We Should Talk. (Book One)

Hell Yes

It was cold outside, and she hated being cold. Everything about it was depressing to her; the fact that she couldn't feel her hands and that her skin was being ripped apart slowly due to the dryness in the air always made her wonder how it could be possible to ever love this time of the year. The fact that even with several layers of clothes she still felt as if she had just gotten out of the shower, naked and wet, feeling a strong breeze almost blowing her away. She wondered what the hell she was doing there, amongst such coldness. 

She loathed it, every second of it, but what she did not loath was the taste that coffee only had during the winter. It tasted like home, and love, and caringness. It tasted like putting a blanket over her soul. It tasted like safety and the feeling of being enough.

She looked around the sea of familiar faces, thinking about how little she cared about those people. Wanting to feel bad for being so insensitive, but failing. 

"Worry not, your rescue party has arrived." She heard, and turned around to see Augustus and Horacio, her twin cousins, and best friends.

They all laughed and greeted each other.

As much as every muscle in me wants to go over to them, I resist when I hear my grandmother making a scene from across the room, laughing like a maniac at the expense of poor cousin Grace and her new boyfriend, and I feel like it would be a wonderful thing if I saved them from the torture of a conversation with grandma. Especially since I didn't buy any Christmas gifts for Grace this year and I'm hoping that maybe this way she'll oversee that.

"Hey, Toby!" Grace greets me, the desperation in her eyes welcome me like a drug addict welcoming their dealer.

"Grace!" I say, pretending to not have planned on stopping by.

"This is my boyfriend Christopher." She introduces.

"Chris." He tells me, shaking my hand politely.

"Nice to meet you," I say to him. " I hope grandma hasn't scared you away." They all chuckle with certain tension.

"Not at all! Chris and I are very close now!" Grandma assures, winking at him. I look over at the boy, who laughs kindly at Grandma's somewhat improper humor. I immediately feel glad that finally one of Grace's boyfriends had the decency of trying to bear with grandma; most of them just go straight to the hidden alcohol stash right after she comments about how her breasts were "so firm, back in the day."

"Grandma, do you mind if I spoke to Grace and Chris alone for a minute?" I ask her, acting a little worried to add to the fake urgency. "Leave him wanting more, grams." I whisper, and she smiles.

"I have taught you well," She whispers back at me. "Goodbye, Christopher." Grandma chants, in a seducing way, and as she leaves us, we all laugh.

"Thank you so much." Grace says to me, reaching for my arms.

"No problem." I tell her. "And also," I turn to Grace's boyfriend. "I'm sorry about that. Grandma still likes to make sure she could have any man in the room if she wanted."

The boy smiles in good humor, "She's got me begging for more and we only talked for ten minutes."

"So that wasn't enough was it?" I ask, adding to the joke.

"Well, that was more than enough for me." Says Grace. "I couldn't stand one more second of it." My smile fades slowly with the comment. Grace might as well think that sense of humor is some sort of French dish, seeing as she had never seen it up close and wouldn't know what it was even if it hit her in the face.

"BOO!" I hear, while being tickled. I start laughing so hard that I end up at the floor, not being able to balance myself.

"Horacio, I swear to God if you sneak up on me one more time I'll punch you in the face!" I tell him, still laughing. And he laughs too, helping me get back up on my feet.