Total pages in book: 61
Estimated words: 60309 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 302(@200wpm)___ 241(@250wpm)___ 201(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 60309 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 302(@200wpm)___ 241(@250wpm)___ 201(@300wpm)
“Which is why Moffy was also involved in doling out the tasks,” Audrey notes.
I can’t see my brother doing that on purpose. Farrow would rub it in his face…then again, I know my brother enjoys that too. It’s complicated.
Love usually is.
All of us finish hunting for clippings. A full stack of Uncle Garrison is in front of Vada—the stack I need. So we start swapping the stacks to make it easier on all of us.
“Your sister was trying to be a peacemaker again,” Nona tells Audrey. “She made Ben and Xander string lights on the tree together.”
Audrey sighs. “Yes, Jane is just hoping for a reunion, I suppose.”
“It’s never going to happen,” Vada says.
We all nod in agreement.
We sing along to “Jingle Bell Rock” and when the song ends, Vada sighs out, “I’m so sick of being a virgin.”
None of us have lost it yet, but Vada has gone to third base with a guy. The furthest of any of us.
“What’s the rush?” Nona asks.
“I don’t like that it’s a dangly unfinished thing. I don’t know,” she mutters.
“She sees a finish line,” I deadpan. “She must cross it.”
Vada smiles at me. “Maybe. Yeah.” She tears off some tape. “I’m going to have sex next year.”
I’ve always just wanted a girlfriend that stays, but my New Year’s resolution has changed this time. “I just want the four of us to be like this, always.”
They all look up at me.
We share burgeoning smiles, and Audrey tips her head into me, “Always.” Then she puts her hand in the center.
“Forever,” Vada grins, placing her hand on top of hers.
Nona adds hers. “Eternally.” Then they turn to me.
I take a deeper, hopeful breath and say, “Us four.”
My hand on theirs.
Nona always breaks the hand-stack by exploding hers upward, and we laugh together. Music playing, we keep working on wrapping the presents in magazine clippings, and we talk more about school, the holidays, and when I finish my presents to my parents, I feel lighter. Better.
Tomorrow’s Christmas Day. Xander’s birthday. I don’t want to bring any dark and foreboding moods into it, even if I feel like I’m trying to hold on to frayed string. It’s hard being excited about the future when the future seems so undetermined. Unknown.
Only thing I know—it sucks being the youngest.
It sucks watching my siblings leave.
It sucks feeling like you’re cursed.
The only Christmas miracle I have are my friends.
Audrey, Vada, Winona.
I smile up at them.
As long as we’re all together, I can get through anything.