“MERCY! No more, please,” I beg breathlessly, as tears stream down my face. “That’s not fair, you can’t tickle me!” He’s relentless, though. I finally wiggle enough for his hold to loosen and allow myself to fall like dead weight to the floor. I’m panting while he glares down at me, but I see the laughter in his eyes. “Truce?” I hold out a hand and wait.
“For now, brat,” he chuckles, pulling me up to stand. “I’m really glad I came tonight.” The switch to serious Dare is jarring, but I’m also glad he came tonight, and I tell him that. “I’m going to grab a water. Would you like one?”
“I’ll come with you.” I lead him to the kitchen and open the stainless steel refrigerator. He checks out the big display screen that lets you see what’s in the fridge, and he whistles. “Yeah,it’s fancy. I have no fucking clue how it works, but apparently all of the units have them. I’d be happy as long as it keeps my stuff cold.” He laughs, accepting a bottle of water from my outstretched hand.
“It appears to do that well enough,” he informs me after chugging half the bottle. “It’s a beautiful place, Lan.” I thank him before I drink my own water.
Wes and Bennett are the first to leave, and Ezra isn’t far behind. I thank my friends for coming and celebrating with me. Penny is the next one to leave, after confirming that I don’t need any help cleaning up. Everyone pitched, so there’s really not a lot to do, anyway. I’m exhausted from the events of the day, but I’m so grateful for this entire group.
“We’re going to go, baby,” Jules says when I plop down next to him on the couch. “I’m so glad you’re back home where you belong.” As I’m about to get up to hug him, he holds out a hand to stop me. “No need to get up.” He kisses my cheek and scoops Craig up in his arms before making his way to the hall.
AJ pulls me to my feet for a hug and tells me he’s glad I’m home, too. I soak up AJ’s affection, grateful that I seem to be back in his good graces. I wonder if these boys realize they are all ‘home’ to me. “It’s good to see you so happy, Lan,” AJ says softly. I smile and thank him for the gift as he follows Jules to the door, leaving me alone with Darío.
Suddenly, I’m nervous, but he doesn’t give me a chance to overthink the situation. “Thank you for inviting us. I had the best time tonight. I know I’ve said this a lot, but it’s true. I’m so proud of you, Harlan.” He pulls me in for a hug, and I wrap my arms tightly around his neck, breathing in his familiar scent. He still smells like summer to me, and it brings me inexplicable comfort that this has remained the same.
My kitchen countersare overflowing with ingredients for Friendsgiving, and I’m beginning to regret signing up for this. In the past, I’ve had my mom, sister, and Harlan here to help, since my family came here for Thanksgiving. Antonella decided to take my parents on a cruise this year, so I’m very much on my own. I’ve gone over my menu at least fifty times and triple-checked my shopping list. As far as I can tell, I have everything I need. Dinner is in two days, and I’m confident that I need to start cooking today to make sure everything is ready. I’m also supposed to bake pies, so that’s going to be a fucking disaster.
I consider the fact that I should have enlisted help, but my options are limited. AJ and Jules are in charge of the drinks because neither one of them is any good in the kitchen. Wes is making dinner rolls, and Penny is bringing sweet potato casserole. Harlan is bringing mashed potatoes, but that hardly matters, since I still have to make my own, superior mashedpotatoes. Of all the years for Antonella to whisk my parents away, it had to be this one.
Craig’s nails clacking against the floor draw my attention to my short-legged buddy. He looks as confused as I feel when he takes in the chaos of the kitchen. “I know, dude. I have no clue where to start. I should have had it catered, huh?” He huffs at me and sprawls out on the floor, his back feet sticking out behind him in the perfect sploot. I send a text in the group chat to AJ and Julian, asking if they’d be disappointed with pizza on Friday, since I’m not sure I’m going to pull this off.
I’m assuming the guys are doing something fun, since my message goes unanswered. Organization will probably help, so I start separating the ingredients by recipe, and make sure all of the cold things are stored in the fridge as I go. Staring at the groceries hasn’t fixed anything, so I figure it’s a good place to begin. With that out of the way, I locate the pie dishes that Harlan insisted we needed. At the time, I thought four dishes were excessive, but now that I’m preparing to make four pies, I’m grateful for his insistence. I confirmed with my mom that four pies was a good number, since leftover pie is a necessity.
With the pumpkin pie in the oven, I begin washing and peeling apples that AJ delivered to me, fresh from his sister’s farm, for the apple pie. Just as I drop my fourth apple into a bowl with lemon juice, the doorbell rings, causing Craig to shoot to his feet and hustle to the door. I meet the menace in the foyer, grabbing his collar so he doesn’t run out into the street the moment I open the door. I find Harlan on my front steps, with his hands full of bags. He’s smiling from ear to ear, but I’m confused, so I make no move to invite him in. “I hear you may be in need of some reinforcements,” he says brightly. “You can start by letting me in.”
“Jesus, Harlan. I’m sorry! Of course, come in. Let me take some of those from you. Whatisall of that?” I let go of Craig,who wouldn’t dream of leaving the house with Harlan here, and I reach for a few of the bags. He lets out a relieved sigh and redistributes some of the bags as he follows me into the hall.
“I wasn’t sure what we’d be working with, so I brought some of my dishes, utensils, and spices,” he ticks off as he unloads the bags to the floor. I want to remind him that he stocked this kitchen, and I didn’t get rid of anything, but I refrain from making it awkward. He’s like a tornado as he starts emptying bags and setting things aside that I assume he doesn’t need right away.
“I…um…you didn’t have to do all of this. I was figuring it out. Sort of. I have the pumpkin pie in the oven, so I’m not totally useless.” Just then, I realize that I didn’t set a timer for the pie, so I rush to the oven and open it to a cloud of smoke billowing in my face. “Fuck!” The smoke detector starts blaring, causing Craig to start barking. Once I have the oven mitt on my hand, I pull out the charred remains of a pie.
Harlan opens the kitchen window to clear the smoke, while I silence the alarm and stare at the tragedy I created. “Should have just had this catered,” I mutter through a coughing fit. He tuts as he fans the smoke with a towel, but he offers me a sympathetic smile.
“No way. Thanksgiving isn’t the same if it’s not home-cooked,” he argues. Once he’s satisfied that he’s cleared the air enough, he examines the pie. “Those poor pumpkins. Sacrificed for nothing. This is why we set timers, Darío.”
“First of all,youinterrupted me. I was going along just fine.” This is a lie, and we both know it. He pats my shoulder and gives me the most condescending smile he can muster. “Since you have become a professional chef, apparently, why don’t you take over?”
“Ah, see. This is why I’m here. You’re welcome.” With that, he demands to see my menu and starts creating a list, startingwith what we’re making today, what I have to make tomorrow, and what needs to be made on Friday.
We work seamlessly once he gets us started, and we spend the next several hours baking, prepping, and cooking dish after dish, with no more catastrophes. Craig enjoys frequent trips to the fenced-in yard out back, allowing us to stay focused on the very strict timeline Harlan has set for us. As pies are set to cool and vegetables are washed and sliced, it finally seems likely that we’ll have a successful Friendsgiving. I’m a bit over cooking, though, so I'm hoping we can call it quits soon. I stare at the pile of pots and pans needing to be washed or put in the dishwasher and groan. “Are we done yet?” I recognize that I’m whining, but this shit is a lot of work. I’m also hungry, since it’s well past dinnertime.
“Go order us some takeaway, and I’ll finish wrapping up these dishes,” Harlan instructs while gesturing to a tray of green bean casserole and a tray of Brussels sprouts. I don’t have to be told twice, so I leave him to it. Once I’m in the living room, I open a food delivery app and scroll through the options before landing on sushi, since it’s one of Lan’s favorites.
Harlan appears in the living room, Craig not far behind. He’s been Lan’s shadow all day, the traitorous little shit. “I ordered from that sushi place a few blocks over. It should be here in twenty minutes.” I took a chance on his order, assuming it was the same as always. Edamame, miso soup, California roll, and a spicy tuna roll.
He rattles off his order, and I grunt an affirmative. “Some things never change,” he says a bit wistfully.No, they don’t, I think to myself as I watch him fold himself into ‘his’ corner of the couch, right where I always put my feet. Like no time has passed, I shift my legs to give him room.
“What are your plans for tomorrow? I know how much you love eating as many Thanksgiving meals as you can,” I joke. He pinches my toe and throws his head back on a laugh.
“I have to make up for last year, you know? I didn’t have anyone to celebrate an American holiday with.” The thought of him alone on one of his favorite days of the year leaves an unpleasant feeling in my chest. “I’ll be with Penny’s family tomorrow. I’m sure it’ll be loads of fun, with both sides of her family under the same roof. She begged me for moral support, so I couldn’t say no. Wes invited me, too, so I had options. What are you doing?”
“Since Antonella has my parents cruising the Caribbean, I’ll be hanging out on my own. AJ wanted me to go to his sister’s, but I wasn’t feeling it. Besides, I wanted to give myself tomorrow to make sure I had everything ready for Friday.” I see the sadness flicker across his face. “I’m ok, I promise. I didn’t want to leave the dog, so it’ll be fine. Plus, you know how chaotic Friday is going to be.”
The food arrives shortly after, and Lan grabs it while I get us drinks. The familiarity is unsettling because we’ve done this countless times in this same room. The nostalgia has me wanting to rip the wounds open and talk about all of it with him. I want to ask him where his heart is at. I want to try to understand where mine is. This friendship is so new, and I don’t think I can survive fucking it up.
“Hey, do you want to watch a Christmas movie while we eat?” His eager smile is stunning. I’m a firm believer in not watching Christmas movies or listening to Christmas music before Thanksgiving, but he is ready for all of it on November 1st. His excitement is adorable, so I find myself agreeing as he reaches for the controller on the ottoman.
I wake up to a dark TV screen and a weight on my lap. Stretching my fingers, I realize my hand is in Harlan’s hair,and he’s passed out, using my thigh as his pillow. So much for watching a Christmas movie. I allow myself a few moments to run my fingers through his riot of curls, and I have to fight the urge to stroke the clusters of freckles on his face while he snores gently. Craig is snoring, not so gently at all, somewhere on the floor by my feet. I can’t remember the last time I’ve felt this content.
