A Little's Enough

I woke up the next morning, not really wanting to get out of bed. I knew it would be selfish of me to avoid October and her family, so I sucked it up and put my pity party on hold. I slipped on a pair of fuzzy socks, and hugged a shawl over my shoulders before slipping out of the guest room and making my way down the hall to October’s room. She was still sleeping when I entered the room, but she woke up when I sat on the end of her bed.

“Merry Christmas Teigh.” She smiled up sleepily at me.
“Merry Christmas Casper.” I smiled sadly.
“Lay down with me.” She patted the space beside her. “I’m sorry she never called back. You know you’re part of the family here, and I know it can’t fix or replace anything, but don’t forget how much we love you okay?” She looked at me, suddenly much more awake, and much more serious.
I laid down beside her, instantly feeling comfy. “Thank you.” I gulped, trying not to get too emotional. I didn’t want to start the day out crying. “I hope you know how much I appreciate all that you’ve done for me. I’m going to do my best to stay in good spirits today.”
“I think you’ll do just fine.” She smiled again. “Let’s head upstairs and see if everyone else is up.” She sat up in the bed, reaching out to pull me up.

Sure enough when we entered the living room, we were greeted by her mother, grandparents and her cousin. We had been the last to rise, but none of them seemed to mind.
“Good morning girls! There’s a pot of coffee and a pot of tea ready, and cinnamon buns are in the oven.” October’s mother greeted us. “Have a good night last night?” She smiled warmly.
“It was pretty amazing.” October grinned at me. I could only smile in response and nod.

Within an hour, we had had breakfast and gone through a few pots of coffee. I thanked October’s mom endlessly for making cinnamon buns. Nancy had made the added effort to make my Christmas with them feel more natural. It had been my tradition at home; I’d had them every year. She insisted that it was the least she could do, but my thanks kept coming. We had all gathered back in the living room, October’s grandmother had turned on some light Christmas music and they began their gift exchange. I was surprised when a few small gifts were placed in my lap, and I looked up confused. I looked to October for an answer to my unasked question of “What is this?”

“Teigann, as a member of the Sider family, you better open those, or you’ll be insulting us all.” She smiled, a twinkle in her eye.
“I couldn’t possibly… I mean, I appreciate the thought…” I stumbled over my words, overwhelmed by the situation my brain was processing.
“Oh, but you will. Or I’ll give you a good swift kick.” October’s grandfather winked.
“Thank you.” I breathed. I had become teary eyed at the idea that my best friends’ family had completely taken me in as their own.
“Thank us after they’re opened.” October smiled at me again.

The gifts from October's family were wonderful. They kept things simple, with a few sweaters, a couple of CDs and a beautiful leather bound notebook from her cousin. I smiled appreciatively at them all and my heart warmed at the immense love I felt.
"Thank you, all of you." I visibly had tears in my eyes and I wiped them away with my hand.
"You are very welcome." Nancy smiled, moving to give me a hug. "I'm so happy to have you with us, you're like a sister to October. You're a Sider now." She kissed the crown of my head, giving me another tight hug.
My heart wrenched, wishing my own mother could show this much love for me.

I had sent a good morning message to Gerard just after I'd come upstairs with October, not really expecting anything in response. Afterwards I hadn't paid much mind to it. After presents had been opened I happened to look down at my phone, seeing a blinking light indicating a missed call.
I excused myself from the room for a moment to check the message, hoping that maybe my mother had finally called. Somewhere in the back of my mind I knew it would be anyone but her though.

Merry Christmas sugar. I hope you're having a good morning so far. I wanted to invite you to dinner. It's about 11 right now so just give me a call when you can. I love you. Talk to you soon.

His voice brought a smile to my face. I had only missed his call by a few moments so I decided to call him back right away. While I was a little disappointed that it wasn’t my mother who had called, I was happy to hear his voice.
“Hello?” His voice rasped in my ear.
“Merry Christmas.” I replied, a dumb grin on my face. “I just got your message.”
“I just left it.” He laughed, pausing to take a sip of what was probably coffee. “How is your morning going so far sugar?” He asked once he was finished.
“It’s going better than expected. Nancy made sure that I felt at home, that’s for sure. Oh, and they got me presents. I feel bad that I don’t have anything for them though. How has your morning been so far?”
“Well, we’ve only been up for about an hour here so things are sort of slow going. I finally got Mikey out of bed about 20 minutes ago. Dinner won’t be until later tonight, but Mom and I were talking and we’d really like to have you, that is, if October doesn’t mind too much- I know she was planning on taking you to her dad’s with her. “
“Let me talk to her and see how she’s feeling about it all, and I’ll let you know in a bit. I would love to have dinner with your family.” I smiled, though he couldn’t see it.
“Even if you can’t come, I’ll be there to see you. I promise.” He assured me. “I’ll let you get back to things there though, I’m sure they’re wondering where you went.”
“Okay, I’ll send you a text when I have answers, just so I don’t interrupt your Christmas morning.”
“Just call the house.” He laughed, and I could picture the silly grin he must have on his face.
“Alright. I’ll talk to you soon.”
“I love you.”
“I love you too.” I couldn’t keep the smile from my lips.
“Bye.” He said before hanging up.

When I returned to the living room, October noticed the smile on my face immediately.
“Lover boy, was it?” She grinned.
“Yes. To see how our morning was going here. Your call will be coming soon, he just dragged Mikey out of bed.”
“Of course he did. God that kid sleeps like a rock.” She faked a grimace before laughing.
“So do you most of the time.” I pointed out. “Remember all the times we’ve done brunch instead of breakfast because princess October needs her sleep?” I sat down on the couch next to her and leaned my head on her shoulder.

By this point, October’s family had dispersed throughout the house, and it was just the two of us in the room. I took the opportunity to talk to her about my dinner invitation.
“Hey Casper?” I asked quietly.
“Yeah Teigs?” she answered in much the same manor.
“How are you feeling about dinner tonight with your dad?” I knew that things weren’t great when it came to her dad. Hell, it was one more thing we’d always had in common. The only difference was that her dad had been around and still been a shitty father.
“Meh, I don’t want to go, but I’ll never hear the end of it if I don’t. Either way, something is going to be said that’ll start some sort of argument. That’s how it always goes.” She shrugged her shoulders.
“Well that would be pretty dumb of him to start something with me there.” I would go with her purely to keep her spirits high if that’s what it took not to let her father bring her down.
“I think I have to go alone Teigh. I’m sorry, I mean, I didn’t plan to leave you here alone with my family. It’s just, I have a lot to tell him and I know he’s not going to take any of it well. He’s going to be fucking spastic about Mikey, that’ll be fun.” She sighed. “I have to stick up to him eventually right?”
“Whatever you need.” I rolled my head to look her in the eye. “I’ll do whatever you want. If you need to go alone that’s fine. Would Nancy be offended if I left for dinner too though?”
She laughed, shaking her head at me. “Gerard invited you out?”
“Not out, his mom wants me to come for dinner with them. That is, if it’s okay with you and Nancy.”
“It’ll be fine with mom, and I think that would be good for you.” She smiled down at me. “Just keep your phone on in case I need an escape plan. And you can tell Gerard I said that.”
I nodded in response as she called out for her mother. A few moments later Nancy entered the room and asked why she’d been called.
“I’m gonna go to Dad’s alone tonight, and Mister and Misses Way invited Teigann for dinner at their place. I just wanted to let you know now.”
“Alright then.” Nancy smiled. “Will you be seeing Michael today too then Boo?”
“Probably not mom, Mikey only just woke up and I can’t see him visiting before I leave for dad’s.” October answered, putting extra emphasis on Mikey’s name.
Nancy just laughed and turned back towards the kitchen.

Around 3, October’s father came to pick her up. It was only a short while after that when Gerard showed up to get me. While I had been waiting for him, October’s cousin came to talk to me in my room.
“Hey Teigann, I just wanted to see if you liked the book I got you. It may seem strange.” she smiled shyly at me.
“Nora, it’s beautiful. I love it. I can’t wait to think of something to write in it.” I answered, returning her smile. “Thank you so much.”
“Well, October told me things weren’t the best right now for you, and I thought since it helped me so much over the years, maybe it might help you too. You see, I keep a journal and anytime things are going really shitty, I write it out and it usually helps me feel a lot better.” She responded. “And you know that we’re all here if you need anything too.” She smiled more confidently then.
I got up from my spot on the bed to give her a hug. “Thanks Nora. You have no idea how much that means to me.”
“Anything for family. I think someone just knocked on the door though, it’s probably for you.” She sidestepped out of my way. “I’ll see you later.”
“Bye Nora, see you later!” I smiled and waved as I darted to the stairs.
Sure enough, it was Gerard. Nancy had answered the door and so he was inside making small talk with her while I came upstairs. She gave me a motherly hug and kiss goodbye and told me to have a good time. Moments later, I was in Gerard’s car and we were headed to his house.