one more day

9

Happy Thanksgiving I scribbled onto a small post-it note before sticking it on my dads bedroom door. Call me strange but I still want him to know i'm thinking about him on this day. And I hope he's thinking about me too...

I can only recall faint memories of the three of us enjoying Thanksgiving like any ordinary family. Turkey, ham, stuffing, all of that. My mom used to be an excellent cook and my dad and I used to play outside until the food was ready. It's so different now.. Everything is. I decided not to delve too deep into my thoughts because I know i'd just end up crying and I didn't have time for that. I had just finished getting ready for Michael's Thanksgiving dinner with his family. I looked in the mirror one last time before I left, black leggings, beige ankle boots, and a somewhat dressy, off the shoulder shirt that was red in color. My hair was naturally curly so I just let it fall loosely and it didn't look too bad accompanied with my attempt at makeup. I only used a sparkly brown eyeshadow, winged eyeliner and mascara. I was still ugly though. "fuck it" I said to myself, slamming the door behind me as I felt the cold air hit my face.

I'd almost made it to the spot where I asked Michael to pick me up at. I didn't want to risk him seeing my dad. Or vice versa. I never really had friends or let alone a boy-friend (space between the words) to bring home so i didn't know how he'd react. Maybe he wouldn't even care.

I only had to walk 2 blocks over and within a few minutes of my arrival, Michael arrived.

"Liv, you look great." Michael said as I made my way into the car and under my seat belt.

"Sorry, i'm not wearing a dress or anything.. better looking," I paused looking down at my attire feeling a little more self conscious now that he was looking too. I would've worn a dress but my legs had too many stories carved and burnt into them, stories I wasn't ready to share yet. Not with Michael, not with anyone.

"Seriously, you look great," he squeezed my hand before returning it to the wheel, "I'm so glad you gave in."

"Well, I didn't really have a choice." We both laughed.

"Yeah, I guess you're right," he chuckled, "but I know you wanted to come, or else you wouldn't have."

Slightly true, but this is now the second time he has interfered with my "date". If i'm being honest, the past couple of days since my dad found me harming myself haven't been as bad. Don't get me wrong, he's still a drunk bastard but he's stopped coming in my room. I've seen him maybe once since the incident but I don't think he even noticed me. He didn't speak at least. Still. I have no interest in waiting for the routine to come back around and I can't just erase all of the awful shit from my memories. I still didn't want to be alive. But as of today, i had no choice.

We pulled up to a fairly nice two story flat that looked huge from the outside in comparison to mine and my fathers.

"Wow, it's even bigger than I thought." My eyes examined the house in awe. Beautiful furniture, nice floors, a beautiful burgundy paint that washed over each wall and they were all flooded with pictures of Michael, his age varying from young to old and in most of them there was a woman who I could only assume was his mother. She looked absolutely stunning in all of them. "Your mom is gorgeous."

"And so are you!" a voice chimed in. "Hi, you must be Olivia, I'm Karen, this crazy-haired boys mother." She playfully rolled her eyes at her son. She had on a beautiful orange dress that fell just above her knees with flared sleeves that hung off her shoulders. Her long blonde hair complimented her skin tone which only enhanced her flawless beauty. Michael definitely has her nose.

"Ms. Clifford, it's so nice to meet you," I said shyly, "thank you so much for having me over today." Since talking to Michael about the dinner ad meeting his mom, I learned that she was a single mother so it was just her and Michael yet she considers all of the boys part of their family. Based on what he's told me so far, she sounded great and the kind of mother I wish I had now.