Dear Future Me,

I try and try and try and try a million times over to forget all of the pain my mother has caused me and my dad. No matter what I do, I find myself unable to forget. Most importantly, I find myself unable to forgive.

To put it simply; mom showed up. Again. It's not the first, but she definitely hasn't done it in awhile. I know it's because I'll be eighteen in a few weeks. Once I'm eighteen I'm finally free of those chains, but I just want it all to be over already. I can't take it anymore.

I love Christmas so much, but this has undoubtedly been the worst Christmas ever and the day hardly even started. I can't even be happy about my presents anymore when that just happened. Why can't my life just be normal? Why can't I have the perfect family like Levi and everyone else?

Once again, I bring up fricking Levi, but look, his life is perfect. I want that so bad. Both parents (notably both NORMAL), a nice house, possibly everything he could ever want. I just don't understand why I'm punished for just existing.

I might as well just lay in bed and ignore everyone all day. It's not like Levi is coming over anymore anyway. Christmas is ruined.

Sincerely,

An Insanely Upset Past Me.

•••

After resuming breakfast, Scott put some pancakes on a plate and headed upstairs, knocking on Skye's door to tell her he had food for her, leaving it on the floor then going back downstairs while she quickly opened the door, grabbed the plate and fork, then shut the door to eat alone. Skye didn't exactly imagine sadly eating pancakes on Christmas day, but life seemed to be full of far too many surprises.

Sitting on the edge of her bed with her plate in her lap, Skye took bites of the snowman-shaped pancakes, almost wanting to cry thinking about the conversation she had about them before shit hit the fan. She thought it would be pathetic to get tears on her food, so she continued eating and let out a sigh. These pancakes needed syrup, not a bunch of teenage tears.

Skye set the plate on her bedside table when she was done, laying back down on her bed and turning her body to face the window, looking out on a white Christmas. If only it snowed another day. Well, if only her mom just didn't show up to ruin today. Maybe then she could spend time with Levi without being on the verge of a breakdown. She felt bad enough lying about being sick, but Skye felt like there was no other choice but to lie as she didn't want to pour out her burdens onto Levi. He was her friend, not her therapist.

As Skye continued to lay down for hours, a knock emerged on the door, which she assumed would be her dad taking her plate from breakfast. "It's on the bedside-"

"Hey."

Skye quickly turned over and sat up, furrowing her eyebrows and wiping away any tears that happened to stain her face from all the crying she's already done for god knows how long. "Levi? What are you doing here?"

"Your dad called me. I know you're not sick." He said. Yes, Levi was the one Skye's dad had called to save the day. Knowing that she and Nikki weren't friends anymore and that he didn't have any of her newfound friends' numbers, Scott was left with Levi as the only option. He had already gotten his number months ago from planning the bike present, but also Scott knew how much Levi cared for his daughter. It only felt right that he'd be the one to call.

"Did he, uh, did he go into details?" Skye asked, hoping that her dad didn't bring up what happened this morning.

"No." Levi shook his head. "He just said you were upset."

"Oh." She looked down in embarrassment. "Um, I'm sorry I lied."

Levi kneeled down to meet eye to eye with Skye, reassuring her that she doesn't have to feel bad for lying. "Look, I don't know what upset you and I don't have to know why, but I don't want you to feel sorry."

"I still can't believe my dad called you." Skye groaned, laying back on her bed then letting out a sigh. It kind of felt like a sympathetic visit from Levi, but either way, Levi still wanted to spend Christmas with her, so he wasn't doing all of this out of sympathy, he was doing it because he cared about her so much.

"Yeah, I was surprised too," he chuckled but offered to exit if Skye wanted him to. "But I can leave if that's what you want."

"No, don't!" She quickly said and sat up. "I'm glad my dad did that for me."

"Do you want a hug?" Levi asked.

"No." Skye shook her head.

"Not to insist, but I give really good hugs." He said. Okay, he wasn't wrong about giving good hugs, but Skye would need that reputable embrace another time. Just not right now.

"I'm good." She replied, then patted down on the empty spot next to her. "You can, uh, sit next to me if you want."

"You sure?" Levi questioned, being extremely thoughtful (which wasn't that much of a surprise). "I don't wanna invade your space or anything if you don't want me to."

"Yeah, I'm sure." Skye nodded.

Levi, still in his winter coat, sat down next to Skye as she placed her hands on her lap awkwardly. She didn't know why she wanted him to be next to her, but it was nice to have someone she's grown to become more comfortable with just being there. Sometimes a hug or reassuring words weren't needed. Sometimes we just need a friend right next to us so we can feel their warmth and presence.

Sitting in silence for a bit, Skye broke that silence to comment on her ridiculous outfit as she wasn't dressed up at all for the holiday. "Shit, I just realized I'm still in my pajamas."

"Hey, you look fine." Levi chuckled.

"Thanks, I guess." She giggled, followed with a few silent moments once more. "So, uh, are you going to try to convince me to get out of my room?"

"I mean, your dad did say he'd get McDonald's for lunch." He said, which caught Skye's attention right away.

"McDonald's is open on Christmas?" She raised an eyebrow.

"Um, always," Levi replied. They were open 24/7, so it wouldn't be any sort of surprise really.

"Damn, that bitch knows how much I love a Big Mac." Skye cursed, standing up to get out of her room much to Levi's surprise. Guess food was the only way of convincing, especially fast food.

"Wait, me too-"

"We're not sharing fries." She interrupted Levi, who was following her from behind.

"Fair." He sighed.

The two headed downstairs, and Scott peers his head from the living room in shock upon hearing footsteps. Once he sees Skye with Levi in the flesh, he immediately stands up and walks up to his daughter. "Levi got you to come out of your room?"

"What can I say, food is the best bribe." Skye shrugged.

"Huh?" Scott furrowed his eyebrows. He looked over at Levi who was standing behind Skye, watching him mouth "I wanted McDonald's", which he almost wanted to kick his ass for. He couldn't exactly complain as it got Skye out of her room, so Scott just rolled with it.

"Oh, oh, I forgot." He said, trying to act like he knew what she was talking about in the first place. "I'll just get my keys and head to the drive-thru."

"Yes," Levi whispered under his breath as Scott walked past them.

"Get us some Big Macs!" Skye yelled out.

"I'll make it three!" Scott yelled back, walking up the stairs and cursing in his head about Levi. "That boy is so dead."

•••

Sitting at the dining room table together while they all feasted on Big Mac's, Skye was in way better spirits compared to this morning. Like, way better. "I don't know if it's all of the crying from earlier or the fact that it's Christmas, but this is hitting different for some reason."

"It's the Christmas spirit," Levi said. Not exactly, but let's just go with that.

"Regardless, I'm not complaining." She replied, continuing to dig into her sandwich. The famous burger may have tasted better than usual because the only thing she ate all day was pancakes, but damn was it tasty.

"You know, Levi, you're a really good friend to Skye." Scott chimed in.

"Am I?" Levi furrowed his eyebrows. The validation was nice, but little did Levi know where Scott was going with this.

"Yeah, but you'd make a better-" he began, pushing the romance narrative in classic Scott fashion.

"Do not say boyfriend!" Skye interrupted, although her dad said the word anyway.

"Boyfriend."

"Suddenly this Big Mac doesn't hit different anymore." She whined, dropping her sandwich on her plate and crossing her arms. At least there was some bit of normalcy with today, aka everyone around Skye and Levi wanting them together. It almost felt weird thinking of people not wanting them to date. Just almost.

"You know I'm always teasing, pumpkin." Scott chuckled.

"Yeah, pumpkin," Levi added.

"Never call me that," Skye said, darting her eyes at Levi who widened his eyes in fear.

"Yeah, don't do that," Scott said, looking over at Levi as well. Seeing the both of them look at him like that could almost make a man scream in fear. Maybe even cry too.

"Oh no, both of you are against me now." Levi frowned.

"Prepare for trouble, make it double." Skye's dad joked, referencing the infamous duo Team Rocket from Pokémon. Come on, who hasn't liked Pokémon? It would just be wrong if you disliked it.

"Oh god." Levi gulped.

"Oh my god, do you think we'll kill you or something?" Skye asked, laughing as she asked him the question. The father-daughter duo sure knew how to be intimidating, even if they weren't trying whatsoever. Skye definitely got that from her dad, that's for sure.

"I would," Scott said almost too loudly.

"Huh?" Skye and Levi said at the same time.

"If you hurt my daughter for real." He shrugged. Homecoming was bad enough, let's be real here.

"I never intend on doing that." Levi insisted.

"Good." Scott grinned, then innocently changed the subject like he didn't just say he would commit murder for his daughter. "Anyone got trash that needs to be thrown out? I need a nap."

"I can clean up for you." Levi offered, mostly because he would prefer to live another day. Well, at least until graduation. No, until college. Actually, Levi just wanted to live in general.

"Thank the lord." He said, letting out a sigh of relief, excusing himself from the dining room table to go upstairs for a well-deserved nap. The guy was old and today was far too eventful, he needed it.

Levi got up from the table to clean up for Scott while Skye continued eating, going back and forth until Skye extended out her arm with an empty fry container in her hand. "Hey, trash boy, my fries are empty."

"I got it, I got it." Levi playfully rolled his eyes, grabbing the container and then his own trash as he ate everything already, which Skye questioned as she was hardly halfway through her sandwich.

"You're done your food already?"

"Yeah, just got my soda left now." He replied to her, grabbing his drink as he said back down in his chair.

"Damn, you eat fast," Skye said, almost feeling tempted to quicken the pace of her eating.

"As my mom says; I'm a "growing boy."" Levi laughed. Yes, this was literally something his mom said in a conversation before. To be fair, he was already reaching six feet by the eighth grade. The guy was "freakishly tall" as Skye once said.

"If you get any taller I will hurt my neck." She groaned. Not that Skye didn't like his tallness (her crushes in the past had been notoriously tall, at least way taller than her), but looking up at him at times when she wasn't wearing shoes that made her taller was kind of a pain in the neck, literally.

"I'll shrink just for you." He joked.

"No, I like you just the way you are." Skye protested, which didn't come out the right way at first.

Levi pretended to act oblivious, putting on a little show as he furrowed his eyebrows and tilted his head with a little smirk on his face. "You like me?"

"Not like that, weirdo." She scoffed. "Let's not cause my dad to have a stroke in the middle of his nap, okay?"

"I knew what you meant already." He chuckled. "I was just messing with you like always."

"You know, Levi, you're so weird." Skye crossed her arms.

"Wow, thank you, Skye. I'll remember this compliment for the rest of my life." Levi said sarcastically.

"Shut up." She rolled her eyes, which was funny as she was just about to say something nice to him. "Anyway, I'm grateful you still came over today. This morning was just... awful."

"Well, you're making it through the day just fine." He grinned.

"Yeah, I did cry a lot though." Skye laughed. Nothing better than laughing at your trauma. Levi didn't really understand though, mostly because he had never endured that kind of pain. He was really, really lucky.

"I'm sorry."

"Oh, don't be." She brushed it off. "Let's not talk about me anymore though."

"We can talk about Hunter's upcoming New Year's party." Levi proposed, which Skye immediately questioned as it had never been brought up before.

"What New Year's party?" She questioned.

"Oh, right." He chuckled, completely forgetting about telling Skye about it in the first place. "I forgot to tell you that we were invited to it. I was gonna pick you up that night at ten."

"Ten?" Skye furrowed her eyebrows. She wasn't actually used to being out so late, but seeing as her dad wanted her to "live her life" (his words exactly), there was no way she couldn't not go.

"Would your dad not be okay with that?" Levi asked. Again, he wanted to live.

"No, he wants me to have a social life." She sighed. "But you're driving?"

"Well, I've got my final doctor's appointment earlier that day. I should be brace-free after that, so yeah, I'll be driving." He said. Yup, the once injured shoulder has come a long way since that last football game. It practically felt like yesterday, so hearing Levi would be back to normal almost didn't feel real.

"No way!" Skye exclaimed, actually happy to hear the news despite the initial surprise. "The shoulder brace era is coming to an end."

"I'm gonna miss it." Levi lied, which Skye could immediately detect.

"No, you're not."

"Yeah, you're right." He sighed.

"I know." She said with a satisfying grin. "Thank you again for today though."

"I'm always here for you whenever you need me," Levi assured her, which most definitely wasn't a lie.

"Trust me, I know," Skye replied.

It was crazy to think how quickly the day could be turned around after an event that felt like the end of the world. And although Levi still had no clue what went down, he still dropped everything to comfort Skye, and that's what you do when you love someone, even if you don't realize the fact that you do love them. All you know is that you care, but also that you never want that person to feel all the sadness of the world, and that you'd rather feel it so they don't have to.

As much as Skye carried her baggage with stubbornness and pride, it was nice to have someone help carry some of it for you. That was what Skye needed even if she didn't know it herself, and no matter what happened, Skye would always be glad that Levi came into her life when she needed a friend the most.

•••

MARIA TALKS!

and so christmas is saved 😌

everybody say thank you levi daniels (again)

um if you didn't guess already, the next chapter will be the new year's eve party! and just saying... it's gonna be a big multi parter, so stay tuned for that!

as always, don't forget to vote <3