Chasing You

28

BRADEN

"Come on people! We need to be more efficient!" Tori claps her hands. A chorus of groans is heard all around. We are piled into the kitchen and living room of the boys house making a Thanksgiving dinner. Well and whatever Jeremy, Asher, Trey, and my brother are doing in the living room.

Which is just making me nervous as it is.

"I don't even know how to fucking cook," Carter groans. She stands in front of the microwave waiting for the butter to soften. Everyone is designated for something. Robbie and Rae are with the turkey, Tori is making the stuffing, while Lacey and I are with the mashed potatoes. Carter and Julie are on cooking duty. The microwave beeps and she opens it up. "Uh oh."

"Oh God, what?" Rae asks. She whips around and looks at Carter. I release a loud laugh. The butter is almost completely melted.

"You're not supposed to melt the butter the whole way!" Tori yells.

"Carter!" Rae yells at her.

"What! You didn't specify how long it was supposed to go in for!" Carter defends herself. I let out another laugh as Rae grabs the bowl full of butter.

"Well how long did you put it in for?" Tori asks, holding her stuffing.

"Thirty seconds."

"Thirty seconds!"

"Carter!"

"What you said, put it in for a second! You never specified how many," she grumbles. I laugh again as Rae shoos her away from the bowl for the cookies. Carter frowns, stepping away with her arms crossed.

"Yeah a second! Not thirty!" Tori exclaims again.

"Out of the kitchen go help the rest of the people who were banned," Rae says. She pushes Carter with one hand and holds the bowl of melted butter with the other. Carter mumbles a quick 'I never said I was good at cooking.' Carter steps out of the kitchen while Rae releases a stressed sigh and Robbie grabs the bowl of butter from her.

"Damn, how do I get kicked out?" I grumble turning to look at Lacey. She sends me a glare shoving me away. I release a loud laugh but stop when I see Rae glaring at me too.

"Do not purposefully fuck up this dinner because you are lazy, Williams," Rae says pointing a spatula at me. I throw my hands up in defense and turn back around to our mash potato recipe. Rae has already kicked out the majority of the people who were in the kitchen in the first place. Trey and Tyler were the first to be kicked out because they were sword fighting, Asher got kicked out because he was all over Carter, and Jeremy broke a plate. Now Carter.

They will be missed.

"Will you not piss off the person who put together this whole thing?" Lacey says, shooting me a smile. I roll my eyes at her but pick up the printed out recipe sheet again. For the most part, I haven't even been helping. I have just been reading the instructions to Lacey while she does all the hard work. Well and just watching Lacey. I always knew she enjoyed cooking and baking but it really does put her in her element.

"I will try my very best."

Lacey laughs, clearly not believing me, "Let's just finish these before you get kicked out."

I read the next part of the recipe to her. This whole Friendsgiving was Rae's idea. After Lacey was told that she wasn't allowed home for Thanksgiving, we needed some way to cheer her up. So, we planned this makeshift Thanksgiving. It also helps because the boys and I can't go home for Thanksgiving either so we have to stay in Chapel Hill. But, my mom is coming up to celebrate with us and Asher's mom and brother are also coming. Carter is going home first for Thanksgiving, then joining us here. I am debating on whether or not I should invite Lacey. I mean we haven't even established what the hell we are doing but in all honesty I don't think either of us want to. I am comfortable with taking it the pace we are right now and I prefer to not fuck it up. Per usual.