The Boy Band Who Adopted Me!

Chapter 34 - Holiday Gone Wrong

AN: This story is a year old today! Woohoo! Also, trigger warning for suicide/abuse.

It was time to go home for Thanksgiving Break. We'd already seen off Cody, and Emmett in his parents' extremely nice car. It was Jamie, Gavin, and I watching Will put his backpack, packed with break reading, written songs and one of the stuffed turkeys from Gavin's booth, into the trunk of his van. He looked exhausted, as if he hadn't slept in days, and he seemed to float from one chore to the other like a ghost.

"Hey, Will, are you sure you're gonna be okay?" Gavin asked Will. They exchanged a quick hug, one that seemed more cursory than anything, given Will's incredible sleepy apathy. Will gave us one of his famous tired-but-still-trying-to-lie-about-it smiles.

"If there's a problem, I'll call. Keep practicing, okay? We have a local show to play."

Oh, that's right. Thanksgiving break was here, but all the guys lived locally, while I lived over two and a half hours away in a different town entirely. There would be a show the day after Thanksgiving at the same place, but I wouldn't be attending, stuck instead in the little, tired town where...

My throat hitched, even though I wasn't speaking, and my stomach felt as if it had lurched forward several feet while I stood in place. I could see the same weight of tragedy on the shoulders of everyone around me; Gavin would be spending his Thanksgiving alone with his sister, Jamie would be spending his with his aunt, and Will would be spending his with his terrible brother. I would at least have both my parents, but I knew that as soon as I got home, reminders of Matthew would follow me everywhere I walked within my own house.

"Be careful driving," Gavin called as Will buckled his seatbelt and drove away. Just on cue, Jamie's aunt pulled into a nearby parking spot.

"The traffic's absolutely crazy, Jamie! Oh, is that Gavin? Well, hey, kiddo! It's been awhile. Good to see you! How's that band of yours going? Oh, who's this?!"

This woman, with a large bouffant hairstyle even more cherry-red than Jamie's hair, and an outrageous leopard-print dress, left the car to give Gavin and Jamie a huge hug each. She talked at a mile a minute, reminding me a little of Cody.

"I'm Alex," I shyly waved at Jamie's aunt.

"It's nice to meet you, Alex! I'm Jamie's aunt Candy. Good to see Jamie's making friends! You look like a nice gal."

"Take care," Jamie said with his usual amount of brevity, and hopped in the car with his aunt. Gavin's hand clasped mine as they drove away. My mom had been texting me all morning, and had recently texted me to tell me that she and my dad were pulling up to the school now.

"Alex, here," Gavin said softly to me, with a voice like a sunrise. He threw his backpack on the pavement suddenly and took his hoodie off in the 40-degree weather.

"Gavin, Jesus, you're gonna get cold!" I rushed forward, but he put the hoodie in my hands.

"I'm about to leave right after I introduce myself to your parents," he smiled. "It's nothing. Just take it, and think of me."

I hugged it close, and Gavin kissed my cold nose.

"I'm gonna wear it to bed every night."

I could see my parents' car in the distance, in the sea of frantic parents rushing to hoist their kids' wardrobes into their vehicles, and Gavin put his backpack in his trunk before walking me to them.

My mother and father were warm, but flat people, people who worked a lot and never had any time for me. I didn't have the best relationship with them, but it wasn't terrible. And they tried to involve themselves in my life as much as possible; that included asking Gavin a million questions when he came to the car and introduced himself as my boyfriend.