A Little Time to Get to You

thanksgiving

There was very little I could complain about as the weeks passed and we headed into the month of November.

Ricky and I were officially together again (although it took more than a sufficient amount of time to get used to that fact), school was going well, and Miss Jen was suddenly shocked and overjoyed when she saw the change in mine and Ricky's acting.

(Every single rehearsal she'd ramble on to Ricky about how glad she was to have made us bond in that classroom all those weeks ago. Ricky only smiled knowingly at me, always allowing her to take the credit for the miracle.)

As for the rest of our friends, they were just glad to finally see us happy again. I was able to hang out with Ricky's best friend, Red, a lot more and the theater group was becoming a tight knitted place that we all equally loved.

***

As Thanksgiving fast approached, our group of theater participants sat around waiting for the last rehearsal (before the holiday) to start. Miss Jen was slightly late, but we figured it was because she was back in the science lab trying to figure out how to lift Ricky into the air during the musical. (Something that Ricky repeatedly told me was not going to happen... turning to me and shaking his head every time Miss Jen mentioned it.)

"You know, I feel like Thanksgiving is completely overrated." Carlos, our sweet choreographer announces, looking up from his phone. "I completely second that." Our blonde-haired pianist says. "It probably feels like that because we have such fucked up families." Ricky tells them and my eyes widen, my hand coming out to slap his stomach lightly. He smiles sheepishly and shrugs.

"They boy's not wrong though." Kourtney sides with Ricky. "My folks get fast food and call it a night." She says and I nod knowingly, of course already having known that about her. "My family's asleep by noon." Red says and EJ's cousin, Ashlyn speaks up. "And my parents are going out of town with EJ's parents to some spa. So it's just me, my best friend who's stay with us and a complete loser on Thursday." She says and I giggle at the indirect mention of EJ, leaning my head against Ricky's shoulder. His hand comes to rest on my thigh and I shrug. "Then why don't we all have our own Thanksgiving?" I suggest and the group is silent before erupting with excitement.

"Who's house?" Big Red asks and Ashlyn speaks up right away. "I've got no adults home at all so mine?" She asks and everyone grins, nodding. "Wait, you guys won't mind if my friend Gina joins right? And my cousin will be home from college too so..." Everyone rushes to tell her that the more people, the more exciting it would be. I couldn't agree more.

***

My phone doesn't stop going off for the entirety of mine and Ricky's drive to Ashlyn's house on Thursday. Everyone was excited, and they weren't shutting up about it. (Not that I minded. I smiled every time I picked up my phone.)

"I've been thinking about calling my mom." Ricky speaks out of the blue, grabbing my hand and intertwining our fingers as he flips on his turn signal to merge into another lane. "Woah really?" I ask gently, squeezing his hand. He nods and gives me a little glance, a small smile evident on his face. "This is the first Thanksgiving that we're spending apart and it makes me feel a little isolated from her. No matter how upset I am that things happened the way that they did, she's still my mom." He explains and I nod knowingly, beginning to trace his knuckles with my other hand as our fingers remained intertwined. "Yeah and you always feel better when you get everything out." I remind him and he nods, squeezing my hand. "Exactly. So maybe after this get together I'll call her." Picking up his hand, I plant my lips against the back of it. "You're amazing."

***

When Ricky and I reach Ashlyn's house, Ricky jumps out of the car before I could even get my seat belt off. He makes his way to my side of the car, opening the door for me. I laugh, blushing a little as I grabbed my bag and swung it across my shoulder before stepping out of the vehicle. "So chivalry isn't dead." I muse and Ricky grins, his hand leaving the car door and one of his arms looping tightly around my waist. "No ma'am I believe it isn't." He says, pulling me flush against the front of his body. The butterflies in my stomach start up again and he brings a hand up to push my hair away from my face. "You look beautiful tonight." He murmurs before pressing his lips against mine.