destinesia | gnr

a very gnr thanksgiving

THANKSGIVING DAY.

IT WAS ABOUT two hours before everyone would start to arrive, and the house was already chaotic.

Being that my family is so small, a house with one bathroom was just fine. Well, one plus my parents' bathroom, but they wouldn't let me step foot in there. Although, with five extra people in the house, specifically five grown men, all with heads full of hair, it just wouldn't do.

"Slash, hurry the fuck up!" Axl shouted, banging on the closed bathroom door. "One second, man! All this shit Jackie has in here is confusing!" Slash yelled over the running shower water. He's being dramatic, theres not that much stuff in there. If he would just read bottles he could figure out which is which.

"Man, is he still in there? That coffee your mom made wreaked havoc on my stomach walls." Duff popped up beside me, holding his stomach while I sat casually on the counter, refreshing the chipped black nail polish on my fingernails. "TMI, Duff." I looked at him weirdly.

"Jackie, where'd you put my clothes?" Steven rushed in the kitchen wearing only a towel around the waist of his dripping body. "I've been walking around half naked for the past hour." He said. He took a shower just before Slash. "They're in the dryer, they should be done soon." I replied.

"Yo, Jack. Your dad's record collection is fuckin' sick." Izzy appeared behind Steven with my dad beside him. I chuckled. "I see you two are getting along well."

My dad opened his mouth to respond, but Axl's shouting interrupted us. "Slash!"

My dad glared at Axl, so I spoke up before he could. "Axl, shut the fuck up, please?" I held my arms to my side. "Tell your boyfriend to hurry up, then." He responded, finally walking away from the door. I sighed, hopping off the counter and approaching the bathroom door. "Slash." I said. Just as I reached for the doorknob, it swung open, revealing Slash, fully dressed with a towel holding his hair up, which I thought was fucking adorable. "Fuckin' finally." Axl breathed, brushing past us into the bathroom.

I returned to the kitchen and caught a glimpse of Duff's defeated expression as he'd just missed his chance for the bathroom. "I'm with Ax on this one, no one likes a bathroom that smells like shit mixed with steamy walls." Steven remarked before disappearing into the hallway again. Why do these guys say the most out of pocket stuff? I shook my head and left to the living room to find Izzy and my dad sitting on the couch. I smiled at the sight of my dad telling a very animated story, waving his arms everywhere and painting goofy expressions on his face as he spoke. Probably telling a story about a concert he went to years ago.

Izzy responded to my dad, which I was a bit too far away to hear, especially with his back turned to me. My dad signaled for him to wait there with his finger while he got something from another room. Izzy relaxed his back into the couch and caught me watching him. His lips curled up ever so slightly and he lifted his chin at me, to which I responded with a small smile. He and I had barely spoken a word since the guys got here, which yes, was literally not even for a full day, but any time he and I would jump into a small side conversation while the others would ramble on about stuff, his expression would eventually drop, and he'd become oddly quiet. He'd come up with a weak excuse to end the conversation.

∞

"Last time I saw you, you were about-" Grandpa gestured his hands low, to the same height of his wooden cane. "-this tall!" He ruffled my hair a bit before fixing his eyes onto the strange men standing behind me with tight smiles, forced posture, and their hands behind their backs.

"Grandpa," I looked between the grey old man and my five best friends. "This is Slash, Steven, Duff & Axl, and uh-Izzy's around here somewhere, probably drooling over vinyl with dad." I chuckled. My grandpa gave them an odd look before nodding slowly.

My mothers voice turned our heads toward the kitchen. "Mom, give me the damn turkey baster." She said while reaching for the item in grandma's hand. "You don't even have a darn turkey! What you need a baster for anyway?" She responded with her thick country accent. She knew we had a turkey. We were the hosts of dinner, of course we would, but it's mom & grandma's thanksgiving tradition to bicker with each other and then share a river of tears at dinner when old memories get brought up.

"We have a damn turkey!" She said, then she turned her gaze to me. "Jackie Lynn, would you get the turkey for me please?" I nodded, and ignored the thoughts of last time I touched that turkey.

What're you doin' here?

"I'll help." Slash stepped up from the tight shoulder-to-shoulder line of men. I muttered a thank you and lead him out the front door. The cold autumn air immediately burnt my sinuses. I scrunched my nose up. "You okay?" Slash chuckled from beside me. "Yeah, just allergies."

We grabbed the turkey-well, he grabbed the turkey then we returned into the chatty house. Not long after we shut the door behind us, it opened again, revealing a visibly already buzzed uncle John with my younger cousins June & Bailey, and aunt Jessie. Bailey, the youngest of the two ran straight to me. "Jackie Lynn!" She wrapped her arms around me. "Bailey." I smiled into her shoulder.

Bailey & June were twins. They didn't look completely alike, even though the doctor assures us they're identical and not fraternal. If I remember correctly, they turned eighteen just a few months ago.

I pulled apart and kept my gaze on her until June spoke up. "Uh... what the hell is Axl Rose doing in your house?" I followed her dumbfounded gaze to Axl.

Oh god, she'd heard of the band.

Axl's bored expression upturned and he slowly approached the younger girl. "Uh.. good one, Rose. You tryin' to catch a case?" I put my hand on his chest, preventing him from getting any closer. June only smiled with a faint tint of red on her cheeks before she looked back at me.

"Roommates. We're roommates." I said, moving to the side to reveal the three others. Her mouth hung agape and her face reddened when her eyes landed on Slash. This time she was the one to walk up to him. "Ha! Very funny. He's taken already." I put my arm in front of her, then looked at Slash who was clearly trying to hide his smile while he met my gaze. She rolled her eyes slightly then leaned in to whisper something to me. "Whatever, Izzy's the best anyway. He doesn't get enough attention."

"Izzy?" I blurted loudly with a confused voice as I pulled away, her eyes widened and she was about to say something before a manly voice interrupted us. "Right here." I looked over to see Izzy with his hands clung to a doorway as he swung around the corner. "Izzy!" I exclaimed cheerfully before looking back to June, who was now melting right at the sight of him.

"Oh my god." She managed to squeak before turning to Bailey who was deep in conversation with Steven. She was really into drumming, as was he, of course. June nagged at her shirt, whipping her into the hallway in the direction of my bedroom. I looked back at Izzy who was approaching the group with an amused expression.