Seventeen

We barely beat the guests arriving when we got back from the hospital. Mrs. Draxton was holding Erik and crying. By now Laura had filled her in on the real reason why we had left, and Erik was filling in the blanks.

I ducked away. I needed a shower and a place to cry in private. As the water hit my body, I sobbed against the mosaic tiles and thanked every deity that I could think of that Erik was okay. That they were both okay. That scene where the accident was. The amount of blood and thinking it was Erik’s it was all too much to take.

When I had finally calmed down, I slipped out of the shower and ran to Lani’s room in a towel to get dressed. I had a burgundy dress with lace sleeves that hung mid-thigh. I wore black tights and my black combat boots, because apparently, even on Christmas, I needed to be ready for the zombie apocalypse.

I blew out my hair, trying my best to make big bouncy curls and put on some extra eye make-up to cover up the fact that I had been in hysterics twenty minutes before. Slipping on my new bracelet, I was ready.

I took a deep breath noting how my lungs were still shaky from crying and listened. There were voices downstairs. New voices. Aunts, Uncles, and cousins. A whole sea of faces I didn’t know. Anxiety kicked into high gear, and I shut the door and ran over to my bag and took out my iPad. With a shaky hand, I dialed my dad’s number so we could FaceTime. I didn’t actually expect him to answer, I mean they were in Paris and it was probably around dinner time there. But he did.

“Brittany! We tried calling! Merry Christmas!” He tried calling? I flipped over my phone that was face down on the nightstand. Sure enough, there were three missed calls.

“Merry Christmas, Dad.” My voice sounded shaky. Pull it together, Brit. “How’s Paris?”

“Paris is beautiful. How are you? You seem upset. Are you not having a good time?”

“I’m okay… Erik was in a car accident today. He was in the hospital.”

“A car accident? Is he okay? Were you in the car?” my dad asked, firing all three questions at me at once.

“He’s fine. Just bruised. No, I stayed here. He needed to go to the store for his mom and he hit a deer.” No use drudging up the whole hanging with his ex thing.

“You must have been so scared. I’m glad he’s okay.”

“Is mom around?” I was surprised when I asked, but for some strange reason I needed to talk to her. Maybe I secretly wanted to feel more pain.

“Yeah, let me get her.” My dad stepped away from the camera, and I heard muttering. Perhaps she was asleep. But then Audrey stepped in front of the screen, and she was very much awake. Erik was right when he described her as being glamorous. She was in an evening gown and had a string of pearls around her neck. Her hair was down, and she had mastered the big bouncy curls I had tried so hard to achieve. She looked like royalty tonight, no doubt they were going someplace very fancy.

“Hi, Brittany.” She was smiling, she even gave me a little wave. Fucking Paris was her wonder drug. “Dad just told me Erik got in a bit of a fender-bender.” Fender-bender?

“It was a bit more serious than that, Mom. He was in the ER this morning.”

“But he’s home, correct?”

“Yes.”

“Well, that means he’s all right.” I wanted to throw the fucking tablet across the room. In one short sentence, she had dismissed all my pain and worry. She was incapable of compassion; I was convinced of that. Then she caught herself. “What about you? Are you all right?”

“Yeah, I’m fine.”

“Brittany, I asked you a question. Are you all right?” I looked at her and wondered if she really cared.

I reevaluated my answer. “I am now. It was a scary morning.”

She nodded. “Sometimes we need things like this to happen. It gives us perspective.” Perspective? Had she lost her mind? I didn’t need perspective. Did I? “I’m glad you’re safe, Brittany.” She beamed a smile at me.

Was that her way of saying she was happy I wasn’t in the accident? Was that her version of I love you? Was she the one who needed perspective? Gah! She was the Queen of Crazy Town. My dad leaned into view. “We’re so glad you checked in, Brit. We miss you. Have a wonderful Christmas. Love you, honey!” He waved at me.

“Yeah… you too. Merry Christmas.” I clicked the end-call button and sat on the bed. There was a knock on the door, and Erik peeked in. He had showered too, and his bruises seemed more apparent now. He was wearing the sling, and I realized for the first time, it was his left hand—his drawing hand. He stepped inside, and I noticed he had on a button-down shirt with his dark jeans. I guess he decided against dress pants after all. Seeing what he went through, he could wear a garbage bag and no one would object. He shut the door behind him and sat beside me on the bed.

“You okay?” Why was everyone asking me that?

“I was Face Timing with my parents.”

“Oh,” was his only reply. He knew, or at least was starting to understand that I didn’t have the relationship that he had. “I had hoped you’d come down on your own. I want to introduce you to everyone, you know… show you off.”

I offered him a weak smile. “I tried to. But, I panicked. There were a lot of voices.”

“Aye.” He nodded, putting on a Scottish accent. “We have a big clan,” he said with a wink.

“It’s not that… I just didn’t feel like I belonged downstairs, so I called my parents. But they’re in Paris and clearly wanted to hurry me off the phone to go back to their art, wine, and fine cuisine. It’s like, where the hell do I belong?”

He put his good arm around me. “Right here, babe. Right here.”

“I can’t stay here forever.”

He squeezed me tighter. “Come downstairs and see that my family is just as dysfunctional as any other. It’s part of the Draxton charm.” Erik stood and offered me his hand. I accepted, and when I stood up, he stopped and gave me a once over. His eyes looked like they were going to pop out of their sockets.

“What?”

“Brit! You’re in a dress!”

“Yeah, so?”

“I’ve never seen you in a dress before.”

“Of course you have. I had to wear skirts when I pledged.”

“Yeah, weird, color-coded skirts… but this… twirl around, let me see.”

“Seriously?”

He nodded, and I sighed, giving him a little twirl. “Wow. You look gorgeous.”

My face felt so swollen from my tears, but the way he was looking at me, I did feel pretty. “Really?”

“Really.” He took my hand. “Stay by me. When Uncle Pat drinks, he gets frisky.”

Dinner was beautiful. Mrs. Draxton went above and beyond. Before the entree, Mr. Draxton tapped his glass with his spoon and called for everyone’s attention. The family got quiet and looked at him seriously as he stood and held up his glass.

“By now everyone has heard what happened this morning, and I think we can all agree that having Erik at our table, with only a few scratches truly is a Christmas miracle.”

Oh shit, tears were welling up inside me.

“My son has truly stepped up as the man of the house these past few months. As some of you know, I was laid off from work back in early October. The bills started coming in fast, and Erik, without being asked, got himself a job and took over his tuition and car payments.”

Without being asked? Erik had told me his mother asked him to help out. It felt like someone gave my heart a little squeeze. I knew Erik was honorable, but moments like this showed just how selfless he was.

“You have really stepped up this year, Erik. You worked hard and took on as many bills as you could.” He turned to Laura and Lani. “The girls took turns stocking our fridge and making sure that we didn’t go hungry. They would steal our cars and fill them up with gas. All my kids have been so helpful, and Maggie and I are truly proud of the children that we raised.”

Mrs. Draxton was crying now, and I had to fight to contain my tears. “But, I can happily say that earlier this week, I was hired by an advertising agency in Philadelphia. You’re looking at their new VP, I start after the New Year.”

“Joe!” Mrs. Draxton jumped up and gave her husband a hug and a kiss. Everyone started clapping, raising a glass, and congratulating him. Erik had a big smile on his face, and I think to some extent, he was relieved. I think only I knew just how hard he had been working. I doubt the boy got more than three hours sleep some nights. Between work, school, and me, his hours were packed.

After dinner, I was drawing pictures of superheroes for Erik’s little cousins to color. Erik sat on the floor with them and tried to color with his right hand but kept going outside of the lines. It was clear he was very frustrated, but he didn’t complain. Mr. Draxton stepped over to us. “I know you are in a bit of a jam without your car, I just want you to know, I’m going to help you buy a new one.”

Erik perked up. “Thanks dad, but can we see how much it would cost to fix my old car?”

Mr. Draxton looked shocked. “You don’t want a new car?”

“I’ve had good memories in that car.”

I smiled, concentrating on my drawing of Wonder Woman, not daring to make eye contact with Erik.