Me and you

Forts

Astrid actually invited me over before I got a chance to call her. Someone needed to entertain Callie and Nathan as she was going to the hospital with mom and Jordan went on a stag weekend. Of course I agreed, though the prospect of caring for a five and six year old absolutely petrified me. I made my way over there in khaki sweatpants and a grey cropped top.
"I can see your belly button!" Nathan said, making Callie giggle.
"I know! Hey have you guys ever made a fort before?" I asked
"No," Callie said
"I have! We made one at my friend Jackson's birthday party!" Nathan exclaimed
"Well Nathan don't you think we should build a fort so Callie can experience all the fun?"
Callie's face lit up as Nathan agreed and they went running off in search of blankets and pillows whilst I FaceTimed Kells.
"Hey!" He said
"I'm building my fort now. My little helpers are getting supplies,"
He smiled "You're so cute,"
Before I could reply, I heard Callie run into the room with an armful of pillows and a blacked draped over the back of her head "Speaking of cute,"
"Nathan has all the other stuff!" She exclaimed as she walked over to me.
"Okay. This is my friend Kells," I told her
"Hi," she said quietly
"Hey!"
"You're not usually shy! What's wrong with you?" I exclaimed
"Is he your boyfriend?" She asked me
I laughed, although I wasn't too sure of the answer "No, he's not,"
Nathan walked into the room "Let's get started,"

An hour later, we had a fort. It was pretty good, not going to lie. Kells has stayed on FaceTime the whole time we were building, which was sweet. He was so great with kids, and it made me miss him even more. I felt so selfish thinking it, my dad had a heart attack and all I could think about was flying back to Ohio in a couple of weeks and seeing Kells again. It was strange; how far we'd come. I was terrified of him and despised the guy when I first met him and now I was itching to go fly out and see him again. I'd changed too. I can't imagine myself booking flights the day of three months ago, or missing lectures, or not telling people where I was going and how long I'd be gone and I'd done all of those things in a one-week time frame. It was crazy to think about it all.

Astrid returned an hour later and said that they were bringing dad out of the coma tomorrow because his recovery was so quick. I debated on whether or not to cancel my flight and book one sooner, but figured I should spend some time with my family. My mom came over to Astrid's and brought some food with her so we could all have a nice family dinner.
"So, thanksgiving this year. Who's hosting?" My mom asked. Astrid and I both choked on our food. Every year we had thanksgiving at our family home. Mom always made it with me and Astrid helping her out, even thought she eventually shooed us out of the kitchen. It was the family highlight of the year, our cousins came down and it was always such a great time.
"What?" I asked "I just assumed you were doing it,"
"Me too. It's tradition," Astrid added.
"Well we can have new traditions,"
"Devon should do it,"
"What? No! I can't host everyone in my apartment or cook the entire dinner plus I'm a college student and I want to enjoy my break instead of stress about cooking!" I protested, angry that Astrid had thrown me in the deep end "You do it. You have enough room to host everyone, a nice kitchen. I don't see why not,"
"I have kids. Mom shouldn't Kiera and Charlie do it. They just moved into a new house at the beginning of the year and don't have kids, so it makes the most sense for them to do it," Astrid suggested. She was right.
Mom sighed "I'll call Charlie,"
I felt kind of bad after that. My mom was going through a lot at the moment and we weren't nice about thanksgiving "I'll cook the food I just can't host it in LA,"
My mom gave me a thankful look "That's sweet of you, darling. Astrid?"
"It's still not happening here,"
"Mommy you have to be nice to grandma and Devon," Nathan said. I had to stifle a laugh
"Yeah mommy, don't be mean! Then we can have Christmas at Grandma's as long as Santa still goes to Grandma's house instead of here," Callie added. Astrid melted, of course she did. Her kids were her life and she pretty much gave them their every request to a certain extent.
"Well I guess we're having thanksgiving here with Devon's cooking,"

Later on that evening, I FaceTimed Kells. I wasn't sure if I should tell him about my dad because I knew he would persuade me to get an earlier flight back to Ohio. I came to the conclusion that I would only tell him if he asked; Callie and Nathan broke Astrid and Kells broke me.
"Hey, how was your recording?" I asked
"It was good, I recorded another song and then Conor and Slim worked on a few whilst I was writing," He told me. If he was writing alone that meant he was writing a personal song, I knew what these vaguer statements really meant. "How's your dad doing?"
Fuck. "Really well actually. He's being brought out of the coma tomorrow and should hopefully be out of the hospital by the end of the week,"
"So, are your travel plans still the same? Staying in California this week and next, then flying out again next Wednesday?" He was so predictable
"Yeah, probably," I replied, watching his face fall
"Okay," he sounded deflated "Cas misses you,"
"I miss her. Do you miss me?" I asked
"A little, yeah,"
"I miss you too. I want to leave next week, but I feel so bad about leaving a few days after my dad left hospital," I explained
"Nah, I know, it's cool. Stay with your family, Me and Cas will survive another two weeks without you," He said
"I know you will, it's whether or not I survive two weeks without the the both of you," I said
"You'll be fine, you did 23 years without us, what's another two weeks? Now go to sleep, get some rest and I'll talk to you in the morning, okay?"
"Okay, goodnight," I said
"Goodnight," Kells replied before ending the call. What an angel he was. What a goddamn angel.