for, liar

Chapter 74

Thanksgiving day is here and the little ounce of excitement I had faded late last night when I was trying to fall asleep. I've only become increasingly more anxious and Maddy has been no help as she frantically runs around trying to get ready for her family dinner.

"I just want to show my family that I'm not a loser and I'm successful and still look damn good now that I've lost my freshman fifteen."

Maddy barely even gained weight during college. I don't know what the hell she is talking about.

"You look amazing as usual. Why are you freaking out? It's not like it matters what your dumbass relatives think."

Maddy despises her family. All they do is nag and insult her any chance they get, not realizing they're only pushing her away. I told her she could always join my family if she wanted to escape them for the holidays one year but she has yet to take the offer. It's not like my family get-togethers are any better.

"If Allyson brings up her new internship I am going to lose my shit. She won't stop talking about it." She huffs.

Allyson is Maddy's least favorite cousin from her mom's side of the family. Every year she goes on a tangent about how successful she is and basically trashes Maddy's attempt to impress anyone with whatever she's doing at the time.

A couple of years ago when I went over to her family's dinner because mine were being incompetent, Allyson had gotten an internship offer at a law firm so she spent the entire evening bragging about the opportunity and taking any opportunity to dog Maddy's success. Maddy wasn't doing much at the time because we were halfway through college drowning in schoolwork so it was near impossible to retaliate.

"Did she get a new internship?" I ask.

"She gets one every fucking year. You'd think she would have an actual job by now."

I chuckle and spread a thin layer of lip gloss over my lips. I've never been a fan of lipstick but I do like the shine this gives off. It makes it look like I put some effort into my appearance.

"What time is Miles picking you up?"

Maddy slides on her mid-calf black boots over her jeans. It's too cold to wear a dress so she'll be thanking me later when she realizes jeans were the best option for today. The flannel she chose looked very flattering on her as well. I wish I looked that good in flannel.

"In a half hour. He's running a little late but it's okay because I didn't want us to be early to my dad's house anyway."

"You think your dad is going to act weird? He seemed fine around Ben."

He was great around Ben. He tried questioning him and pulling the scary dad card on the first date, but he was always more concerned in Ben's values than how he actually treated his daughter. Ben went to church, had manners, was in JROTC, and had perfect grades so that meant he didn't have to worry about anything. He may have even liked Ben more than me. He was probably more devastated than I was when we broke up but he never fails to ask me how he's doing. Ben's name is not a topic for discussion this year and I'm going to make sure of that.

"We just have to get past the first meeting. He tries to act badass to intimidate guys but it's never actually intimidating. I find it amusing."

Maddy laughs and touches up her makeup. She grabs her keys from the hook and puts on her coat. "Okay, well good luck. Let me know how it goes. When are you coming home?" She asks, already halfway out the door.

"Tomorrow after I finish shopping with mom."

She shoots me a thumbs up and leaves. Miles arrives shortly after as I'm finishing up my hair. I actually took pride in my appearance for today. I decided on dark blue jeans, a garnet cardigan over a black top, and my black knockoff Timberlands.

"You look gorgeous." Miles beams, sneaking his arms around my waist for a quick hug.

I kiss him unintentionally passionately  and he pulls back before anything could escalate. Not that it would have.

"Are you ready to go?"

"Yeah." I say softly, leaning up to kiss his cheek.

Miles drives the entire way playing whatever was currently on the radio in the background. A lot of stations are already starting to play Christmas music. I'm never prepared for the quick change of Thanksgiving to Christmas. November just seems a little too early to be hearing predominantly Christmas music everywhere.
My dad probably already has his decorations set out to put up tomorrow. He always likes to put them up as soon as Thanksgiving is over. Mom thought he was insane for it but even she admits she loves celebrating as soon as it's socially acceptable.

I don't know when me and Maddy are going to put up our tree. I found one on sale at Big Lots and Maddy bought some ornaments. Even though holidays are stressful, I do love the idea of decorating the apartment the way that we want to. It feels freeing.

"Is that his house? Holy shit." Miles' mouth drops as we enter the open gate.

There's already a few cars parked in the driveway. I have no idea how many people he invited to this thing. They always go overboard.

"Yeah, he's very comfortable with his money." I sigh.

"You call this comfortable?"

I chuckle and shrug. "He's good with his money. He worked hard for it."

Miles parks behind what looks like my aunt's BMW. I swear that woman gets a new car every single season. It'll probably be a different one by New Years.

He climbs out of the car and runs around to open the door for me.

I laugh, sliding out of the front seat. "Miles, there's no one out here. You don't have to be a show off."

He smiles and shakes his head. "I'm not doing it for anyone. I just want to treat you right."

"Oh, God." I cringe. "You do treat me right. Relax."

I peck his cheek again as he shuts the car door. We make our way up the driveway to the steps of my father's two story townhouse. Miles rubs his hands together nervously and reaches down to grab mine as we approach the door. I ring the doorbell and we wait a few seconds for someone to answer. I haven't seen my dad since we moved into the apartment so I almost don't recognize him with a full beard.

"Bree!" He steps down and wraps his arms around me, embracing me with all of his strength. I grunt and hug him back, laughing to myself at his excitement.

"Happy Thanksgiving." I whisper.

He smiles and pulls away, focusing his attention to Miles.

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