The Trouble with Faking It / Tyler Seguin

Chapter 6: I'll Be Home For Christmas - Part 1

Chapter 6: I'll be home for Christmas part 1

"The bond between siblings is one that is unbreakable."

December 22nd

The plane ride from Dallas to San Jose is no more than four hours which means that I only have to fear for my life for four hours. From a young age, my greatest fear was planes which probably had something to do with all the documentaries about plane crashes my dad would let me watch.

But I make it there without incident and my parents pick me up at the airport, then we make the short drive home to Mountain House.

I spot a vase of Daisies as soon as I walk through the door. My mom tells me they were delivered here for me.

"Does it say who they are from?" I ask, walking over to admire them.

"It's signed by a Secret Santa." Jax tells me but when I pull the card out, I recognize the messy handwriting right away. It says:

A bouquet of Daises for a beautiful girl named Daisy

- Your secret santa

It's clearly Tyler's writing. And corny enough to be him.

"Hm."

Mom walks up behind me and takes the card from my hands, reading it for what is probably the fifth time knowing her.

"So sweet, isn't it?"

"Yeah, that's one word for it." I mutter. I quickly shoot my dad a look, that says he's going to have to buy mom flowers now.

"Who do you think it is?" Mom asks, and I swipe the card out of her hand and grab the vase.

"No idea," I lie, walking back to my room. I hear Jax following me with my suitcases.

"It's Seguin, right?" He asks quietly and when I glance at him, he has a grin on his face.

"Well, it's his handwriting so I'm assuming." I say, pushing my bedroom door open and a wave of nostalgia washes over me. My mom was devastated when I decided to move away for school and she never changed a thing in my room.

Jax drops my suitcase on the floor and smirks. "Think she'll ever redecorate into a spare room?"

"Probably not," I say, setting the flowers on the night table. "Unless one of us has kids." I add as an afterthought.

Jax scoffs. "Have fun with that."

I roll my eyes, watching as he smiles before leaving me to settle in. Being alone in this house gives me too much time to think sometimes. So many great things happened here, but then there are the things we don't talk about anymore.

The things that my parents keep locked away, that none of us speak of.

The door at the end of the hall that rarely opens, and the occupant of the bedroom who I haven't seen in years.

December 24th

My parents shoo me and Jax out of the house around 7 in the evening, so they can wrap gifts. We decide to walk to the park just down the street, and there's a comfortable silence between us until I go and open my big mouth.

"How is he?"

Jax stops walking, and glares at me. "You expect me to know?"

I cross my arms over my chest and glare right back at him. "You live here. I don't."

"You chose to move away and leave us, so it's your own fault if you don't know."

He kicks a rock and starts walking away.