Three's Company

2.18 | Food, Family, and Flirting

Food, Family, and Flirting

thanksgiving: [thangks-giv-ing]; noun; the act of giving thanks; grateful acknowledgment of benefits or favors, especially to God.

Thanksgiving Day was one that was always full of joy, especially in the Meek household. The staff pulled out all the stops every year, preparing feasts that could easily feed an army and not just the six members of Ethan's family.

Ethan woke up on November 24th with the sole intention of eating his weight in turkey. He never spent Thanksgiving with anyone other than his immediate family, and that was how he liked it--there was always leftover food for him to devour after everyone else finished their dinner. He ate a full meal with his family as well, but the leftovers always tasted better.

Thanksgiving Day was also the one day a year that Ethan skipped his daily run; it was a day he dedicated to being as unhealthy as he possibly could. And with a body that rivaled that of a professional basketball player, he had no issues with taking a day off.

Ethan rolled over in bed and turned on his phone, scrolling through the hundreds of messages he had received between the time he had fallen asleep and woken up. Most of them were from study groups that he had no intention of ever attending, some were from his basketball buddies asking when they were going to commit to a practice schedule for the winter, and the rest--well over fifty of them--were from random girls wishing Ethan a happy Thanksgiving.

Only one message stood out, and it wasn't the one from Scarlet asking about plans for the next day.

Happy Thanksgiving, Ethan! Hope you can finally relax and not have to worry about Freedman grilling us on learning our lines before January. Have a great day!

The name at the top of the screen read "Nova", but it may as well have read "Thanksgiving leftovers" from the way Ethan was staring at it.

He typed out his reply quickly.

Thanks, Nova! Hope your day is great, maybe we'll see each other later!

He pressed send and immediately regretted it; what would they be doing where they would see each other later?

Ethan set his phone down and hopped out of bed, breathing in the smell of the different Thanksgiving foods being made downstairs. It was well past noon, and the Meeks always had Thanksgiving dinner at 1:00 PM on the dot.

Just as Ethan was about to leave his room, he heard a ring come from his phone and returned to look at it. A reply from Nova:

Maybe so!

Two words. Two words that left a smile on Ethan's face for the rest of the day.

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"Amen."

Everyone released hands as Nova's uncle, Bart Brannon, began to cut the turkey and serve it to everyone. Nova couldn't remember the last time she had had a proper Thanksgiving dinner, and having it with a real, full family was even more exciting.

She had been unsure about texting Ethan earlier that morning, and waiting for his reply for over two hours had been painful. But her mood had been boosted since his response, and she didn't think the smile had left her face all afternoon.

"So Nova, what's been going on at school?" Her Aunt Ashley asked curiously as the family began to eat. "Have you made any good friends yet?"

Nova nodded.

"I definitely have. These two girls befriended me on the first day, actually, and they've been great to me since then."

She wasn't exactly sure if she would called Jessica Anastos and Sasha Corrian her best friends, but they were something.

"That's wonderful, dear." Ashley smiled. "And anything new in the boy department?"

"Don't badger her, dear." Uncle Bart reprimanded gently.

"I'm just curious!" Ashley laughed. "We don't hear a lot about your life because of the rehearsals for the musical taking up so much of your time."

Nova laughed.

"It's no problem. I'm interested in a certain guy, yes, but I'm not sure where it's going right now."

"You didn't tell me that!" Nova's mother exclaimed, "What's his name?"

"Ryan." Nova replied quickly, before her mind could undermine her and blurt out a different name. "We've been on a few dates."

"Well, that just goes to show how much I know." Brittany rolled her eyes in the direction of her brother and sister-in-law. "You kids hardly tell me anything."

"It wasn't that big of a deal, Mom. That's why I didn't tell you." Nova shushed her mother.

"Don't worry Britt, we hardly hear anything from Felix. It's always Lindsey mouthing off."

Nova noticed Felix slouch a bit from beside her.

"Hey, I don't talk that much!" Lindsey defended herself.

"You called me from the shower one time to tell me about a girl who fell down in the hallway earlier." Felix jumped in, "You talk non-stop."

The conversation turned in a different direction and the dinner was finished peacefully. Nova helped to clean things up and wash dishes before hearing the doorbell ring.

"I'll get it!"

She ran over to the front door and whisked it open to see Ethan Meek standing on her doorstep.

"Hey."

"Hey!" Ethan seemed flustered. "I just noticed that you left these notes in my binder a few days ago and I thought you might like to have them over the long weekend."

He handed her a small stack of loose leaf paper with her handwriting on it.

"Oh, thanks!" Nova grinned, taking the papers. "Do you want to come in?"

Ethan shook his head.

"That's alright. I just wanted to drop the notes off." He paused for a second before turning and heading back down the stairs. "I'll see you in class."

"Alright. Bye, Ethan."

Nova shut the door and turned around to find Felix standing behind her.

"Was that Ethan Meek?"

Nova nodded.

"He was just returning some notes I let him borrow the other day."

Felix raised his eyebrows.

"If you say so."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Nova asked as her cousin turned to walk away.

"Just be careful." Felix replied, continuing to walk away from her. "And I'm pretty sure his name isn't Ryan."