Fix You ~Completed~

Act Nineteen

For the rest of the night, Gale made a show of ignoring Eddie and scribbling little poems down onto napkins with a sparkly purple pen he stole from Jimmy. My favorite was:

Stop signs are red,

Birds can fly,

I can't believe Eddie didn't tell us he was bi.

Eddie didn't see the humor and eventually went along with pretending to ignore Gale as well, turning all the attention to me. "So, Clemmy, have you considered our proposal?" he asked, playing with one of Gale's napkin poems that was rather lewd and almost reminded me of something Kyla would say. He folded it up as tightly as possible then tossed it carelessly into his empty coffee cup.

"The Christmas thing?" I responded quietly, blushing. I had thought about their proposal; the thought was as prominent in my brain as Eddie calling my bones cute.

When I confessed to my friends that I no longer spoke to my parents after they asked about my Christmas plans, they jumped at me, offering me a place at their families' shared dinner table. "We always celebrate together! It's just us, our parents, and Eddie's brother," Gale had explained. The families had always been very close which Gale swore wasn't the glue that kept him and Eddie together all those years. It was simple loyalty. "Our families would love to meet you! We've told them so much about you!"

Kyla never told his parents much about me. They were aware that I existed, but Kyla made it clear they'd never know about what we had. "Do you know what they'd say if they knew their son was fooling around with another guy? Jesus, Clem. You don't use your head sometimes," he'd huffed when I brought up telling them. It made my stomach twist when he referred to what we did as "fooling around." Our relationship felt like much more than that to me, but I just chocked it up to Kyla having an issue coming to terms with his feelings. I got how scary it was. It took me so long to stop being afraid of my own emotions. Sometimes, I still felt fear because of who I was, but it made me feel better to have Kyla. I'd always have Kyla. Despite those warnings of his, I didn't think he'd ever leave me.

"So, will you come with us? We asked our parents and they are so chill with it!" Gale chirped excitedly, taking my wrist. I tried not to grimace when he did and slyly moved my arm away. He didn't realize, but he was squeezing hard against the same spot Kyla had only the day before. It wasn't his fault; he was drinking and I was stupid and brought up him considering going to AA or something... I shouldn't have said anything. It was my fault.

I smiled sadly at Gale. "I'd love to, guys, but if I went with you, Kyla would be all alone and nobody should be alone on Christmas."

"Except for abusive assholes."

"Eddie!" Gale hissed, smacking his friend lightly on the shoulder. "Don't."

Looking guilty, Eddie nodded. "Sorry, Clemmy," he sighed.

"You're right, though. Christmas is a time for family," Gale gave in, looking over to Eddie then me. Unlike our other friend, he wore an understanding smile. "Kyla is your family and you two should be together."

"Thanks for getting it," I responded sheepishly, staring down at my lap. As much as I truly wanted to go with them and meet their families, Kyla needed me. (It felt so strange, thinking that. Kyla needed me. It was always the other way around.) I could never abandon him on his least favorite day of the year. My boyfriend had to have someone beside him on December twenty-fifth; he had to have someone to hold him and watch Rudolph next to him and drink the hot chocolate he made.

My Kyla needed me and I'd always be there for him.

"Are you also required to stick by him on New Years?" Eddie brought up, raising his eyebrows. He had this excitement in his eyes that was a harsh contrast to the anger that displayed across the rest of him.

I shook my head. "No, he goes out to party on New Years. I usually stay home and enjoy the quiet time," I told him with a shrug. In all my life, I'd never really seen New Years as a huge deal. It was cool, transitioning from one year to the next, but it wasn't Halloween or Valentines' Day cool.

"We should hang on New Years, then," Eddie said, nodding his head as though I'd already agreed to it.

I smiled. "That'd be amazing."

"It's a date then!" Gale giggled, placing one hand in the middle of the table. Eddie and I stared at him. "C'mon! All in!"

"Dude, this is not High School Musical," Eddie sassed, but did it anyways. I followed.

"Whatever you say. You are such a Troy Bolton. Clem is Gabriella. I guess I wanna be Ryan, simply cause he has cool hats."

"Wait, why am I Gabriella?" I asked Gale, my eyebrows raised.

"Um, I am not explaining that. Hey, look! That's a wall!" Gale called, pointing in the opposite direction. When I realized how stupid I was to fall for that and turned back, Gale was already halfway across the café.