Making It Through (13 page)

It seemed I had been doing nothing but shopping for the last few days, and my feet were killing me. I had only ever shopped for my immediate family and my best friends, and I usually had a pretty good idea what to get them before I left the house. This time, I was at a loss. What on earth was I supposed to get for Max?

I wandered around the mall, praying for some divine intervention to show me the perfect gift. But there was no such occurrence. Then, just as I was about to throw my hands up in defeat, a tiny shop caught my eye. I stepped inside, and I noticed a beautiful silver photo frame. On each corner was a detailed silver football, with the bottom half of the frame a perfect spot for engraving. And then an idea hit.

“Excuse me?” I called to the saleswoman.

“Can I help you?” she asked with a smile.

“I just wanted to see if this frame could be engraved.”

“Oh, yes, we can definitely do that for you. Do you know what you want it to say?”

I nodded, grabbed a small notebook from my bag,and wrote the inscription. I tore out the paper and handed it to the woman.

She read it and smiled. “If you give me maybe an hour, I’ll get this ready for you.”

With that enormous task off my list, I set off towards finding a sweater suitable for the occasion. There were a ton of choices with the ugly sweater fad in full swing. I decided, as a gag gift, for the guys, I would buy a couple of pairs of superhero socks, and for the girls, I found some thick, wooly socks that I knew they both would love.

It had barely been an hour, but I was done shopping. When I walked into the store, the saleswoman smiled at me. “I thought you might be back early. Here it is, honey. I hope it’s what you were looking for.”

I stared at it for a moment before responding. “I think it’s perfect. Thank you for your help.” Relieved to finally be finished, I left the crowded mall and drove home to wrap the presents.

I pulled into the driveway of our sad house. It was missing the decorations that we used to put up, and there was no Christmas tree in our front window. The house was empty, as it always seemed to be these days. I made my way down to the basement, where all the Christmas stuff was stored, in an attempt to find some wrapping paper. I was rummaging, when I heard footsteps and tensed.

“Hi, sweetheart. I heard a noise, just came to check it out.” I turned to see my dad’s smiling face. Untangling myself from a piece of garland, I stepped into his warm embrace.

“I’ve missed you,” I whispered.

“Missed you, too, Mady. Every time I sneak in here, you aren’t around. Where have you been laying your head?”

I wasn’t sure how he would like my answer, but honesty was always better. “I’ve been staying with Max.”

We both found a seat on some chairs my mother had banished to the basement.

“Max, huh?”

I nodded, feeling my cheeks heat. “Turns out, he likes me. I like him too. And honestly, his place is quiet, his roommates are awesome, and there’s no fighting. But, I know I can’t stay there forever. Eventually,
I'll
have to figure out a more permanent place to live.”

“Well, I have some news on that. Your mother thought we should wait until after the holidays to tell you girls, but it’s not like we'll be doing anything as a family, so I might as well tell you now. We’ve decided to sell the house. I just put a downpayment on a nice little bungalow, not too far from here. Your mother is looking for a place, as well.

“I know the last thing you probably want to think about right now is all of this. I figured you girls and your mom would probably end up sticking together, but just in case, the place I have has a second bedroom.”

I smiled sadly at him. “Dad, it sounds perfect. I wouldn’t want you to be alone. Besides, Mom doesn’t exactly approve of much that I do these days. So, if it’s all right, I’ll come with you.”

He reached over and pulled me into a comforting hug. “Sounds great, honey.” He cleared his throat before releasing me. “So, I disrupted your search for something. Want any help?”

I laughed. “I was looking for wrapping paper. It’s such a mess down here!
I'm
voting to not be the one to pack all this crap up.”

“I’m with you there. Uh, I think I see some rolls over there in the corner,” he said, pointing. Sure enough, when I got to the back, there were a ton of rolls. I tried to pick the most gaudy paper before making my way back to my dad.

“So, how is Christmas going to go? I’ve been invited to spend the day with Max’s family, but I didn’t want to leave you alone.”

He looked at me sternly. “Nonsense.
I'll
be just fine.
I've
decided to spend the day at the movies. It’s funny, you know, I hadn’t known all these years that the theatres would be open. And I haven’t been to a movie in so long. Could be a new tradition for me.”

“Well, how about Christmas Eve? Do you want to have dinner or something?”

He smiled and nodded. “I can’t think of a better way to spend an evening. Are you going to tell your sister?”

My stomach twisted. “Uh, I don’t know. I haven’t really been speaking much with her. Maybe we can just have some ‘us’ time, and she can sort things out for herself.”

Dad nodded. “All right, honey, we’ll do that.
I'll
text you. I’ve got to get going. As soon as the house is ready to be seen,
I'll
let you come and check it out.”

“Sounds good. Thanks for the help with the wrapping paper.”

He stood and brushed imaginary wrinkles from his dress pants. “Anytime.”

I sat there for a while, hearing the front door close and the distant sound of a car starting, knowing that my dad had left again. Grabbing the wrapping paper, I walked upstairs to my room and turned on some music. Wrapping presents at Christmas had always been a favorite task of mine, and doing so amidst the turmoil in my family gave me something to smile about.

Max called just as I was finishing. “What are you up to?”

“Just wrapped presents. What are you doing?”

“Wondering when you were going to come over here.”

I laughed. “I wasn’t aware that I was going out tonight. Don’t you have other things to do besides hang out with me?”

I could hear him laugh lightly. “Nothing more important than you, babe. Why don’t you come over? I have a surprise for you.”

That was intriguing. “Oh, all right. I’ll be over soon.”

A short time later, Max greeted me at the door with a blindfold. He slipped it over my head and whispered in my ear, “No peeking.”

He walked me into the apartment slowly, leading me until a squishy cushion pressed against my leg, and he pushed lightly on my shoulders until I sat.

“Ready?” he asked.

When I nodded, the blindfold flew from my eyes. In the dim light of the living room sat a number of boxes, the first of which held a half-sized Christmas tree. I looked up to find him watching me.

“What?”

“What do you think?” He nervously waved his hand.

“I’m not sure what you were expecting from me. You got yourself a tree?”

Max sighed. “I was a little worried that, because your family isn’t doing much, maybe this wasn’t a good idea. But, I still wanted you to have some of the traditions that you’ve had in years past. I thought we could set it up together.”

He had done this for me? My heart was exploding with love for this guy. Wait, what? Love? My head immediately began to protest. It was too soon to love him, wasn’t it? What if he didn’t feel the same?

“Mady, please say something. You went quiet on me. We don’t have to do this if you don’t want to.”

I pulled back to the present, realizing, as I looked into his worried eyes, that he was afraid he'd done the wrong thing.

“I don’t even have the words... I mean...” I tried to compose myself. “You are amazing. Thank you for doing this.”

“Our party wouldn’t be the same without a tree.”

I laughed at his poor attempt to draw attention away from his thoughtfulness. He opened the tree and set it up, while I looked through the decorations that he had purchased.

“Where should we put it?”

I looked around, unsure. “Uh, well I don’t think it should be just randomly in the middle of the floor. How about in the corner, over there, between the window and the TV?”

He nodded, moved the five-foot tree to its new spot, and then came over to me, pulling on my hands to help me stand.

“Let’s decorate!” he exclaimed loudly.

It was fun to spend the time being festive. It also stirred up old memories from my childhood. Christmas had always been a wonderful time. We'd decorated the tree as a family, made ornaments, and stared as the lights twinkled brightly in the dark.

When every ornament had its own home on the tree’s branches, I fell onto the couch. The lights were mesmerizing; I hadn’t noticed that he had left the room until he returned with mugs of hot chocolate. He sat down, and I curled beside him.

“I’d say we did a pretty good job.”

Smiling, I nodded. “I couldn’t agree more. That was fun. Thank you, again, for making this happen.”

“Always, babe.”

Leaning my back against the frame, I kicked my heel against Max’s door. Music was blaring loudly behind it, and my arms were full of bags containing snacks, gifts, and booze. On top of that was perched a precariously placed tray of spinach dip. I kicked again, and the door swung open quickly. I squealed as I flew backwards. Arms wrapped around me tightly, saving me—and the dip—from sure disaster. I turned, and Max was grinning at me.

“You know, I could have come down and helped you.”

I laughed. “Clearly, I had it covered. I just hadn’t anticipated the concert going on in your living room.”

He stripped me of my bags and left for the kitchen, allowing me to shed my coat and boots, exposing my wonderfully ugly sweater. There was mad knocking on the door, and I knew, immediately, it had to be Chloe.

“Hey, ladies!” I greeted them as I opened the door. Meagan entered with arms full of goodies, but it was the boxes that Chloe was holding which intrigued me. She saw the look on my face and grinned.

“There is nothing more fun than board games while drinking.”

I eyed the first box—Twister. “You want to play
this
while intoxicated?”

The girls laughed at me. “It could be fun.” Chloe chuckled, wiggling her eyebrows at me.

“Oh, no way!” Meagan squealed.

“What?” I asked, confused by her outburst.

“Did you two shop together or something, Mady?” she asked.

I looked back at Max and began to laugh. We’d picked the exact same sweater,  a large reindeer whose antlers were decorated with a string of lights.

“Great minds think alike,” he stated with a grin.

Meagan insisted on taking a picture of the two of us. He pulled me close and kissed my cheek, as the sound of Meagan’s camera snapping away filled the air.

“Think you’ve taken enough yet?” I asked.

“Nope.” She turned to Max and ordered, “Okay, Max, introduce us to your friends.”

Jordan and Scott emerged from their rooms, and in a matter of minutes, it was as if we had all been best friends for years. Max mixed the first pitcher of drinks and brought them to everyone, while I prepared the abundant snacks. As I looked over the kitchen island into the living room, I smiled to myself at the thought that we had enough to feed twenty instead of the six of us. The music was a mix between festive tunes and top forty, and the tree twinkled happily in the corner, all our presents piled underneath.

Max came around the island and handed me a drink, before he wrapped his arms around me and kissed my neck lightly. “I’m glad we did this.”

“Yeah, me too.” I reached for a plate and handed it to him, before calling everyone else. “Come on, guys, let’s eat.”

We were all starting to feel the buzz of the drinks, and we agreed to open our presents before we had any more alcohol. I sat on the floor against the couch, between Max’s legs. Scott offered to hand everything out, and Meagan sat with him, her camera in hand. It became clear that everyone was of the same mind as me, and had gotten gag gifts on top of a regular gift. Jordan and Scott had both laughed over the superhero socks, but when I told them to look inside, the gift cards to an online game site sent them into an excited chatter. Meagan and Chloe had both loved their cozy socks, as well as handmade vouchers to a girls day, on me.

My nerves kicked into overdrive when I turned to give Max his gift. “I don’t have a gag gift for you. Just this.”

He took the package and spent an excruciatingly long time removing the paper. When he opened the box, I peeked at him. A slow smile crept across his face, blooming to a full-on grin. He leaned down and kissed me firmly.

“You shouldn’t have been worried, Mady, I love it. And that’s one of my fave selfies that we’ve taken.” He kissed me again, and as we parted, I could hear the click of Meagan’s camera.

“Don’t make me take that away from you,” I warned her, to which she just laughed and snapped another shot.

Max tapped me on the shoulder, and I turned to find him holding a small box. With shaking fingers, I opened it to discover the most beautiful, delicate pendant I had ever seen attached to a dainty chain.

“Thank you Max. This is beautiful,” I whispered to him.

He leaned closer to me. “I searched for a long time for the right gift for you. This pendant is the symbol for strength. You are strong, even in your weakness. I wanted you to have something to remind you of that.”

Tears welled, and I blinked hastily. “Can you help me put it on?”

“Absolutely.” He moved my hair off my neck so he could see what he was doing, and when he was through, he wrapped his arms around my shoulders and pulled me close.

“Smile!” Meagan called to us. When she had gotten her pictures, I snatched the camera and began snapping a bunch of shots of her and Scott. Max and I scrolled through the photos, before we looked over at our friends. I had a feeling that Meagan and Scott would make a great couple.

Chloe hopped up and grabbed the pitcher to refill all our drinks. “Okay, so now that all the gifts are out of the way, let’s do a quick toast. Here’s to us—to old friends and to new ones, and to Mady and Max for not being too chicken to take a chance.”

My face heated quickly. I tried to ignore the looks they were all giving us, and raised my glass with theirs.

“Now,” Chloe continued, “it’s time to play Twister!”

The guys groaned, and us girls laughed. “What’s wrong, guys? Afraid of being beaten by a girl?” They took the bait, and soon, everyone was twisting and contorting themselves around each other. Max and I watched our friends go the first round. I wasn’t sure if it was the alcohol or not, but our friends’ hands began
accidentally
grazing other bodies. They'd reach for improbable locations, when there were other, easier spots available. Their giggling was hilarious, and I captured some shots for them to look back on later.

When a large yawn eventually overtook me, I knew I had to get up, or I would fall asleep. I stood and looked around the room, grabbing some stray plates to move to the kitchen. Max joined me, wrapping up the leftover food and finding creative ways of stuffing it in the fridge. I moved to the sink and began washing some dishes, but Max was soon behind me, taking the sponge from my hand. “That can wait,” he murmured into my neck.

“Would it be terrible for me to go to bed?” I asked turning around to wrap my arms around his neck.

He shook his head. “You’re not missing anything at this point. Our friends are having a great time.  I think they will, until they hit a drunken wall, and crash for the night. Come on, let’s go say goodnight to them, and I'll join you.”

We emerged from the kitchen to find them all lying in a hysterical pile on the floor.

“Mady! You have to have a turn!” Chloe had always been a loud drunk.

“I think I’ll pass.
I'm
going to crash. You’re staying tonight, right?”

She nodded. “Oh, yes, I don’t think I could go, even if I wanted to. Those drinks you mixed for us, Max, were wickedly strong.”

Max laughed. “I’m glad you enjoyed them. There are blankets in the storage underneath the cushions of the couch. Good night everyone.”

We walked down the hall, our hands linked, my heart happy, feeling a little buzz, but not enough that would mean a hangover in the morning. I flopped onto the bed with a giggle, spreading my limbs across the whole bed.

“Looks like there won’t be any room for you tonight, Max, sorry.”

He leaped towards me and landed with a leg on either side of my hips. “I think you are mistaken.”

When he flipped us, I was sprawled across his chest. “See? Just the right amount of room for both of us. Wouldn’t you agree?”

Laughing, I slapped his chest. “You are ridiculous.”

We took turns in the bathroom, and as I was undressing, I noticed that the frame I had gotten him had found its way to his bookshelf, taking centre stage. My heart soared with happiness. When he returned, we both climbed into bed, and he pulled me close in his arms, his chin resting on the top of my head.

“So,” he started, “who do you think will hook up with whom?”

I laughed. “I’m glad I’m not the only one who noticed the shenanigans that were going on. I just hope it doesn’t get awkward for any of them. I like that our friends get along well.”

“I think they’ll work it out.”

I tried to keep my eyes open, but they had ideas of their own, and I could feel myself crashing.

“Goodnight, Mady,” he said before kissing my forehead.

“Mmm, night.” I managed before slipping into a wonderfully deep sleep.