Isaac stretched his tall, strong body out on the family loveseat, letting his legs dangle off the side. He had only been back in Buffalo since last night, but he was already getting extremely comfortable being in his childhood home. He couldn't help it; it felt great to be home for the holidays.
On this particular day, he had slept in until almost 10 AM, which felt him feel refreshed for a change. It was a welcoming feeling after the stress of final exams.
"You look pretty comfy," his mother remarked as she sat on the nearby couch.
"I'm happy to be home," Isaac declared with a wide smile. "It feels good to kick back and relax with you guys."
Isaac's mother grinned in return. "Well, I'm glad that you're home for the holidays. I missed you, sweetie."
"I missed you too," Isaac said. "How have things been?"
"Quiet, but good. Nothing too crazy's been going on here. Your father and I have talked to Laura off and on. She and Jacob have decided to not get married next year."
Isaac frowned with concern. "Oh, really? I didn't know that. Is everything okay with them?"
"Everything's fine, dear," his mother replied. "They just wanna save up first before splurging on a wedding. Laura told me that they've been looking at houses for a little while now. They're gonna stay in their apartment for now, but they definitely wanna buy a house soon."
"Makes sense," Isaac remarked.
His mother suddenly grew quiet. She looked into her coffee mug and pursed her lips with uncertainty. Isaac frowned again, unsure of what was going on inside his mother's head.
"Mom, are you okay?" he asked, his voice taking on a worried tone.
"Well...there is one thing I've been wondering about for a while now," she admitted in a hesitant manner.
Isaac raised his eyebrows. "What is it?"
"How have things been between you and Lexi recently?"
The question left a bad taste in Isaac's mouth due to last month's drama, but he decided to answer anyway. "Things have been really good between us. She did well on her exams too, and we celebrated our two-year anniversary before that. We're really happy, Mom."
Isaac's mother visibly relaxed. "Oh, good. I'm truly happy to hear that."
"Why do you ask?"
"I've just been worried about you two, that's all."
Isaac hardened his dark brown eyes. "Is that so?"
"I was worried that everything that happened back at Thanksgiving hurt your relationship," his mother clarified. "I know how upsetting it was and how bad things got. I still feel incredibly guilty that I created such a terrible mess and hurt you two. I know I apologized for what happened to both you and Lexi, but it still bothers me even now."
The explanation gave Isaac enough reason to relax. He had been concerned that his mother would badmouth Lexi while on break since his girlfriend wasn't around now to defend herself. So, to realize that that wasn't the case made him feel a lot better. (Then again, he would have defended his girlfriend if his mother had trashed her, no matter what.)
I'm glad she still feels bad about upsetting Lexi back at Thanksgiving, he thought. I know Lexi forgave her and Dad for what happened, but still... That doesn't make what happened okay.
"Yeah, everything's good with us," he said nonchalantly. "To be honest, we haven't talked about what happened since then. There hasn't been a reason to, Mom. Besides, we've been so busy with school and whatnot that it hasn't been on our minds recently."
"I see," his mother replied. "That's good to hear, sweetie."
Just then, her cell phone rang. She got up and excused herself to take the call in another room.
I wonder what Mom would've said if I told her that things had been going badly between Lexi and me, Isaac thought while fighting off a smirk. I honestly can't tell if she's finally warming up to my girlfriend or not. Time will have to tell, I guess. Speculating about it isn't going to do me any good. All I can do is hope that Lexi and Mom will get along better the next time they have to interact.
***
With Christmas now just two days away, Isaac continued to relax as much as he could at home. But that wasn't the case for his parents, who had to work right up to Christmas Eve. He felt bad that that was the case, but there wasn't anything he could do about it. They needed to work to put food on the table— a fact that Isaac had known his entire life.
With his parents working a lot, Isaac spent the majority of his days home alone. But he lucked out on that day when Laura dropped by unexpectedly that afternoon for a visit.
"I'm off now until December 27th, but Jacob's working a 12-hour shift today," she explained once the siblings settled down in the living room. "Figured I'd drop in to make sure you're not causing any trouble here."
Isaac rolled his eyes and shook his head. "Yeah, 'cause I do that a lot," he remarked with biting sarcasm.
"Hey, I'm just making sure," Laura argued.
The two siblings shared a hearty laugh. Isaac wasn't one to get up to any trouble while home alone, and they both knew that. But it was also nice for his older sister to come over and visit.
Isaac suddenly thought about his older sister's current living arrangement. She had moved in with Jacob this past summer after Jacob's mother had recovered from a brief but serious illness. From all accounts, the couple seemed happy ever since they had moved in together. He missed not having Laura around as much as before, but he was glad she had been able to take this step in her relationship with Jacob.
"Hello??? Earth to Isaac!"
He gave his head a shake and blinked hard a few times. "Sorry, were you saying something?"
Laura snickered. "I've never seen you so zoned out before. Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine," he insisted. "But I do have a couple of questions for you about you living with Jacob. May I ask?"
"Sure," Laura replied as a confused expression crossed her face. "What exactly do you wanna know?"
"How did you two...know? Like, how did you and Jacob realize that you were ready to live together?"
"Oh, we talked about it several times before it happened," Laura explained. "Believe it or not, I brought it up first. I brought up the subject last year while we were still in college as something to plan for once we graduated. But then Jacob's mom got sick, and he wanted to take care of her, which I totally understood. He promised for us to move in once she got better. As soon as her health began to improve, we started looking for a place. And the rest is history."
"Sounds simple, but I'm sure it wasn't," Isaac remarked.
"No, it really wasn't," Laura said with a light chuckle. "But we've been dating since our senior year of high school and have overcome so much during our relationship. I love him, and he loves me. If I had any doubts about our relationship, I wouldn't have moved in with Jacob, let alone plan on getting married to him."
"I know that."
"I'm really curious— why are you asking me about this?" Laura asked, confusion still apparent all over her face.
Isaac bit his lip. "You can't tell Mom and Dad what I'm about to tell you. I'm dead fucking serious."
Laura raised her eyebrows but didn't ask questions. "You have my word."
With that out of the way, Isaac revealed how he had asked Lexi to move in with him last summer. He went on to explain how they had ultimately decided they weren't ready for that; or rather, that Lexi wasn't ready to take that step in their relationship. He also revealed how they had briefly discussed the matter back in September after they had both moved back to New York City when they had reunited for the first time since the previous semester.
"I haven't brought it up to Lexi since then 'cause there's really no reason to," Isaac explained. "We're both living with roommates and don't plan to change our living arrangements right now. Also, we've both been so busy with school and doing well on our assignments and whatnot. But I know that school's gonna be over in a few months, so I haven't completely forgotten about it."
Laura slowly nodded. "I think you need to be careful not to rush into things, Isaac."
"I'm trying," Isaac said with a heavy sigh. "I guess us being long-distance off and on has affected me more than I thought it would. Being apart for months at a time sucks, I'm not gonna lie. If anything, it makes me wanna be with Lexi that much more."
"I understand, I do," Laura replied sympathetically. "Is that why you wanna live with Lexi?"
Isaac considered her question for a moment before responding. "That's part of it. But the other part is that I love her a lot. I love her, Laura. I really do."
"Do you love her enough to marry her?"
Isaac nearly choked on his spit, causing Laura to erupt with laughter. He shot her a nasty glare in response. "What the hell, Laura?!?!"
"Sorry, I couldn't help myself," she said in between laughing loudly.
"I haven't even thought of that," Isaac confessed with wide eyes. "If I even uttered such a thought to Lexi, I'm pretty sure she'd kill me! We're nowhere near ready for that."
"I think so too," Laura replied, still laughing a little.
Isaac scoffed. "I love Lexi a lot, I do. But that's not something we're ready for. I'm not ready for that. I just want us to become closer as a couple."
By now, Laura had stopped laughing to flash her younger brother a small smile. "And that's okay. Maybe bring up the idea of living together post-graduation the next time you see her. You said you two haven't talked about it since September, correct?"
"Correct."
"Then maybe you two should talk about it again the next time you see each other."
Isaac raised his eyebrows. "You think so?"
"It couldn't hurt to at least try," Laura remarked. "Just don't force her into doing anything. That's never a good idea."
"Oh, I would never do that," Isaac replied. "But I'm definitely gonna bring it up to Lexi in the New Year."
"If I can offer one more piece of advice," Laura said, "it's this: Let things happen as they will. Like I said, don't force anything 'cause doing that never ends well. Whatever happens, happens."
Isaac nodded with a slight grin. "I can get behind that idea. Thanks again for all your advice, Laura."
Later that evening, with his sister gone and his parents still not home from work yet, Isaac thought over everything Laura had told him. He thought about calling Lexi to talk but quickly changed his mind. This was an important conversation that needed to happen face-to-face. He also didn't want to put a damper on their respective winter breaks, when they should have been relaxing and spending time with family.
I'm not going to think about this until I see Lexi again, he thought while resting on his unmade bed. But I'm definitely going to bring it up then. I want to see how she feels about the idea of us living together now. I wonder if she's thought about it since we last discussed it? Well, there's only one way to find out— by talking about the matter.
Isaac closed his eyes and yawned loudly. He couldn't wait for Christmas to come around so that he could celebrate the holidays with his family. But he also couldn't wait to return to New York City to be with Lexi again.