Change (Published under The Change For Her)

Fifty-Two

We ended up arriving at my mother's late at night. Both the guys fell asleep in my room, Drew sleeping on my couch and Liam shared the bed with me. The two of them are still sleeping, while I'm standing around in my bathroom getting glam up since today is Thanksgiving. I can already hear my mother downstairs banging around the kitchen, getting a head start on the lovely dinner we'll be having in a few hours.

I finish curling the last strand of hair, turn off my curling iron so I don't accidentally burn the house down before exiting the bathroom to meet my mother in the kitchen. The aroma from the food cooking fills my nose making my mouth water as I make my way down the stairs. "Hi, mother," I greet her before kissing her cheek when I enter the kitchen.

"Hello sweetie," She smiles softly. "How was the ride to get here?"

"Eventful," I laugh softly remember how Drew and I were practically screaming along to a Taylor Swift song after leaving Mcdonald's. Liam getting annoyed with us, plotting our deaths or regretting having us both in the same vehicle together. "Need any help?" I question while putting on an apron to cover up my red knitted dress.

"Yes, can you please start working on the devil eggs? They have already been boiled, just need to peel the shells off-"

"I know what to do mom," I chuckle while grabbing a hold of the pot filled with the eggs and drain the water into the sink. "What is Mrs. Taylor bringing over?" I ask while peeling the shells off the eggs.

"Her homemade pumpkin pie, potato casserole, and the turkey since it's their turn this year." Another tradition of ours is that we take turns cooking the turkey. Whoever doesn't cook the turkey that year, is in charge of the ham on Christmas.

"It smells delicious in here," The sound of Liam's voice enters the room. He bends down behind me where I'm sitting at the kitchen island to kiss my cheek. "Hi Amber, thank you for letting me join you guys for Thanksgiving."

"Hello Liam, there's no need to thank me. You know you're always welcome here unless you hurt my baby girl," She jokes while shaking her wooden spoon at him.

"Don't worry, I don't ever plan to cause any harm to this beauty," He chuckles while rubbing my shoulders. My face starts heating up at his comment. "Is there anything I can help with?" He asks politely.

"No, no, you're a guest. How about you go into the living room and watch the football game with your buddy," My mother tells him.

"Are you sure? I'm happy to help with anything you need assistants with."

My mother goes to the pantry, grabs a bag of chips, and hands them to Liam, "I said no, now go enjoy the game," She shoos Liam into the living room causing him and me to laugh.

******

"That must be Maria and her family," I say when I hear the sound of the doorbell. "I'll go let them in." I wipe my hands off and go open the front door.

"Happy Thanksgiving!" They all say at once when I open the door.

"Happy Thanksgiving," I let them enter, Mr. Taylor hugs me before entering the living room to watch the game.

"Where's Drew?" Maria asks me after hugging me.

"In the living room with Liam, that's where mom ordered them to stay put at." She smiles while nodding her head before going into the room.

"Hi beautiful, guessing your mother in the kitchen?" Mrs. Taylor assumes.

"Yes, she's finishing up on a couple of items." She walks into the dining room to set the turkey in the middle of the dining table, before joining my mom in the kitchen.

I walk towards the living room, stand in the entryway just to see Maria sitting next to Drew. Watching him and her father talking about the game with a smile on her face, looking pleased that they're getting along. My attention goes to Liam, who's sitting on the chair seeing that his eyes were already on me.

He instructs me to come over, I make my way to him and sit on the arm of the chair. Liam wraps his arm around my waist, pulls me down onto his lap causing me to squeal. "Liam," I scold him, which only makes him laugh and place a kiss on my lips.

"You're so cute," He chuckles while caressing my cheek. "Red really suits you," He takes in my appearance.

"Thank you," I softly say. I place my head on his shoulder, fiddling with the buttons on his black button-up dress shirt.

"If you want me to remove my shirt, just ask but I don't think your mother would be okay with it," He jokes which causes me to slap his chest. "Kidding," He chuckles as he begins running his hand gently up and down my thigh. "Still looking forward to having dinner tomorrow with Trish?" He quietly asks me.

"Yeah, she's not upset about having dinner tomorrow instead of today, is she?"

"No, she's totally fine with it," He assures me.

"Good."

We sit quietly watching the game on the tv, while Drew and Mr.Taylor bicker about whatever is happening during each play. Maria softly laughs as she watches them with amusement in her eyes.

"Okay everyone, dinner is ready!" My mother announces. We all get up and start making our way into the dining room, where we see the food layout on my mother's fancy dishes that my grandparent on my father's side gave to her as a wedding gift.

"Drew and Liam, it's a tradition for all of us to go around the table to say what we're thankful for this year. Would either of you two like to go first?" She looks between the two.

Drew nods his head as a way of confirming he would like to. "I'm thankful that I got a scholarship to play for Braskfield's Basketball team because if it wasn't for them, I probably wouldn't be in college right now." I knew he played some type of sport.

After Drew, Maria and her parents said what they were thankful for. We all listened respectfully at what they had to say. Maria said she was thankful that the exams were finally over. Mrs. Taylor was thankful that Maria and I were finally out of this town to work on studies for our dream job. Mr. Taylor was thankful for his promotion.

Now it was my turn, "I'm thankful that I chose to go to Braskfield because I'm still able to travel to see my mother but I also got to discover a world that I never truly got to experience due to how my life was here. I'm truly grateful for it," I look over at Liam smiling at him.

"Um, this might be cheesy but I'm thankful to have met Chloe," He squeezes my hand that he's holding under the table. "Since I moved to Braskfield, I always felt something was missing. I kept to myself besides when I'm hanging out with my friends. When I met Chloe, all I wanted to do was get to know her and be there for her. I didn't understand why at first but now I know that she was the one thing that I was missing. I'm thankful that I met her because she made my life brighter." Everyone at the table 'aww,' making my face heat up.

"Okay, okay." My mother attempts to shoosh everyone. "I'm thankful that my lovely daughter finally escaped this town. She has been through so much and I'm grateful that God gave her a new path to live a life she deserves. I know her father would be so proud of her right now." My smile slowly faded away at the thought of my father, I hope I am making him proud because I feel I already made a few mistakes. My mother wipes the tear that left her eye, "Now, let's finally eat this amazing Thanksgiving meal that we created." We all cheered and started passing around each food item around the table.

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