My Way Home is Through You

I stood at the doorway waiting for an answer from one of the boys, but none of them looked up from their plates. I shifted my weight to my back leg and crossed my arms over my chest.

“If no one’s going to answer me I’m leaving.” I said, slowly I saw Gerard lift his head from his plate. “So…” I said impatiently.

“Ben and I sort of dislike each other….” Gerard said awkwardly.

“Sort of…” Benji snorted. “You took away the one thing that I wanted!” He said, glancing at me quickly. I suddenly felt self conscious.

“You’ve known her for forever, and never once talked to her! How could you know that you wanted her?” Gerard said back. I looked between the two arguing boys.

“Excuse me, yeah hi. I would really appreciate it if you two wouldn’t talk about me like I’m something to own.” I said. “First of all, I didn’t even know that you existed until tonight. Secondly…I thought you were better than this, getting jealous. You know how I feel about you Gerard.” I walked back over to the table and moved my plate to the other side, right in between Mikey and Bob. I grabbed the foldable chair and brought it around to the other side, and sat down.

“Mackenzie…” Gerard said, and looked me straight in the eyes. I kept looking at him and scooped some potatoes onto my fork and ate them. If he was going to act immature, so was I.

“Hey kids, we’re all going into the living room for deserts and to open some presents.” Mrs. Way came into the room and waited by the door as each of us dropped our cutlery and went into the living room. I was the first one in the room, I felt absolutely livid. I couldn’t believe Gerard was acting that way towards Benji; he was only trying to be nice.

There wasn’t much couch space left so I decided to sit on the floor next to my mom’s feet. Gerard sat near me and tried to reach for my hand but I pulled away. I wanted a better explanation as to why he was acting so rude. I glanced toward Benji who had taken a seat on the couch next to his dad; he seemed to have a satisfied look across his face. I just couldn’t wait for this night to be over.

The first person to get up and hand out their gifts was Bob; he handed everyone their presents and sat back down on the floor. I tore at the wrapping paper and inside was a green velvet diary. I smiled remembering that I told him that I had filled the last page in my old one, and I needed to get a new one.

“Thank you so much!” I said and got up from the floor to give Bob a hug.

“You’re welcome.” He laughed as he hugged me back.

The next person was Mikey; he got up from the chair and went to the Christmas tree. I could see him sorting through the gifts and once he found all of his gifts he distributed them among everyone. I was the last person to receive a gift, he waited patiently as I unwrapped the gift, a bright smile spread across his face. It was the last book I needed in Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles; I couldn’t believe that he found it.

“Mikey, you’re amazing…how did you find this?” I asked in astonishment. I got up from the floor and threw my arms around his neck.

“It was nothing really.” He said as he patted my back and pulled out of the hug. I smiled at him as he went back to his seat.

“It’s my turn!” Frank yelled and crawled across the floor to the Christmas tree. He dug beneath everyone’s gift and pulled out a small box with a bow on top. “This one’s for Mackenzie!” He said happily and crawled over to me and handed me the gift. I smiled and gently took it from him. I pulled open the box to reveal a small locket, I then opened the locket to see a picture of him and I at his birthday party, we had melted marshmallow all over our hands and we were pretending to wipe it all over each other.

“I love it Frank!” I said and pulled him into a hug. I couldn’t believe all the guys put so much thought into getting me a Christmas present. He smiled and quickly handed out the rest of the presents. Once everyone was done opening their present from Frank Ray got up and got his. He walked towards me and handed me a small rectangular wrapped gift.

“It’s not much, but I think you’ll like it.” He said. I smiled and took the present he held out to me. I pulled off the wrapper to reveal a tape, on the front cover it said It’s not much, just some of my favourite songs that I think you’ll like.”

“Aw, thanks Ray you’re the best.” I ruffled his hair and gave him a friendly hug. Finally it was my turn to hand out my gifts; I crawled over to the tree and found where I had put my gifts. I grabbed the top one and read the name, it was for Mikey, I had gotten him a few comic books that he couldn’t find. That resulted in me getting tackled to the ground and hugged to death. Then I grabbed Bob’s gift and handed it to him, I got him a new sweater and drum sticks, because he complained that he couldn’t find his favourite ones and I happen to stumble across the exact same pair.

“How did you find these?” He said excitingly as he hugged his sweater and drumsticks close to him.

“I have connections.” I laughed. He hugged me and quickly went back to his spot. I grabbed Ray’s gift which happened to be some hair elastics as a joke, and a set of good guitar picks. He gave me a hug and thanked me, telling me that I was awesome because I was the first person to buy him picks. I smiled at him and told him that he deserved them because he is an amazing guitarist.

“Is it my turn yet?” Frank asked sheepishly from the spot next to me. I nodded and smiled as I grabbed his gift. I couldn’t wait for Frank to open his gift, it took me forever to find it. I handed him the gift and he ripped the wrapping paper from it in one pull. The smile that went across his face, I swear could light up the room. I had found him a set of old black and white scary movies, they were his favourite things to watch.

He threw his arms around my neck and hugged me tightly. “You’re amazing!” Frank said, he quickly kissed my cheek and instantly turned red. I let out a small laugh. He sat back down and started looking at each individual movie.

I reached over and grabbed the last gift, it was for Gerard. I passed the gift to him with no emotion at all. I wanted to see his reaction and then maybe we could talk things out now, rather then later. He slowly pulled at the paper, until it was all taken off without a single tear. The first thing he grabbed was the thing that mattered most to me; it was a scrap book of everything we have been through since I met him. On every page there was something that only he and I knew about. He slowly flipped through each page, smiling and chuckling to himself.

When I looked closer, I could see the tears forming in his eyes. He reached the last page and had to wipe at his eyes, on the last page I left blank with one single sentence scribbled across the page. To be continued…

Gerard then picked up the leather jacket I had gotten him, to replace the one that was torn ad practically falling apart. After he finished looking at it he set both items down to the side and looked up at me. He opened his arms, but didn’t move forward, it was his was of asking without having to use words. I slowly moved closer to him and wrapped my arms around him; he stroked my hair and kissed the top of my head.

“I love you so much.” He whispered into my ear.