A Mighty Need

It was Thanksgiving in America. It was Audrey’s least favorite major holiday of the year and yet, for some God forsaken reason, she had decided to host the meal and her family at her home. Since she had no fucking clue as to how to cook a Thanksgiving turkey, she did what all people her age did when they had important questions.

Google.

Just in case something were to go wrong, she had bought two turkeys and started preparing the first, and hopefully only, one at nine in the morning. It was in the oven by nine-thirty and then she went to work on the pies. Since she had a duel oven, it was easier to cook and bake more than one thing at a time. She made apple pie and had bought pumpkin because that was mostly what her family liked. Audrey, on the other hand, hated both. She wanted pies that she liked, too. She made a cherry pie, latticing the top of it like she remembered her mother always doing and being rather impressed by how well it turned out. She was expecting the worse. The fourth pie was the easiest damn thing to make. It was a chocolate pudding pie and consisted of her dumping eight containers of JELL-O chocolate pudding cups into a store bought graham cracker crust and topping it with Cool Whip frosting.

She set the dining room table, she vacuumed her area rugs (because she had wooden floors throughout the condo), checked on the turkey every so often, then decided to jump in the shower and get dressed back into her pajamas. She figured she would wait to truly get dressed until just before everyone showed up; that way it cut down on the possibility of getting her clothes dirty during her prep time.

By one in the afternoon, Audrey was back at it. She started making mashed potatoes; another thing she’d never done before or liked and was sure she botched. The butternut squash seemed okay. She added brown sugar to it and let it cook on the stove top while she boiled frozen corn. She opened two cans of cranberry sauce and placed the jiggly maroon contents into two glass bowls, which she cling-wrapped to keep fresh, on the dining table. She forgot to wrap the pies which had been done a while and ran around the kitchen like a chicken without its head, kicking herself at all the little things she was forgetting. As the turkey looked to be nearing completion, she grabbed a knife and a fork and cut a small bit off the leg to taste test. It seemed fine enough, but she knew better than to end its cook time before the little timer peg thing popped up on its own. She had King’s Hawaiian rolls to throw in the oven as well before dinner started so that they would be warm, and—

“Shit!” she exclaimed, scooting over to the cupboards and pulling two boxes of Stove Top stuffing mix. How could she forget one of the most important dishes? “Ugh,” she groaned at herself as she stole incessant glances at the digital clock on the stove and frowned.

Right in the middle of making the box-kit stuffing (which was fucking good so don’t dare knock it), her doorbell rang and she grumbled. Running out of the kitchen and down the hallway to the door, Audrey almost tripped to her death because her cat, as always, thought it was good fun to run in-between her feet while she was walking.

“Goddammit, Rhiannon, not cool,” she scolded before getting to the door and peering through the peep hole to see her parents and brother, Austin, on the other side. Opening the door, she smiled and welcomed them in. “You could’ve just walked right in. You have a key.”

“It’s the holiday, we wanted to keep it somewhat polite,” her mom quipped, holding two pies.

“What are those?” Audrey asked, skeptically.

“Apple pie and pecan pie.”

“Mom, I made an apple pie.”

“Well, you know how your dad and sister eat that up like it was going out of style. Better to have too much than not enough.”

“Yeah, but I also have three other pies besides the apple,” Audrey commented, running back into the kitchen. They all followed her, but only her mother seemed to help herself to helping out. “I have pumpkin, cherry and chocolate pudding.”

“Is the cherry store bought or homemade?”

Audrey could hear the suspicion in her mother’s voice.

“Homemade.”

“Okay, good. I was about to puke in my mouth. I cannot stand store bought cherry pie.”

“The pumpkin is store bought.”

Her mom smirked, setting her pies down on some empty kitchen counter space. “So is the pecan.”

Audrey just smiled. “Don’t linger in here. I’m doing all this. Go take your coats off, hang ‘em up in the hall closet and turn on football or something. Are the Eagles playing?” The latter question was directed at her dad. She had no clue about sports and their playing schedules, only that there was always some football game on when Thanksgiving rolled around; something she thought was stupid. Players should be home with their families, too.

“No, it’s the Oakland Raiders against the Dallas Cowboys,” her dad answered. She knew he hated the Cowboys, but she never knew why exactly, so she already knew he’d be rooting for the Raiders. “Pittsburgh Steelers against the Baltimore Ravens is tonight’s game, but not until much later.”

“What time does the Raiders game start?”

“Oh, not till four-thirty.”

“Is there a game already on?” She was trying to make small talk while keeping busy in the kitchen. She heard the television turn on in the living room just as her mother found her way back to the kitchen to hover.

“Mom.”

“What?”

“Packers and Lions started at twelve. Fourth quarter just started,” her dad responded, followed by both him and Austin making some sort of exclamation about something that happened in game play.

Audrey didn’t bother asking what the score was or anything because she didn’t care. Her sister Crystal, brother-in-law Jeremy and their kids — Audrey’s eight-year-old nephew Tristan and four-year-old niece Avery — arrived a short time later, so Audrey made her mom answer the door. When the turkey was done, Jeremy helped take it out of the oven for her and everyone began to gather in the kitchen while she had her father cut the turkey up and place the light meat on one platter and the dark meat on another. She carried it out to the dining room table and everyone followed with a dish to set down before taking seats.

Unlike Audrey, her parents and her sister’s family were church-goers. Austin leaned toward Audrey’s disposition and didn’t go. So, it was no surprise when her father led everyone in a prayer of thanks. Audrey sitting at one end of the table, since it was her table, looked up to see everyone else with their heads down as her father, sitting opposite her at the other end, spoke. Everyone was seated comfortably around the table and looked anxious to eat when grace was over.

Food was passed around to everyone to choose their own portion sizes and the gravy, which had been made from the Turkey’s drippings, was doused over almost everything. The sound of utensils clattering and scratching on plates and of chewing quietly was the only other sound heard, aside from the low din of the football game on television in the other room.

Audrey was more than pleased with herself. Thanksgiving dinner hadn’t been as hard as she thought it would be. She had no plans to do it by herself again in the near future, but in a crazy way it had been fun. When everyone was sated after two or three helpings, they all leaned back in their chairs and congratulated the cook, the cook being Audrey, on a job well done. The guys got up and went straight to the living room to watch the Raiders versus Cowboys game, her niece and nephew went to play with their toys and watch TV in her extra bedroom and Audrey’s mom and sister helped her clean up. Once the table was cleared, the ladies put the extra food in storage containers but left them on the counters in case anyone wanted to nibble as the evening progressed. The dirty dishes were put in the dishwasher or done in the sink and then Audrey ended up just standing with her back to the counter while she talked to her mom and Crystal.

Crystal mentioned the drive from Columbus her and her family had made the evening before; it had taken eight hours and after tonight’s meal they would easily all fall asleep later that night at their parents’ house. Crystal and Jeremy were sleeping in her old bedroom while the kids were occupying the twin beds in what had once been Audrey’s room and was now the kids’ room when they came for a visit.

When the tryptophan kicked in, the guys seemed to have passed out before the end of the game, the kids had passed out on the floor of the extra bedroom and even Audrey’s mother asked if she could use her bed to lie down. It pretty much just left Audrey and Crystal, sitting at the dining room table with cups of coffee.

After a while of chit-chatting and catching up, the sisters were distracted when Audrey’s cell phone rang. She got up to get it from the sideboard behind her where she’d left it at some point during the day and answered the call without checking to see who it is.

“Hello?”

“Hey, it’s me; Noel.”

“Oh, hey. I’d say Happy Thanksgiving, but you don’t celebrate that in England.”

“Well, about that…”

“About what?”

“I’m kind of at the airport at the moment.”

“Oh? Are you going on vacation somewhere?” she questioned, looking down at what was left in her coffee cup.

“No, well, the thing is you’ve been on my mind a lot lately and I’m not sure I thought this through but I bought a plane ticket at Heathrow this morning and now I’m arrived.”

She smiled at his comment about her being on his mind. They’d been chatting on Skype as frequently as they could manage. The time difference occasionally fucked things up, though. “Wait—arrived?”

“Yeah, I’m in Philadelphia.”

Audrey’s eyes widened and noticed her sister staring at her. “You’re here in the city?” She couldn’t help but allow a small smile to toy at the corners of her lips.

“I’m still at the airport. I just got off the plane about five minutes ago,” he replied, sounding a bit shy. “I’m on my way to baggage reclaim.” He fell silent for a moment, muttering something that sounded like ‘sorry’ to someone, then came back on the line. “It’s fucking busy as hell here.”

“Well, you chose to fly into the country on one of its major holidays. I’m surprised you got a flight at all.” Crystal looked at Audrey with a curious gaze, mouthing at her to know who was on the phone. Audrey just held a hand up to her sister. “I’m gonna assume if this was a last minute trip that you didn’t book a hotel room and want to crash here with me.”

Audrey got up and walked into the kitchen to talk more privately to him.

“Your assumption wouldn’t be wrong.” She could almost see him wincing at the possibility of her telling him no. “Just put me up the one night and I’ll find a hotel tomorrow.”

“Oh my god, Noel, I’m not gonna make you stay at a hotel. I have two bedrooms,” she laughed. Then quietly, “Not that I would expect you to actually sleep in the extra bedroom when by bed is more than accommodating.”

“I really don’t want to put you out, though. I didn’t even ask first. You sure I’m not, like, pulling the rug from out under ya?”

“I swear. I would prefer you stayed here,” she insisted. “I just can’t leave to come get you. My family’s here. My sister and I are the only two awake at the moment. Full stomachs pushed everyone else off the cliff into the realm of sleep.”

“Yeah, no, that’s okay. I wouldn’t want you to leave your family. I can catch a cab. I got your address and everything.”

Audrey leaned her back against the kitchen counter and stared upward at the ceiling’s recessed lighting and smiled. “Did you eat on your flight?”

“They offered a meal but it wasn’t appetizing. That was about three, three and a half hours ago.”

“Good, I’ll set aside some Thanksgiving dinner for you. We haven’t had dessert yet, so you should be in time for that, too.”

“Wow, putting me up and feeding me my first Thanksgiving dinner ever? You’re aces.”

“Yeah, well, I do try. Just return the favor the next time I’m able to visit London.”

“You know I will.”

Audrey bit her lip and walked over to the containers of extra food from dinner, taking the lids off with one hand. “Well, why don’t we hang up so you can get your luggage and a cab? If you can do that in the next ten minutes, you’ll be here by six-thirty.” She glanced up at the clock on the wall and then turned to pull a clean plate from the cupboard, setting it down on the counter next to the food containers. “See ya then?”

“Definitely.”

Audrey hung up with Noel and then set her phone down on the counter near her microwave. She went about scooping out decent servings of food onto the plate and then covered it with cling wrap before shoving it into the microwave to keep it out of reach of anyone who might try to nibble at it. She then uncovered the pies and pulled out the dessert plates and clean forks. Audrey opened the fridge door and peered inside to look for the two extra tubs of Cool Whip that hadn’t been used for making the chocolate pudding pie and would instead be used as toppings on the other pies. She also had ice cream in the freezer as extra dessert.

When she shut the fridge door, Audrey jumped. Her sister was standing on the other side of it with a hand on her hip and staring inquisitively at Audrey.

“Shit, you scared me. Creeper,” Audrey muttered.

“Who just flew into Philadelphia and is gonna be staying here?” Crystal raised an eyebrow. “Someone from overseas, obviously. Was it someone you met in England? Is it a girl? Is it a boy?”

“Wow. Wow, you are just as annoying as Val about this.”

“About what? It is a boy, then,” Crystal let out a pseudo-victory laugh.

“Yes,” Audrey gave in. “His name is Noel and we met on that TV show I did in London.”

“The music quiz show, Never Mind something?”

“Never Mind The Buzzcocks, yeah.”

“So…” Crystal watched her older sister trying to ignore her. “Are you two dating or something?”

Audrey glanced at Crystal, then down at the pies in front of her. “No, we just got to know each other very well.”

“Define well,” Crystal snickered.

“Or, how about you go wake everyone up for dessert?”

“He’s coming here, though, right? You invited him to stay with you, so when’s he getting in?”

“By six-thirty, give or take.” Audrey glanced at the clock again. It was ten after at the moment. “Just go wake everyone up.

The next twenty minutes seemed to drag. Audrey kept checking the time while she sat in the living room with her slice of cherry pie and dollop of whipped cream. She was so anxious about Noel showing up she could barely eat. Everyone else seemed oblivious to her butterflies, lounging easily with pie and coffee. She had mentioned she had a friend that had flown in from London and would be staying with her that would arrive shortly. More importantly, she warned them to play nice.

At six-forty, her doorbell rang and Audrey was on her feet. She set her fork and pie plate down on the coffee table and scampered out of the living room and into the hallway where she peered through the peephole. She beamed, spotting Noel on the other side, looking a bit tired as he cast his eyes to the ground as he waited. Biting her lip and composing herself, Audrey unlocked and opened the door up to him and it was like gust of air entered in.

In one svelte swoop, Noel grinned from ear to ear as he dropped his luggage and stepped across the threshold to wrap her in a tight embrace. He placed a kiss on her cheek, then on her lips before they parted.

“Happy Thanksgiving,” she greeted, breathless.

“Yeah, turkey day. Gobble, gobble,” he laughed, picking his luggage back up.

“Come on in.”

Noel stepped past her so she could shut the door behind them but, before they continued further, she pulled him aside to let him know she warned her family to go easy and not play 20 Questions with him. Noel just shrugged and said it would be fine if they did.

“They’re your family, love. If they didn’t care, they wouldn’t bother themselves to take interest in me.”

Slowly, Audrey led him toward the living room, where he dropped his luggage once more and Audrey’s anxiety returned. Everyone turned upon sensing a new presence in the room. She watched them all take in Noel. They knew he was British, but she wasn’t sure they were prepared for his style. Noel was dressed in a pair of faded denim skinny jeans, his silver Chelsea boots and his black trench coat with the badge of himself on the silver studded collar.

He said hello to them all first, a pleasant smile on his face, before they got up to say hello back. Audrey made the official introductions, referring to him as her friend Noel because she wasn’t exactly sure what else to call him. Calling him the London fling who she was growing more and more smitten with every time they talked was too much of a mouthful and more information than they needed. She took his coat from him revealing he was wearing a purple velvet sweater underneath and a silver thunderbolt necklace.

She told him to take off his shoes and grab a seat anywhere before asking if he wanted to eat. Noel nodded and thanked her while her father turned to him to start asking questions despite Audrey’s warnings.

“London, huh?”

Noel nodded. “Yeah.”

“Whereabouts?”

“Well, I live in North London now, in a neighborhood called Highgate, but I was raised in South London, in a place called Mitcham.”

“South London,” her dad repeated. “That means you’re a Cockney, right?”

Audrey rolled her eyes from the kitchen as she heated Noel’s dinner in the microwave.

Noel just laughed, “Yeah, that’s me. You can take the boy outta South London, but you can’t take the South London outta the boy.”

“And what is it you do, exactly?”

“A little bit of everything, really. I do comedy, acting, art, music…”

“And you make a good living from it?”

“Dad,” Audrey chastised, reentering the living room and handing Noel his plate and a fork. “What’d I say about the third degree?”

“I’m just curious,” her dad shrugged.

Noel looked up at Audrey and smiled. “Thanks, it smells amazing.”

“No problem,” she smiled back. “Want anything to drink? Want some coffee?”

“Yeah, coffee’s fine, love. Uh, cream, two sugars. It’s still late for me; I need something to keep me up.” He caught her eye and seemed to be able to read her thoughts in that moment.

Oh, I’ll keep you up later.

Noel smirked at her and went about eating; not realizing just how hungry he was until his plate was virtually clean in mere minutes. She had come back with his coffee while he’d been eating and her male relatives had focused mainly on the Raiders game that was still on. Audrey had taken the seat beside him on her loveseat while her niece Avery came up to Noel and handed him one of her Barbie dolls that had dark hair and a purple dress on.

“Is this you?” she asked.

Audrey cackled and Noel let out a hearty chuckle as well. He took the doll from her and gave it a proper looksee before shaking his head. “Nope, she has brown eyes. I have blue. Definitely not me.”

Avery accepted this answer and took her Barbie back. She hesitated in leaving; staring at him for a moment, flashing him a small smile and then walking away.

“I told you no,” Audrey heard her nephew say to his sister.

Noel rested his empty plate on his lap when he was done eating and took a sip of his coffee. Audrey was sitting close enough to him that he was able to inconspicuously place his left hand on the small of her back and curl his fingers slightly onto the flesh of her hip that was exposed. The gesture didn’t even register as odd or audacious to her. It felt quite natural; like it was already old hat. Her mother got up and offered to take Noel’s plate from him and asked if he wanted a slice of pie for dessert. When Audrey contested that she was the hostess and would get it, her mother silenced her and said she’d done everything and it was time for her to put her feet up.

Audrey didn’t have to be told twice. She tucked her legs up under her and leaned into Noel who, without a second thought, put his left arm around her shoulder.

“What kind of pie would you like, Noel?” Audrey’s mother asked.

Audrey and Noel looked at each other and their dirty minds made them giggle a bit before he answered, “Is there cherry?” he asked with a smirk on his lips.

“Yep. Do you want whipped cream on it?”

“Yeah I love whipped cream.”

Audrey couldn’t hold her laughter in anymore. She let out a snort and then covered her face, leaning forward. Noel laughed along with her as her family looked at the pair and asked what was so funny. They just shook their heads and claimed it was an inside joke.

With dessert over and the third football game of the day about to start, Crystal and Jeremy decided to start getting the kids ready to head home so they could get a bath in before bed. The kids were sent to pick up all their toys in Aunt Audrey’s guest bedroom while Audrey went into the kitchen to make a plate of extra slices of pie for Crystal and her family to take back to their parents’ house. Kissing her niece and nephew goodbye, they promised to see each other again at some point before they left for the long drive home to Columbus on Sunday. Audrey’s mom swatted at her dad a short time later, saying they should shove off as well; her dad could finish watching the game at home. As before, Audrey made them up a plate of pie slices and another dish for her dad of Thanksgiving dinner, because she knew otherwise he would stop over the next day to “say hi” but would really want to pick at the leftovers. Audrey was being preemptive.

Audrey’s parents and Austin got their coats, told Noel it was nice meeting him and hoped to see him again before he left, and then said their goodbyes to Audrey. As soon as she shut and locked the door behind them, she went to the kitchen where she picked at a piece of cold turkey and then sauntered into the living room, licking her fingers clean.

Noel was lounging back on the loveseat with his left ankle crossed over his right knee and his arms outstretched; the right arm on the armrest and the left arm on the back of the loveseat. He eyed her up with a weary smile and beckoned for her to join him with a curl of a finger.

Smirking, she sank down onto the cushion beside him and turned slightly so that she could lay back with her head in his lap and her feet dangled over the edge of the other armrest. Audrey stared up at him and he just casually stroked her hair out of her face with his right hand in a very soothing manner.

“I didn’t know you were such a great cook,” he quipped.

“I am when I want to be or when I can be bothered to.” She closed her eyes at the feel of his fingers running through her hair, rubbing her scalp. “It’s almost two in the morning for you isn’t it?”

“Probably, yeah.”

“Imagine if the world only had one time zone. Doesn’t that make your brain just hurt?”

“That’s one of those questions like asking someone to imagine a new color or a new letter in the alphabet.”

Audrey chuckled. “Yeah.” She opened her eyes again and smiled up at him. “Wanna go to bed?”

“Yes,” he answered a little too quickly and laughed it off.

Helping Audrey sit up, he took her by the hand and then let himself be led by her toward her bedroom. Noel excused himself for a moment to go use the bathroom and wash-up a bit before returning to find she had turned down the bed and was standing in just her bra and underwear. Watching her pull her hair out of her lazy bun, he stepped closer to her, a little bit more awake from the cold water he had splashed on his face.

He stared her up and down and felt his breath hitch. Audrey looked stunning to him just the way she was. She was shy at times; she was wild and crazy at times. She had no airs about her. In the short time they had been together in London and whenever they managed to Skype each other, he was able to see how she opened up like a flower; turning from a pale daisy to a vibrant rose. Just thinking about how she made him feel more energized, Noel smiled at her and she back at him.

“You’re wearing too much clothing,” she remarked, pointing at him.

“How do we fix that?” He took another step closer with his hands behind his back.

Audrey closed the distance between them and grabbed at the bottom of his purple sweater. “Like this,” she said, lifting his sweater up over his head and him letting her. She tossed it to the ground and grinned while he just stood there, doing nothing but watch her. Her fingers quite literally danced up and down his chest, making his skin tingle. “And then like this,” she spoke quietly, undoing the button on his jeans and unzipping the zipper. With both hands she began to pull his pants down and let them pool at his ankles. She stood up straight and stepped back, beckoning for him to follow her.

Noel obliged, stepping out of his jeans so he didn’t trip, and walked up to her. He stood close enough to feel her breath on his chest and then gently pushed her backward onto the bed and climbed up over her. Pressing his lips to hers, he whispered into her mouth, “I missed you.”

Audrey locked eyes with him and pushed back the hair hanging down around his face and starting to tickle hers. “I missed you, too.”

They kissed, languidly and sweet. After a few moments, they scooted further up the bed and dove underneath the warm sanctity of the covers. Wrapping their arms around each other, Noel unhooked her bra and tossed it…somewhere. He then pulled the covers up over their heads while he hovered over her body, slowly making his way down, laying a trail of kisses in his wake. Flashing a devilish grin, he bit down on the top of her panties and pulled them down with his teeth and with the help of his fingers. Moments later, what he was doing to her caused her to bite the underside of her bed covers while her own fingers gripped his hair.

His tongue did the most gratifying dance she was sure it had to be illegal in every country. Before she could reach her breaking point, he stopped and worked his way back up her body while shimmying out of his own underwear. Lust fiercely visible in their eyes, Noel threw the back the covers so that they could breathe a bit before sitting up on his knees and lifting her up with him. She straddled him and sank down onto his erection, her arms wrapping around his shoulders while he kept his arms tight around her waist. The two of them began to move; him bucking upward as she pushed down. They easily found the same rhythm while their noses brushed against each other. Noel dipped his face to her collar bone and suckled at her skin while she arched her back and tipped her head back. She rolled her hips against him, helping to build the delicious friction between them and both began to feel the bubbly sensations at the base of their spines.

It tingled faintly at first, like little touches of a feather, before quickly increasing to a tidal wave. Audrey could swear she lost her breath for a moment as she soon saw stars in front of her eyes. Their cacophony of groans and moans became a sudden howl of elation that happened in unison.

In the minimal experience they’d had together, this had been the first time they’d come together. They rode it out, but at a slowing pace. Soon, they were falling back against the mattress together and Noel was pulling the covers back over them. He remained within her still, and her legs were still about his waist. They just looked at each other as if they were trying to witness galaxies forming in each other’s eyes. Noel brushed his nose against her jawline and then brought his lips back up to kiss her. After a few more minutes, Noel pulled out and rolled onto his back, pulling her up against him.

“This is the best Thanksgiving I’ve ever had,” he muttered.

Audrey laughed. “It’s the only one you’ve ever had.” She reached a hand up and booped his nose and when he pretended like he was about to bite her finger, she yelped and pulled it back.

Cracking his neck, Noel turned his head to face her better and studied the shape of her face. “I’m gonna paint you someday.” Audrey smiled at his comment and kissed his cheek. “It’s gonna be my best painting ever, too. I’m gonna use every color I have and I’m never gonna sell it.”

Audrey didn’t know what words to use to respond. As a writer, that was almost unheard of for her. She was tongue-tied, but it was something worth being tongue-tied about. She sat up, shifting her position a bit and then rested her head sideways down on his chest so she could stare up at him and play with his hair. In response, he played with hers as well.

“You’re so beautiful,” she whispered with a small smile.

Noel frowned. “I think you need glasses.”

“I used to wear them,” she commented. “I got laser eye surgery done two years ago and now I have 20/20 vision.” She narrowed her eyes at him. “I know what I see.”

Noel just tutted, trying to play her compliment off as cool, but he couldn’t help from smiling. “Well, then, if I’m beautiful, with my big face, then you must be Aphrodite.”

“Why do I have this image in my head of you painting me as a funky, abstract version of The Birth of Venus?” she snickered.

“That’s a good idea, actually.”

Rolling her eyes, Audrey turned her head a bit and placed a kiss on the salty skin of his chest. “Are tired yet?”

“Not too tired for another round.”

Referencing Never Mind The Buzzcocks, she asked, “What would you call this round?”

He caught on to what she meant and smirked, thinking for a moment. “Connections.”

Audrey chuckled before leaning up and kissing him once more and pulled the covers up to his chest, while she ducked down underneath them. He couldn’t see her anymore but knew where she was headed. He groaned when he felt her take him on; closing his eyes and biting down on his bottom lip.

“Oh, yeah, definitely the best Thanksgiving, ever,” he muttered.