September faded into October and Canadian Thanksgiving was here. We had the entire week off. It was another new initiative for the school. After last year, when half the teachers were hung over the day after, I had a feeling this was coming. I was excited more by the fact that all of the Graduates would be home. I missed having my cousin Dylan and his friends around to hang out with. Life felt too quiet without their boisterous presence. The Masons were hosting this year. My aunt and uncle had hosted last year. It seemed to go on rotation. That had to be nice, only having to host every five years or so. 

I still thought it was weird to have it on the second Monday of October.

I walked up with Dad, pumpkin pie in hand. There were several little kids running around outside. I assumed they had some cousins over too. The house was already filling up and lunch wasn't for another hour. I headed to their basement, certain my group of people would be there.

Dylan saw me first. He picked me up in one of his bear hugs. I had really missed those hugs. Max and Jake came over next for hugs. I was excited to see the whole crew together again. The only one not here yet seemed to be Logan. Gavin was in the corner having a beer and had Laura on his lap. That still boggled my mind, the drinking age being nineteen and not twenty-one. It might as well have been sixteen judging by who all I saw with bottles in their hands.

Tyler had something called a Labatt Blue in his hand. I walked over to him and he embraced me in a hug. Then to my surprise, started kissing me in front of everyone. I wasn't used to such public displays of affection. 

I didn't mind it. 

It was easy to block everyone else out and drown myself in him. His mouth tasted like malt. I could guess he was more than one beer in.

When he pulled apart, Tyler smiled down and said, "Want a beer?"

"How many have you had?" I smiled back.

"This is my third. Mom said as long as we aren't totally shit faced then she doesn't care. Perks of being an adult."

"Another year for me."

Tyler chuckled, "Please, no one will care here. You know that. But there's pop over there in the fridge if you want some of that and they have punch and crap upstairs I can go and get you."

I shook my head, "I'm good for now, thank you though."

Tyler leaned down and gave me another small kiss, "I'll stop after this one. I don't want to get too buzzed before we eat."

"Smart move."

We started making our way around the basement, checking in with everyone. James told me Cassie and Jensen were coming over later on this evening after they finished lunch with their own families. Elle and Aaron were cozied up in a corner. In the far corner of the room I saw Ari; he was nursing a beer alone. It made me sad. I hadn't talked to him about the whole Darcy split.

  Breakups suck though. 

I knew that first hand with him. I let Tyler know what I was up to and then walked over to check in on Ari. He looked surprised when I took a seat next to him.

"Hey, Gorgeous." Ari said nervously.

"Hey Ari." I smiled as warmly as I could, "Why are you sitting over here alone?"

He shrugged, "You know me, moping in a corner is kinda my thing."

I laughed, "She's a bitch and you know you're better off without her. You need a girl who likes hanging out and watching old movies. Not one who loves the party life."

Ari smirked, "Had one. Fucked that up too."

Well since he was already opening that can of worms.

"Brenna told me something the other day."

"You and Brenna had a conversation?" Ari looked genuinely surpised.

"I know, shocking, but we did. She said everyone thought we would end up the way we have. That they knew we weren't end game. Do you think that's true? That we were destined for failure?"

The smirk seemed sadder and Ari took another swig of beer before answering, "I think you would have always been torn. I would have never been comfortable with you and Tyler being friends. Tyler has the upper hand. He came second."

"What does that have to do with it?"

"You already know what I have to offer. You would have always wondered what he'd have to offer."

"You really think that of me?" I said mildly offended.

"I think you're human. You and Tyler have chemistry. We had it too. But I let my pride and anxiety get in the way of having confidence in what we had. That was my fault and I know it."

He sounded like Tyler. They both admitted to knowing the other one had chemistry with me. It was a weird thing to know they weren't wrong. There wasn't anything I could do at this point though.

"What about Darcy? You two were doing well it seemed until the last couple of weeks before you split."

"Darcy was a good time. She was an easy distraction and she didn't ask for much. She wasn't interested in deep feelings or conversations. A guy can date that for years if he wants. As long as he doesn't want something more, someone more."

We could have been more. 

We both knew it. But our window had passed. At least for me it had.

"I hope you find that Ari."

"Right now I just want to focus on not feeling manic all the time. With a girl like Darcy, it was easy to get really high or really low. Her energy was all over the place. I need to get somewhere stable again."

"That's probably a good idea."

Ari nodded in the direction of the others, "You might want to head back over to your boyfriend. He's been looking over here every couple of minutes."

I looked over and sure enough, made eye contact with Tyler. He smiled softly before turning back to Dylan.

"He's good." I knew he wasn't the type to get easily jealous. Tyler's security and trust in me was one of the things that attracted me to him.

"You two are good then?"

I smiled brightly. I couldn't help it. Thinking about  Tyler being mine, made me beam. I wasn't used to the warm and fuzzies but they were fun so far.

"We are. He's been helping me through a lot."

"Good. You know I'm here for you too?"

I smiled and nodded, "I know. Goes both ways."

I squeezed his knee and got up to head back over to the others. Soon, we all headed upstairs to make our plates. We came back down to the basement after and started pairing off again. I grabbed a spot next to my cousin Dylan. We hadn't had the chance to catch up in a while and I missed him.

"How goes grade eleven Lexi?"

"I wish it was senior year."

"Why do you still call it that?" His words were slightly slurred. I wondered how many beers he'd had?

"Just because I've been here a year doesn't mean I'm not American. We call it that." I quipped back.

"You've always been fifty percent Canadian. Surely, you're up to like sixty-five percent by now." He sounded so proud of himself for doing drunk math. It made me laugh.

"Uh, no. I was one hundred percent Texan. Not even American, Texan."

He laughed, "Texas is a cult. Between that burger and beaver place."

I acted like I was overly offended, "You mean, Whataburger and Buccee's and there will be no blasphemy spread on their names."

"No, but seriously, how was it going back there? I know you didn't get to go for fun, but did you enjoy seeing Jordan?"

"I always enjoy seeing Jordan. I got to see all of my half siblings too. It was weird, without Amanda trying to push us down each other's throats, we actually sorta like each other."

"How are you doing with that? Losing her?"

I shrugged, "It's complicated."

And that was the truth. I had pushed the thought of her back into the box it belonged in and buried it with her. I tried not to think about her or the fact she didn't exist in this world anymore. Her birthday was in April. It wouldn't happen this year. That was something I wasn't ready to deal with yet. I wasn't sure when I would be.

I had managed to get Elyse to FaceTime me any time she was going over to see Caleb and Daniel. Which, lately, had been often. She was in momma mode. I knew that mode well. I needed some air.

I wrapped up my conversation with Dylan and headed back upstairs. I went out to the Mason's back yard. It had a fire pit with some cozy chairs around it. I was surprised that it hadn't been taken over yet by the adults. They were still inside eating and watching football I assumed. There were blankets folded over the top of the chairs. I grabbed one and nestled myself in a chair.

"Room for one more?"

I looked up and saw Tyler.

"Always."

I opened up my blanket and let him nuzzle in. He wrapped himself around me. We barely fit in the oversized chair but we were making it work.

He kissed the tip of my nose and then gave me an Eskimo kiss. "You having fun?"

I chuckled, "As much fun as I always do at big social gatherings."

Tyler chuckled back, "I bet I know a few ways to help you relax."

That piqued my interest. Under the shroud of the blanket, Tyler started moving his hands around to parts that were very sensitive. I shuddered at the touch of his cold fingers.

I looked around to make sure the coast was clear. 

"We will be grounded for life if they catch us."

"They can't see anything, Baby; relax. I'm just touching you. No one's even naked."

I did relax into his touch. It was as calming as it was stimulating. I tried not to move too much so that if anyone saw us, they would just think we were lying still.

I felt my toes start to curl in my shoes. Tyler's pace quickened. He could feel me hitting the edge too. He pushed me over. I bit into his shoulder to prevent myself from making any noise.

"Thank you." I moaned.

Tyler nodded and kissed me for a few moments while I came down from the edge. 

"Any time Baby. Feel better?"

I did. I felt a little dirty but not in a bad way, in a rebellious sort of way. It was fun sneaking around like this, on the verge of getting busted for something like this.

We heard the back gate open, I sat up and saw Cassie and Jensen coming through.

Cassie saw me first, "Hey Alex, you okay?"

"Yeah, why?"

"You look red, like you're flushed. Been running around?"

Hadn't been doing that kind of exercise.

"No, it's probably just the fire making me hot."

Tyler popped up then, "Hey ladies."

The girls looked at each other and smiled, "Hi Tyler." They said in Unison.

Tyler looked at me, "Let's go join the party."

I nodded. This was definitely a Thanksgiving to remember.