Being Shot

P h o t o #36 - Giving Thanks

His gaze bored right back into me. Eyes wide, freckles shining. The more I noticed about Elliot's features, the more his freckles stood out under his skin.

"Whoa!" Kayla mused, her attention, just as all the others, on me now, "Emma, did you do your make-up yourself? It looks great!"

I blushed under my blush, which was weird when you thought about it, because I probably looked like a clown with all the redness interchanging on my face.

"Wait," I began as a thought hit me, "If you're all here, and Mr. and Mrs. Appollo are back in the Carribean, who's watching Kae and Connor?"

Cooper, who had been staring at me since I uttered my first sentence downstairs, looked to his sister next to him. They both smiled at each other, like I was a little kid and said I could prove the moon was made of swiss cheese.

"Our parents took them with them!" Cooper said, grinning down at me.

"T-Took them down to the Carribean? Do they even have passports?!" I gaped at the two of them in disbelief, "And what about school?!"

Without delay, laughter erupted within the small hallway. Even my grandmother was chuckling, her frail hand grasping at her chest as she tried to catch a breath. It sort of shocked me, what with my grandmother being so okay with the fact that all of my friends were pretty extravagant.

"Emmy," Cooper spoke now, a mischievous smile playing at his lips, "As a matter of fact, they do have passports. Our parents used to actually bring us down there around the holiday season when we were little, but since we're in high school and college now, we can't really afford to be missing school."

"Our parents just teach them what they need to know while they're down there," Kayla interjected, only a twinkle of loneliness in her eye that I immediately caught, "Which, well, shouldn't be a problem since Kae's a baby and Connor is the smartest student in his grade." She looked at Cooper, who's now reassuring smile was directed her way, helping her regain her composure and happily say, "They'll be back around Christmas time."

The two siblings shrugged and shared a wide grin, one that I couldn't help but return as I stared.

"Well," Parker began to my left now as he adjusted his glasses, "to answer your earlier question, Jonas and I had heard of your plans and decided to tag along since neither of our families really care for the holidays." He turned and sent a gentlemanly smile down at my grandmother, "I hope you don't mind the extra company, Diane."

My grandmother, clearly smitten with the charming boy, shook her head, "Oh, not at all, not at all! Little Miss Emma here actually made too much food yesterday because she was just so excited for all of you to come over, so we could use some extra mouths to feed."

'Little Miss Emma...' I scowled, 'I haven't heard that name since the second grade.'

With a polite chuckle, Parker replied, "Thank you, we both appreciate the hospitality." His arm wrapped around Jonas' shoulder, he made sure to include both of their gratitudes.

My grandmother waved her hands as if to brush them off, "Oh no, there's no need to worry about it." The little old lady almost had to fan off her face, these people were probably just too much for her heart, "Well, why don't we all head to the table?"

Nodding and agreements ensued, though as we all were directed towards our dining table, my mind was still stuck on Parker's words from before.

'Both his parents and Jonas' don't celebrate the holidays?' I thought in disbelief, not knowing what I would do without my Thanksgiving dinner and Christmas morning every year and the joy it ignited within me, a happiness that couldn't be replicated by anything else, 'That's...kinda lonely.'