Because of Him

29

I returned the smile and shrugged. "What are best friends for?"

She laughed, agreeing with me. She glanced down at my shirt and cringed. I looked down and laughed at the mascara stains on my shoulder where she was leaning her head and crying on it.

"Oh, God, I'm so sorry." She apologized, shaking her head in embarrassment. She stood up and walked over to the restroom. She cautiously looked in the mirror and her eyes widened. "Oh my.. I look like such a mess. And this hand print!" She shouted, pointing to her cheek.

I chuckled, grabbing the ice pack and taking it over to her. "Here," I said.

She took it and sighed, placing it on her face. She stared at her reflexion and shook her head in disbelief. "It's freaking Thanksgiving, and she slaps me." She started laughing. "Who would've thought I'd be in this situation right now?"

I offered her a sad smile. She was in shock.

As we stood there, taking in the whole scene, an idea came to mind. She shouldn't have to spend Thanksgiving feeling sorry for herself.

"Hey, why don't you celebrate with me and Emmie?"

Snapping her eyes from the mirror to my gaze, surprise was written all across her facial features. "Really?"

"Yeah," I smiled. "I know Emmie wouldn't mind at all, and I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I let you spend your day by yourself."

I watched as her lips stretched into the widest grin. She tossed the ice pack onto the counter and attacked me in a hug. She squeezed me tightly and I laughed, even though I felt my lungs practically being crushed.

"I love you, I love you, I love you." She grinned. I brought my arms up to return her hug, squeezing just as tightly.

My lips stretched into a wide smile and I realized what I was so thankful for.

To have this girl, who was crushing the day lights out of me, to call my best friend.

❧

"Ready?" I asked Faith, offering her a grin.

"Ready." She replied with a nod of her head.

"Alright, here we go."

I clicked the call button. As soon as she appeared on the screen, Faith and I exclaimed, "Happy Thanksgiving!"

I watched as Emmie laughed, the corners of her eyes crinkling. "Hello!" she smiled. "Its nice to see you again, Faith."

"Is it okay if I celebrate with you guys?" Faith asked, even though I had already told her it was perfectly fine. "Things with my mother got out of hand and.." She said, her voice trailing off.

"Of course its fine, honey." Emmie told her. "Lauren and I are always here for you."

Faith gave her a grateful smile. I knew she wasn't talking because if she did, she would start crying again. Instead of making her think about it even more, I quickly changed the subject and decided to begin already.

"Okay, let's get this started!" I exclaimed, clapping my hands together.

Since Emmie was not going to be here for Thanksgiving, we decided on buying our favorite foods instead of making a traditional Thanksgiving meal. That way, we didn't have to buy and cook everything just to eat a small bit of it all by ourselves.

Emmie said a quickly prayer and we bowed our heads and closed our eyes, mumbling an amen when Emmie had finished.

All three of us served ourselves the food we'd bought. Emmie had pizza and chicken wings, and Faith and I had chinese take-out. As we dug into our food, we chatted about all things, and I loved Emmie even more because she was just so relaxed and comfortable to talk to. It was so far proving to be the best Thanksgiving ever, even if she wasn't physically here to celebrate with us.