Mentors - A Joshler Fic

Chapter 11

When I was little my favorite holiday was Thanksgiving. I guess it was strange for me to prefer Thanksgiving over Christmas, because what kid didn’t love presents. I loved presents but as a child I was terrified of Santa. The thought of a stranger, even one bearing gifts breaking into my house in the middle of the night while we slept was daunting to me. It was actually a relief to me when I found out that Santa wasn’t real, I enjoyed Christmas much more after that. But I still loved Thanksgiving the most.

We always had family over on Thanksgiving, all the cousins would come over and we would divide up into age groups. The older kids would be in the living room with all the men, playing cards. Us younger kids would be upstairs in my bedroom, playing board games and generally messing around and having all sorts of fun. My mom and grandma and all my aunts would be in the kitchen cooking and gabbing away. Every few minutes loud bursts of laughter would erupt from the kitchen, I always wondered what they were laughing about. Of course my favorite part was the dinner, the table overflowing with food and my entire family sat around the table together and happy. A few of my uncles would be a little tipsy and my one cousin Jared was usually high but we were all together and happy.

We would always do that cheesy thing where we would go around the table and each person would say something they were thankful for. My mom would always go first, and every year she said she was thankful that everyone was healthy, my grandma was always thankful for her loving grandchildren, and my uncle Ivan was always thankful for cheap booze. While everyone was taking their turn I would be sat in my chair racking my brain for something to say. At the last Thanksgiving I remember I said I was thankful for being together with my family. Then my dad would cut the turkey and we’d all dig in like it was our last meal gorging ourselves on turkey, stuffing, and mashed potatoes. Little did I know it was the last time we would all be together like this.

I hadn’t had a proper Thanksgiving in years, in fact the day usually passed without any recognition by anyone in the house. I was usually pretty depressed that day because my mind would be flooded with past memories that were no more. The sadness was always particularly overwhelming that day, last year the only time I got out of bed was to cut myself.

It was only two days until Thanksgiving and I was already feeling pretty down about it. Josh noticed one day when we were sat in the library talking while I packed up my things as we were about to leave. “Do you have any plans for Thanksgiving,” Josh asked me, the innocent question stabbing me like a knife in the chest? I swallowed loudly, trying to compose myself so that I could respond. “No not really,” I said noncommittally, trying my best to hold back the sadness that was festering in my chest and threatened to burst forth like lava erupting from a volcano. I need my blades.

“Babe what’s wrong,” Josh asked me in a hushed worried tone.

“Nothing.”

“Yes there is Ty, tell me what’s wrong so that I can fix it for you babe.”

“Its just thinking about the holiday makes me miss the way they used to be. I haven’t celebrated Thanksgiving in years.”

“Aw baby,” Josh said pulling me into his strong arms. “I can fix that easily enough, come to my house for Thanksgiving. It’s usually a small dinner, just my parents, my brother and his girlfriend, but I know my parents wouldn’t mind you joining us at all. I’d love to spend Thanksgiving with you babe, I make mean mashed potatoes.”

I grinned up at my adorable butthead of a boyfriend and unthinkingly reached up and gave him a tiny peck on the lips. He kissed me back for a moment before we both broke apart suddenly and looked nervously around the empty library before breathing a sigh of relief. “I’d love that Josh.”

“Great, I’ll make sure we set an extra place at the table, right next to me of course so we can hold hands under the table. Now I want to see you smiling, you're adorable when you smile Tyler.”

We got up from the table when the bell rang and we walked to Josh’s car, Josh waving goodbye to a few of his teammates as we passed by them. We got in his car and he drove us to his house, which was our routine on the days that Josh didn’t have soccer practice, we would go hang out at his house. Josh pulled in his driveway and we walked hand in hand inside his house. As soon as the door was shut he had me pushed up against the wall his lips on mine, gentle but firm. His hands gripped the side of my face gently holding our mouths together. His smell was intoxicating, his touch rendering my legs useless at holding myself up, luckily he held me. Our lips moved against one another in unison. I felt his tongue on my lips tracing them, intoxicating me with the taste of him. His tongue entered my mouth and I let out an involuntary moan at the way he was making me feel. “Baby,” he said breathlessly his lips not leaving my body, but moving to my neck. “How about we take this to my room?” He didn’t give me a chance to respond as he easily scooped me up in his arms and all but ran up the stairs. I didn’t mind though, it’s not like I would have refused. Not in a million years.