I got miles of trouble spreadin' far and wide

It seems like time sped up after Thanksgiving. It helped that Matt and I were talking again, and that work was picking up. Drew couldn’t come down the following weekend, his Dad had booked some parties and Drew was needed to set up heated tents and bring some flowers inside. I thought it would be a long weekend, but I decided to make the most of Drew’s absence by decorating and getting the rest of my Christmas shopping done. It helped that Matt decided to go with me.

We stopped at Michaels, a craft store. Every year I made my kids something, usually cups or baskets that I decorated with their names. I’d put little trinkets in it, candies… It actually cost a nice little chunk of money, but seeing their faces light up and watching how excited they were when they dug through the baskets made it worth it. This year I decided to splurge, I had found cups with bendy straws where I could remove the bottom and place pictures of the kids in. They were more expensive, but the kids got so excited over water bottles, I knew I had to get them. I had various pictures of them already at home, but I was looking for things to put in the cups (like stickers) or things to decorate the cups with. The kids loved personalized objects, so I was really looking to get some puffy paint to write their names under their pictures.

“What are you going to get Drew for Christmas?” Matt asked, taking a pink feather boa off the rack and wrapping it around his neck. One of the things I loved most about Matt is he was just so naturally goofy. The most mundane tasks were fun when he was around.

“That looks amazing. But I think you need to top it with this.” I said, handing him a foam princess visor.

“Mmm. You think Dad would be concerned if I showed up to the family Christmas party in this?”

“Little bit.” I said, laughing as he took the items off and put them back. I picked a straw feather off his arm.

“Drew. What are you doing to get him?” Matt asked again.

“I have no idea, really. I want it to be special. It’s our first Christmas together, you know? But, I just don’t know what.”

“You want it to be special-expensive, special-meaningful, or special-handmade?”

“I’d love to be able to do all three.” I said, laughing. “I thought about making him a quilt, but I just don’t have the time. I thought about something expensive… Like a really nice watch or something, but I just don’t know. I mean when we went out shopping last week, he dropped some hints, but they’re just not good enough. Like he eyed a pair of gloves… Gloves aren’t special.” I placed some different colored puffy paint in my basket, along with some foam stickers and glitter. I hated glitter, whoever said it was the herpes of the craft world was right. But, the things you do for kids…

“I mean I think gloves can be special. It’s the fact that you paid attention, you know?”

“Yeah. It’s just that I really want to find something amazing. And I just don’t know what.”

“Well. I’ll think too. Two heads is better than one.” He grabbed some supplies of his own. He was making his kids something as well, we were having a crafting party with some of the other group leaders tonight.

“How’s the Amber situation?” I ventured carefully as we headed to check out.

“How do you break up with a girl who’s not even your girlfriend?”

“I have no idea.” I said, laughing. “I thought you were going to talk to her?”

“I did!” Matt exclaimed, setting his items up to be scanned.

“So what happened?”

“I told her that I thought I was over Kellie, but seeing her last weekend stirred up some old feelings. And while I was sure I didn’t want to be with Kellie anymore, I didn’t think it was fair to start a relationship with anyone when I still had feelings for someone else.”

“Nice.” I said. It was a well crafted excuse, and also pretty honest.

“She said it was fine. She told me she just wanted a fling anyway. Her last boyfriend broke her heart and she wasn’t ready, just wanted to have someone to cuddle with and mess around with.”

“So what’s the problem then? I thought that’s what you wanted?”

“Yeah, it is. The problem is, she’s a liar.” Matt grabbed our bags and headed out to the car.

“What do you mean?”

“She asked me to go home with her for Christmas. She really wants me to meet her family.”

“Ew.”

“Yeah. She needs to get dumped.”

“Sorry buddy.” I said, popping the trunk so he could put our stuff in the back.

“It’s OK. Honestly, the whole friends with benefits thing kind of sketched me out a little bit. I don’t think randomly hooking up with girls is for me.”

“Yeah. I don’t see how it could be for many people.”

We did the rest of our shopping, and while I was officially done with everyone, I was still on the hunt for the perfect gift for Drew. I had picked up a few things for him, but nothing really seemed good enough. I wanted to make him a scrap book, I had plenty of pictures of us, but I also wanted to include some of his own family pictures. I awkwardly called his father, who I didn’t normally speak with anyway, and he agreed to ship me a box of photos that were in the basement. He sounded so shocked when I asked for pictures, I know he was thinking of his lost twins, he broke my heart to ask, but I was excited to try to do something meaningful for Drew.
Then while searching online, I stumbled across a program where I could make a DVD of pictures set to a soundtrack. It would take some time, scanning in all the photos and finding the perfect songs and arranging them, but it would be worth it. I couldn’t wait for the box of photos from his Dad to get here, and started working on it as soon as the program finished downloading.

The following week went fast as well. I spent my free time at home either talking on the phone with Drew, or working on his Christmas present. He was getting excited over Jason’s visit, excited to spend some real quality time with him. I, however, was nervous about it, and sad. I knew I couldn’t be with Jason, and I couldn’t even for sure say that I was sad that whatever we had was really over. But, I was sad at the way it ended. Sad that I couldn’t be a part of his visit, sad that everything had changed, and sad that I didn’t think we’d ever go back to how we used to be. I think Drew sensed it, but he didn’t push me to talk about it.

That Friday was the kid’s last day at group. We had a party, and I gave them their gifts that I made for them, which they loved. I knew the weekend was going to be a busy one, and for that I was glad. We had the agency’s Christmas party for the staff Saturday, and the agency’s big Christmas party for the kids Sunday. Jason would be coming in late Friday night, and I was glad to have something to keep my mind off of him and Drew.

Saturday was hectic. Matt had invited Amber over, to break up with her. I stayed out of his way and in my room while he did it, but still strained my ear to try to hear what they were saying. I couldn’t catch most of it, but I was surprised that there weren’t any fireworks. Amber struck me as a drama queen, but she seemed to handle the rejection well. Saturday night with the co-workers was a lot of fun, we all drank and ate and did karaoke. I woke up too early on Sunday with a headache and a dry mouth.

I was already running behind, so I rushed to get ready, throwing on a large gray sweater and jeans. Matt was sitting in the living room, waiting on me so we could drive together. We walked outside and I was shocked by what I saw.
The trees outside my house were covered in toilet paper. The front steps were covered in broken raw eggs. My car? Was keyed.

“What the hell happened?” I exclaimed. We had gotten back late last night, nothing had been like this.

“I have no idea.” Matt said, looking dumbfounded. “Should we call the police?”

“I mean yeah.” I glanced at my watch. “We can’t wait for them right now though. Shit.”

“They’ll understand if we miss the party…” Matt said.

“I wanted to be there.” I said, tears filling my eyes. It was my favorite event, watching the kids have so much fun, getting the Christmas they deserved.

“I know…” He trailed off. “Hey, why don’t you call your parents and see if they can wait for the police? We’ll go into work. If they need you to sign a statement we can just do it later.”

I nodded slowly and picked up my cell phone to make the arrangements. On the way down the stairs to Matt’s car, which was untouched, I slipped on egg yolk. It just wasn’t my morning.

I tried to forget about what had happened at home while at the party. I concentrated on the kids having a good time, and I really did almost forget until I got home. My Dad being the wonderful guy that he was, had not only gone over to wait for the police, but had cleaned up as best as he could. Still, the sight of my car, and the random pieces of toilet paper clinging to the trees that my Dad hadn’t been able to get down made my heart sink all over again.

However, my heart nearly shot through my chest when I saw the familiar old truck sitting in our driveway.

“Drew’s here?” Matt asked, swinging his car in next to Drew’s.

“I guess.” I said, unable to wipe the smile off my face. Maybe the weekend was going to end up on a high note.

I slammed the car door behind me, as Drew rose from where he was seated on the porch. I grabbed him and wrapped him in a hug, but he responded stiffly. I was confused.
“What are you doing here?”
I asked, the smile frozenly awkwardly on my face.

“I have some questions I wanted to ask you.” He said. “We need to talk.”