-Christmas-
"Come on, Di. The drive is long enough." I hear Jane shout up the stairs as I quickly put my red lipstick on, it's early. Usually Jane lets me sleep in for Christmas but we are going to my aunts house, out of town almost a two hour drive.
I decided to wear a black long sleeved shirt under my red dungaree dress along with tights and I just picked out black boots to wear too. I curled my hair and put half of it back with a little red bow.
"Coming!" I mumble as I put the lipstick in my little red purse, Sadie is coming too. Jane put the presents in the boot of her Suv, including mine and hers.
I quickly leave my bedroom running down the stairs as Jane lets Sadie run outside, she won't run away. Sadie starts barking and Jane shushes her.
I spoke to Natalie on the phone last night, I called her because I just wanted to talk since I haven't seen her in the last few days. She's been busy. But we've been texting constantly, I look down at my phone as I get into the car. I put my seat belt on.
Diana
Merry Christmas 🎅🎄
Natalie
Merry Christmas to you too, how come you're up so early?
Diana
Going to my aunts house, most of my family is...I haven't seen most of them in years.
Natalie
Oh the joys of Christmas, family dinner.
Diana
Are you going over to your parents?
Natalie
No, I am not. Ellie isn't either, I bought her presents and I'll make a small dinner not a big one.
Diana
That sounds fun.
Natalie
Yes well I'll talk to you later. Merry Christmas again, darling.
Diana
You too. :)
I smile turning off my phone dropping it on my lap as Jane starts the car.
"Who was that?" Jane asks.
"Nobody." I shrug smiling as I look out the window.
"Hey, you have to tell me." She smiles and I continue to shrug.
✺ ✺ ✺
Jane opens the boot of the car which is parked in the big driveway of my Aunt Danielle's house. It's a huge house.
I take two bags as Jane takes one walking up the drive and up to steps. Jane opens to door, I get a whiff of cinnamon as she does. As we step inside I nearly gasp at the house, two sets of stairs, between them is an opening to the living room I'm guessing as I can see the big Christmas tree. Dark brown, wooden floors.
My grandma sees me and gasps.
"Oh my god, you are the image of your m—"
"Can you help me with the presents, mom?" Jane cuts her off immediately, my grandma ignores Jane coming over to me putting her hands on my shoulders. I haven't seen her since I was fifteen. She hasn't changed. She still dyes her hair brown, to get rid of the grey. The same blue eyes as me and my mom. She's tall though and thin along with that she has a tan which I don't.
"Merry Christmas." I smile awkwardly, this is uncomfortable.
"Is it Jane and Diana?" I hear my aunt, Jane and my moms sister; Danielle. My grandma chose pretty common names for all of her kids, Jane, Danielle, Paige, Beck and Lola. Lola being the name of my mom. Danielle is in her mid thirties, Paige is early thirties, Beck is also early thirties and Jane is thirty five. My mom is thirty eight, she had me young.
Jane and Danielle both have my grandmas hair, chocolate brown hair. My mom and beck have my grandfathers hair, blonde and I suppose I do too. Paige has dirty blonde hair originally which she dyes black, well she did when I last saw her.
Danielle had three kids, Nova who I think is around the same age as me. Jonah who is sixteen, he posted a thousand pictures on instagram of his sixteenth and Joaquin who is nine.
Paige also has three kids, Brynn her oldest who's ten, Laya who is five then Blair who just turned two I believe.
Jane and beck have no kids, then my mom who just has me.
Danielle runs out from straight down the hall which has a big open door, leading to her living room. Danielle's rich, her house is huge. All white. She holds a wine glass, she has a light brown off the shoulder sweater which the front is tucked into her blue jeans.
"Oh my god! Diana, my love!" She walks quickly over as my grandma continues staring.
"Hi." I smile and she wraps me into a hug.
"You are the spitting image of your mother, my god." She pulls back and I hear Jane sigh as she comes back inside holding the bags of gifts. I laugh since I'm not sure what else to do.
"Danielle, I'm positively fucking sure that's the last person she wants to hear about. So shut up." I hear my aunt beck coming out, she wears a green button up with black jeans. Her sleeves are slid up though, she has a sleeve tattoo of flowers. I don't want to assume but I'm going to, she's not straight. That's rude but I'm just taking a guess.
✺ ✺ ✺
A while later and a lot of hugs later, I sit on the couch with Jonah and nova, Danielles kids who are both the only ones here around my age. I don't speak to them, but they are my cousins after all. Nova has dark brown hair, which is long a straight and she has really bright green eyes. They compliment her, she's pale like me. Jonah has the same hair but he has brown eyes, he doesn't look sixteen at all. He looks at least in his twenties.
It's awkward, really awkward. Probably since they haven't seen me since I was fourteen, I remember vaguely the last time I saw them. It was only a few weeks into living with Jane, Danielle was asking me about how I was and I wouldn't even look at her. I stared at the wall instead, I did the same to Nova when she tried to talk to me. I completely ignored her and kept to myself.
Diana
Save me
Charlie
Oh no the cooper family Christmas isn't going good?
Diana
No...It's awful Charlie honestly. They are all my family, I get that but I haven't talked to most of them since I was like fourteen and now they probably feel guilty knowing what my mom was doing at that time. I've been told at least five times I look like my mom. The last time most of these people saw me I wouldn't even look at them.
Charlie
And they most likely understand that. It wasn't an easy time di. Maybe try talk to them?
I turn off my phone standing up as I walk out of the living room and to the kitchen. I stop as I hear my name.
"Has she spoken to a therapist?" I hear my aunt Paige asking.
"I tried to get her to go a few years ago, she didn't want to and I didn't force her. She's fine now, she needed the therapy years ago. She shouldn't even need therapy, Lola should be in rehab." Jane defends me and I pick at my hands listening to their conversation even though it's rude to eavesdrop, it's me their speaking about.
"She is in rehab Jane." I hear my grandma say and I walk in. They all look at me, they are making Christmas dinner but they freeze.
"Since when?" I ask and my grandma starts stuttering.
"Diana—"
"I don't need therapy, I need to know where my mom is. I've been in the blue for the last four years about her. So please, just tell me." I say quietly not looking at any of them but I feel their eyes on me.
"A couple of hours from here, She's been in and out of other centres. She's been at this one the longest, she's doing a program. She will be there for a year, she's been there nine months so far." Danielle says wiping her hands with a towel. I look down picking at my dress thinking. Is she better? Why wasn't I told in the first place.
"Is she doing okay?" I look up to Danielle and she smiles a little nodding.
"She's trying, she really is. I saw her two months ago, she kept going on about seeing you but I wasn't too sure if you wanted that." She says and I nod.
"She's a dickhead, you shouldn't have went to see her in the first place. Let her rot in that god forsaken place." Beck moves away from the counter shaking her head as she leaves the kitchen, I look over my shoulder as she leaves.
"Ignore—"
"It's fine." I say before turning around and following her, she goes out to the backyard. I follow quickly.
She sits down at a bench by a pool. She spots me as she pulls out a cigarette, lighting it. I walk over sitting down beside her.
"You didn't deserve all that shit she put you through, I know she's your mom and she's my sister but Jesus I meant what I said." She sits back and I nod.
"That's the thing. I felt like I deserved it. I thought you all thought it was my fault when nobody reached out, Janes the only one who offered to take me in."
"Nobody thinks it's your fault, Lola was one of the kindest shitheads I knew but addiction changes a person." She says, leaning her elbows on her legs as she looks in the pool and I nod.
"It really does." I bring my legs up onto the bench, I huff wrapping my arms around my legs.
"I'm sorry I didn't reach out, I didn't know what to say or if you wanted me to. I should have." She sighs as she continues smoking her cigarette.
"It's fine." I smile.
"Anyway....You're a senior, right? How's school going? Apply to any colleges?" She asks and I nod.
"Yeah, it's good. I've applied to a few colleges but Yale is the one I want to go to."
"So I suppose you're a smart one?"
"Yeah, I guess."
"Cool. Any boyfriend?" She glances back to me, she has my eyes too but hers are a little darker.
"Uh....No—not exactly." I shrug dropping my legs back to the floor and she laughs a little taking a drag of her cigarette.
"A girlfriend?" She smiles and i scrunch my nose shaking my head a little side to side.
"She's not my girlfriend yet, but I really like her." I say and she sits back dropping the cigarette on the floor.
"Why don't you ask her to be your girlfriend then?"
"It's not that easy."
"Is it. Worst case scenario she rejects you, at least you have an answer." She says pulling down her sleeves and I shake my head.
"No—not that, she's—we....are in a situation where we could be in trouble if anyone knew about the relationship we had."
"Oh fuck, what is she? A murderer?"
"My teacher." I look to see her reaction and she laughs.
"You bagged your teacher?"
"It's not like that! She's not my teacher anymore, I switched English classes."
"It's always the English teachers who are the hot ones, show me her." She nods and I take out my phone.
I get up Natalie's instagram and show her a photo of Natalie sitting back on a dock, it must have been a photo shoot she done.
"She's hot." Beck smiles and I do too.
"Yeah.. she calls me darling, I haven't heard her call anyone else that." I smile widely and she sits back still smiling, waiting for me to continue.
"We also have a child together, a teddy. Named Benji, she won him for me. I have him Monday to Thursdays and she has him Fridays to Sundays. She has a really weird obsession with jolly ranchers, oh and her favourite flowers are roses. She also likes the scream movies, I watched the first one and I want to watch the other ones too." I blab on and she laughs a little.
"You mean what you said about really liking her."
"I did. She's really mean to most people, she was mean to me at the start she stole my book before I found out she was my teacher. She gave it to me a couple weeks later."
"Dinner!" I hear Jane shouting inside before she comes outside. I stop talking and jane walks over.
"You okay?" Jane asks and I nod smiling.
"She was telling me about her girlfriend." Beck stands and I stand too feeling my face begin to heat up a little.
"Jane met her, Jane threatened her." I tell beck and she shakes her head laughing.
"I doubt Jane affected her."
"Yeah, she didn't seem to care." I say as we walk inside, we go to the dining room and I sit beside beck and Jane.
"Do you have a girlfriend?" I ask beck and she laughs at the question.
"Becks what you kids would call a player, she doesn't do relationships." Paige leans closer from beside beck.
"That's not true."
"It is."
"Why don't you both zip it?" Jane asks.
"Girls, stop fighting." My grandma speaks up and my grandpa sits down at the table.
"Did you know Diana's sleeping with her teacher?" Beck asks my grandma and I choke a little on my food and the younger kids start laughing. Send help.
"What?!" My grandma looks at me and I sink back in the seat.
"Props to her." Paige lifts her glass and I feel my face go completely red.
"She has quite the personality too, she doesn't like me." Jane smiles and I block my face out of embarrassment, what is happening oh my god.
"You threatened her." I say and Jane shrugs as they start laughing.
"You could get in a lot of trouble for that." My grandma says and beck scoffs.
"She doesn't seem to care. You should of heard all the stuff she was saying outside, she's falling hard." She says and I smile as they laugh again.
"They have a kid together." Beck adds and I drop my head embarrassed.
"What?"
"It's a teddy. She won it for me and we share custody of it." I speak up.
✺ ✺ ✺
After eating we move to the living room to open presents, I mostly get jewellery and clothes. I'm guessing Jane told them what kind of clothes I like.
Danielle got me a beautiful silver bracelet with a heart shaped rose quartz. Beck got me a white dress with small blue flowers on it along with a green dress that has white flowers. She also got me pyjamas and perfumes. Paige got me some clothes and a lot of candies...
My grandparents got me new AirPods, a fluffy blanket and earrings. Jane got me books, pyjamas, a beautiful silver ring with a white butterfly, clothes, the perfume I've been dying to get, a new purse and candles.
I open one of Charlie's gifts that he got me, I lift the lid of the box and almost drop it. He got me a camera, I pick up my phone texting him.
Diana
You did not buy me a camera
Charlie
DONT OPEN THE GREEN BOX IN FRONT OF UR FAMILY.
Diana
What?
Charlie
Don't open ur other gifts just wait till you get home and FaceTime me. 🙌
Diana
You got me a camera.
Charlie
I know
Diana
Charlie this has to of been expensive, I love it but Jesus why did you spend money!!!!
Charlie
Because I love u chicken x
Diana
You're an idiot. I love you bunny x
"Is that her you're texting?" Jane leans over and I shake my head.
"No, it's Charlie."
"Tell him I say hi." She smiles and I nod texting Charlie again.
✺ ✺ ✺
"I can't believe you bought me a camera." I tell Charlie as I sit back on my bed.
"Whatever, it's nothing. Open the other ones, the green one last." He tells me, I pick up the small pink box. I lift the lid and see a bookmark with photos of me and Charlie, I laugh picking it up.
"I love it." I smile and I hear him moving.
"I knew you would, now other one."
I pick up the second last box, lifting to lid to reveal candy...lots of candy.
"Are you trying to make me sick?" I smile and he shrugs.
"It'd be worth it, I got you some really nice candy."
"Thank you, Charlie." I put the lid back on the box and he grins.
"Now the green box." He says excitedly and I pick the green box up, a little scared.
"Why am I scared?" I laugh and he motions for me to open it from the phone, I lift the lid slowly. I look at the box for a few seconds before gasping as I realise what it is.
"Charlie!" I say and he continues to grin.
"What? It'll come in handy with your new girlfriend." He speaks and I look down at the box again, it's a small vibrator with a remote...
"You're ridiculous."
"And you are thinking about how you are going to use it!" He laughs and I pick up my phone rolling my eyes.
"Shut it, thank you for the gifts." I sit back on my bed.
"Thank you for mine too." He smiles.
"Well...Come around tomorrow?" I ask him and he nods.
"Can't wait..." He says just as I go to hang up he speaks again.
"Wait."
"Yeah?"
"I love you, Diana. I really mean it." He tells me and I sit up looking at him. I pick up my phone, furrowing my eyebrows.
"Are you okay, Charlie?"
"Yeah. I just feel like I don't say it enough. I really appreciate you."
"Charlie, I love you. If somethings up, you know you can talk to me." I tell him and he nods.
"Merry Christmas, good night, Diana." He blows a kiss.
"Good night." I say as he hangs up, Jane knocks on the door before opening it slightly. I kick the box off the bed. it falls out of the box, no! Not what I wanted to happen universe.
My heart drops as Jane looks down at the floor, I jump off my bed putting it back in the box and grab the lid.
"I'm sorry—"
"No! I'm not doing anything! Charlie just bought it for me!—Im not gonna use it!" Heat rises in my cheeks as I shut the box sitting back on the floor as Jane starts laughing.
"You're so dramatic, I just wanted to check in. The news about your mom today, are you okay?" She asks and I nod.
"Uh...yeah, it's fine. I just don't really want to think about, I'm not even considering going to see her. But I'm fine with you going to see her, if that's what you want." I say and she nods.
"I don't want to. If you want to talk, you know where I am. Good night, Di." She says walking back over to the door.
"Night Jane." I smile as she shuts the door, I let out a breath. I won't lie, it's a relief to know my moms still breathing. But I don't think I can handle going to see her. Maybe..just maybe in the future.
I shake my hands trying to stop thinking about it as I go back onto my bed grabbing my phone, just to text Charlie and make sure everything's okay.