The Usual: A Jonathan Brandis Fanfiction

Seven

Later that day

  Jon and I mutually decided to go home early. It was for the better. Rachael said Ryan would take her to Jon's later in the evening to get her car.
  When we got to Jon's, we had to sit Greg and Mary down at the kitchen table and have a long, emotional and uncomfortable talk about what happened the night before.
  "Son, I'm proud of you for being there for Absidee. And I'm proud of whoever called 911, because something could have gone seriously wrong," Greg said, reaching across the table to hold both of our hands.
  "Absidee, would you like counsellor? I know these types of things can be hard on a lady, I would personally do it. And with this whole situation with your parents, it may be good for you," Mary offered.
  "I'll think about it," I smiled very small.
  "Kids, y'all go up to Jon's room and get some rest. I'll make y'all dinner if y'all want it later," Mary instructed, kissing both of our foreheads.
  So, that's exactly what we did. We didn't have school for the next three weeks because of winter break, so at least that wasn't a problem.
  "Can you turn on a movie?" I asked Jon as I crawled into bed.
  "Sure," he smiled as he threw a VHS tape in, which ended up being The Breakfast Club.
  "I think I'm just going to sleep for a bit," I laid my head in a pillow.
  "I'm gonna do the same," he laid down beside me. It wasn't long until I fell asleep.
  "Abi," I felt Jon rub my shoulder. I rolled over and saw him standing over me, hair wet from a shower. "Rachael is here. Do you wanna see her?"
  "Sure," I stretched and sat up. "Can she come up here?"
  "Yea, she's at the bottom of the steps. I'll go get her."
  A few seconds later, Rachael stepped into me and Jon's room, holding a Chick Fil A bag and drinks.
  "I brought you guys some food," she set it on the nightstand. "Ryan's downstairs too, I didn't want to overwhelm you."
  "It's fine. He can come in, if he wants," I tried to smile, though my thoughts weighed it down.
  Rachael ran to get him as Jon sat on the bed with me, putting his arm around my shoulders.
  "Hey," Ryan said as he stepped in, hugging me.
  "Hey, Ry," I smiled small.
  "We thought some food may help make you feel better. Is there anything we can do? Errands to run?"
  "I appreciate it, but no. Things are fine on those lines. I'm just tired."
  "Things will be okay. I promise," Rachael assured me.
  "We'll be checking in on you," Ryan added.
  Rachael and Ryan hugged me tight, then hugged Jon and said their goodbyes.

Christmas Eve

  I've spent the past 3 Christmas's with Jon and his family, so this year was no different. His mom cooked a Christmas eve dinner and we each opened one gift. Jon opened a small box that I gave him, which had a watch in it. I had the watch made specially for him. On the bottom it had engraved in it, "Love Always, Absidee."
  He pulled out the watch and smiled from ear to ear. "Thank you so much, Abi!"
  "Anything for you. I know I haven't been easy to deal with these past few weeks."
  Ever since the incident with Andrew, things around mine and Jon's life had been tough. For the first few days, leaving the bed was almost impossible. I couldn't eat, sleep, or function. I was disgusted and depressed.
  Jon wasn't the best either. He pretended to be, though. He tried to hide it, but he couldn't hide the cries when he was sitting in the bathroom floor, or late night when he thought I was sleeping, or the journal entry I read. He blamed himself, yet to my face pretended to be okay. I was too stuck hating my own self and my own life to say anything.
  Eventually, Mary brought in a therapist to help me with coping. Within a few days, I was basically back to normal. A few remaining emotional scars, but back to normal.
  Jon hugged me with tears in his eyes. "You didn't have to do this," he smiled.
  "That's not all. But you'll have to wait until tomorrow for the real surprise," I smiled big at him.
  "Well, here," he handed me a large box. Inside, there was a big collage of photos of Jon and I, from the first time we hung out to as recent as the beach weekend at Ryan's. Underneath the collage was a bunch of t-shirts for bands like Pink Floyd, The Grateful Dead, Nirvana, David Bowie, and of course my all time favorite, The Doors.
  "Jon," I smiled, through tears, "this is the sweetest thing."
  "There's more than that, but I guess you'll have to wait," he winked.
  "Alright, Mom and Dad. Here's my gift to you guys," Jon ran up to his room and came down with a giant box signed with our names. When his parents unwrapped it, they screamed.
  "It's, it's a TV!" Mary yelled. They had a pretty nice one in their basement, but they didn't have one in their room. Greg and Mary didn't feel like they needed one in their room but Jon and I felt as though they deserved it, so we split the costs in half. Jon wanted to pay the whole amount but I didn't want him to, so I dipped into some of the money Grandmother left me and paid what I could.
  "Thank you, son," his dad hugged him. "And thank you, Miss Absidee."
  Mary went into the kitchen to finish up the dinner we were all planning on having. Greg turned up the volume on the radio, playing Christmas music. Jon and I stayed in the living room, watching A Christmas Story snuggled up on the couch. Megan jumped up to snuggle with us. His cat, Marbles, was stretched across the window seat, knocked out.
  "What time are Ryan and Rachael coming?" Mary called into the living room after about half an hour.
  "10. I told them dinner wouldn't be over until about 10," Jon answered as he rubbed my shoulder.
  "You know what we should watch?" I smiled, looking up at him.
  "What?"
  "The Good King Wenceslas," I smiled.
  "Hell no!" he whisper-shouted, causing me to bust out laughing. Jon hated watching his own movies with us. To be fair, the movie wasn't to my taste. It was good, though.
  About an hour later, Mary announced that dinner was ready. She had fixed a turkey, casserole, crock pot macaroni, mashed potatoes and homemade gravy, biscuits, green beans, and corn. For desert, she had a chocolate eclair cake and Christmas cookies. For drinks, she had water, sparking wine, and hot chocolate.
  "Wow, Mom, you went all out!" Jon exclaimed as we sat down.
  "Honey, this looks wonderful," Greg kissed his wife on the cheek.
  We sat down and had the best dinner. It was full of laughter, happiness, love, and thankfulness. It was a family dinner, something I had never experienced before.
  Around 10:30, Ryan and Rachael showed up, holding large gifts. "Hey babes!" Rachael squealed as she stepped inside. Her and Ryan both had Christmas sweaters on and casual jeans, while Jon and I had our Christmas pajamas on.
  "Hey!" I squealed back, hugging her and Ryan.
  "Good evening, Ryan and Rachael," Greg said as he and Mary walked past. They both greeted him with a smile.
  "We're going to set up the TV in our room, then head to sleep eventually. If you guys need us, holler," Mary said.
  We all walked down the steps into the basement and turned on The Grinch. We passed each other gifts and ate way too many sweets and sausage balls.
  "Rachael, how did Christmas with Ryan's family go?" I asked as she and I sat on the couch, watching Ryan and Jon play foosball.
  "Amazing! His mom, sister and I spent the day making fudge, cookies, sweet trail mix, and sausage balls!"
  "Have you guys exchanged gifts yet?"
  "No, they strictly wait until Christmas day."
  "We do one gift the night before," I smiled. "Jon got me a collage and a bunch of t-shirts. I gave him his watch."
  Rachael had helped me with his gifts. Because of my low key love for art, she suggested I do a painting for him. Jon loved Van Gogh type art, though he wasn't a big art fan. So, I did an oil painting of Megan for him. I was quite proud of it. I also had got him a flannel and a Jimmy Hendrix t shirt.
  Ryan and Jon played a few games of foosball and Rachael and I sipped hot chocolate and watched the kids Christmas specials on TV. When Rudolph the Rednosed Reindeer came on, we all sat down, cuddled up, and watched it. Around 1 a.m., Ryan and Rachael headed back home and Jon and I went to his room.
  "I'm so glad you're okay," he said as I laid beside him, his fingers running through my hair.
  "I owe it all to you," I smiled. We lay in the dark, the only light being a streetlight outside.
  "I love you so much," he kissed my forehead. "Thank you for being my favorite girl and my best friend."