Oh Boy! (BL)

23 - Thanksgiving (3/3)

To be honest, I had never been fond of national holidays. I mean, yeah, having a day off was kinda nice, and spending time with my mom was also a plus, but in most cases, she and I had spent the day sitting in front of the TV eating piles of junk food. In retrospect, it might've been some kind of protest against holidays in general. When my father had still been alive, we'd always prepared a massive dinner and invited neighbors to show off. Disgusting. After his death, however, Mom tried to make a big dinner for the two of us once. But even before she started cooking, she threw the roast into the trash can while tears were streaming down her face. It was the first time she ever let me see her cry.

Clumsily, I had gotten up from the sofa and hugged her until she calmed down. Then I'd walked down the block to get something from the food truck at the corner of the street. Mom had never tried preparing a holiday dinner again. No matter which holiday – Christmas, Thanksgiving, even the fourth of July – it was always the two of us eating greasy food.

Holidays had never been special.

Until today.

Still half stuffed with turkey sandwiches, I had trouble hiding my smile when Clay drove us over to my apartment building. Hand in hand we walked from the spot where he parked his car to my home; and for whatever reason, I was terribly nervous when I opened my front door.

No, that's a lie. I knew exactly why my cheeks were burning – it was embarrassment. Neither Cooper nor I had bothered tidying up. Blankets were lying everywhere, Cooper's deflated air mattress on the ground, and chips bags lying all over the place. And Mrs. Kowalsky's dirty casserole was still in the sink waiting to be cleaned and returned to its rightful owner.

Thus, it was hardly surprising when Clay lifted his eyebrows when taking in the chaos in front of him. "Um..."

I squeezed past him and hurried to pick up the blankets. I murmured an embarrassed apology but Clay only chuckled – and didn't that make my heart melt?

"Vinegar chips? Seriously?" He wrinkled his nose when lifting an empty bag from the ground. "Ducky once made me eat them and...um...ew!"

I shrugged and put the blankets over the back of my sofa bed. "Cooper likes them..."

I let my eyes wander over the living room. What next? If I cleaned the socks from the floor, I guessed it would be okay-ish again. But I never got that far.

Clay grabbed my wrists and whirled me around before I could lift even one solitary sock. With one hand at my chin, he bent me backward over the couch; our noses almost touching. The glimmer in his eyes made me gulp. "Cooper likes them, huh?"

"We're just friends," I murmured and wanted to put my free hand on his cheek but Clay grabbed it and held it behind my back. "We were watching movies, that's it. And Trevor's taking over for him tonight."

Clay narrowed his eyes. "Trevor."

"Yeah, he's..."

"I know who he is." With a smile that was slowly forming on his face, he leaned in closer to me. Every inch he got closer made my heart beat faster. I could smell his earthy scent and felt his breath against my ear when he whispered: "Cancel him."

I blinked. "What?"

"Tell him not to come."

"But...he's already on the way. I..."

"Tell him not to come." I squeaked when Clay's teeth tugged at my ear lobe. "I'll stay with you."

I made wide eyes. "O...overnight?"

His quiet chuckle caressed my neck, followed by his lush lips. "You seem shocked."

Well, I was shocked.