The Rising (final book of The Call series) ~ TMNT Fanfiction

Chapter 34: Porcelain

Nostalgia is a broad term. It can be a smell, or a sound. It can be the feeling of familiarity when you walk into a certain place. It can show itself through words or through the feeling you get when you close your eyes.

For me, right now, it's the smell of gingerbread and pine trees. It's the slight chill to the air when I walk in to the front room. It's the glow of the lights strung around the Christmas tree. It's shown through the prickly feeling of the holly that dances around the house. It's the crunch of the snow that's made every time someone walks in and out of the house.

There are a couple of people missing, but he's here in spirit. And there is one person who has been added, after being absent for a very long time. We all sit around the fireplace, holding mugs filled with steaming hot chocolate. Dad has been coming in and out of the house to bring in more firewood, so there's a nice constant chill in the air to keep us all from melting. Rose and I baked gingerbread cookies earlier, and they're currently sitting on the countertop, cooling.

"Here we are again," Donnie says, laughing. "Year two."

Rose snickers. "Can you believe it's been a year since you guys saved Lexi's butt for the first time?" She looks beautiful, as always, in her white sweater and big silver hoop earrings. Her hair is down and flowing. It's gotten a lot longer over the last year, and instead of cutting it like usual, she's decided to grow it out. She looks a lot happier than she did before.

"My butt didn't need any saving!" I defend.

"Your butt needed lots of saving," Mom says, chuckling.

I roll my eyes. "Okay, okay, I owe them all my possessions." I shake my head. "When I die, they'll be on the top ten people on my will."

"Ooh can I have your video games?" Mikey asks eagerly. "You hardly even play them!"

"Mikey, we're hoping Lexi doesn't die any time soon," Don says. "But Lexi, if you do die, can I have that quote book I got you last Christmas?" I scoff, and throw a pillow at him. He dodges it, but let's a smile crack. "What? To remember you by!"

"This girl isn't going to be dying any time soon," Leo says. He puts his arm around me and pulls me close to him. "But if she does, I'm going to get all her books. And I claim her katanas." I scoff and try to pull away, but he smiles and pulls my closer. "Hey, I'm kidding, love. Come here." My stomach melts into a pile when he calls me that, and I allow him to draw me nearer.

After the night that Leo and I spent holding and touching each other, the only person who mentioned anything was Rose, and this was only because she noticed that I never came to bed that night. She and I were supposed to be sharing a room together, after all.

"Where were you?" she had asked, but she had a big smile on her face like she knew already.

"None of your business," I said the next morning, shuffling through my duffle bag to find another outfit for the day. Little did I know that Leo had left some marks on my neck from his passionate kissing and sucking, and Rose saw it as soon as I walked in.

She just smiled at me, knowingly. "You better cover up then because it's about to be everyone's business when you go downstairs." I had looked in the mirror and my jaw dropped, cue Rose's laughter. She let me borrow a cute turtle neck sweater and helped me style it well. It was one of the most normal sister interactions I think that I have had with Rose in a very long time. 

She's the only one who knows about all that, and if anyone else does, they haven't said anything. Rose is sworn to secrecy. Leo and I want our private life to be exactly that: private. As soon as that information gets into Mikey's hands, he's going to have everyone within a 10 mile radius informed. And that will just make things awkward especially with my dad being back. He missed the whole "threatening every boy with a shotgun on each first date" phase of my life, but he's still got enough time for the other awkward "boyfriend talks." Even though it was only touching and kissing between me and Leo that night, I want to avoid the "Dad sitting Leo down for a serious talk about respecting my daughter" for as long as I possibly can. Just the thought of it embarrasses me. And I know Leo would be beet-red through the whole talk.