"This is going to be a nightmare," I informed my mother.

"Hush up and go get dressed in nice clothes," mom said, shooing me away. "You're distracting me and I don't want to burn the food."

I sighed and went to my bedroom, changing into nice clothes. It was Thanksgiving and my idiotic parents not only invited my cousin and his family, but my boyfriend and my cousin's boyfriend. The worst part was that they were all coming.

It wouldn't be so bad if Will wasn't coming. Then I could stare at my cousin Rio's boyfriend...

The doorbell rang, snapping me out of my thoughts. I left my bedroom and came down the hallway as my dad led Rio and his family up the stairs.

"Hi Ethan!" my Aunt Jill said.

"Hi Aunt Jill. Hi Uncle Andy," I said.

"You look handsome! Rio, why didn't you dress that nicely?" Jill demanded.

"I'm dressed fine. If you like Ethan so much, then adopt him as your son," Rio said.

"Please feel free to take him," my dad said. "I'll give you our leftovers and my son."

"You people are all rude. Rio, where's the eye candy?" I asked.

"You're looking at it," Rio said, gesturing to himself.

"I think he means me!" his boyfriend, Ezra, said, poking his head out from behind Rio's family. "Hi Ethan!"

"Hello." I eyed him and grinned in satisfaction. "I can skip the meal, I know what I want to eat."

"Ethan Alexander!" Dad shook his head at me. "Can you just go one holiday without the perverted remarks?"

"No. I can't even go one minute without the perverted remarks," I said.

The doorbell rang again and dad went down to answer. He came up a minute later with Will trailing after him.

"Dad, we can't take in all the hobos on thanksgiving," I said.

"Shut up. I brushed my hair for you," Will said.

"I can already tell this is going to be a lovely dinner," dad said.

"You, behave," Jill said to Rio sternly. She and my uncle disappeared out of the room with my dad.

"Alright, Rio, Will, you two go mingle somewhere while I make Ezra tingle somewhere," I said, sliding up next to Ezra.

Will grabbed me and roughly yanked me back, scowling. "You're the biggest pain the ass."

"I know. I'm trying to let Ezra know, too," I said, winking at Ezra.

"How about you hit on someone other than my boyfriend," Rio said, stepping in front of Ezra. "This cutie is mine."

"How about we don't fight over me?" Ezra said, laughing. "I'm Rio's!"

"And sadly, you're mine. So quit being a damn flirt!" Will said in annoyance, grabbing the back of my shirt and dragging me towards the dining room.

Rio and Ezra trailed after us. Will threw me into a chair and sat down next to me, crossing his arm and looking like he'd rather be shoved up a cow's nose than sitting next to me.

"I can already hear the wedding bells," Rio said.

"I can already hear Ezra screaming out my name in bed," I said.

"Ezra is an innocent little virgin and if anyone is going to steal that title from him, it's going to be me," Rio said, putting his arms around Ezra's waist and kissing at his neck.

"Ezra would like it if no one took Ezra's virginity right now," Ezra said, laughing. "Ezra just wants to eat thanksgiving food."

The two of them sat down across from us. I reached out and began to toss some olives into my mouth.

Will leaned closer to me so that only I could hear him. "You look cute."

"I always look cute," I said.

"Don't push it." He took my hand under the table.

My parents and Rio's parents came out carrying food. Then took a few trips bringing it all out before sitting down.

"Why do some of the dishes have red tape on them?" Ezra asked in confusion.

"Because Ethan is an idiot with a deadly nut allergy," Rio said.

"We had one almost disastrous thanksgiving and we learned fast," mom said, frowning at me.

"Let's say our thanks so we can eat," dad said. We all reached out, holding hands and bowing our heads a little.

"I'm thankful Ethan has made such great friends," mom said.

"I'm thankful Ethan's really happy," dad said, smiling at me.

"I'm thankful Rio has Ezra," Aunt Jill said happily.

"I'm thankful for family. All of us. I wish...I wish Hank was here," Uncle Andy said, a shaky smile on his face. Hank was my cousin who had developed a pretty bad drug addiction and was currently in rehab.

"I'm thankful that Ezra is so damn attractive," Rio said, lightening the mood.

Ezra laughed. "I'm thankful you all invited me here today! And for Rio, of course."

"I'm thankful I somehow managed to get attractive friends and an even more attractive boyfriend," I said.

"I'm thankful Ethan forced himself into my life and saved me from failing out of college," Will said.

"Now we can dig in!" mom said.

We passed food around, talking as we loaded our plates and began to eat. Will leaned over towards me again.

"Hey, I mean it. You saved my future. And you gave me a new part to my future. I want to make films and come home from work and crawl into bed with you," he said. "Just lay with you and hear you make perverted comments about how you want to do more than just lay together. That's what I want in my future."

"You helped me deal with my issues," I said, kissing his cheek. "I love you, asshole."

"Look at them being cute. Why aren't we cute? Ezra, be cute," Rio said, whacking Ezra in the arm.

Ezra rubbed his arm and laughed. "You want the truth? I'm super thankful you got me out of my house today. My mom was binging on her wine before I even woke up. She and my dad were fighting every five seconds over getting dinner ready. I would've gone crazy staying there." Ezra smiled at Rio, but I could tell that he was putting his home life very lightly right now.

"Ezra Carelli!" Aunt Jill said, giving him a stern look. "Hat off at the table!"

"Oh, I'm sorry Mrs. Snyder! I forgot I was wearing it," he said, reaching up and pulling off the purple beanie he was wearing. He dropped it into his lap and Aunt Jill smiled approvingly.

Rio was smiling softly at his mom. He met my eyes and blushed a little, shrugging. I could tell we were thinking the same thing. Ezra came from broken parents, so Rio's parents were a good stability in his life.

"Hey, Will," I said, leaning against him.

"Hm?" He swallowed down the food he was eating and looked at me curiously.

"Thanks for coming," I said.

He put his arm around me, hugging me against himself. I looked around at my family, and Ezra and Will, a smile coming to my face. This was what it was all about. Spending time with the people you loved and made a part of your family. Appreciating them. I had so much to be thankful for this year (not including being left out in the rain) and I wanted to keep that in mind as I spent the rest of the night with these people that I loved.