Boyfriend by Christmas

Chapter 9

I nod. "Yeah, fine. Just already lonely I guess. Niyata left for Puerto Rico yesterday and she'll be gone until Sunday. You're leaving. My sister is spending Thanksgiving with her fiance's family."

"I'll be back Friday," he says.

"I know. Thank goodness."

He pulls me in for another hug. "Are you sure you're okay?"

I nod into his chest, only this time I really mean it. Who wouldn't be okay in a warm hug? "Yeah. I think I'm just tired. I guess the dating break was a good idea after all."

"Finally admitting we were right? I should call Niyata and share the news."

"Ha. Shut up."

He hugs me tighter and then releases me. "I should get going. Do you want a ride home?"

"Oh, no, it's okay..."

Garrett rolls his eyes. "Let's go."

I look over my shoulder, for what, I don't know. "No, really. You have to get home and I live on the other side of town."

He laughs. "An extra five minutes won't make us late to my aunt's house. Besides, I guarantee my sister hasn't packed yet. Even though it's only two nights, she needs like eighteen outfits. It's fine."

"Why don't you drive Kat to school?" I ask as we go towards his car. I still feel guilty making him drive me home, but he offered. And I think he would have picked me up and thrown me into the front seat if I continued to say no.

"I do sometimes," he says. "But she prefers to get a ride with her friend from down the street."

"Oh that makes sense." We reach his car and I climb in. I think I spend more time in this car than I do my mother's, which is saying a lot. The front seat seems to be molded to fit me perfectly. "Thanks for giving me a ride."

"You know I don't mind," he says. "I wish you'd let me do it more often."

I shake my head. "Not a chance. You can't always go out of your way for me."

"I like to," he says in the nonchalant way I've grown to hate.

"Well I appreciate it, but Niyata usually takes me home anyway. She lives a couple streets over from me."

He fiddles with the radio, settling on a classic rock station rather than the Christmas one we listened to the other day. "Makes sense. But if she ever can't, just let me know. You look good in my front seat."

I blush and bite my tongue before I can say something I regret like, I'd look good in your back seat too. That wouldn't be a good thing to say.

Though Garrett would probably just laugh it off like some big joke. But it would have been kind of serious. His backseat is very roomy...

"Is Thanksgiving at your aunt's house fabulous?"

He laughs. "Why do you ask?"

"Just wondering what you'll be doing Thursday."

"What will you be doing Thursday?"

"I asked first!"

He taps his fingers on the steering wheel, keeping time with the song playing on the radio. "My aunt spends like all day Wednesday preparing everything. And then she gets up at like four in the morning to get dinner started cooking. But it's so worth it because the food is the most amazing food I've ever had in my life. She's an amazing cook."

"Does your whole family go?"

"Most of them. My dad's got three sisters and a brother. One sister hosts at her house and another brings her family. But the third lives in California so she only comes every couple of years with her kids. And my uncle comes if he can get off work."