Quite Quitting

Banished to the Basement

Noel and Charlie joined us almost two hours after Alex's emotional outburst, but the fantastic people in my life knew not to say anything to them to save Alex from further embarrassment. Alex's mood also changed for the better as we all slowly drank, ate, and joined in on Mom and Sugar's mother, Lacy, church gossip on the couch, each of us sipping on a drink. Alex was drinking whiskey, and I grabbed a beer from my dad's Sunday football stash. My mother had now moved on from Mrs.Harisson to her daughter, Amy.

"Amy and my mother went to school together," I explained to Alex as my mother judged the latest outfits Amy dawned at last Sunday's service.

"She is divorcing Jake, you know. So she is trying to get a new sucker to marry her. That's why she started coming to church again and dressed as she does." My mother proclaimed. Lacy nodded vigorously beside her.

"She sounds like a desperate floozy to me!" Alex added, genuinely it seemed.

"Does she? Hang around enough of them to know?" I laughed.

"Yes! Too many to count. I can smell a floozy a mile away." He took a long sip of his whiskey from his drink and clicked his tongue a few times in judgment.

"Gosh, Char, who knew you were dating a 50-year-old lady?" Sugar commented.

"I didn't either, but I like this side of you!" I said, slamming my shoulders into his as he sat right next to me, giving me access to tease him whenever possible. This, however, gave him the same access as he bumped right back into me, though with less power than I had.

"Ugh, get a room, you two!" Noel crooned.

"Speaking of rooms, Alex, would you be okay staying in the basement? We have a futon down there along with all our other junk," My Father asked with raised eyebrows.

"Um..." Alex exhaled, giving me a look. I shrugged helplessly, smiling at him. I knew my Father would not let Alex and I share a room. "Sure, sir!" Alex finally responded.

"If you want, Alex, take the living room couch, and I'll get banished into the basement. Been there, done that!" Charlie offered, moving the ice pack he was holding to his swollen cheeks to speak freely (he had an allergic reaction to something Noel and he had eaten on their drive to my parent's place, hence the urgent care trip).

"Thanks, Charlie, but I feel like sleeping in the basement is a right of passage. So you take the living room!" Alex bravely said.

"Okay, let's eat! Then everyone who doesn't belong here goes home. I'll see you all tomorrow for Thanksgiving lunch at Luigi's. After that, I don't want to see your faces until after Thanksgiving weekend!" My Father joked.

"Fine, I'll just smoke my after-dinner Cuban without you, Martin!" Ricky, Sugar's Father, said to mine.

"Leave me one for the Monday after. Or show up here after my mother is gone! She is 80, so I think she'll be gone by five after her early dinner," My Father whispered loudly so the whole room could hear his joke. We all laughed.

Dinner today was measly. Lucy had made chicken tacos, but their seasoning was suspiciously low. It tasted like nothing. My mother just made a salad and mixed vegetable pasta (her recipe, apparently). "We have to cook all day tomorrow. This is all you all are getting!" Both mothers yelled when they heard Sugar, and I complained about the food and portions. However, Sugar managed to whip up a decent-sized cake with the box mix we grabbed. So, all in all, no one was going to bed hungry.

Alex, ever so curious about the sleeping situation, poked me to get up after the cleanup was done—he did end up doing the mopping—and we were all back on the couches as everyone was tired and slightly drunk. Then, finally, Ricky announced, getting up. He and his family were leaving and would return tomorrow bright and early for Thanksgiving mass.