• Mae •
Mae didn't know what she expected when she walked into her fathers home, but she did not expect it to be empty. She thought that she would've walked into her dads cooking, a busy kitchen and a wide array of smells. There was the faint smell of turkey, but other than that, nothing.
She looked down and saw a piece of paper sitting on the table that her dad always leaves notes on.
Went to pick up Amanda from her moms.
Stay downstairs.
Love, Dad
She read it out to Chris, laughing as she did.
"God he's so worried about little things." Chris laughed a little too, his face had grown read after she read out the note. "It's fine, though. He has nothing to worry about."
She smiled, leading him through the entry way and into the living room. "Wanna play Mario Kart while we wait? I can go get it from my room."
"Sure, I'm pretty good at it though, just so you know." Chris replied cockily, as cocky as any person who has ever won a single race would be.
"Well then, I guess we'll have to see who's better." She smiled again, before turning and running upstairs to grab the game. She quickly found it in the stack of DVDs and games that she had under the TV in her room and went back downstairs with it.
By the time that she made it back to the couch, the TV and Nintendo Switch that her family had were booted up. "Wow, you are really eager to lose!"
"I'm more ready to beat your ass at a children's game. Sit down, this is serious."
He was right, it was serious. They'd played two games so far and they had each won one of them. They were neck in neck on the third lap when the front door opened and Mae's father entered the house, along with Amanda.
He lost his composure for a split second, which ended up giving Mae the advantage that she needed to pull ahead at the last second.
"Yess, in your face!" She jumped up off the couch in excitement, pure glee playing across her features.
"I'm gonna want a rematch at some point. That was obviously rigged in some way." He smirked, enjoying just how excited Mae was.
"Whatever, sure. Now let's go out in the kitchen, don't want Dad to think you're avoiding him." She clicked her tongue, then grabbed each of Chris' hands and pulled him up off the couch.
She led the way back through the house and into the kitchen, Chris trailed slightly behind her.
"Dad!" She quickly went over and hugged him, and then Amanda. "How was your week?"
"It's been good doll, same old thing as every week." Her dad shrugged, clearly not phased by the monotony. Then he looked over at Chris. "You must be Chris. I've heard a lot about you."
Logically, Chris knew that it was probably good things, but he couldn't help but worry about what exactly he knew. "Yes sir, it's really nice to meet you."
"Please, call me Mike." Chris nodded, and Mae smiled, glad that they seemed to be getting along so far.
"I'm Amanda!" Amanda came back in from the front room, carrying a box that she placed on the counter to walk over to Chris. She pulled him into a quick hug when she finally reached him, although it was difficult due to her small frame.
"I'm Chris." He said, more to the floor than Amanda because of the angle.
"Oh I know, Mae's been talking about you."
This time, it was Mae's turn to go red. She didn't think that she had talked about him all that much, only when she was asked specifically about him, right?
Amanda turned and winked at her as she walked back to stand with her dad. "You guys go hang out while we finish dinner, it shouldn't take too long."
Mae instinctively turned toward the stair case, but before she could even take a step, her dad spoke up. "Nope, downstairs."
She nodded, and began to lead Chris back towards the living room. They sat down, Mae's victory screen still playing on a loop on the TV.
"Sorry, they can be a little much. They mean well though. They just don't get to meet a lot of my friends since they're mostly back in Lowell."
"No, it was kinda nice actually. They reminded me a bit of my parents. In a good way obviously." She really hadn't had any doubts about Chris and Amanda would get along great, and she didn't think that her dad wouldn't like Chris, but she thought he would've played the overprotective dad bit a little bit more.
They played a few more rounds of Mario Kart, with Chris winning more games this time. He jumped up on the couch the same way that Mae had when he crossed the finish line less than a second before her.
"Fuck yeah!" He whispered, worried that Mike wouldn't like that he was swearing in his house.
"You don't have to whisper. My dad doesn't care, as long as your not cussing me out, that is." Mae really hoped that he would have gone with it. Her dad didn't care, but he definitely would not have taken kindly to his daughters new friend dropping f-bombs in the living room on Christmas Eve. He had just shaken his head in response.
Amanda walked into the living room a moment later, smiling when she saw the two sitting on the couch, already deep in a conversation about who knows what.
"Dinners ready guys." She clapped her hands a little to get their attention, and before long Mae was dragging Chris behind her to the dining room.
She was shocked when she walked in, it was decorated was more than she'd seen in the almost 18 years that she had lived in the house. Garland snacked around the ceiling and there were a few poinsettias sitting on the table next to the window. There were even some lights strung around along the top of the wall.
"Woah, Dad did you do all this?" She'd truly never seen anything like these from her family, her mother didn't decorate much for Holidays and her dad was always too busy to get around to it.
Her dad shrugged. "I had some spare time this week and wanted to make the last Christmas in this house a memorable one."
Mae's face fell. She had somehow forgotten that her father would be moving in with Amanda in just a few short weeks. She moved towards the table, examining the table cloth, and gestured for Chris to come sit beside her.
"Well thank you both, for coming and spending some time with us tonight. We really appreciate the company." Mike smiled brightly at his daughter, and then at Chris. "Now, let's eat."
