Jellyfish

9. Happy Holidays

It had been a few years since we really celebrated Christmas. We had the money to spare, but there was no real holiday spirit in our family. The only Christmases I did remember were quiet ones. Twelve on the dot Christmas morning I'd sneak my way to Winter's room where he'd be waiting with hot chocolate and the mini tree we hid from our parents. There were rarely presents, but that wasn't the point. Every once in a while, we'd get lucky and as we sat to watch the sunrise we'd be met with snowfall instead. I used to think it was magical, the window and the snow and our hidden holiday. As I got older, I realized it was just sad. Like everything else, Christmas became a reminder that things were very wrong. While kids played in the street, and presents waited under trees, Winter and I sat in his room quietly freezing. That was always Christmas for me.

Our routine changed when we got here. Diego and Oliver were big holiday people and there was never a Christmas yet without music and joking. We got a tree last year- although I think it may have been stolen- and even a few presents were exchanged. It had been chaotic, of course, because we were all chaotic, but it had been my best holiday to date. Christmas morning there was still snow and Winter and hot chocolate, but here there was also family. There was a sense of togetherness I had never associated with the holidays before I'd met them and for that I would forever be grateful. Waking up to Christmas carols on Christmas Eve and decorations I didn't even know we had was delightful. The traditions, the happiness, it was all just so new and wonderful, and when the day itself rolled around it was anything but quiet in our house. The first year, Diego had rounded us all into the car at midnight and we drove around in search of Christmas lights. We went into neighborhoods much more lavish than ours simply to gaze out the windows in awe. That had become Christmas for me.

This year, there were no Christmas carols as I rose on Christmas Eve, but I hadn't expected them. Oliver was working today, something he would never have done had it not been so suffocating in this house recently. I knew my brother was still asleep and the other two wouldn't leave their rooms until we were all gone, so I dressed quickly and did my best to silently slip down the stairs. It was freezing out today, my jacket a little too thin to do the job as I locked the door behind me, but the cold was more welcome out here than it was in my own home so I didn't mind much. Double checking that my new phone was securely in its pocket, I set out down the street in search of both warmth and the restaurant Miles had insisted on meeting at. As Winter had said, Miles did want to meet up and he was ecstatic to hear that I was willing. He'd planned his whole day out to the minute and for some reason, he was starting it off at breakfast with me. I couldn't help but feel a little giddy about the invitation.

The place he'd chosen was like a diner. A squat building with thick glass windows exposing its bar and tables. Instinctually, I searched the place for Miles finding him at a booth in the very back. It wasn't much of a surprise to me that he wasn't alone either and it was actually Frankie who spotted me first. He flashed me that endearing eye smile as I walked through the door and it was warmer than any hot chocolate I could've ordered. Making my way back to them, I wondered how this had even come to be. Frankie was still anxious with me, his texts were always a bit awkward and careful, but I think he was starting to warm up to me more. The other day we'd had a full conversation without him apologizing even once, so I'd say that was progress. As for Miles, he was the complete opposite of his best friend. Everything about him was confident to the point where he sometimes made me uncomfortable. Still, both of them, in all their contrasting glory, had somehow made the time for me today and I was grateful for it.

"Morning Auggie!" Miles chimed the second I sat down. He was already nursing a cup of black coffee in his hands and raised it in a greeting cheer. "Welcome to the Chats."

"Good morning, Miles," I couldn't help but smile back. "And Frankie."

Frankie had trouble maintaining eye contact, looking instead at his menu as he spoke. "Hi. Hope you don't mind that I tagged along." The shy mumble was impossible to be upset with.