A week later college closed for Christmas and New Year's. I didn't really see Roman after that. He was always busy with visiting family and doing whatever it is he does during Christmas and I kind of just chilled with the Colloways as they also visited some family. I met Charlie and Emily's grandparents on both sides, and they were surprisingly very friendly. I also met various cousins and aunts and uncles.
Despite not having seen each other, Roman and I still talked a lot. Mostly at night from whenever we managed to get into bed after seeing whoever we'd had to meet that day. We'd spend hours talking to each other well into the early hours of the morning and when I woke up exhausted from a lack of sleep and having to get ready to meet some other odd family member, I didn't regret it one bit.
Talking to Roman just felt so natural and it was fun. We'd been flirting a lot, but we always reeled it back in when we could sense it going too far. It was nice though. I felt... desired? I liked it.
It was also nice to just rant about our days. Roman kept telling me silly stories about how crazy his family were. Apparently last year his grandma had accidentally gotten one of his cousins a hoodie that said 'hentai' on it thinking it was just some kind of anime, or 'one of those cartoon shows' as she supposedly liked to call it. I mean it definitely was some kind of anime I suppose...
I was nervous as fuck about today. I'd told him all about it last night and gotten all my fears and worries off my chest. He'd tried to help me calm down a little bit but there wasn't much he could do. He had no idea what it felt like to be in my situation, and I couldn't fault him for that.
Carrie and Mike had fostered a lot of children in the past 15 years. All teenagers. And apparently every year, if they were free, they would come here on the 23rd of December to see the family again. Some of them had been fostered together and some mainly just came for the Colloways but apparently ended up becoming close with others over their shared experiences. Today was the 23rd, and they would all be here come noon. I was terrified because I had no idea what to expect and a weird part of me was almost worried that they wouldn't accept me as one of their own, but I didn't really know why that mattered to me so much.
"Hi honey," Carried said when I finally appeared downstairs. "Are you excited to meet everyone?"
"Umm, yeah I suppose," I replied. I probably could have faked my excitement a little better though.
"Don't worry," Mike said patting me on the back. "They'll love you."
Emily came storming down the stairs when Carrie had me help her wipe down the kitchen counters in a last minute clean up session. In my foster sister's hand was the book they got me to write my name in when I first came to live here.
"Is that the book?" I asked curious.
"Oh yeah. They like having a look through sometimes. Find their pages, you know?" she replied. I nodded and asked if I could have a look at it again.
When I opened it, I found my name and my birthday. I hadn't really written much in here but back then I didn't exactly think I would be here that long and yet here Christmas was with me at the Colloways. I grabbed a pen and added more to my page figuring it couldn't hurt to do so. It didn't seem so unlikely that I would be here next year on the 23 to come visit the family who had given me a home and actually made me want to stay. All I did was add some of the things I liked to the book like my favourite songs and my aspirations for the future. Maybe ten years from now I would look down at the book and think of how I wanted to go to Britsol university and do a history course when maybe that's not what I end up doing at all.
"You applied for history?" Charlie asked looking at what I'd written over my shoulder.
"Yeah, what's wrong with that?" I questioned.
"Like everything. History, ugh," he replied scrunching up his nose in disgust. I liked history. I kinda want to teach it at college or maybe uni.
At 12:30, I was lounging around on the couch in the living room when the doorbell was finally rung. And then for about an hour, one after the other, a bunch of people just kept showing up. Some were into the beginning of their thirties now while others were only a little bit older than me. They all greeted Carrie and Mike with a lot of affection and love and pulled Charlie and Emily into hugs like they were really siblings. I just gave everyone polite hellos and was thankful no one tried to hug me.
"Hey, you must be my replacement then," said a guy a little older than me. Carrie had already told me that their last foster moved out during the summer, and they'd gone a couple months with only short stay fosters until they took me in; kids who only stayed a few days.
"Harrison?" I asked knowing that was the name of the previous foster.
"That's me," he said giving me a smile. "Show me what you've done with my old room, will you?"
"Sure," I agreed.
"Oh, can I see too?" A girl not that much older also asked. A few of the others also shared the same sentiment of wanting to see my room for some reason so while the rest of the family stayed downstairs, I took a group of strangers to my room and sat on the edge of my bed while everyone judged my decorating skills.
"Nice stars," Harrison said referring to the glow in the dark stars on my ceiling.
"Thanks," I mumbled feeling a little insecure and nervous.
"I used to have a giant poster of Evan Peters stuck to this wall," said Amy. She was maybe four years older than me.
"No way!" Samantha, the girl who first asked to see my room as well, responded. "I had a poster of Evan Peters too, but not like a large one and I just stuck it to the wardrobe."
"Really?" questioned Rob. "Girls find Evan Peters attractive?"
Amy and Samantha just rolled their eyes and continued to tell me how they'd had their room decorated and what they liked and didn't like about my own choices. Everything kind of just went in one ear and out the other. After snooping some more, everyone kind of found somewhere to sit and turned their attention solely to me.
"So, how'd you end up in care?" Harrison asked. Usually, people weren't so bold and usually I didn't bother answering but we were all kids in care so what did it matter.
"Umm, my parents died," I explained.
"My dad was abusive, and mum never did anything about it," Harrison replied. His auburn hair fell into his eyes and desperately needed a haircut unless maybe he was growing it out long.
"Mine got charged with neglect and child endangerment. They were too busy shooting heroin all the time to feed me," Rob said.
"Didn't have a dad, just a step dad. Mum tried to kill me because she thought I was flirting with him," Samantha said quietly.
"Mine died too," Amy added.
Fuck this was depressing.
They all went onto to share their stories some more. Amy's had died in a plane crash of all things. Samantha's mum was drunk and saw her talking to her stepdad in her pyjamas when she was 14 and tried to smother her in her sleep for apparently trying to steal her stepdad away from her mum. Rob's parents spent every waking moment drugged up on one thing or another. All their money was spent on their next high and Rob often had to go to his neighbours for food, but they lived in a poor area and there wasn't always a lot his neighbours could spare him. When he was 10, his neighbours just called the police instead and the officers found Rob's parents with needles in their arms. Harrison's dad would beat him black and blue until finally his P.E. teacher noticed when he was getting changed in the changing rooms. Harrison admitted what was happening to him and he was taken away from his house that evening.
By the time they'd all finished their stories, I didn't realise I'd been silently crying.
"Oh no, hey," Amy said sitting down beside me and wiping my tears away. My hands were fisting the material of my joggers on my thighs. I just hated that things like this happened to us. I hated that my parents were amazing and theirs weren't and that in the end how good or bad your parents were didn't necessarily mean they wouldn't suddenly been gone from your life forever. "We only told you because we understand. Your parents could have been amazing but the fact is we, all of us, lost them in the end. But we have each other. We all understand what you're going through to some extent you know?"
I nodded blinking anymore tears away.
"I'm sorry that happened to all of you," I said quietly hoping they all heard.
"Well, it's not your fault, is it mate?" Harrison said. "Don't apologise."
I nodded and asked them what it was like to live with the Colloways. Apparently, Charlie had been the same bastard he is now; always finding a way to weasel his way into your life and really make you feel like he was your brother. Emily had been younger with these guys but always just as sweet as she is today. Carrie and Mike were amazing at being there for you when you needed but also giving you the independence and space, you wanted. I couldn't agree more with everything they said.
A little while later we were called down for food. The dining table was nowhere near big enough for everyone, so we were all plastered around the living room, dining room, and kitchen. Some of the older fosters that I hadn't talked to yet asked me simple questions like how I liked living here and what I was doing at college. Everyone made me feel really included and Charlie would secretly whisper to me embarrassing things some of them used to do when they lived here. I could tell Emily was particularly fond of Amy. Maybe she had been the most like a big sister to Emily.
Everyone stayed for a few hours after lunch making casual conversation and sharing their lives from the past year. The house was filled with laughter despite the harrowing pasts so many of them had. It really solidified a sense of hope deep in the pits of my heart. Even if things didn't work out the way I planned, I would always have the Colloways, and I would have this day every year to come see everyone and things would be good.
A lot of the older fosters started to leave as the afternoon turned to evening. They would go back to their homes and their families that they had worked hard for despite all the obstacles that had faced them. Others, like the three who had come to my room earlier, didn't really have partners of families they needed to be with that evening, so they stayed.
We had dinner in front of the tv that played Christmas movies and Mike shared some of his favourite memories with everyone When he went to share some about me, from the short time that I'd been here, he said he loved watching the brotherly relationship me and Charlie were developing.
"Too bad we weren't twins huh?" Charlie said nudging my shoulder from where we were both slumped down the sofa on our backs. I smiled a small smile to myself at how this was one of the first Christmases I'd enjoyed in a very long time.
By the time it was midnight, Mike gave everyone who was left a ride home so they wouldn't have to walk in the dark or get into an uber with strangers. Charlie, instead of going into his own room, walked right into mine and slumped down on my bed.
"You have your own bed," I said nudging his calf with my foot.
"Yeah, I'm not sleeping here. I'll leave you alone in a sec," he replied sitting back up. "Just wanted to ask how you found today?"
"It was good," I replied. "I liked it. Hope I can come next year."
"Mate, if you don't come next year, I will drive down to wherever you are, kidnap you, and drag you here, even if that means locking you in the boot of my car."
"Jesus, alright. I'll definitely come. Spare me the kidnapping, please."
"Good."
~~~~~~~~~~
Really excited to post chap 17 because I tried something different and really liked how it turned out so keep an eye out for the next update!