Roommates with a Player

Chapter Thirty Four: Under the Mistletoe [CHRISTMAS SPECIAL]

            I wrapped my arms around her. She feels different since last time. Riley pulled back and I got a good look at her: her face and body has filled out and she finally looked as if she’s eaten a cookie. I grinned at her and she gave me a knowing look.

            “I did it, Emma,” she said, her voice a bit lower. “I beat it!”

            I pulled her in for another hug and she giggled in my ear.

            “I’m so proud of you, Riley.”

            “I couldn’t have done it without you, Em.”

            I felt warmth spread across my chest and smiled. Was it true that I’d impacted Riley so much? So much that she’d actually fought off anorexia and changed her whole life around? My head was spinning with happiness.

            “Can I interrupt?” a smooth voice whispered from behind me.

            I whirled around to find Ricky, looking rather dashing in his crisp tux, standing behind me, a sly grin on his face.

            “Uh, can you go away?” Riley shot back and I suppressed a laugh.

            “Since when did you two get all buddy-buddy? Is there something I’m missing?” he prodded.

            “Yeah. It’s a vagina. So butt out, Roderick,” Riley spat.

            We both busted out laughing and smacked a high-five as Ricky skulked back to the living room to watch Charlie play videogames. I could tell that this evening was going to be awesome.

****************

            Dinner was uneventful. Aunt Olivia had recently gotten a nose job that made her look like a toucan. Uncle Gerald was discussing work with Henry. Michelle was busy fussing over Charlie’s turkey spaceship and the carrot astronauts that he’d built. Ricky and Riley were bickering over who was more superior, men or women. I had decided to tune them both out when they started talking about sexual terms and focused on my food.

            Even with the whole family busy with their own problems, I was quite content. Christmas music played softly from the speakers and wreaths and tiny lights decorated the whole inside of the house. Mistletoes were hung precariously around every doorway. And don’t even get me started on our Christmas tree! When I celebrated Christmas with my parents, we always got the small, fake trees that already had lights installed. All we had to do was hook it up, plug it in, and bam. There’s your tree. But with the Stephens, it just had to be all out.

            The very real, very expensive tree stood about nine feet in the air. It seemed to tower over all of us, proclaiming its massiveness to anyone who admired it. Michelle had hired workers to decorate the tree, but the kids were to put on the last few ornaments. Thousands of lights choked the outstretched branches, making the whole tree seem to twinkle and blink like the stars in the sky. Charlie and I had done a poor job hanging ornaments up; they were all sporadically placed about. Ricky had just sat on the couch, directing us where to place them. That weenie. But I’d been chosen to but the star on top and I did so with pride.

            “Emma,” Ricky’s annoyed voice tore my eyes from the great tree. “Chicks before dicks or bros before hoes?”

            “What?” I stuttered.

            “Don’t taint her pure mind with your dirty thoughts, Ricky,” Riley cut me off before I could say anything.

            “Why don’t you just shut the-,”