We made it official November 6th.
"Happy Thanksgiving Cait!" Mrs. Woods hands me a platter of baked potatoes after kissing me on the cheek.
I blame mom for this complete madness. Usually, on thanksgiving it's just the four of us and one giant turkey. This year, mom decided to have my boyfriend's family and Carter's girlfriend's family to come. Thank god things have cooled off somewhat between Ella and I.
Miller walks in, a bag of gifts in one hand and the other effortlessly lifting Vienna off the ground. He spots me and gives me a warm smile, despite the coldness of the weather outside.
"Caitlin!" Ella's older sister, Christine calls for me. "Your oven is weird. How do I cook the turkey?!"
Peeling my eyes away from Miller, I go help Christine in the kitchen. She's nearly 6 months pregnant, so she's easily annoyed. Instead of teaching her, I just have her tell me which degrees she needs and I input them. Judging by her facial expression, she's not in the mood to learn how to use an oven. Don't worry, she's usually much nicer than Ella.
I walk into the living room to find a heated make out session between Ella and Carter. Reverting my gaze, I step out of the room only to come chest-to-back with Miller.
"Woah there." He smiles brightly. "I was just going to look for you. Hm, you look great today."
I stare down at my outfit, picked by mom's hands. A polka dot skater skirt with a tucked in white shirt with a silhouette of the Eiffel tower. My hair is in a high ponytail, the ends unraveling in brown locks. It's a little bit of a tradition to look nice on Thanksgiving; you don't want to look like a street rat while thanking people, now do you?
"Thanks, but are you insinuating that I look horrible every other day?" I touch his arm teasingly. At first, I was afraid to touch him. Weird, I realize now, but I was afraid that he'd somehow like me less. That maybe my touch would be so repulsing that he'd change his mind... I'm going nuts.
Miller's eyebrows scrunch together and he looks like he regrets something. "No, no. That's not what I meant at all because you look great all the time. I just meant that you look especially great today, not that you don't look especially great everyday, but your skirt and you don't usually wear skirts and your hair is so smooth and I really like your shirt. What I mean is that you looks super great today and I'm not trying to be mean to you on-"
Mom walks past us and shakes with silent giggles, "You've already dug yourself a hole, Miller."
"I was just kidding." I push his body closer to mines when mom is gone. I'm still not all that full steam ahead about the whole PDA thing.
A flush of relief spreads across his beautiful face. "I knew that." His arms wrap around my waist, pulling me even closer. He reaches for my ponytail and gives it a playful tug. I nuzzle my head against his collarbone and breath in his refreshing pine smell.
"Milly," Violet breaks our embrace, "Mommy says that you have to go help set the table and Caitlin's mom wants her put a movie on in the living room!"
We lean away from each other, jumping back into reality.
Miller gives my hand one last squeeze and whispers huskily in my ear, "All I really want to do is kiss you."
My cheeks flush the whole time while I'm picking a movie. Ella and Carter cleared out when I came in, so they can't tease me about it. The movies we own are all so old. It's not like any of us particularly enjoy the movie watching, so no one has ever complained. I flip through dad's whole stash of black and white movies before landing on something good. Frozen.
It was one of the movies Ella convinced me into watching before the whole fiasco started, last year. I remember seeing it's predecessor, Tangled, a few years back with Charlotte.
Talking about Charlotte, I haven't seen her face-to-face again since the allergy incident, but we video chat and text, courtesy of Miller connecting us again. Never would I have guessed they knew each other, let alone were related. They look nothing alike, their hair being totally different shades of brown. Besides their skin tone being the same pale color, nothing else resembles.
She lives about and hour away by car, but she comes to visit at least once a month because her mom wants to see her sister-in-law. According to Char, they mourn for Miller's father together. I remember her as always a cheery girl, who had an edgy side, but now it looks as though the edgy side has taken over. The honey brown hair that used to be left in waves down her back is now shortened to a pixie cut.
I tell her about the Ella news and she doesn't seem at all surprised. She was expecting it from her after all. It sucks that she's disappointed that I only now break my friend ship with her. As for my relationship with her cousin, she's fine as long as we don't present in front of her.
"Are we watching Frozen, Caitlin?" Vienna asks in he baby voice, her twin sister trailing behind her.
Giving the two girls a hug, I nod. "Yeah! Olaf for the win!" They grin at me cheekily before mindlessly hopping in the couch while the movie buffers. These two angels give me hope, honestly. Maybe, just maybe there are people in this world better than Ella. I hope they never grow up.
I sit next to Violet, who ends up sitting on my lap and her sister even scoots over so that she can lean her little head on my shoulder. Before, as in before I meant Miller, I always thought that the little ones were nuisances, but I doubt I've meant anyone as awesome as Vienna and Violet. Just last week, Miller and I were babysitting them and they would just try to make us laugh the whole time, and eventually their attempts worked.
We get to the part where Anna has entered her sister's ice palace when mom calls us for dinner, making the three of us groan in unison.
I get over it when I see the table filled to the top with deliciousness.
Sitting my self next to Miller, I reach for the mash potatoes directly in front of me, ready to dig in. My dad's stern voice stops me. "Caitlin, we have to pass the Thanksgiving Chicken, remember?"
Don't worry. He's not talking about a real chicken because that would be weird. Would we all take a bite out of it? That's gross. The Thanksgiving Chicken is a worn out plastic rooster, who happens to wear an apron that says 'Yum! I just adore Thanksgiving!' Literally the stupidest thing I've ever heard about, but anyways we pass it around and say what we are thankful for.
"I'm thankful for my family and my friends," Ella smiles directly at me, "Without you guys, supporting me and making my happy, I would not be the Ella Anderson I am today, so thank you."
Well then, I guess you've got to get new family and friends because this set is clearly not doing a very good job.
The chicken is passed around, answers being practically the same every time. Friends. Family. Food. Shelter. Happiness. Clothing. I'm ready to chuck the chicken out the window by the time Miller finishes his thankful list; family, friends, and an extraordinary girlfriend. Sweet, but way too cliche.
He hands the chicken to me with a warm glint in his eyes. By now, I've decided to go a different path than the normal. "I'm thankful for the bad things that have happened in my life." Everyone gives me questioning stares, probably wondering if I'm okay. "All the broken hearts, the backstabbing, and the traitors were worth it. They were worth it to become a stronger person, which I am now and I greatly recognize it. So, thank you. Thank you to anyone who has ever broken me down because in the end, all that does is build me up."
There is no question that I am directing my thankfulness to Ella, but only Ella seems to notice. Everyone else is telling me to pass the chicken to my left. Never would I ever think I'd be thanking Ella. Like, ever.
The thanking finishes and we can eat. Though mom's food is beyond spectacular, I feel a bit empty inside. Maybe it's longing for someone to talk to. All the adults are talking about adult things that I couldn't care less about. Miller is fooling around with his sisters and I don't think what Ella and Carter are doing is appropriate, but everyone is having too much fun too notice.
Mom and dad swore not to drink tonight after the drunk barbecue fiasco as long as I don't retell the situation to anyone. I wasn't going to anyway, but agreed.
"You okay?" Miller asks me over the chatter of the adults.
"Fine, just really hungry." Cue stomach growl. "I feel a lot better now that I can stuff the whole turkey down my throat."
One of his eyebrows shoot up, faster than the speed of light, I swear. He gets this mischievous look on his face when he tells me, "Do you know what I want to shove down you throat right now?"
There. Right there. One of his many off-putting sayings that make me squirm uncomfortably in my seat. I still don't understand how he comes up with those on the spot. If I have something funny to say, I probably thought about it for a long time, but Miller can tell you them in his sleep. Whatever you say, he can spin that into something funny or sexual.
"Your tongue is not going anywhere near my throat any day, pretty boy." I bite my bottom lip with embarrassment and the slight sensation of tingles.
"Oh, you thought I meant my tongue." He's still looking at me like a little boy who put a fart bag under their dad's chair. "I know you want that, but I was think somewhere else. Maybe a bit lower? A little bit above the thighs is a great destination."
Holy crabs, did he just say that out loud?
I turn around, expecting stares from everyone, but no one noticed. I calm myself before turning back to the perv I call my boyfriend... or shall I say my boyfriend that I call a perv?
Hitting him in the shoulder hard, I hiss, "Someone could have heard that!"
"True, but you cannot deny that you want it because come on. Who doesn't want all this?" he slides his hand down the length of his body.
Without warning, Vienna cuts into our conversation with gravy smeared all over her face. "Are you and Caitlin going somewhere? I want to go! Can me and VIolet come too? We'll be super quiet and shut out mouths just like you asked us to on the car!"
Oh my gosh, Miller Woods, I swear!
"No, no!" I say way too quickly. "Miller and I are staying right here so that we can finish Fro–"
Violet chirps in very loudly with a mouthful of turkey, not caring about her bad manners. "No! I heard Miller say that a little bit above the thighs is a great destination and we want to go too! Mommy never takes us anywhere fun!" That was way louder than it needed to be.
This time, when I turn around, heads are trained in our direction. I want to cry of embarrassment. Screw Miller and his antics. All I want to do is go to my room.
"Violet," Mrs. Woods says calmly into the silence that has now become of our dinner, "I'm afraid that's a whole new destination that only Miller and Caitlin can venture to themselves."
My face has got to be redder than the tomato stew mom made.
~~~~~
A sweet chapter for all of you<3 Especially after the hospital incident, we need something like this. If you think that the ending of the story, is near, my friends, we have barely reached the climax of the story, aka the most awesome, sad, dramatic event ever and I promise it will make you guys re-think everything. Promise!
So, if you haven't checked out my new story "Pretty Boy in Love", another Teen Fiction / Romance / Humor story, then I highly suggest you to. If you somewhat like this story, I''m sure you'll enjoy that one.
I've made the potentially regretful decision of giving out my Instagram... follow me @comically.wattpad for updates bout' my life and such:) I'll probably make a twtter soon... THE LINK TO MY INSTA IS IN THE EXTERNAL PLEASE FOLLOW ME!!! :)
Question: How do you guys feel about Miller and Caitlin? Ship them or nah?
THANK YOUS for the reading thing. Remember to give it a vote if you like it and tune in next time for a way more exciting chapter oops.