Thanksgiving Part 1

The rest of the weekend went by fast, and there a tense feeling ever since Matt’s phone call. Not a tension between the 2 of us, but he just seemed distracted over the whole thing.

After Brian came to pick up Bella on Sunday (which almost made me cry because I absolutely loved having her for the weekend) I started getting my stuff together to head back to my apartment.

“Are you sure you don’t want to stay for dinner?” He asked, watching me from his doorframe as I put the last of my clothes in my overnight bag.

“I would love to but I don’t want to be getting back too late and should tidy up the apartment a bit.”

He sighed and pulled me into him as I got up.

“I had a good time this weekend” He said, looking softly into my eyes.

“I did too,” I fumbled, trying to offer him some advice over his mom. “Look, you’ve seemed kinda off since that whole call about your mom, and I don’t know what to say and I am not going to tell you what to do, but if your feeling this uneasy over it, maybe you should go and see her? You don’t necessarily have to give her any money or anything, but it might make you feel better?”

He smiled widely and I was confused.

“You are amazing, and thank you for being so concerned. It’s just tough you know? As much as I hate everything she’s done, she is still my mother I don’t know if I will be able to wash my hands with her like Nathan did…”

I gave his hands a squeeze, “You don’t have to do anything your not comfortable with. Maybe talk to your brother? It might help getting his input.”

“That’s actually a good idea, I have to call him anyways about Thanksgiving so I’ll tell him all about what’s going on.”

We had a quick goodbye and I headed back home.

I put all my energy into practice and school work that week, and before I knew it I was pulling into my parents driveway for Thanksgiving.

I hadn’t seen Matt all week other than in class and for a quick dinner on Tuesday but I was seeing him Sunday and was really excited and nervous to meet his brother.

When I walked through the front door I was immediately pounced on and all I could hear was shrieking and laughing.

“YOUR HOME!” Katelyn squealed.

“Oh my god! What are you doing here?! I was planning on coming by your place tomorrow but this is such a good surprise.” I said excitedly.

“Well hey there stranger! We thought it would be nice for Katie to be here for when you got home, the family isn’t coming over until tomorrow so you two can have a little girls night” My mom said as she appeared from the living room with a bright smile on her face.

I was so happy and touched that they planned this. My mom knows how stressed I get with school and how worn out I usually am right around midterms so she knew this would mean a lot to me.

After getting mauled by Katelyn, I ran over and embraced my mom in a big hug.

“Thank you. This is so awesome.” I said into her coconut-smelling hair while she hugged me tightly.

“You are more than welcome sweetheart. Although I can’t say it was totally self-less, I wanted to see my second daughter!” She said and winked over at Kate, who smiled.

She looked ten times better than the last time I’d seen her and had put a little weight back on, she was looking way more like herself.

I eyed the two of them suspiciously and smiled, “Exactly how long have you been here Kate?”

She just laughed “Umm, since about noon?” looking over at my mom, “Don’t look at us like that, you know half the reason I love you so much is cuz of your family” She said, still giggling.

My mom wrapped around both of us, “I am just so happy to have both of my girls here! Now, Daddy and I are going to Pam and John’s for dinner so I’ve made sure you are fully stocked with junk food and chick flicks.” She said.

After chit chatting with my parents for a bit, they headed out for dinner and left Kate and I to our girl’s night.

We spent the next 6 hours just talking, eating, laughing and catching up. She told me some funny stories about the rehab center, saying it made it less depressing when there was something to laugh about.

We only had the one night to hang out together because we were both busy with family stuff the rest of the weekend and I was heading out fairly early on Sunday to make sure I was back in time to go to Matt’s brother’s.

Katelyn slept over and we watched Friends until falling asleep, just like we used to whenever we had a sleepover.

The next morning Kate left pretty early to get back for her family’s Thanksgiving brunch, and I puttered around with my mom until our guests arrived.

The rest of the weekend was uneventful but peaceful at the same time. It reminded me how much I miss being home and around my family. I was pretty bummed when I pulled out of the driveway on Sunday morning but I was also excited to see Matt and meet his brother.

I drove straight to Matt’s house and pulled up around 3:00 – I thought I would be a little earlier but I stopped at a bakery and bought a tray of mini desserts to bring to his brother’s house.

“Hey you!” Matt greeted warmly when I knocked on his door. “And I told you that you didn’t need to bring anything” seeing what I was holding.

“I know but I wanted to.” I said with a smile.

We hit the road right away since we knew there would be heavy traffic because of the long weekend.

We pulled up to a cute house with several cars in the driveway and walked up to the front door.

When the door opened, it was like I was seeing Matt in a few years with more scruff and longer hair.

“Matty boy!” He said loudly and pulled Matt into a “bro-hug”. “And you must be Sarah, I’m Nathan come on in!” He said kindly to me as he shook my hand. He instantly put me at ease with his warmness and I could tell him and Matt were very similar.

He thanked me for bringing the desserts and introduced me to his wife, Lauren. She had a striking resemblance to Kristen Bell, just like a tiny cute mini Barbie. She was so welcoming and just like Matt had suspected, we hit it off right away and spent a few hours chatting and getting to know eachother as some more people came in and socialized.

I was surprised at how comfortable I felt since big crowds where I don’t know anyone usually stress me out.

There was about 10 of us in total for dinner and we sat in their massive dining room. The dinner was amazing and I even surprised myself with how much I ate but I couldn’t help it – Lauren had made one of the best home made meals I had ever eaten.

After dinner Lauren was cleaning up and I got up to help while to guys went downstairs to watch football.

“Seriously, sit down, you are a guest!” She protested me helping with the dishes.

“Trust me I’d much rather do this than hear a bunch of guys talk about football” I joked.

She washed while I dried and I complimented her cooking and she offered to show me a few things.

“That would be awesome! I’m so useless at cooking.” I said, not even joking.

“Matt really likes you a lot by the way, I can tell. He hasn’t brought many girlfriends around and he definitely looks at you differently and acts different too, in a good way.” She said while grinning.

“Really?” I was surprised.

“Yep! The only girl I think I’ve met more than a few times is that friend Kim of his.” She said with a slight edge in her tone, which I found odd considering how bubbly she had been all night.

I wanted to know her opinion of her but treaded carefully, “Oh yeah,  she’s hung out with us a few times…” I trailed.

She stopped doing the dishes and turned around as if to check if anyone else was in hearing range.

“Okay, just between the two of us, there’s something about her that’s off.” She said with a serious look on her face.

“Okay, so I’m not crazy! I don’t get why Matt is such good friends with her! But I don’t want to say anything or else I’ll look like a psycho girlfriend!” I said in a whisper.

“No, your not crazy, okay don’t say anything to Matt but the last time I saw her – “

Just then Nathan hollered for Lauren

“LAUR! HUN! Come down for a sec! Grab Sarah, you guys gotta see this video!” He yelled from downstairs and holding back laughter.

She rolled her eyes and smiled, “Let’s finish this conversation later okay?” She said and we went downstairs to see the guys.

I didn’t get a chance to talk to Lauren one on one the rest of the night, which made me even more anxious about what she was going to tell me about Kim, but she gave me her number while we were leaving and told me to text her when I wanted to do a cooking lesson.

On the way back, I was pretty quiet, while my mind ran non-stop. As he was driving, I kept thinking,

Should I talk to Matt about how I feel about her and the vibe I’m getting or just drop it all together?