Some Things Never Change [SHAWN MENDES]

October 12, 2020

Things weren't quite as uncomfortable as they'd been the year before on Christmas Eve, but Thanksgiving wasn't the relaxed happy occasion that it used to be for me. Several things contributed to this, one being covid-19. Our families had made the decision that if each person got tested, we could create a Mendes-Burroughs bubble to celebrate the holiday. I'd had my brains poked fours days after arriving in Toronto last week, and my results were negative, as were everyone else's. 

Ceci's coldness towards me was the other thing bringing me down. It was sixteen months since things had fallen apart between us, and we were no closer to being friends again. I missed her so much, and being in the same room with her, knowing that she hated me, was horrible.

"Tell me more about your job," my mum said to Ceci as we stood around my parents' kitchen island enjoying the cheese and charcuterie platters the Burroughs had provided.

"It's kind of like a paid apprenticeship," Ceci said. "I'm honestly lucky to still have the position given the pandemic. Right now I'm just trying to work towards getting my professional license, which means I do a lot of the tasks the real architects don't like to do."

"Is your office open?" my dad queried.

"It is, but we go in on rotating shifts so that there's only fifty percent capacity on any given day. We wear masks in the common areas but can take them off at our individual work stations."

Lisa threw her hands up. "The world has changed so much since March. I can't believe I took things like going to the store without having my face covered for granted!"

"Eventually things will return to normal," Eric assured her.

"I dunno," I countered. "I think we all have to adjust to a new normal."

"And your new normal means never getting your hair cut again?" Eric said with a laugh.

I'd started growing my hair out last year because Fiona liked it longer. Then covid hit and getting it cut wasn't a possibility. Now that it had grown past the awkward in-between stage, I was digging it.

I ran my hands through the long curls. "I'm keeping it like this."

"I swear to god, if you start wearing a man-bun, I'm disowning you," Aaliyah threatened with an expression that indicated that she meant it.

Ceci snorted which made me look over at her. We had a brief moment of eye contact before she turned her attention to refilling her glass of white wine.

A couple hours later we sat down to a delicious dinner, and by the time we were done, I was uncomfortably full. It was a good thing we never ate dessert until everyone had room in their stomachs for it.

"We did all the cooking," my mum said, gesturing to the older generation, "and Aaliyah did a beautiful job setting the table. That means Shawn and Ceci have clean-up duty. You'll have to hand wash and dry the good china, but it's okay if you leave the roasting pan to soak."

Ceci stood up. "I'm happy to do it on my own. My AirPods are in my purse, so I'll just listen to music as I work."

"No way!" I argued. "I'm doing my fair share."

She couldn't really argue without calling attention to our issues, though I suspected our families knew something was up. My mom had asked about it over the summer, and I'd given my standard response that we'd grown apart.

Aaliyah went up to her room so that she could FaceTime her boyfriend, and our parents went outside to drink wine around the fire pit since it wasn't particularly cold out. For the first time in ages, Ceci and I were essentially alone.