Sky's The Limit

xxv

twenty five | crystal

It was Thanksgiving.

It was a day that was typically spent with Maceo. I'd accompany him to his mother's home, where we'd eat and fellowship with his family.

His mother was always cordial, but I knew that there were still some reservations she held about me.

She'd only known me as her daughter's friend before Mace and I got together. She was fine with that being the way things were.

However, once she saw me and Mace gettin' serious, she didn't hesitate to let her concerns be known.

The list of concerns only seemed to grow over time, and although she was cordial, there was no denying the negative air that'd blast every time I walked into her home.

Last Thanksgiving, we passed on going to his mother's house together. He, instead, went solo.

I spent the entire day lounging around, rejecting offers from Will and Ishaan to join them for Thanksgiving. I was too bummed out about my own lack of family to bare being with anyone else's.

I watched The Thanksgiving Day parade, painted my nails, did whatever I could to keep busy, and at the end of the night, Mace came.

He had a stack of plates straight from his mother's home, and he had stopped at the store for candles and wine.

He brought Thanksgiving to me and made it special with flowers too.

Last Thanksgiving was one of our better days, but this Thanksgiving, we were nothing.

We hadn't even spoken to one another since that fateful night, when he gifted me with the tape of I.V. 's Club Five Takeover— that's what people were callin' it now, according to Ishaan.

I couldn't lie about missing him, and now that Tiff wasn't talkin' to me, my loneliness doubled.

Will invited me over for Thanksgiving— said it wouldn't be right without me there.

It was a sweet sentiment, but I didn't want to sit through his many cousins, aunts, and uncles asking us why we don't date. I'd had enough of that, this past 4th of July.

'Shaany offered up his kitchen table too. I considered it, especially since it's been forever since I had dinner with the Hughes family.

The thing that kept me from going was one phone call.

It came precisely at noon. I'd just gotten out of bed and was searching tirelessly through my closet for something to wear. The ringing went ignored until it ceased...

Then it started again.

With a groan, I exited my room and stomped into the kitchen.

"Hello?"

"Cris."

"Tiff?"

"Yeah, it's me."

"Oh, well, Happy Thanksgiving!" I was grinning already.

"Yeah, same to you."

The line fell silent.

"I was calling because... I really miss you, and I really wanna' see you today."

"I miss you too, Tiff. You know you can come over at any time. I ain't got nothin' cookin', but I can hook up some turkey sandwiches—"

"No... I want you to come to Queens," she interjected.