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26. Life Worth Living

      Christmas, unlike most other holidays, actually matters to Adaline.

Of course, the only one in the apartment who is actually Christian is Dante, Maira is agnostic, Madi is pagan and Adaline is atheist so the girls really only celebrate commercial Christmas with Dante before they go to church.

They really started celebrating Christmas together when they were Juniors in high school and Dante wanted to give them gifts, so secret santa ensued and the gift giving tradition was born. Adaline has gotten some weird things from her friends. Plants, a stuffed cat, blankets, a copy of Trisha Paytas book for some reason. She's kept it all, of course.

      "So Dante," Maira starts as they all sit in the living room, a few gifts for each of them wrapped under a plastic tree. "You wanna explain why you're back? Madi won't say anything."

      "Hey, didn't want to tell their business," Madi defends herself.

Dante chuckles and sips the hot chocolate in their mug instead of answering at first. "We talked it out. I talked to my sister about it, all that fun stuff. I'm staying put."

There's nothing more to say, really. Maybe Maira and Adaline will never know the full story but at least, for now, it's all over and done with. The fights, the disappearances, the stress and the broken home. It reminded Adaline a little too much of her blood family and she's still not too sure on if that was a good thing or not.

It's nice to have everyone back, though. The issues aren't over yet, not with Aimee still around and Adaline not telling her friends about what's going on with Clay, good or bad it's still a secret. Maybe it's just not the right time to tell them. Maybe it never will be. Either way, it's her personal business in the end. She's not obligated to say anything.

      "Who's first?" Madi changes the subject by sliding off the couch and grabbing the first wrapped box she can reach. After a second of turning the box over to find the name she throws it in Adaline's direction. After Madi is done getting yelled at (jokingly of course) by Dante for throwing the presents, Adaline has one more than everyone else.

Now, the rules of Christmas in the group are simple. It's only the four of them and each person gives everyone else a gift. The mystery is how Adaline ended up with one extra than everyone else.

If there is anything that the group knows how to do, it's follow a tradition. A shared understanding of familiarity and something comfortable, sometimes Adaline feels guilty because she knows things will stay the same for her sake.

      "Who's it from?" Dante asks, scooting over to Adaline.

      "Ooo, secret admirer?" Maira chimes in.

      "Nope, my sister," Adaline says with a surprised tone as she turns the box around in her hands. It's small and long, the polka dot blue wrapping covering the length of her hand. Maybe it's like... A fitbit or something. Aimee always had a habit of making fun of her weight.

      "Open it! I wanna see!" Maira claps her hands together as Adaline folds back the wrapping paper to reveal a box, she opens the box to reveal...A necklace?

It's a simple silver necklace with a crystal on it, an amethyst.

She was really interested in crystals as a teenager. She still is, there's a selenite bowl of them in her room. Adaline didn't think that Aimee would remember something like that about her. She never did pay attention to really anything about her younger sister, not anything that she couldn't use to tear her down. A simple moment of softness, of kindness, is enough to set Adaline back.

Still she has learned to not get her hopes up about most things and that includes Aimee. One good gift is not enough to make up for the abandonment and the harsh coldness.

      "It's so pretty," Dante comments. "You sure that's from Aimee?"

       "...Not entirely sure it was actually her who got it, but I want to believe it was," Adaline doesn't dare put it on. "Someone else open a gift."

      "I'll open one!" Maira's hand shoots up into the air first. "This ones from Madi."

Maira carefully peels back the wrapping paper to reveal a mini gumball machine with assorted kinds of candies stuffed inside. The look in Madi's eyes is knowing, she knows that Maira is going to love it because Madi knows it all. Everything that everyone loves, what makes them cringe, what they don't like talked about. Adaline meets Madi's eye and smiles at her friend.

There's something about clicking with someone that makes life worth living.

Clicking with everyone.

As Adaline silently watches everyone smile and thank each other, she has never felt more at home.

Word Count: 801

A/N: Hey, so...I've been gone for five months. Let me explain. I was in a residential treatment facilitty for four months after being in an acute psych ward for eighteen days. I was diagnosed with severe depression, generalized anxiety disorder, cannabis use disorder, and an eating disorder. I was severely unstable and had plans to take my own life. I went through intense treatment, with individual and family therapy once a week, and group therapy everyday. It was a lot, but DBT helped me and my family so much to deal with my mental health. I am going to post more, I promise, because this story is so special to me and I am so happy to be back and posting again. <3