RYLIE

IT'S BEEN THREE weeks since everything has happened. Three weeks since I went to Elias' house to hangout and three weeks since I figured it all out. I do—I most certainly do—like Elias Greene. I like how charming he is and how he's cute. I also adore how he's creative. I could go on and on, and that would take all day, however, that isn't quite the only thing I figured out. 

As Elias and I talked over the phone three weeks ago, I came to realization about the unthinkable. This school year caused me to step outside my bubble, one step at a time, and it's all because I took Mom's advice to make new friends. I could hear her urging me to make friends through multiple occasions in my head. It was annoying, like mosquitos on a hot summer day, but I was relieved. Elias pretty much allured me to step out of my comfort zone through the multiple occasions of us talking. I grew comfortable with him over time. 

And I'm grateful that I at least took a few baby steps. Even if I still feel the itching pain from the past, it felt good to try to move past it, even if it wasn't a lot. A little step could make a huge difference. 

I pondered about this over and over again for the past few days. It wasn't a distraction to school at all because it is Thanksgiving break. It feels so refreshing to finally have a week-long break from classes, time-consuming studying, and exams where there's like, a forty percent chance that I'm not prepared for them. It's not necisarily a good thing, but I can fix that after the break. There's plenty of time, right?

My mom and I just arrived at Walmart. It's four days before Thanksgiving and Mom decided that it would be okay to do some last-minute shopping. Normally, we spend this holiday at another family member's house, but this time, Mom decided to flip the switch and invite some family to stay with us for dinner. I never liked large family gatherings, especially if it's over dinner, but this year, I'm stoked for Thanksgiving day. Hopefully, dinner won't feel lonely like it always does. I'm sure it won't. 

"Aren't you excited, Rylie?" Mom cheered as we rushed past the Subway that was attached to the superstore. "Two of your aunts and uncles are coming over for Thanksgiving dinner. That means that you'll get to see your two cousins—Inez and Landon." 

"Yeah, sounds great," I tried to get my tone to match hers. As far as I knew, Landon is only a year younger than me and Inez is like, a eight years younger than me, so I'm the oldest out of the two. Unlike me, they're both Archers. I haven't seen them in a while, so it'll be nice to see them, I guess.

We rushed passed all the fruits to to vegetables. Mom placed a few bell peppers into a bag and placed them in the cart while I grabbed lettuce. Once we had everything we needed out of the produce section, we headed towards all the meats. There was an entire seasonal section for turkey and by the looks of it, there were only a few left.  

"Thank the Lord we got here before the store runs out," Mom said with a relieved smile as she picked one up to place in the cart. "Who knows? They may not have any more in stock since it'll be Thanksgiving in a couple of days."

I nodded at everything she said. Even if the store ran out, I wouldn't care that much. Turkey tastes dry to me, anyway—no matter how it's cooked. I guess I'm not a big fan of turkey. 

As we strolled through the store, our cart got fuller and fuller. Just like the turkey, there were several other items that were nearly out of stock. Going Thanksgiving shopping four days beforehand isn't a smart thing to do, so I'll keep a mental note for that in the future. You never know when my mother will decide to do late Thanksgiving shopping again next year, or the year after that. I wouldn't be surprised if she did. 

When we were finished with shopping, Mom decided to treat us both to a meal at Taco Fiesta. As we walked through the door, I smelled the mouthwatering, spicy aroma of food cooking in the kitchen. Elias was at the order station, like usual. Once we saw each other, I couldn't help but smile and he did the same. 

"Why are you smiling at that boy?" Mom questioned, glancing at me as she took her cheap wallet out her purse. 

"Oh, it's nothing," I was quick to say. "He goes to my school and we're friends." 

I didn't lie about anything. I'm not that good of a liar. My mom hates when I hide things from her, as all moms do. She was the one who encouraged me to make new friends, so she'd probably shrug it off. 

"Oh, alright. I'm glad that you're making friends," she flashed a smile to me as we neared the ordering station. Mom decided to do the unthinkable and introduce herself to him briefly, telling him basic information about her like how her last name is Archer instead of Henderson and how he can call her Madeline. Elias introduced himself as well, but since the conversation was going a bit off-topic, he questioned us what we wanted to order. 

I craved hard-shelled tacos with a cinnamon roll as a treat, so I ordered that alongside a small orange Fanta. Once our orders were done and paid for, we sat down at a table near the door across from each other. It would probably take a few minutes for everything to be ready, so to prevent me from staring off into space, I took out Elias' drawing from my side pocket and gazed at it while straightening out the crease marks so it could like like it still was in good condition. 

The peony was gorgeous, like diamonds in the sky as Rihanna would say. The petals were drawn as if it were a real flower. The way he colored it blew my mind even more. It was like I was staring at a real flower on paper. 

"That's a pretty flower," Mom said as she placed her wallet back into her off-brand, caramel brown handbag. "Did you draw it?"

"No, you know I can't draw, Mom," I laughed as I took another glance at it. "Elias actually gave it to me a few weeks ago. He's a great artist."

"Oh, really? I can tell you like that boy. The way you smiled at him alone tells it all," Mom teased as she got up from the table. Elias recently called our order. "Just don't grow up too fast, Rylie."

"I won't," I promised. 

"And tell me when that boy confesses his love to you," she smirked, causing a blush to creep up my face. 

When it was Thanksgiving day, Mom practically rushed various places across the kitchen in a panic. It's been like this for the past few hours and probably won't stop for a while. The sharp smell of the turkey burning from the oven began to prickle our noses, causing Mom to nearly drop the bowl of newly prepared salad so she could rush to the oven. She put on oven gloves while commanding me to step back, opening the oven with one hand. At this point, I was just surprised that the smoke alarms hadn't gone off yet. 

The seasoned turkey wasn't in bad condition. It probably was a little over cooked, but I assume that it won't be too bad. In the oven, the turkey kind of looked like what you'd see on those cooking shows—the ones where they show you how to cook something gracefully, but in reality, it ends up being a flop. 

Mom kept the oven open so it could cool down a bit before she would take it out of there. I didn't have much to do at this point, so with care, I placed our home-baked pumpkin pie on a porcelain cake stand and gently took it to the dining room, which was sort of next to the kitchen. 

I placed the pie towards the middle of the rectangular-shaped, wooden table, next to where the turkey would be. The table still hadn't been set up yet, so I headed back to the kitchen to gather plates, cups, and silverware. Mom thanked me as I made several trips from the kitchen to the dining room to transfer everything safely. This year, we didn't have to worry about making the entire Thanksgiving meal since my aunts and uncles will bring food, but making the turkey alone seemed like a pain in the ass to my mom. Not to mention that she has to also prepare refreshments before everyone gets here. 

As I set up the table, my phone vibrated from my back pocket with it's usual ringing notification noise. I stopped mid-sentence from arranging the silverware to see what it was. Elias' name flashed on my screen as my most recent message, alongside Nora and Cannon's name from a few hours ago. I tapped on the message within an instant. 

Elias, 5:57 PM:
Happy Thanksgiving, Rylie! Are you about to start dinner soon?

Me, 5:58 PM:
Happy Thanksgiving to you too! We might start dinner in a half hour or less. It depends on when my relatives get here. What about you?

Elias, 5:58 PM:
Around here, we're about to start in a minute. I'm at Cannon's house right now, so I'll message you later. I hope you have a nice dinner :D

Me, 5:59 PM: 
I hope yours is nice too :)

I placed my phone back into my pocket and went back to setting up the table. Arranging plates, cups, and silverware in an orderly way wasn't too hard, so I completed the task within the next few minutes. That's when Mom came in with the bowl of salad—the same one she nearly dropped several minutes ago—and a tray filled with separate small bowls various salad toppings, like croutons, tomatoes, and baby carrots. 

Everything was placed on the table accordingly, not taking up too much space since there was still more food to be put on the table. As I settled towards to kitchen to get salad dressing, the doorbell rang twice, the high pitched bell ringing in my ears. 

"Rylie, can you get the door? I'll be right there," Mom hollered from the kitchen as I sauntered towards the door. I looked through the tiny eye hole towards the top of the door to see Uncle Jared at the door with Inez, while everyone else was helping unload food from the van. 

"Hey, Uncle Jared! Hi, Inez," I plastered a smile across my face as I gave them both brief, individual hugs. 

"Hey, Rylie. How the heck are you doing?" Uncle Jared questioned with a broad grin. 

"I'm doing great. My mom is out back in the kitchen, in case you were wondering," I suggested. He nodded as he went through the foyer to the kitchen. Inez stood there innocently before she asked me where the bathroom was. I showed her the way to the downstairs one as Mom came into the foyer to join me at the door. 

The rest of our relatives were flowing into the house, hugging each other and catching up. I was shocked that both families managed to arrive at the same time, considering that they both live on opposite sides of the county. As I took off my apron, my other cousin, approached me, his cell phone in hand. 

"It's been a while, Ry," he proclaimed as he patted my back. "How has everything been?" 

"Everything has been fine," I said as Aunt Gabrielle, Uncle Jared's wife, approached us. She remarked how we both grown so fast, even if I haven't grown an inch and hugged us both tightly separately. I managed to escape to the kitchen a few minutes later to put back the apron and adjust my outfit. 

It was a cider orange sweater an a brown, fake leather skirt that Mom bought and practically forced me to wear for dinner. I wasn't too happy about that, since I absolutely despise skirts, but I had no choice whatsoever. When I reported back to the dining room, Inez, her mother, Aunt Gabrielle, and Aunt Emily were already seated at the table as Uncle Jared carried the turkey there. Mom went upstairs to get changed, so when she got back a few minutes later, we were ready to start dinner. 

I decided to eat a slice of my Aunt Emily's lasagna and string beans and mashed potatoes to the side. Taking a bite of the lasagna took me back to night where I had dinner with the Greenes. Aunt Emily's lasagna was delicious enough for me to take another bite, but Ms. Greene's lasagna tasted better in my opinion. However, I set that aside as I dug into the food, listening to the conversation everyone was having. 

"Inez, tell everyone about how you won your school's talent show the other week with your amazing singing," Uncle Jared insisted to his daughter, a broad grin spread across his face. 

"It's nothing, really," she insisted before she took a sip of fruit punch from her cup.

"To you, it's not, but she did fantastic while singing. You should've seen her. I have a video of it on my phone if you want to see it," Uncle Jared boasted. 

"Show us after dinner, bro," Mom said as she drizzled caesar dressing over her salad. 

Dinner passed by within a breeze. My aunts and uncles kept on asking me how I was doing with school and everything. It was overwhelming kind of, but it was okay. By the time I was finished with thirds and dessert, I was completely stuffed and could hardly move. All the adults situated themselves in the dining room, chatting about the most random things, but Landon, Inez, and I gathered in the living room. Dinner didn't feel lonely for once. It was interactive and yet again, it made me feel nostalgic. 

Landon was rambled over and over again about basketball to Inez while she stared at the television with The Simpsons on. I was just on my phone, texting Elias. I assume he's done with dinner by now since he technically started dinner before me, so he'll hopefully respond within a few minutes. 

Me, 7:02 PM:
I'm finally finished with dinner. How was yours? :)

I placed my phone face down on my lap, awaiting his response. I didn't expect him to respond right away, but I didn't expect him to take forever, either. Even if it's been a few moments, it felt like ages. When I heard the relieving ring come from my phone, I automatically read the message he left for me. 

Elias, 7:04 PM:
Dinner was great. I hope yours was nice, as well.

Me, 7:05 PM:
Mines was okay. 

Elias, 7:05 PM:
I liked spending mine with my family, Cannon, and his family, but I honestly wish you were there. 

Me, 7:06 PM:
Yeah, that would be nice. At least we'll get to see each other and the others when we get back from break this Monday. 

Elias, 7:07 PM:
Mhm. I have to get going home now, so I'll talk to you later. Have a good night later! :)

Me, 7:07 PM: 
Same to you, Elias! :)

I put down my phone with a heartwarming smile. Even as we texted, I could feel butterflies flow freely through my stomach. This was a series of more feelings that I keep to myself. I haven't told anyone about liking Elias, not even Nora, maybe because I don't know what to do about it. All I wanted was for Elias Greene to know that I like him. 

Too bad it's easier said than done.