Twenty Five

Happy New Year you guys! :D

Hope you have a very happy New Year and that you don't party too hard, and that you enjoy,

-> Desyre

Daniel

I had promised Nate that I would be good and I had done my truly bestest to be. I had not entered the kitchen to steal food at all, and I had even started to help Nate a little. For example I knew that whenever he left the house he liked a mug of steaming tea to warm him up when he came back, so when he'd gone out to buy last minute things for the Christmas dinner yesterday I had been there to welcome him with a cup of tea with milk. And today I had gotten early to wash all the dishes so he had everything clean for when he woke up and started dinner preparations. We had been working hard at this dinner for almost two days now. Yesterday in the morning we had all come down to chop all the stuff we'd be needing, put the pork, beef, and chicken to defrost, and then set it to marinate until today. Nate was supposed to wake up before all of us, and set everything to stew in three different pots before putting them all to stew in the same pot, and let them cool down before the actual dinner preparations started. But I had woken up before him to wash the dishes and set out the trays in which the three meats were marinating, set out the wine, the vegetables and everything he'd be needing for the stewing process. When Nate came down he found that he only needed to put the stuff in the pots and let them cook because everything else was done. He had squinted at me and I had given him my most innocent look. He told me I wasn't earning any brownie points with him by doing all this and that I was not buying my way into helping them cook the Christmas dinner today. I chuckled and told him that I already knew that. I just wanted to help him. I really did.

Now, at almost nine in the morning and after having had a very, very early lunch, the stew had cooled down enough and the preparation was ready to begin. Making hallacas was no easy thing. You almost needed a production line to get the stuff done quickly, otherwise it took a really very long time to get the things done. As it was we were a three-person production line. Claire balled up the... What would be the word for this? Dough? No. That sounds like it implies wheat flour and milk and egg, like when you're making bread, or cookies, or cake. Mix? No. That didn't sound quite right either. That implies a lot of ingredients mixed in together, and all this has is corn flour, salt, water, and sunflower oil that had been marinated and cooked with annatto seeds. So what to call it then? Well. Whatever. I'd call it dough for now. So Claire made the dough into balls and then flattened them, to look like thick discs before she passed them to Nate. Nate was the one that set the banana leaves and then spread the sunflower oil cooked with annatto seeds that now had a deep orange color on the leaves before he grabbed the flattened dough that Claire set apart for him and flattened it further on the leaf until it was spread out, thin but not enough that the green color of the leaves could be seen through it. Then he grabbed some stew and spread it on the middle of the spread out dough, and then added, olives, peppers, chili, onions, raisins, and capers. Then he grabbed the banana leaves and folded them over, folding the dough over as well, so it covered the contents and continued folding them, wrapping the dough like a package, adding other leaves if needed to keep the leaves he'd just folded from unfolding.

That's when I came in. I was the one in charge of adding the final wrapping and tie the folded leaves with string, to ensure that they didn't come undone when I boiled them later. Oh that was another part of my job, boiling the whole thing for about twenty minutes so it cooked completely and then take them out and set them to cool before putting in another batch. The thing with cooking hallacas was that no matter what you did, you always ended up with more that you actually needed. No matter how well you deemed yourself on the eye calculating area, you'll always get the number wrong and end up with either more than you actually needed or running out on something. We had the luck that we didn't run out on anything, because that was really a drag if we ran out of stew and had a lot of mix left, but we ended up with about double of what we'd planned on doing. Instead of getting twenty or thirty hallacas at most, we wound up with sixty. What were we supposed to do with sixty hallacas?

By the time we were done, Nate and Claire went to shower and get ready for Christmas dinner while I waited for the last batch to finish cooking. Once it was done I took them out and set them to cool in the oven so they kept the warmth while I quickly went to take a shower and get ready as well. I showered and got ready in record time while still managing to put on cologne, deodorant, brush my teeth, fix up my hair, and put on a nice and pressed button down red shirt, an also pressed pair of black slacks, and dress shoes. I normally spent Christmas in pajamas, curled up in the living room watching Christmas specials and missing both Kyle and my family like hell. Feeling miserable for being all alone. But not this year. This year, I'd have a typical Venezuelan Christmas dinner, with hallacas, hen salad, ham bread, and other stuff. I smiled thinking about the last time I'd eaten any of those things. Immigrants did tend to forget their customs and dishes. Or was it just me?

Nate called me from the bottom of the stairs and I noticed that for all my dressing and getting ready in record time I'd still taken more than half an hour with all that thinking I'd done. I chided myself and went down the stairs quickly, apologizing for taking so long and saying I'd set the table immediately. But when I came down the table was already set and everything was plated up and served. It all looked so nostalgic. I swallowed around the lump in my throat and squinted to keep the tears at bay. When had I become such a girl?

We all sat down and spent a minute or so in silence. Each doing whatever we needed. I said grace, and thanked God for everything I now had in my life. I didn't exactly know what either Nate or Claire did in the silent minute but when I opened my eyes I saw them smiling at each other with teary eyes. I thought it would be rude to ask so I didn't. I let them spend a few more moments with their gazes connected, probably telling each other millions of things with just their eyes. When I was getting hungry and the food cold I decided to clear my throat and both Nate and Claire turned to look at me with a smile. I told them that I wanted to propose a toast in the name of my first real Christmas in a long time, and for meeting them both, the most wonderful people I'd ever met in my whole life. Nate added a toast in the name of school, for passing finals and to the hope that we continued to pass them. Claire gave Nate a look and he chuckled. Then said that Claire wanted to make a toast in my name, for taking them both in and giving them a home. My eyes watered at that. To think that they thought of this place as home. And to think that I hadn't actually thought of it as home until they arrived and made it one for me. God, what these two had done to me. What was I going to do when they left for university or whatever?

We ate dinner in silence, enjoying the food that we all had worked so hard to make. Nate had learned to make bread in order to cook the ham bread, a bread that contained pork ham, raisins, and olives. We all had gone in a crusade to find hen to make the hen salad. How did you explain to the butchers that there was actually a difference between a hen and a chicken, and that we didn't want chicken but hen? It hadn't been until we came across a Latin chef from Argentina who was married to a Venezuelan woman that we found the hen meat to make the salad. We thanked him profusely and he laughed and told us to enjoy our meal. Nate had brought him some salad today in the morning before setting to make the hallacas. The butcher had been really touched and told Nate that we could come whenever we wanted, and ask for whatever we needed, he'd search heaven and earth for it. And really insisting on using hen meat instead of chicken was really stupid of Nate even though I told him that it was alright, but he said that it wouldn't be truly typical unless it had hen meat. And I had to give it to him, he made the simple hen salad, which was a mayonnaise-based dressed salad with apples, peas, carrots, potatoes, stewed and shredded hen meat, into a heavenly thing. I didn't know what he did, when I came yesterday down for dinner he was already finishing the salad while still giving our dinner its finishing touches.

I had wanted to taste the salad very badly but decided against it since I wanted to be part of the line of production the following day. Now when I tasted the salad, the bread, the hallacas, and everything else that was on the table I was completely and totally sure that I had died and gone to heaven. I moaned around the food in my mouth and Nate chuckled, saying he'd take that as a compliment. We finished dinner and I had to exert all my self-control to keep myself from liking my plate clean with my tongue. Nate had taken my plate away chuckling, telling me not to get any weird ideas, and gone into the kitchen to wash them clean. Claire chuckled and we moved ourselves, slowly since I felt like I could be rolled from how much I'd eaten, to the living room where we turned on the radio and tuned in a Christmas station. Claire started moving her head and tapping along to the rhythm of the music and I could only stare at her in amazement. How did she know the rhythm of the music?

Claire noticed me staring chuckled. She went on to explain that though she was deaf, she felt the changes in the pressure of the room, and the vibrations of the music coming through the wood floors and the furniture. To say I was impressed would be an understatement. Wow. I never knew that deaf people were so sensitive to changes in pressure and vibrations. Who would've known? When Nate came back in he smiled when he heard the music and offered her his hand, which she took with a smile. Nate and Claire started dancing to the old Christmas tunes, Claire somehow keeping the pace and knowing when the song changed rhythm and just... dancing. Plain as that. Claire was dancing, quite well if I might add, to the music. She chuckled at my face and offered me her hand. I took it with a smile and started dancing around to the music with them. We had fun singing, and dancing, and laughing, teasing and making jokes about ourselves and each other. At one point my eyes watered with nostalgia and emotion. When was the last time I'd had so much fun in Christmas?

Nate and Claire didn't let me dwell too much in my depressing thoughts, though. They stringed me from one dance and singing into the next and so on, never letting me rest enough to think deeply about how depressing and lonely my life had been up until I met them. Before we even realized it midnight had come and it was time to open the gifts. We all sat back down on the couch in front of the Christmas tree we'd all gone to buy together, and which we'd decorated together as well. It was covered in paper chains, and popcorn, and cookies, and lots of lights, and other stuff, and it looked so pretty. Under it there were just four presents, and I wondered about that, for a moment.

"Aren't we missing presents?" I asked out loud.

Nate frowned and turned to look at the tree quickly, fear crossing his face.

"No. There are four presents. One from me, one from Claire, and I'm guessing, two from you." Nate said, turning to look back at me. "Why do you say you're missing presents? Did you buy more than two presents?"

I frowned right back at him. One from him and one from Claire? Shouldn't it be two from him and two from Claire?

"Shouldn't there be two from you and two from Claire?" I asked giving voice to my thoughts.

"No." Nate said understanding crossing his face. "Claire and I exchanged presents earlier."

"What? That's not fair! You were supposed to wait 'til Christmas!" I said, making Nate laugh because I really did sound like a little kid.

"It's just a tradition between us, we don't exchange gifts in Christmas, as such, but earlier instead. Now talking about Christmas and gifts. Go choose one Christmas boy, I'll tell you which ones are yours." Nate said chuckling.

"No, Claire should choose first because she's the woman, and women have priority, always." I said and saw Claire nod quickly in agreement.

Both Nate and I chuckled. Claire was really something when it came to Christmas, she just could not stay still, even if there was just one present for her under the tree. She was thrumming with the effort to stay still.

"Alright, alright, point out your gift then." Nate said chuckling at the anxious Claire, who was looking from me to the gifts and back.

"It's the one with the sil..." I started to say and before I even finished Claire had pounced on the tree and grabbed the only silver wrapped gift under the tree.

Both Nate and I chuckled as she hurried back to the couch to literally tear the wrapper off of the gift. I hoped that in her frenzy she didn't do any damage to her gift.

"Danny!" Claire squeaked and it sounded both weird and wonderful at the same time.

The excitement and happiness was obvious in her voice and in her eyes when she turned to look at me, but also my name came out sounding weird, like the letters had a different pronunciation. I think that was because she couldn't actually hear what the letters sound like so she didn't quite know how to say them, she just said them like she thought they were said, which sounded like a sort of high pitch squeal. Once Claire was completely and totally sure of what her gift was she threw herself into my arms and hugged me tightly, squealing and squeaking like a little chipmunk. Once she sat back down on the couch and grabbed her book, staring at it with awe, like it was a diamond or something, she turned to look back at me and signed stuff so fast that I thought I was seeing her in fast forward or something. Nate must've been able to tell that I hadn't gotten one single word out of all Claire had just said, because he laughed and shook his head.

"She said that you're so awesome and amazing, and nice, and great, and wonderful, all rolled up together, and that she loves you so much that she would've kissed you if she didn't already know that you wouldn't appreciate that. She also asked how you knew that she had been looking for this book since the moment she saw that it came out but that she hadn't been able to find it. She said more stuff but it was all just nonsense and excitement all rolled up together, so I'm translating with really matters." Nate said cracking up when Claire punched him for what he'd said.

"Oh. It's alright." I told Claire smiling. "I just know that you really love history and books and articles of people analyzing any of the great wars or the actual global problems and thought that you'd probably like this book. I didn't know you'd been looking for it, I had good luck then that I found it before you were able to find it."

Claire smiled back at me and her eyes glinted, before she was signing more stuff at the speed of light and getting off of the couch to pick something up before bouncing back to me and putting it in my lap, and sitting back in the couch once again barely able to hold still with excitement. She looked at me expectantly and I was very lost as to what I had to do with it, give to someone else? Open it? What?

"That's her gift to you, she's waiting for you to open it. Please do so before she flashes someone." Nate said glaring at Claire, as the girl rolled her eyes at him.

Claire had worn a very short dress that was a beautiful tone of metallic green, which hugged her all the way to the waist before opening up into a bell that fell to the middle of her thighs. The dress had been the source of a lot of discussions and fights throughout the dancing we'd done earlier. I chuckled and started unwrapping my gift. I deliberately opened it slowly just to torture Claire, who just continued vibrating with excitement in her seat.

"God Danny, open the freaking thing already!" Nate whined and I chuckled finally giving in and tearing the wrapping.

Inside there was something made with a beautiful dark green thread, I pulled it out and saw a very pretty and very nice cable-knit sweater that looked just about my size.

"Oh Claire!" I said touching the soft wool thread of the sweater and almost moaning. "Where did you buy this? The thread is so soft and it's so nice!"

Nate and Claire both chuckled and I frowned.

"She didn't buy it Danny, she made it." Nate explained for Claire, while the other nodded excitedly, her eyes glinting with happiness.

"No shit?" I asked looking that the sweater again, and almost seeing it in a new light. How had she managed to get my size correct? How did she do it? It looked so much better that the ones you found in stores, the material was so soft, not itchy at all. How did she do this? "How did you do this?"

Claire chuckled and smiled at me.

"A magician never reveals her secrets." Nate laughed at that and Claire glared at him.

"You're not a magician, you knit." Nate said at the same time he signed it for Claire.

"So I'm a Knitician." Claire waggled her eyebrows at us and both Nate and I cracked up.

Once we were done laughing I stood up and went to hug Claire tightly. It truly was a wonderful gift, and knowing she had made it herself made it even more special.

"Thank you Claire-bear." I said smiling at her, using the endearment to add more sentiment to my thanks.

Claire smiled at me and shook her head, her eyes getting a little teary.

"Alright, so now it's my turn to give a gift to someone, right?" I asked as I looked that the only two other gifts under the Christmas tree.

I went to grab my gift for Nate and brought it back to him placing it in his hands before sitting back down. Almost vibrating with excitement myself. God, I wanted him to like it so badly. I had spent a whole day looking for it. I wanted him like it. Please, God, let him like it. Nate smiled at me before he started tearing the wrapping. I hoped, once again, that in his frenzy he didn't do any damage to the delicate suede box inside the wrapping. It wasn't the gift but it was part of the presentation of the gift.

"Oh Danny." Nate said softly when he saw the dark blue suede box that contained his present. "What did you get me?"

Nate looked at me with watery eyes, and a deer-in-the-headlights look, his beautiful blue eyes looking right at me.

"Open it and you'll see." I said smiling, feeling my heart expand in my chest.

I felt so happy already and he hadn't even seen what was inside the box. Nate opened the box slowly and gasped again, staring down at the simple, leather, choker necklace that had a white smooth rock with a black N on it. It had looked like Nate. Not too pretentious, but not too simple either. And it would look good with his habit of wearing shirts that were open at the neck.

"Danny." Nate said pulling up the necklace and looking at it as if it was made of pure gold instead of simple, thin, braided leather, and white smooth rock that I didn't even think counted as a jewel. "It's beautiful. I love it."

Nate got up and gave me the necklace pulling up his hair at the nape so I could put the necklace on him. I swallowed trying to get my fluttering stomach to calm down when a waft of musk, slight chlorine, and cologne hit my nose. I really did love Nate's smell. I got my mind on the task at hand and put the necklace on him, closing it at the back. I had to fight the urge to lean down, and kiss that fair, pale pink skin.

"It's all ready." I told Nate, smiling nervously even though he couldn't have known what I was thinking.

"So?" Nate said as he turned around to look at me once again, his eyes dancing with happiness. "How does it look?"

The necklace looked alright, what looked gorgeous was Nate. He was clearing clear colors today for a change. Going for a clear blue, button shirt that matched his eyes, and a pair of light brown pants that looked great against his clear skin. He was wearing the shirt open at the neck like always, and the black leather stood against his skin, while the white smooth stone was only a few shades paler that Nate's skin and blended. It was a nice mixture, and he really did look great.

"Danny?" Nate said pulling me out of my thoughts.

I smiled at him and the happiness returned to his eyes.

"You look great." I said as Nate threw himself into my arms and thanked me for his present.

"It's my turn now." Nate said, and I saw a glint in his eyes.

Nate got up and got his present before bouncing back to me and placing it in my lap, sitting right next to me, with expectant eyes.

"Open it. Go on." Nate urged me.

I chuckled because he too was all but vibrating in his seat next to me, anxious, nervous, happy, and excited all in one. I tore open the wrapper and encountered a small, simple, noncommittal, wooden box. I looked up at Nate, the question clear in my eyes.

"Open it." Nate said again, his eyes dancing as well, the happiness clear in his face.

I took of the lid of the box and inside on top of a velvet cushion, I found a simple, stainless steel bracelet. Now, don't take me wrong. I might say that it was simple, but it was very pretty, with pattern lines, engraved and smoothed over, looking white and standing slightly against the silver color of the steel joints that made up the bracelet.

"Oh Nate." I said as I grabbed the bracelet out of the box.

Something caught my eye on the inside on the bracelet, when the light hit it, and I stopped and let the light hit it again. Always & Forever.

"My grandmother gave me that before she died years go. She told me her husband had given it to her and promised to her that he'd be always and forever with her. She gave it to me and told me to hold on it, and she promised me that she'd be always and forever watching me, supporting me, and loving me. She told me that if one day I felt the need to give this bracelet to someone, that I should give it to someone that would be in my life, so I could keep a close eye on it, and at the same time know that it was being well cared for. And I'm giving this to you Daniel, because I promise you right now, that I'll be always and forever in your life. I don't care what happens to us, no matter if we're together or not, or if we just end up friends, I'll be happy and content, just being in your life." Nate told me and the tears that had welled up earlier spilled down his cheeks now.

I didn't know what to say. I didn't even know that I could say anything with how tight my throat felt. I felt my own tears betray me, and I just pulled Nate into my arms and held onto him for dear life. It was a big thing he was promising me. He was just barely eighteen, and he already knew that he wanted to be in my life until I died, no matter what happened with us, he was content just being close to me, and involved in my life. He didn't care if we did get together, or if we didn't, if I got together with Kyle again, or dated someone else, if we fought, if I hurt him, whatever happened, he wanted to be right there with me, always and forever, like the engravings on the inside of the bracelet he'd just given me.

I spent the rest of the evening trying to keep the tears that wanted to fall in. And I think I did a good job of it, because at three or something when we decided to call it a night and went to sleep Nate and Claire were all still smiling and in a very good mood. When I was finally alone in my bed room, lying awake in my bed, looking at the bracelet on my wrist against the dim light of the lamp in my nightstand, Nate's words came back to me. In the silent night I felt my heart flutter with the promise of having Nate in my life forever. Of him always being right there, close to me and involved in my life. I wanted him there. I wanted him there with me, forever and always. I wanted to be able to see his beautiful clear blue eyes staring up at me, dancing with happiness, the way his pale pink skin looked against the sun, the way his nose and cheeks turned pink in the cold and made him look like he was blushing, his smile, the one that made my heart stop whenever I saw it, his sweet, musky smell, the chlorine in my car and house. I wanted it all with me forever. I wanted to be the only one to see that smile, the one to make his eyes dance, I wanted his skin glow under the sun because he was in the park with me, I wanted to kiss that pink nose and cheeks and really make him blush. God, I wanted him with me, and not just in my life as a friend, I wanted to have his smell in my car and house always, I wanted to see those dancing blue eyes when I woke up in the mornings.

My heart then gave a nasty wrench when what I'd been thinking registered. How could I accept this? How could I do this to him? How could I think all that when I still wasn't over Kyle? It was inhumane to ask him to do that, to be in my life forever. But he had offered it and promised it to me regardless. My eyes filled and I felt my throat close up. God, I really didn't deserve Nate. I really didn't. I just hoped that one day I could be the guy he deserved and return everything he'd done for me, stay with him forever telling him how much he meant to me and how much I loved him. I wanted to be that guy so bad. I wanted us to belong together. But right now wasn't the time. What scared me, though, was that that time never came. That we didn't belong together. Or that I had lost my opportunity by the time I was over Kyle, and ready to be involved in a relationship again. What would I do then? If I had lost my opportunity to be with Nate?

I pushed the thought from my mind and turned off the light. Only time would tell. I went to sleep feeling the inside of the bracelet and the promise engraved in there. Always & Forever.

So I'm going to explain what I did here. To the right there should be a picture of what the Hallacas, hen salad, and ham bread look like. Danny, Nate, and Claire, spent Christmas like they do in Venezuela. The custom is to have the dinner the 24th and open the gifts on the 25th if there are any small kids in the family, but since there aren't any in this story the gifts are opened after midnight of the 24th when it's techincally 25th already XD

Hoping the explanation cleared the doubts a little and that you enjoyed,

->Desyre

(Sorry For The Saturday Update :/ ~M)