Dressed up in Faded Costumes

It was the morning of the last day of Christmas break, and I haven’t seen Liam ever since before Christmas. All of their gifts were in my room and so was the wonderful guitar.
I went downstairs to get myself some breakfast because I woke up a bit too early. It was 6am and cereal was probably the most ‘happy’ food I could find at the moment; because waking up too early is never good.
I brought the bowl up to my room where I checked my phone which had a few unread messages.
“Can we meet tomorrow? Just hang out. 1pm, your house?” Leila said through text message at 11:43pm last night.
I replied with an okay and continued eating and browsing through my phone.
By 1:30pm, Leila, Maria and Liam were already in my house. We were in the living room where we were playing a little Boxing with the Wii.
“How are you?” Liam asked me while Leila and Maria were playing and we were sitting down on the sofa.
“I’m good. You?” I said as everything seemed to be so awkward and both of us didn’t know why.
“Same.”
I nodded my head as if I was meeting him for the first time. I didn’t know why we seemed to grow apart the last week.
“Thanks for the gift you gave me for Christmas,” Liam said.
“Oh, you too,” I said. “I loved it.”
“Really?” he said. “So what do you say?”
“Huh? What do you mean what do I say?”
“You know, about the thing…”
I got really confused and made up an excuse that I heard my mom calling me from upstairs. I went to check the mug upstairs which I haven’t even used because I was so preoccupied with the guitar Matt gave me.
I looked at the inside of the mug and it had something written on the bottom.
“Would you like to go to the dance with me?”
I probably blushed and I smiled at the message.
I ran downstairs and sat beside him catching my breath.
“What were we talking about?” I asked.
“The thing.”
“Oh, the thing…”
I nodded my head discreetly as he tried to keep his smile to himself. We looked so funny as I could just imagine seeing our faces like that.
When Maria and Leila finally took a break from the Wii, we all sat down on the sofa. They took deep breaths as they were exhausted from the laughing and the punching.
We were all watching TV, eating some junk food. After growing tired of watching, Leila started a conversation.
“Hey, Michelle,” Leila said.
“Yep?”
“What’s it like living in Minnesota?”
“Well, it’s rare you see a girl with tan skin, that’s for sure; and it’s a lot colder than California.” I smiled.
“If you don’t mind me asking, but, what’s your whole story?” Liam asked.
“My whole story?” I asked, nervous of giving everything out.
“Yeah, I mean, if it’s too much you don’t ha…”
“No, uhm, I came from a very dysfunctional family. I grew up seeing things I probably shouldn’t have. I grew up not having a father, and so, I saw a father in my grandpop who passed away just last month.
“My father left when I was just 3. He left my mom for some other chick. Lea, on the other hand, was adopted at the age of 3; and she knows that. Mom wanted another child because it got to the point where she was so depressed of everything that she just wouldn’t come out of the house.
“Uncle Richard wasn’t always like he is now. He wasn’t always the screaming drunkard. I hear degrading words everyday from him, and every now and then I just walk out on him and just run away.
“Chris wasn’t always around when I needed him; I see him rarely even back then when we were still in MN. He’s the rebellious brother who got away with the sneaking around. I envied him. I envied everybody of the lives they had. It wasn’t good.
“I’ve always been one of the boys, but never more than that. Back then, I hung out with some guys at school because the girls, who I thought were my friends, really weren’t. I was the girl guys went to because they needed advice on the ladies. But even for dances or parties, I never had a date because I gave advice so damn good that they all ended up with the girls they liked. I was nothing more than a sister to them.
“Back there in Minnesota, I didn’t want to be at home a lot. I didn’t like the fights and the shouts that came with being at home. I was out in the diner with my grandpa a lot because there, everything was quiet and I get the chance to just relax with him. To me, school and the diner was an escape. Bullying was secondary to the pain at home.
“I can’t tell you my whole story; it’ll take me days,” I said, tearing up.
“That’s fine,” Maria said as she hugged me. “Thanks for sharing, dear.”
Leila and Liam joined the hug as I tried to compose myself.

A little while later, before 5pm, we were still hanging out at my house and we kept talking about backgrounds.
“Maria, how did you meet Alex?”
She smiled at me coyly. “I met Alex through a small gig when they still weren’t that famous.”
“Oh! And did you know ‘Dear Maria, Count me in’ was written about her?” Leila sneaked in.
“Oh that’s epic-ly cute!” I smiled at her.
“Let’s switch this up, I am getting so red.” Maria laughed. “What’re you gonna take up for college, Liam?”
“Uhm, I don’t know yet.”
“You gotta know! You’ll be graduating soon,” Leila said. “When I graduate, I’m probably gonna take up a pre-med course; be a doctor.”
“Leila’s right, you gotta know by now.”
“Don’t pressure me,” he smiled. “What if I take up Music?”
“Well, that’s your choice…” Leila said, teasingly approving of Liam’s snap decision.
Liam, being the shy guy that he is, just kept smiling. He’s always been the shiest of the three of us and probably of all his siblings. But, even though he’s super timid, he’s probably the most serious out of all of them once he really likes what he’s doing.
“Describe me, guys,” Maria said. “In your own terms, of course.”
“Awesome, loving, outgoing, cute cousin with strawberry blonde hair that we sometimes compare to Saoirse Ronan’s and Dianna Agron’s.” Leila answered smiling. “What about me?”
“I’ll answer that,” I said. “Hardworking, hyperactive, always happy, nice, and has short wavy light brown hair.”
“What about Liam?” Leila said. “Annoying.” She laughed.
“Crazy,” Maria added.
“Not my type,” I laughed and so did the others.
“Not your type, eh?” Liam smiled. “Let’s describe Hannah Michelle McAdams, shall we?”
I braced myself as they thought of things to say about me with conniving little smiles upon their faces. We were all sitting down on the carpet in a circle. Leila was seated to my right, Liam to hers and Maria to his.
“I think Michelle is awesome in lots of ways; some she doesn’t even notice,” Maria said.
“She’s lovely, talented and hardworking herself,” Leila said.
“To me, Michelle is this pale white skinned girl with a huge talent in music and an unbelievable wanderlust; a brunette who’s very much underrated; a person who thinks that her hair is fighting her every morning. She’s a huge klutz and she seems to not notice that she’s already blushing right now,” Liam narrated.
I looked away suddenly and smiled. I could hear them teasing me, and that probably just made me redder like a tomato.
“From this day on, can I call you my girlfriend?” he asked.
“What if I say no?” I said smiling.
“Well, you could ruin my life in just a one-word answer.”
I nodded. “Well then, I’d love it if you do.”
I didn’t notice Leila and Maria after I had answered. That trance ended when my mom came walking down from upstairs a good 15 seconds after. Liam, Maria and Leila went home that night with stories that shouldn’t go out of my house. What happened in my house should stay in my house.
A simple question or statement can make something so damn ordinary, so very special at least through one person’s eyes. It’s all about how you think of it. It’s not about the fancy gifts and things you can’t afford in your whole lifetime, it’s how you value them.