39. Best Friends
THIRTY-NINE
BEST FRIENDS
Halle
It’s been three weeks since the Thanksgiving fiasco and we’re all getting ready to go home for winter break. We—me, Mel, Abbott, Cade, Ruby, the other Tryhard boys, and the baseball roommates that are still here—thought it would be fun to have our own New Year’s Eve party tonight since we’re all going our separate ways for break and not going to be at school.
It’s going to be a whole holiday thing. We’re doing a mini Christmas dinner (ordering pizza and making stuffing and pie), and a gift exchange, and then we'll throw a regular Pitch party with a NYE twist. I think Cade mentioned something about watching the Ball Drop? Unsure, we’ll circle back.
It’s six o’clock and we’re just waiting for the Tryhard guys to show up. Mel and I are putting the finishing touches on the table, Ruby’s delegating living room decor duties to Cade, Abbott’s on stuffing and pie duty (he has a knack for cooking and baking), and the baseball boys are picking up the pizzas.
“Halle,” Ruby comes storming into the dining room, “I don’t know how you deal with him.”
Seeing Ruby and Cade’s relationship really bloom since the spring has been…interesting, to say the least. Some days they’re the best of friends, and other days they want to rip each other’s heads off.
I snicker as Cade stomps in with his arms crossed. Today of all days, they’re deciding to act like children.
“Deal with me ? I’m not the one who decided they didn’t like where the couch was four times !” he bites out.
“Guys, come on, it’s Christmas!” My feeble attempt to lighten the mood only earns me glares from both of them. “Okay,” I drag out. I look to Mel for help but find she’s made her way back to the kitchen with Abbott. Great, I’m on my own. I let out a heavy sigh. “C’mon, this is the last time we’ll all be together this year. The last time we’ll all be with Mel?—”
“I’m going away for an internship, I’ll be back,” she quips from the kitchen.
“Anyway, it’s our last opportunity to be together as a group.” I pause. “For a while,” I add loudly. “Can we please act our ages and not like toddlers? I’m not ready to be a mother.” I shoot them each an I’m not kidding look.
Ruby rolls her eyes and reluctantly nods.
Cade gulps and nods.
“Okay!” I clap my hands together and paste on a holly jolly grin. “Now that that’s squashed… I think we’re just about ready! Cade, when are the guys supposed to be here?”
As if I summoned them, we hear knocks on the front door followed by the heavy footsteps of three of my favorite guys.
Cade circles the table and comes up behind me, wrapping me in his arms and kissing the side of my head as they walk in. I lean back into his hold and instantly feel at ease. When we first made it official, I was hesitant, but I’ve gotten more comfortable with being all couple-y around our friends. I wouldn’t say I’m necessarily a fan of PDA now, but I never shy away from Cade’s touch either.
“Hey, so glad you could all make it.”
They each give us their greetings and hold up their various gifts, asking where they should put them. I motion toward the living room, at the fake tree we have set up. I tell them that if they don’t have a tag, that I left a marker out for them to write who it’s for.
I turn around and put my arms around Cade’s neck, twirling a loose curl in my fingers.
“This is oddly familiar. Should we go find a closet?” He smirks. Like Cade’s signature smirk, the closet jokes will never get old.
I chuckle and put my forehead on his chest.
Someone gags from the kitchen, followed by Abbott saying, “Ew, get a room.”
“I did offer to find us a closet!”
“Cade!” I swat his chest. The moment’s gone.
Abbott laughs. “Danny and Mason should be back any minute with the pizzas, so we can get started whenever. Everything else is ready.”
“Perfect.”
Within minutes, the boys are back and we’re sitting at the table. Mel, Ruby, and I thought it would be fun to do up the table, so we made centerpieces and place settings. We even put each person’s name on a card and set it on a plate. And, as the PPC (Party Planning Committee), we had the executive duty of seating arrangements. There wasn’t any rhyme or reason why we placed anyone anywhere, but Mel and I made sure to put Ruby next to Beau. It’s no secret that he has a crush on her, but Ruby couldn’t care less about it. Every time we mention it, she rolls her eyes and walks away. And maybe I haven’t learned from past mistakes, but Mel and I are thinking about operation-ing them. We’ll see.
Sitting at the table with all of our closest friends is a feeling unlike any other. And all of a sudden it really hits me that we won’t all be here like this again for a while. Tears begin to well up in my eyes, so I turn my attention away from everyone and focus on my food, blinking fast, willing the waterworks away.
Everyone’s talking and laughing and having a good time, so I’m hoping to not draw any attention, but, as luck would have it, my rockstar takes note. He stays in his conversation with Logan, but subtly moves his hand from the top of the table and settles it reassuringly on my thigh.
Cade’s been my rock these last few weeks since finding everything out. He somehow always knows when exactly I need a pep talk or a coffee or some flowers. Since finding his stack of postcards in his car, he’s been surprising me with more every week. The first week I got four, last week I got three, and this week I’ve gotten three so far. Some of them are simple affirmations like “I’m proud of you” and others are like novels written on a 4” x 6”. After everything I’ve put him through this year alone, I can’t possibly fathom what I did to deserve him, but I’m not going to ever ask for fear that cameras are going to pop out and tell me it was all a prank.
I see the pitcher of water is empty, so I take the opportunity to have some time to gather myself alone in the kitchen. Facing the tap, I hear familiar footsteps follow me.
“What’s going on?” Cade asks softly.
I swipe under my eyes, trying to catch the tears before they ruin my makeup and not wanting to be caught crying in the kitchen.
“Halle girl, what’s wrong?” His words are laced with care.
“Nothing. It’s cheesy. I’m just really grateful for our friends.” I sniffle. I turn around to face him and catch his eyes. “I’m really grateful for you.”
“Aw, come here.” He envelops me in his arms that feel more and more like home.
“I don’t know why I’m acting this way. Ugh, I feel like I can’t go a day without crying and embarrassing myself.” My voice comes out muffled speaking against his chest.
“You’re not embarrassing yourself. No one’s looking at you like that. So many things are changing right now, it only makes sense that you’d react this way. You’re navigating everything as best as you can. But don’t forget that you’re not in this alone, we’re all right here with you. We’re all on Team Halle.”
“How do you always know just what to say?”
“I’d like to think I’ve become quite the Halle whisperer over the past year.”
I chuckle. “That you have.”
“How about we turn off the water that is filling up the pitcher and get back out to our friends? We still have the gift exchange and the Ball Drop!”
“The water!” I free myself from his hold and get the pitcher before walking back out to the table.
“Thanks, Halle.” Logan smiles at me from his seat across the table before turning his attention back to his conversation with Zack, Beau, and Ruby.
“So, you guys didn’t go to the What Makes You Beautiful beach?” Ruby asks.
I can’t believe it’s been four months and we never told our friends about that whole ordeal.
Mel’s head whips in their direction. “What?! You had the opportunity to go and you didn’t take it?”
“We were tired from driving and wanted to give Cade and Halle some time alone.” Zack shrugs and digs back into his stuffing.
“They were literally in the car alone all summer. Some time on the beach with them wouldn’t have been an intrusion. I cannot believe you guys.” Mel huffs.
Ruby rolls her eyes at the boys, effectively agreeing with Mel.
“Well, sorry we’re not the biggest One Direction fans,” Beau mumbles.
Ruby gasps and swats his shoulder. “You take that back! Do not disrespect them in my friends’ home.”
Beau’s eyes widen and he lifts his hands in surrender and that’s the end of that conversation. The next few minutes are filled with the sounds of forks scraping over plates until Abbott lets out a burp, igniting more conversation.
Once everyone’s done with their food, we clear all the dishes from the table and make our way into the living room.
“Secret Santa time!” Mel drags out. This is the moment she’s been the most excited for. “Who wants to go first? No one? Okay! I’ll go.” She doesn’t give anyone a chance to speak up, taking the opportunity to start digging around, searching for her name on a package. She finally finds it and opens it to see a Visa gift card. “Oh, thank you, Secret Santa.” Her enthusiasm curbed.
Abbott clears his throat. “Um, sorry. I know you’re probably expecting something more personal, but I couldn’t decide between getting you a flight voucher or camera equipment. So, in a way, it is thoughtful, letting you decide what you want to get with this.”
Hearing his explanation, Mel’s face softens and her lip does the most minuscule of quivers. “Thank you, Ab. I really mean it.” She goes to sit by him on the couch. “You go next, since I opened your gift.”
We go through the whole group, Abbott got his favorite baseball player’s trading card (apparently those are worth a lot of money) from Danny, Danny got a stack of gas station scratchers and a bag of sunflower seeds from Logan, Logan got a Pearl Jam vinyl from Zack, Zack got sneakers from Cade, Cade got a new bottle of Tobacco Vanille cologne from Mason, and Mason got a massage gun from Mel.
“Beau!” Mel yells.
Everyone startles.
“Whoops, sorry.” Mel giggles and leans forward from her seat on the couch. “You go next.”
Beau nods and gets up to find his present. It’s one of two remaining gifts left. And since I had Beau, that means either he or Ruby forgot to bring something.
His hands gently open the wrapping paper, careful to not rip it. “Whoa, no way.” His face lights up like our fake tree in the corner. “I’ve been wanting to get a new belt buckle for a while now. This is perfect. Thank you so much!” His attention still focused on the buckle.
“I saw the ad for it online and I knew I had to get it. I remembered you talking about it when we visited your family’s ranch this summer.”
“Thanks, Hal. This means a lot.”
I smile back at him and make my way to get up and search for my gift.
“Um, I didn’t exactly bring a gift.” Ruby’s voice shakes a little bit.
“Oh, Rubes, it’s okay! I don’t need anything.” I smile at her and go to sit back down.
“I mean, I have a gift—of sorts. But, it’s not something I could wrap.”
“Oh?” My brows furrow in confusion, my head tilting to the side.
“It’s kind of a gift for you, I guess. Also a gift for me.”
“Yeah?” My head tilts with the question.
“I thought that maybe I could move in. If the offer’s still on the table.” She rushes through her words. She finally meets my gaze and continues. “I’ve just been thinking about how much more fun and productive we could be if I lived here.” Her voice trails off at the end. She averts her attention down to her hands. “And it’s a lot harder and lonely living alone when everyone you love is always here,” she quietly adds.
Mel and I both get up from our spots and pull Ruby into a hug.
“Of course it’s still on the table!” I mumble into someone’s hair. I pull back and look at them. “Mel, this means that you definitely have to come back.”
“Obviously! Not that I wasn’t going to come back, but now that Ruby’s our roommate, I definitely have to.”
After another moment in our roommate hug, we pull apart and come back to our respective seats around the room and wait for Ruby to open her gift, which we all now know is from Beau.
Of all the words to describe Ruby with, careful is not one of them. She rips through the wrapping paper and is left holding a necklace in her hands. I think we saw it in an antique store window a few weeks ago. The dainty gold chain has a teardrop shaped ruby hanging off of it—it’s so Ruby.
“How’d you know?” she asks, just barely audible.
“I overheard you talking about it with Mel a couple months back. And when I drew you for this, I knew it was what I wanted to get you.” He says it like it’s the most obvious thing in the world.
“Beau, I-I don’t know what to say.”
I think Ruby is truly speechless. For the first time in all the time I’ve known her, the girl who has a comeback or witty remark for everything is struggling to come up with a sentence, let alone a single word.
“Thank you. I don’t think you know how much I love this. Really, thank you.” She walks over to him and wraps him in the tightest and most genuine hug I’ve ever seen her give. Officially blows her gift of moving in out of the water.
After giving them a minute to enjoy their embrace, Mel coughs to draw the attention of the room. “Ahem.” She stands from her seat on the couch. “Thank you all for joining our Christmas dinner and gift exchange. Now, if you’d all join me for some music and dancing the rest of the fake year away. Ball Drop’s in twenty-five minutes!”
Some things never change, and a prime example of this is Mel and her love for a themed party. Cade takes aux, because duh . I sneak over and queue up some song choices of my own, and as each song plays, I hear myself saying, “Oh, I love this song,” and Cade chuckling each time.
I spend the next twenty-five minutes dancing and chatting with all my best friends. Mel, Ruby, and I start planning Ruby’s move-in (even though Mel won’t be here for it). Mel volunteers Abbott to help, and the sound of his name draws his attention. I then volunteer Cade and when he joins the conversation, he volunteers Beau.
Suddenly it’s almost “midnight” (it’s actually only almost ten o’clock). Abbott pulled up a NYC Ball Drop from years past and put it on the TV.
“Oh, Valentine,” Cade sing-songs.
“Yeah, Rockstar?”
“That nickname again, we’ll have a conversation about that later… Anyway, I wanted to ask if you’d be my New Year’s kiss?”
There’s that smirk of his again.
The countdown begins. “Ten!”
“You don’t know how long I’ve been dreaming of that.”
“Eight! Seven!”
“Pucker up, buttercup.”
“Five!”
I playfully roll my eyes.
“Four!”
He pulls me in.
“Three!”
He looks at my lips.
“Two!”
I look at his.
“One! Happy New Year!” Poppers go off. Confetti rains down. Cheers echo off the living room walls.
Our lips meet in the middle, and this New Year’s kiss is unlike any other—I’ve actually never had a New Year’s kiss before, so it’s the best one by default. His Tobacco Vanille cologne works its way into my senses and it’s the only thing I want to smell from now on. His fingers begin twirling my hair, bringing me deeper into the kiss for one last second before pulling away.
“Happy New Year, Valentine.”
“Happy New Year, Cade.”
I’m left breathless and can’t imagine spending both Christmas and New Years in one night with anyone else.