Looking For Space // Josh Kiszka

XX

So shout out to twominutegreta for that screenshot. Seriously, every time I look at that or see that video clip I lose my goddamn mind. I just love Josh...as if that weren't obvious...

I hope you're enjoying the holiday chapters, they were really fun to write!

--

Kirsti slid my mug of coffee across the kitchen counter and poured Kahlua into it, then slid it back to me, doing the same to hers. Christmas morning had officially come and it was just another hurdle to get over before I could spend the evening with Josh, Jake, Sam and Danny. I'd wrapped all of their gifts the night before, having specifically chosen different wrapping paper for each of them, and they were all already in my car. I was ready. I was not, however, ready to sit down in front of the fake tree with my parents for who knows how long, so the liqueur in my coffee was welcome.

"Is this the same bottle Eric had?" I asked, grabbing a spoon and taking a sip.

"Actually, I'd already bought this in preparation of today," Kirsti answered. "I thought we both could use it."

"Usually it's just me sulking and groaning," I commented. "Now you need alcohol in the morning to survive Mom and Dad?"

Kirsti raised her eyebrows as she took a sip of her coffee. "Ever since Nick and I broke up, Mom's been so--I don't know," she explained with a sigh. "It's like that weird, passive-aggressive pressure. So he and I didn't work out. So what?"

"Does she think we're getting old or something?" I replied. "I'm 24. You're 27. We've got time."

"Well, you know, she got married when she was 21," Kirsti reminded me, rolling her eyes. "So we do seem old, I guess. I'll be a spinster, clearly."

I laughed. "No, you won't. Well, she doesn't like Josh anyway, so--whatever."

"Fuck that," Kirsti declared.

I laughed again and clinked my mug against hers. "Agreed."

I eventually switched to decaf, taking down so much regular that I knew all the caffeine would be a nightmare later on, to keep pouring the Kahlua into. I was buzzed, which was helping. Not that the day was even bad, it was just that I kept wondering how it was going at the Kiszka's, plus anxiously waiting to give all the guys their gifts.

I surveyed the torn up wrapping paper scattered around the floor, nudging a crumpled ball with my foot. Sitting on the floor, A Christmas Story playing on the TV in the background, to open gifts was a tradition we clearly were never going to lose. I was okay with that--it always made me feel like a kid again, even if it was just a brief blip in time.

My dad was finishing up his traditional post-gift-opening buttermilk pancakes, a steaming stack of them already plated on the counter. I leaned against the counter and watched him carefully flip another.

"What are you doing with Josh later?" he asked, wiping his hand on his apron.

"Just gift swapping, really," I told him. "Plus it's Danny's birthday."

"Which one is Danny?"

"He's in the band with Jake and Sam. The drummer."

My dad looked up at the ceiling for a second. "I can't remember."

I chuckled. "It's okay. He's turning 21."

"What'd you get him?"

I smirked to myself. "Alcohol."

My dad chuckled then, just shaking his head.

"It's good though, it's a nice, sort of expensive, bottle of bourbon."