The Life Of Aaron Prescott

[23] Ryan The Organiser

The Life Of Aaron Prescott
Journal Entry Twenty-Three; March 26th

Love is a concept I haven't been used to since I stopped talking to uncle Aaron and grandma as frequently.

Love doesn't exist in my family anymore. Dad's love is whiskey and football, pretending I don't exist and staying in his room most of the day.

My love was my friends, baseball, the occasional party drink, mom's beach and late night car rides.

I once wanted to repair my family with love.

Now I see that love is the thing that teared us apart in the first part.

A A R O N

Christmas break rolls around quickly, shutting down practices until after New Year's and when we return back to school. I was going to miss practice and games, but I still enjoyed the break. A full two weeks of me just staying at Ryan's as we prepared for Christmas.

Ryan's family was relatively large, with five main cousins, two uncles, one aunt, two grandparents and that's just everyone for Christmas.

Emilia didn't talk to her family anymore, so it was only Carlos's family that would fly out for holidays, birthdays etc.

Three of Ryan's cousins were under the age of seven, and uncle number one -Alejandro- and his wife, Ryan's aunt -Meredith- would be keeping an eye on their kids. The other two were twin boys of the second uncle -André- who normally let the boys go off on their own. They were in grade ten this year, which in Brazil would be their first year in high school.

Ryan's grandparents were some of the sweetest people I had ever met in my whole life. I remember it was my fourth Christmas with the Perez's, it was the first year Carlos's family had come up to the states for Christmas. Ryan's grandparents had made these gift bags for the kids and when I was standing awkwardly next to Ryan, next thing I knew a bag was being forced in my own arms.

Christmas was ten days away today, meaning today was Mason's eighteenth birthday.

Ryan was running around Mason's house, trying to organize Mason's surprise party perfectly. Logan was behind him, trying to keep up with Ryan. When Ryan is determined, he speed-walks faster than Usain Bolt. And Ryan was the organizer of the group, he was always tight with schedules when it came to things important. And Mason's birthday was important.

Mason has been fantasizing about his eighteenth birthday since I knew him. After his mom died and his father had to take care of him and his brother, money got tight. Alan hadn't gotten the promotion he has now until two years after Mason's mother's death.

Mason always wanted to help out with expenses and get a job to help his father. He wanted to be older, eighteen. Today was the day he had been dreaming of. I think that was a big thing me and Mason had in common, wanting to be older.

"Okay, Ryan," Logan sighed, dropping his sandwich back onto his plate before he stood up and took Ryan by the shoulders. "You're acting like Jordan."

Ryan's eyes widened as he feigned a gasp. "Who have I become?"

Jordan's head pokes out from behind the living room wall. "Hey, not funny!"

I laugh to myself, shoving another spoonful of cereal into my mouth. "Ryan, It's going to look great-" my phone buzzes in my pocket "-You always decorate the best parties, remember last New Year's at your house."

Ryan reminisces on the moment before a small smile makes its way onto his face. "Yeah, I remember that."

Ryan isn't having any parties or going to any parties until he gets a handle on his alcohol amount. I haven't seen Ryan handle more than three drinks this week, so I know that he's putting in effort to get better.