I followed Olivia up the stairs, holding her hand in my good one. A massive part of me was absolutely dreading seeing all of the friends and family members in the house. I knew there would be awkward stares and even more awkwardly asked questions about what had happened.
I couldn’t possibly think of a decent excuse for what had happened to my hand and face.
The only redeeming part of the evening and this entire charade was that Olivia was by my side. It made the holidays so much easier knowing she was there with me.
As lame and cheesy as it was, I was plotting to get her under the mistletoe for a proper kiss. And to blatantly rub it into my brothers that I had the hottest girlfriend in the world.
Olivia stopped at the top of the stairs, and if I hadn’t been paying attention, I would have walked right into her.
“Are you okay?” She asked. “Because I’m willing to hang out down here all night if you are.” She offered.
I grinned. “I think I’m okay. I can handle it.” I shrugged. “I’ve had worse, I’m sure.” I had been about to say that Christmas dinner with my family couldn’t possibly be worse than jail or rehab.
Olivia smiled and leaned down toward me, lightly kissing me. I wrapped my good arm around her waist.
Before either of us could pull away, the basement door was yanked open.
“Whoa!” Taylor cried. “Oops sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt.” He smirked.
I narrowed my eyes at him in a stony glare that I hoped he understood. He needed to tread carefully or I was going to kick his ass. Even with a bad hand.
“Oh, it’s okay. You weren’t interrupting anything.” Olivia insisted politely. She smiled sweetly. She moved past Taylor, who was still grinning at me like an idiot.
“Well, I kind of suspected you guys were doing… something.” He emphasized the last word to make a point. The tone made it clear that there was some kind of hidden meaning in his comment.
I moved up the stairs, following Olivia. I stood on the top step where Taylor was.
“You, uh… have some lipstick…” He smirked, motioning to his mouth.
I pulled back my arm and socked him as hard as I could in his upper arm. My right hand was killing me, and I couldn’t make a fist. I used my left hand to hit him, and I hoped I could manage enough power behind the punch to make him think twice about being a smart ass.
Taylor frowned and winced grabbing his arm and taking a few steps back out of my way.
Olivia turned around to face me, smiling lightly. It appeared as though she had missed the entire fight. Or at least it seemed she was pretending to not have noticed.
She drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly, her smile never fading.
I picked up her right hand with my left one, and interlaced our fingers.
“We don’t have to stay long.” I mused. “We just have to show up, mingle a bit and we can go and hide somewhere.” I offered.
Olivia laughed softly. “I don’t want to hide. Your family is so sweet, and wholesome.”
We were interrupted by a two pairs of feet running down the hall. I knew the sound well living in this house; it was my two sisters. I didn’t have to see them to know it.
Avery stopped in a whoosh of taffeta skirts. She stopped and stood up on her toes for a split second before rocking back onto her heels. “Livia,” She said sweetly, filled with missing teeth and cute dimples. “Will you come and play dollies with us?” She asked.
“Aww…” Olivia gushed. “Maybe later, okay?” Olivia carefully crouched down to the girls’ height and smiled at them both. “But you both look absolutely adorable. You have such pretty dresses on.” She smiled.
“Santa comes tonight!” Avery beamed.
I watched Jessica carefully. She kept her distance from me, and couldn’t look at me at all. She silently watched Avery and Olivia.
I couldn’t take my eyes off of her bright pink cast on her arm. It had been broken in the accident I’d caused. I knew it would probably be coming off in a couple of weeks, and I couldn’t be happier. It was a constant reminder of how stupid what I did was and the pain I had caused her.
I wasn’t sure if she would ever forgive me for causing the accident. I wasn’t sure if I could ever forgive myself.
Olivia laughed softly. “He sure does. And I bet you girls have been good all year, huh?”
Avery grinned and nodded.
Jessica took Avery’s hand and said to her “Come on, Jessi. Lets go get some juice and go play.”
Avery nodded and the two girls ran off together.
I sighed, helping Olivia to her feet with my one good hand.
“They are just the sweetest little girls in the entire world.” Olivia smiled hugely. She stopped suddenly and frowned. “Why? What’s wrong?” She asked.
“Nothing.” I shook my head.
Olivia frowned. “You can tell me.”
I sighed. “Did you see the way Jessi reacted around me? She’s afraid to go near me. She can’t even look at me.”
“That’ll pass. She can’t stay mad at you forever. She’s just a kid.” Olivia smiled, laying her hand on my cheek gently. “One day she’ll understand that you made a mistake, and she’ll forgive you.”
I nodded.
I wanted to add that the mistake I had made could have killed us both, but at the risk of ruining our entire evening, I kept my mouth shut.
Olivia and I moved from the hallway into the living room where most of the family had convened. There were kids running around and the odd toddler playing on the floor near their parents. My dad was standing talking to a handful of my uncles with a beer in his hand.
My father wasn’t much of a drinker. He claimed he never saw the need to waist the brain cells by drinking on a regular basis. The occasional holiday, he would drink a beer or two, but never more than that. He kept alcohol in the house for when they were entertaining and guests wanted a drink. At some dinners, it was socially acceptable to serve wine with dinner, a drink my parents never indulged in.
Dad used to keep the good stuff in the cabinet in the dining room. It was way too easy to take what I wanted.
When he noticed bottles missing, he put the alcohol in a locked cabinet, which I could pick easily with practice. When I was desperate, I would refill the bottles with water so he wouldn’t notice the alcohol missing.
My mother never drank. She was always too busy running around like a chicken with her head cut off to even sit down.
I drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly. Olivia sensed my apprehension and moved closer to me. I released her hand and moved my arm around her back, placing my hand gently on the small of her back.
“Should we see if we can find the snacks? I’m sure there’s chips and veggies here somewhere.” I offered.
“Okay.” Olivia smiled.
I led her through the living room and into the kitchen. There were more people in the kitchen. Zac was sneaking in between the chatting women and stealing pieces of cheese and crackers, and various other finger foods.
“Oh!” My mom cried immediately, upon seeing us. “Olivia, honey, I have some people for you to meet!” Olivia’s eyes widened briefly, but her smile never wavered. “Okay,” She offered, entirely willingly.
I dropped my hand from Olivia’s back and sighed. I watched Olivia disappear with my mom, listening intently to what my mom was saying.
I moved around the kitchen island. The group of women seemed to break up with my mom having left the room. I was alone in the kitchen with Zac, who now felt the need to grab a smaller Styrofoam plate and fill it with cookies, veggies, chips and crackers.
“Hey,” I scolded, grabbing a stalk of celery off his plate, deliberately. “You’re going to ruin your dinner.” I accused, chomping at the celery.
Zac grinned. “When do I ever ruin my dinner?” He asked.
“I guess you have a point.” I shrugged.
I grabbed a handful of chips from one of the bowls, popping a few into my mouth.
Neither of us said anything for a few minutes. I crossed the kitchen and opened the fridge, removing two cans of Dr. Pepper. I handed one to Zac and the other I held in my aching bandaged hand. The cold can felt good.
“So what happened to your face and hand?” Zac asked, jerking his chin in my direction.
I sighed, glancing down at my sore hand. “I got in a fight with a cop.” I answered.
Zac nodded. “Taylor told me that, he heard mom and dad discussing it this morning. Then he heard dad on the phone telling someone. I just didn’t believe him; I thought he was making it up.”
“Yeah,” I said. “It’s what happened. The cop has had it in for me for a while.”
“And you weren’t doing anything? He just started a fight with you for no reason?” Zac asked curiously.
“Yeah.” I answered.
“Does it hurt?” Zac asked.
“Like hell.” I mused, smiling crookedly.
Zac nodded. “You might want to rescue your girlfriend.” Zac pointed over my shoulder. “She’s talking to Uncle Larry. He was drunk when he got here.”
I turned to see Olivia awkwardly backing away from a very much inebriated Uncle Larry. She was still smiling politely, but looked a little scared. I was definitely jealous of him at that moment, but I knew I had to rescue her.
I quickly crossed the room, wrapping my arm around her carefully. “Olivia, there you are! Come on, I have some more family that you need to meet.” I insisted.
Without acknowledging Uncle Larry too much, I carefully escorted Olivia away. I pulled her through the living room into the dining room. The dining room was empty.
Olivia frowned. “Who are we meeting?” She asked.
“No one.” I answered. “Sorry about that. I just wanted to get you away from Uncle Larry. He can get a bit touchy-feely with people. I thought I would rescue you before he tried to hug you.” I shrugged.
“Oh,” Olivia laughed softly. “Thanks a lot for that.”
“No problem. Besides, I couldn’t take even drunk Uncle Larry in a fight. Not with this handicap.” I held up my wounded hand.
Olivia shook her head with a smile, standing on her toes and lightly kissing me. I grinned, moving my arm around her carefully.
“Hey, are you hungry or anything? Do you want to grab some snacks?” I offered. “We should get in the kitchen before Zac eats everything.”
Olivia laughed sweetly. “I think I’m okay.”
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