Chapter 14

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

T hanksgiving

Ruby

We are on the bus heading home for Thanksgiving. We took the early bus out and all of us are exhausted. I’ve been training hard with the track team and keeping up with schoolwork. Hayden and Macklin were away over the weekend and came back to midterms. All of us need a break. It’s a relief when no one wants to talk. I sit beside my brother and Macklin is on the other side of the row. Each of us has earbuds in our ears. This whole situation feels awkward. I don’t look at Macklin the same way I used to. Now I remember how he looks when he comes. His face straining with ecstasy. We made it back to the third floor of the library three more times this week. We haven’t had sex, but I’ve become very comfortable with him. He says that is what he wanted because sex is about trust. I tried to convince him I trust him, but he insisted I needed to trust him in a sexual way too. After all the amazing orgasms he’s delivered, I’m beyond trust. I’m kind of addicted to him. Even though I am trying not to show it. Problem is, he’s doing sweet things like leaving me a flower on my pillow and dropping a box of chocolates in my school bag with a small note that said I love the way you taste. Meet me at the library at four. That day I could barely focus as I thought of all the amazing things we would do at the library, and Macklin doesn’t disappoint. He is sweet, handsome, kind, and attentive. How am I not supposed to fall for him?

When we arrive at the bus station in Lonsdale, Abuela is waiting for us on the platform. I get off the bus and walk straight into her arms.

“I missed you, mija,” she says, squeezing me tight. She smells like home, like my safe place.

“I missed you to,” I reply.

“Okay, give me a chance too,” Hayden says, cutting in.

He hugs Abuela and then she hugs Macklin.

“You three are all looking good. I’m glad to see college life is treating you well,” she observes.

“We won the game on the weekend,” Hayden tells her. “And Ruby came in third in her last meet.”

“I heard,” Abuela says. “I’m so proud of all of you.”

“Who told you, Ruby?” Hayden asks.

“No, this handsome fella over here keeps me posted, thankfully,” she says, smiling warmly at Macklin.

“You’re making us look bad, bro,” Hayden says to him.

“Nah, you do that all on your own,” Macklin counters with a mischievous smirk. Those two love poking at each other.

“Whatever, you two,” I say because sometimes these two seem more like brothers with sibling rivalry than actual friends.

“I can’t wait for you all to meet Mario’s granddaughters. They’re so pretty,” Abuela says, and my stomach sinks at the thought of Macklin being introduced to pretty girls. “I wish he had a grandson for you, mija, but no such luck.”

“That’s okay,” I force a smile.

“I’m up for meeting some hot chicks,” Hayden says.

“Make sure you’re on your best behavior, mijo. Their parents are staying with us too. They’ll be in the rooms in the basement. Hayden and Mack can take the guest room and I hope it’s okay if you take the couch, Ruby.”

Yay! I get to be in the busiest room in the house with no privacy. How about my brother takes the couch and me and Mack take that bedroom? I blush just thinking the thought.

“Is everything okay?” Abuela asks me.

“Huh, oh, yeah, why?” I ask.

“I don’t know.” She shrugs but she watches me curiously.

We put our bags in the trunk of Abuela’s Corolla and get in. Of course, my brother calls shotgun, so Macklin and I end up in the back seat together.

His gaze shoots my way for a millisecond, and my body heats. I exhale, wondering how I will get through this weekend without having a visceral reaction to him.

We make it back to the house. Abuela begins to introduce us to Mario’s family. When she introduces us to the granddaughters, Hayden lays on the charm real thick. One is named Victoria or Vicky, and the other one is Riley. They are both gorgeous. We also meet Mario’s son, Carlos, and his wife, Lucia, and his daughter, Ana, and her spouse, Camilla. Everyone is very nice and welcoming. I’m happy to see that they are all so good with Abuela. We never had family to rely on, and it’s nice to see she has this now.

“You guys get settled in. Ruby, you can keep your stuff with the boys. Then I want you coming downstairs. We’re going to play cards in the sunroom,” Abuela says.

The three of us head upstairs. When we get into the room, Hayden says, “This is weird.”

“Right,” I agree. “It’s so odd having so many people around.”

“This is very different than our Thanksgiving in the apartment. I kind of liked that it was just us. It was quiet,” Macklin states.

“But it is nice these people have accepted Abuela as family,” I remind. “After everything she’s done for us, we need to bond with them.”

“I know you’re right,” Hayden agrees.

“We’re seriously fucked up, guys. Look at us. This isn’t normal,” Macklin mentions. “People do Thanksgiving with families.”

“Unless you’re us,” Hayden notes.

“I think this is a good thing,” I say, trying to look at the bright side. “I always wondered what it would be like to have a large family, and now I get to pretend I do.”

“It’s like our little family experiment,” Macklin adds, bobbing his head.

“Exactly,” I agree.

“Okay, okay,” Hayden concedes. “I’m down.”

We drop our bags. I go to use the bathroom down the hall while the guys head down to the sunroom. The house is spacious. The decorating is outdated but there is still a warm family vibe to the place.

I bump into Riley on her way out of the bathroom. “Oh, hey.”

“Hi.” I smile.

“It’s kind of awkward hanging out with people for Thanksgiving you don’t even know, am I right?” She smiles.

“It is weird,” I agree.

“You guys all go to Riverside U, right?” she says.

I nod.

“It’s cool you all got in there.”

“We were lucky,” I reply. “It’s nice to have Hayden and Mack there.”

“Are they both your brothers? I didn’t really understand what Maria was saying about Macklin. She talks about him like he’s her grandson.”

I really need to pee. I don’t know where this is going, but I can tell I am not going to like it.

“He isn’t her grandson by blood, but he’s still her grandson,” I reply. I obviously don’t call him my brother because he never felt like he was. He was the boy who lived across the hall that I crushed on hard.

“Cool, he’s hot,” she notes. “I go to Torresdale College. It’s a state college, nothing fancy.”

“That’s nice. I know it,” I tell her.

“Oh, you need to use the bathroom.” She giggles like she just remembered I was waiting by the door.

“Yeah, I’ll catch you soon. Abuela said we’re playing cards,” I say, feeling like my bladder is going to burst.

She nods and walks away. I’m peeved over the fact she called Macklin hot, not that I can blame her, because he really is.

I quickly take care of business in the bathroom and head down to the sunroom. My brother saved me a seat beside him, and I am grateful.

For the next two hours we play Bullshit with Mario, Abuela, his kids, and grandkids. Everyone is great. I’m pretty sure Vicky is crushing hard on my brother, which is great because she seems like a nice girl. I could do without Riley checking out Macklin every second. It’s hard enough being around him because of the shift in our relationship. I can no longer look him in the eyes because when our eyes meet, my body is consumed by the heat in his gaze and my cheeks flush.

When Abuela loses her hand, she stands. “I’m going to go prepare dinner.”

“I can help,” Mario’s daughter, Ana, offers.

“That’s okay, mija.” Abuela waves her off. Mario has been divorced since his kids were small. They seem to be very accepting of Abuela.

“I’ll come help,” I offer.

“Not necessary, mija,” Abuela says.

I make a pouty face at her like I’m five years old and she cracks. “Fine, come on, I know you want to taste test everything.” She laughs.

“You know me so well.” I giggle.

I leave to the kitchen with Abuela. She has all the food cooking on the stove and in the oven. “If this is a regular meal, what are we going to have for Thanksgiving tomorrow?” I joke.

“I made lots of pies and Ana prepared a beautiful stuffed turkey. I also made your favorite,” she says.

“Mac and cheese?” I say excitedly.

“You got it,” she replies.

I help her put all the food into serving dishes and we set up the dining room table.

“Mario’s family seems very nice,” I tell her.

“They’re great,” she agrees.

“I’m happy for you, Abuela.”

“And what about you? Any handsome boys in your life?” she asks.

I’ve never lied to Abuela in my life, and I suddenly don’t know what to do.

“I was seeing a guy from my kinesiology class for a while. He was handsome,” I share.

“I hear a but in that sentence,” she inquires, watching me with precision that makes me think she can get inside my head and read my thoughts, which would be scary.

“No buts, it just didn’t work out.” I shrug.

“And did you and Mack have a fight or something?” she asks.

My stomach dips but I try to keep a straight face. “Why would you say that?”

“Because you guys aren’t talking or interacting like you usually do,” she replies.

Yes, well, that’s because we want to hump each other every time we touch.

“You know he’s been weird ever since we left for Riverside U,” I remind her. It was something we spoke about a lot because I didn’t understand how he could be so cold with me.

“I told you, mija, he wanted to give you space to flourish. It had always been the three of you against the world. Him taking a step back gave you a chance to meet new people on your own terms.”

“I did branch out,” I confess.

“So everything is same as usual then?” she asks, raising her brows. Geez, does she know what we’ve been up to? How could she possibly tell?

I swallow. “Same as always.” My tone is a little too high-pitched. Damn, I am a bad actor.

“Okay,” she says, accepting my answer.

With all the food ready and steaming on the table, we call everyone down to eat. We forgot to set a few drinking glasses on the table so I grab them from the kitchen and when I get back, Riley is sitting beside Macklin. He watches me, almost looking apologetic, but then he pulls his gaze and looks at the food.

“This all looks so delicious,” he praises.

“I hope you guys are eating well over there,” Abuela says.

“We are, Ruby’s friend, Charlie, is a great cook and she’s been doing a lot of cooking with Finn,” Hayden explains.

“You live in a house with your brother and his friends?” Vicky asks in shock.

“My dorm flooded at the beginning of the semester. Instead of moving into the worst dorm on campus, my best friend and I moved into the hockey house,” I explain.

“Shit, you’re lucky,” Riley says.

“Riley, watch your mouth,” Ana chides and Riley flinches.

“My dad would never let me move into a house that was all guys,” Vicky states.

“Damn straight.” Carlos nods adamantly.

“Hayden is my brother. It really isn’t that weird.” My gaze locks with Macklin and, somehow, I remember my first day in the house. I was coming out of the shower and my towel dropped.

Macklin gives me the faintest of smiles.

“Yeah, so do you both live on campus at Torresdale?” I ask looking between Vicky and Riley.

“Oh, I don’t go to Torresdale,” Vicky says. “I’m at Westfall.”

“Ah, that was my first choice, but I decided on Riverside because Hayden and Mack were there,” I explain. Again, my gaze pulls to Mack.

“We should say grace,” Mario reminds.

He goes on to say grace and we all dig in. Everyone compliments Abuela and Ana on the delicious food.

After dinner, Vicky and Riley are talking about going out. Vicky is full-on flirting with Hayden and Riley is pretty much the same way with Macklin, even though he looks stiff as a board with how awkward he is being.

“Do you want to go somewhere?” Vicky asks Hayden.

“You take your cousin with you, young lady,” her father, Carlos, interrupts.

“Stop treating me like a child,” she complains.

“This is a family weekend,” he reminds.

“Bro, would you mind tagging along?” Hayden asks Macklin because in the past I know he’s been his wingman.

Macklin’s gray eyes turn round.

“Ah, I’m kind of beat, bro,” Macklin answers, looking uneasy.

“Oh, come on, I don’t bite,” Riley jokes.

I hear Ana sigh off to the side. I also watch her down the rest of her glass of wine.

I don’t even know what’s happening, but I’m the odd one out.

“Mack,” Hayden chides.

Mack bites his lip. I almost feel bad for him but I’m too jealous right now.

“Yeah, okay, sure,” Macklin concedes, running his fingers through his hair. “Let me just go grab a hoodie from my bag.”

Macklin walks off.

I wait for them to invite me along, but the invitation never comes.

My phone buzzes in my pocket but I don’t take it out to check who’s calling.

Mario gives Hayden his car keys and tells him to drive safely, and then they all leave.

And me? I find myself watching Die Hard with all the adults. I am so bored I feel like I am going to lose it. I finally check my phone to see a message from Macklin.

Macklin: Sorry, Periwinkle. I am not interested in her. I won’t touch her. Promise.

His message makes me feel slightly better, but not really.