.

It
was all so very exhausting, and that didn’t even include the mind numbing drive
to my grandparents’ house. By the time we’d arrived at the home where Dad grew
up, my mind felt like mush. Luke had listened to “Circle Circle Dot Dot” by
Jamie Kennedy and Stu Stone on his iPod several times, and, naturally, he’d had
the volume turned up as high as it would go, subjecting me to the atrocity
being passed off as music.

At
my other side, Skylar had whined the majority of the drive when she wasn’t
scanning through a magazine that I would probably find at the dentist’s office
when I went for my next visit. The whining wasn’t about any particular thing
either. Instead, it seemed the entire world had done her wrong, and we were
being punished for it.

Mom
and Dad, on the other hand, were unusually jovial. While seeing my parents in a
good mood was nothing to complain about, I wasn’t quite sure what to make of
it. It made me suspicious they were up to something.

“What’s
up with the Cleaver routine?” I mumbled when we stopped for a bathroom break
halfway through the drive.

Skylar
raised her tweezed-to-the-nth-degree brows. I hadn’t meant to speak to her, but
being cramped in the backseat of the car with nothing else to do, I’d forgotten
my anger. Because Mom and Dad had started asking questions about why we weren’t
speaking directly to each other, Skylar and I had taken to acting extremely
cordial anytime we were forced into the same vicinity for an extended length of
time.

“Isn’t
it obvious?” She whispered though both Mom and Dad were still inside the
convenience store and Luke’s ears were full of music. “They totally got laid
last night.”

I
shuddered at Skylar’s announcement, and Luke tore the buds from his ears. The
look of horror on his face made it clear he’d been listening. “Oh my god,” he
wretched. “I need to bleach that thought from my mind.”

“That’s
what you get for snooping,” Skylar smirked.

I
just shuddered again. I was with Luke on this. I needed to erase that thought
from my brain as quickly as possible.

“I
guess that means they won’t be sniping at each other for a while,” she
commented.

“Please,”
I said, holding a hand out as if to cover her mouth. “Just stop talking about
it.”

Skylar
was still laughing when Mom got back into the car.

“What’s
funny?” she asked.

“Nothing,”
Luke, Skylar and I chorused.

That
didn’t seem to assure Mom, but Dad climbed back into the car and we hit the
road again before she could question us further.

Even
though I wasn’t looking forward to it, it was a relief when we finally arrived.
We’d gotten stuck in traffic for over an hour after our stop at the gas
station, which put our arrival time an hour later than expected. I wanted to
break Luke’s iPod and cut out Skylar’s tongue, and, because I couldn’t get
Skylar’s claims about Mom and Dad out of my head, I wanted to bleach my eyes
after witnessing them holding hands during the traffic jam. Also, I badly
needed to stretch.

Going
into the house, however, wasn’t so desirable. As soon as I stepped through the
door, I was overcome by the scent of cinnamon. I, generally, had no opposition
to the smell, but it was almost suffocating. I couldn’t decide if it originated
from a candle or spray or if Grandma Granger had simply gone overboard with the
cinnamon in the apple pie.

While
it was cold outside and I appreciated the warmth of the house, it felt as if
Satan himself had stopped in for a bit and decided to warm the place up. I
later overhead Grandma Granger say, “Oh, the furnace is on the fritz again!”

“Well,
Mom,” Aunt Helena, Dad’s older sister, said, “Why haven’t you got it fixed?”

“You
know Joe,” Grandma Granger sighed. “He’s refused to call someone in to look at
it.”

Grandpa
Granger happened by at that point. “It would be a waste of money! I can fix it
myself,” he said gruffly. Of course, he always sounded gruff and angry.

“Then
why don’t you do it?” Grandma Granger scowled.

I
bit my lip to hold back a smile. Dad’s parents were so different from Mom’s,
but despite their grumpy disposition, they were my grandparents, and I loved
them.

Throughout
the morning, because of the heat, we were forced to shed as many layers of
clothing as possible without actually getting naked. As more relatives trickled
in, the heat seemed to increase. By early afternoon, I was half tempted to
prance about in my underwear. Of course, the fact that I now possessed the body
of a female instead of that of a prepubescent male stopped me from going to
that extreme.

Thankfully,
Dad’s family was much smaller that Mom’s. All of the relatives had arrived by
noon. Aunt Helena and her husband, Jeff, had a son and daughter, Carter and
Bailey, who were both older than Skylar, and they had arrived before us. As a
whole, I didn’t care for any of them. Aunt Helena and Uncle Jeff were too
stuffy. Carter was a sexist pig. He liked to tell crude jokes when all of the
parents weren’t around, so I tried my best to steer clear of him. Bailey always
acted like she was too good to even speak to any of us.

“I
bet she’s secretly the campus slut,” Luke muttered. Somehow I’d found myself
seated between him and Skylar on the couch. Bailey was busy regaling our
grandparents with her college achievements.

“Maybe
we could ask Rebekkah,” I suggested, thinking of our other cousin on Mom’s side
of the family. “I think they attend the same university.”

Luke’s
eyebrows rose with interest, and Skylar, gleefully, dug out her cell phone.
“I’ll text her.”

Dad’s
younger brother, Jack, and his wife, Teresa, arrived with their three kids,
Wade, Leanne, and Jason, while Skylar was sending the text to Rebekkah. The
kids were all younger than me and a bit on the rowdy side. I thought it was
amusing because Dad always acted like Mom’s family was so unbelievably
obnoxious. Honestly, though, the kids didn’t bother me much. At least they were
enjoying themselves.

Grandma
Granger’s sister, Margot, and her daughter, Frances, were the last to arrive.

I
didn’t mind either of them, really. For as long as I could remember, though,
everyone always claimed, “Aunt Margot could go at any time.” For someone
continually on her deathbed, aside from being pretty old and nearly blind, she
looked pretty good to me. 

The
best part of my day was probably when Great Aunt Margot sat next to me during
dinner. “You’re Theo’s oldest, aren’t you?” she asked.

“No,”
I replied, somewhat surprised because I didn’t get mistaken for my sister
often. “That’s Skylar. I’m his youngest, Cecilia.”

“Ah,
Cecilia,” she nodded. “I remember being your age.” She dug her false teeth into
a piece of chicken and chewed slowly. I thought maybe that was the end of her
thought, but after she swallowed, she went on. “So young and nimble. What I
wouldn’t give to be that age again,” she sighed, deep in thought. “Now I’m
blind as a bat with tits down to my knees.”

“Mother!”
Frances exclaimed from her seat on the other side of Margot.

I
nearly choked on a piece of chicken. I quickly excused myself before rushing to
the bathroom to completely lose it. I laughed until I cried, thinking of what
Margot had said and ridiculous jokes that involved “choking” and “chicken.”

When
I finally got it together enough to return to the dinner table, Grandpa Granger
demanded, “Where were you for so long?”

“In
the bathroom,” I answered honestly.

Apparently
he’d missed Margot’s comments that had sent me off laughing, and he went off
into a tangent about the importance of having a daily bowel movement.

Everyone
at the table looked rather uncomfortable and embarrassed as he spoke because,
obviously, going number two wasn’t ideal table conversation. Finally, Grandma
Granger cut him off. “Joe, I’m sure everyone here knows the importance of being
regular,” she said. “Now hush up, we’re trying eat.”

The
heat was sweltering by the time we opened gifts. I could feel the sweat
dripping down my back as I sat squished between Luke and Skylar on the tiny
loveseat.

All
of the grandkids received matching packages from Grandma and Grandpa Granger.
We were allowed to open that particular gift at the same time. When I lifted
the lid from mine, I felt very much like Ron Weasley did on Christmas day
because inside I found a knit sweater in the most atrocious shade of mustard
yellow.

I
held it up, looking to my left and right, and found my siblings were holding
matching sweaters. I glanced around the room and found that our mustard yellow
was only slightly better than the baby poop green sweaters Bailey and Carter
received while Wade, Leanne and Jason had been given mud brown.

While
the younger kids’ faces scrunched up in distaste, the rest of us forced smiles,
trying to hide our horror, before thanking our grandma for her hard work.
Luckily, the aunts and uncles were more practical and simply gave us gift
cards.

By
the time everyone started packing up to head for home, I was feeling
lightheaded from the heat and had a cinnamon induced headache. The walk from
the front door to the car felt like the first breath of fresh air I’d been
allowed since we’d arrived.

I
fell asleep with my head on Luke’s shoulder during the drive home. When we
arrived home, I was groggy and disoriented. Mom led me by the elbow into the
house, and I muttered a quick, “Goodnight” before fumbling my way upstairs with
Luke behind me, pushing me up the steps, until I made it to my room, where I
promptly passed out.

The
next morning we all slept in late. It was eleven before I finally forced myself
out of bed, but that was only because my bladder was screaming at me for
relief. When I got downstairs, it was to find Dad lounging on the couch while
Mom was busy in the kitchen, preparing some of the side dishes for lunch the
following day. 

It
was odd not having anything to do on Christmas Eve because it was usually spent
with the extended family. I half wished we’d gone to the Grandparents Sawyer’s
house for the day, but I knew I’d see them Tuesday.

I
made myself a sandwich for lunch and talked with Mom while she bustled around
the kitchen. Even though I’d just got up, I still felt sleepy. I decided to
take advantage of Skylar and Luke’s apparently sloth-like behavior and took a
long, hot shower.

Afterward,
I got online long enough to wish everyone on MySpace and Facebook—though I
didn’t have many friends there—a happy holiday. I was contemplating crawling
back into bed when Mom came up and asked, “Feel like helping me make cookies to
take with us on Tuesday?”