An Aces Christmas (The Aces' Sons)

“Since when do you wait on me?” he asked, reaching out to ruffle my hair the way he used to when we were kids. “I can grab something.”

He walked toward the kitchen, nodding when Curtis called out for a beer.

“He didn’t ask, but I told him she wouldn’t be here,” Curtis said quietly as I sat down on the couch.

“She’s staying with Mack and Rose tonight,” I replied, equally as quiet.

Curtis huffed.

“They’ll figure it out,” I said, turning as Draco came back. “I would’ve guessed beer.”

“I haven’t had orange soda in a long ass time,” he replied with a half grin as he tossed Curtis his beer. “Sounded good.”

“Probably a good choice,” I said as he sat down beside me. “There’s gonna be so many kids there tomorrow—you don’t want to show up with a hangover.”

“You need more seating,” Curtis grumbled as he pulled a bean bag chair from against the wall.

“You don’t have enough beer in there to give a mouse a hangover,” Draco replied.

“I don’t drink much,” I said with a shrug. “Those are the kind Curt likes.”

“Kara doesn’t, either?” Draco asked.

And just like that, I was in the middle of a minefield, unable to move.

“Kara doesn’t do anything,” Curtis replied for me, his voice devoid of emotion.

“What does that mean?” Draco asked.

“She’s boring,” I said, shooting Curtis a look.

Draco looked back and forth between the two of us.

“Why are the two of you actin’ so weird?”

“I’m just so glad you’re home,” I replied. I wasn’t lying. I’d been waiting so long to have him in our apartment. I wanted to show him everything. The plates we’d found at a garage sale that had the ugliest ducks I’d ever seen on them, the rug in the bathroom that was in the shape of a guy in a speedo, the only anatomically correct thing about it the darker colored nipples that Kara and I had laughed about for weeks, the car I’d gotten for graduation that had smelled like feet even after an entire year of being detailed once a month.

On the other hand, it felt weird, having him there. Showing him the things I’d been doing, the crap I’d been accumulating while he was gone.

“What were you going to watch?” Draco said after a moment, jerking his head toward the TV.

“What?” I asked in confusion.

“You’d built your nest,” he said, gesturing to my spot on the couch. “That hasn’t changed. So, what were you going to watch?”

“It’s a show about gangsters in the thirties,” I said slowly.

“Turn it on.”

“You want to watch TV?” I asked dubiously.

“I wanna zone out,” he said tiredly, scooting down so he could rest his head on the back of the couch. “It’s been a long fuckin’ day.”

“Okay,” I said, glancing at Curt as I grabbed the remote.

“We got time to catch up,” Draco said, reaching out to pat my knee. “If I woulda stayed at my parents’ house, Ma woulda been up my ass the entire night. Here, we can just hang, yeah? I just need a minute.”

“Sure,” I said, understanding making my voice softer than normal. I cleared my throat as I turned on the TV. “I’ll start it over from the beginning.”

“You don’t have to do that,” Draco said.

“It’s okay.” I shook my head. “I don’t mind watching it again.”

Curtis got up from the floor and walked toward the bedrooms then came back out carrying the pillows from our beds. He tossed one to Draco and laid down on the floor with the other, propping up his head with it.

As the show started, I got comfortable, leaning against my side of the couch. It was the happiest I’d been in years, sitting there with my best friends, zoning out in front of the TV. There was something comforting about being around the people you could be yourself with. You didn’t need to fill the silence or try to keep them entertained. I’d known that Draco would come see me as soon as he could, but I should’ve known that he and Curtis would plant themselves in our apartment with no intention of leaving.

The five of us were the calm in the middle of our family’s storm. Whenever something was happening, Draco, Curtis, Kara, Rebel and I had always been corralled into the same space. Someone was hurt and all the adults were headed to the hospital? We were sent as a group to whoever’s parents agreed to keep us. The club had a run? The five of us stayed as a group at someone’s house while our parents were gone.

“Can’t wait to see Reb tomorrow,” Draco said with a sigh, his eyes on the television. His thoughts must have been running parallel to mine—that didn’t surprise me, either. “Can’t believe it’s been four years.”

“I think she would’ve been okay visiting you,” I said for the thousandth time since Rebel’s parents had decided it wasn’t a good idea.