22 - merry Christmas

Dominic

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"I'm spending Christmas with Andre." I lie.

My father turns to look at me with a disapproving gaze. "No, you're not. We made this apparent when I let you get out of Thanksgiving."

"Why do you even want me there? To show your colleagues your obedient proper son? I don't want to spend Christmas with you and Stacy at your stupid gala or any other stupid gala for that matter."

"You watch your tone, Dominic." My father responds his tone icy cold.

"I will not be coming." I repeat, reiterating the simple fact that I would rather slam my hand in a door than spend another holiday with him.

"Christmas is for time with family."

I scoff, "Like you know anything about family." I mumbled.

He turns to glare at me, probably hearing what I had said under my breath. "If you want to behave like an insolent brat, I will treat you as one."

I chuckle, "What are you going to do? Ground me?"

He pulls out his phone, seemingly typing something in. He looks up at me with a smirk, making my brow raise. He leaves the room, his footsteps echoing in the long hallway of his home.

The house was huge, but it was dark and cold, filled with only unhappy memories. The life that once possessed this house had vanished years ago.

I was only here to collect something that mistakenly got mailed here instead of my apartment. Now my dad was demanding I attend events and spend the holidays with him and my stepmother. I'd rather shoot myself in the foot.

I get up from the chair I was sitting on before making my way outside the house to my car. As I sat in the car I suddenly got a notification on my phone. It was multiple banks notifying me that my accounts were frozen, including the private account I was sure he didn't know of.

I hit the steering wheel out of anger. I hated that man.

I start my car, refusing to let him win, and make my way to the banks. My father often used his money and power to do whatever he wanted. Bribing people for favors and giving false promises. It's the only way he'd be able to get into my private account.

After raising hell at every bank I showed up at, the situation had been cleared. It took me a couple hours but the damage had been undone and I was on my way back home.

When I arrived at the apartment complex, It felt so empty around me. So many people had abandoned their apartments for the holidays. It felt like I was the only one still around.

I hadn't spoken to Amina in a while. Instead, I'd just been trying to distract myself with a good time. Party after party before I eventually ran into her again.

I could tell my words from Thanksgiving hurt her, and that was never my intention. Now that I knew I had feelings for her and she clearly had feelings for me, things were complicated. But it was better this way. I can't hurt her if we're apart and she can't hurt me.

I enter my apartment feeling slightly exhausted from another standoff with my father. I kick off my shoes and make my way to the couch.

"Dude."

I snap out of my trance to see Andre sitting on my couch playing video games. "Andre? What are you doing here?"

"You need to be more aware of your surroundings bro. I could've killed you."

I sigh, taking a seat next to him on the couch. "That would be nice." I respond tiredly, making him hit me for joking like that. "What're you doing here?" I ask again.

"I'm kidnapping you. You're spending Christmas with me and Abuela."

I shake my head, "I'm not intruding on your family Christmas."

He scoffs, "You're not intruding, abuela loves you. Plus she's already expecting you and you can't say no to Abuela."

I look over at him, "You don't have to do this."

"I know, I do what I want. We leave the morning of the 25th." He urges as he places the controller down on the table, leaving the apartment.

-

"Andre! Mijo!" Andre's grandmother exclaims happily as we enter the foyer of her small Inglewood home.

"Abuela!" Andre smiles as he embraces his grandmother in a hug.

Her eyes notice me walk through the door as well and her face lights up. "Is that little Domo!" She exclaims again as she takes me in for a hug as well.

"Merry Christmas abuela." I smile down at her as she hugs me.

"I'm so happy you two are here." She gushes before turning toward the kitchen, "Selena! We have guests!"

Selena, Andre's younger cousin enters the room with three mugs in her hand. She places them down on the table before greeting her cousin. "Andre, nice of you to finally stop by." She looks over at me, "Good to see you, Dom."

"Good to see you too Selena."

"Hey! I come around often, you're just never home." Andre protests, making Selena scoff.

She scoffs, "I'm always home."

"No, he comes while you're at school mija." Abuela replies.

She frowns, looking over at her cousin. "Why do you do that?"

"So I don't have to deal with all this." He says motioning to her. "Plus I just want to spend time with Abuela, not you."

Abuela frowns, "Be nice." She says scolding her grandson. "You two please take a seat. I'm so happy you're here."

"Thank you for having us. I brought gifts."

Abuela grins, "Oh Domo, always too kind. You didn't have to do that."

"I'll take mine though." Selena says taking the small box from my hand.

I chuckle, gently placing the box in Abuelas lap. "Please, I insist. Merry Christmas."

She smiles, nodding her head before opening the present. It was a framed photo of Abuela and my mother with Andre and I as kids. She places her hand over her mouth in surprise as she looks over the picture.

"I found it at my dad's house the other day. I thought you should have it."

She shakes her head, "You should keep this."

"Don't worry, I made a copy."

She smiles, "Thank you Domo."

"Yes, thank you, Dom. These earrings are beautiful." Selena adds in.

I chuckle, "You're welcome, both of you." Abuela pulls me in for a hug.

"I also got you guys something." Andre announces, holding two gift bags in his hand. He hands one to Selena and the other to Abuela.

Abuela opened up the bag, removing the issue paper that was being used to hide it. She pulls out a heart-shaped locket necklace from a small box. She looks up at Andre with a smile, "This is beautiful, I hope it didn't cost you too much."

He shakes his head, "Don't even worry about it. Open the locket."

She opens the heart-shaped locket to reveal a small picture of her and Andre. "Aww mijo, I love it so much. I'm just so happy you're both here." She says getting up to hug us again. "And don't think I didn't get you both something." She says as she pulls away.

I shake my head, "You really don't need to, you know that."

She reaches behind the couch, pulling two wrapped boxes from their hiding places. "But I want to." She passes us each a box. I chuckle, taking a seat on the couch as I unwrap the gift. I pulled out a knitted dark blue sweater from the box. Andre pulled out the same but in dark green. Abuela smiles proudly, "I made them myself."

We both smile before hugging her and thanking her for the gifts.

By the time the gift exchange had ended, it was nearing dinner time and we gathered around the table to eat. A small feast was set up for the four of us, consisting of an assortment of Dominican dishes I grew up eating.

"It's been a while since I've had a home-cooked meal. Thank you for the food." I say as I take my seat.

"You're always more than welcome to come by for a meal. Is that father of yours still not feeding you?" She asks as she dishes some vegetables onto her plate.

I chuckle, "Something like that."

"I thought you live on your own now?" Selena asks.

"Yeah, a college apartment so I'm mostly eating takeout."

"Andre knows how to cook. Andre, you should be showing him the basics." Abuela scolds.

"This man is too busy for cooking lessons. He's hardly home." Andre says before stuffing a spoonful of rice in his mouth.

Abuela raises a brow at me, "Too busy doing what?"

I shrug, "You know, college and stuff."

Selena giggles, "It's a girlfriend isn't it?"

Abuela gasps, "Domo you have a girlfriend? Oh! When will we get to meet her? What's she like?"

"I do not have a girlfriend." I respond looking down at my plate.

"That's because he's running from his feelings." Andre adds in, making me shoot him a glare.

"Aww, you like a girl?" Selena gushes.

I scoff, "No, can we change the subject?"

Abuela laughs, "He's getting shy, there's definitely a girl in the picture. Tell us what she's like!"

"Guys-"

"She's really smart with a fiery personality. I think she's Nigerian, right Dom?" Andre asks, taking another spoonful of rice to his mouth.

I let out a deep sigh making the two ladies laugh. "I remember Dominic's first major crush, Lisa Jones." Abuela recalls.

"She was everyone's crush, hell she was even my crush." Andre says with a chuckle.

"You have a crush on anything that moves." Selena says. "Speaking of, you finally deciding to settle down?"

"I'm actually thinking of it. There's this waitress at the diner I go to." Andre begins.

I quirk my brow, "Halle? You want to take Halle seriously?" I ask in surprise, "Doesn't she hate you?"

Selena laughs, "That'll only make him more attracted to her."

"Hush Selena. And yes I want to take Halle seriously, if she'll have me." He shrugs.

Abuela's eyes light up. "Tell us about this Halle girl." She urges, clearly intrigued over her grandson considering a serious relationship.

Andre smiles, "She's beautiful and smart, she's graduating early. She has fiery ginger hair and she smells like flowers every time I see her. She works with Ami, Dominic's girl."

"She is not my girl." I interject.

"Aww, it sounds like you're smitten." Selena smiles, ignoring my comment.

I nod in agreement, surprised by my best friend. "Yeah, I didn't know you liked her like that. Since when?" I ask him.

He shrugs, "After seeing her so often it just felt right. I found myself wanting to be around her more."

"So what're you going to do about it? You gonna ask her out?" Selena asks, clearly enjoying hearing about her cousin's love life.

"I don't know."

"Do it soon mijo, and if she turns you down that's her loss!" Abuela encourages.

Andre chuckles, "Don't worry, I'm on it. I'm just waiting for the right time." He points to me, "It's Dom over here that needs some encouragement, not me."

I shake my head, raising my hands in defense. "No, he's wrong. No encouragement needed on my side."

"Why are you so hesitant to talk about this girl?" Abuela asks.

"There's nothing to talk about."

"Their situation is unnecessarily complicated." Andre adds in. "He likes her, she likes him, but they won't get together."

"And why not?"

Andre shrugs pointing at me. "Ask him."

They all turn and look at me, making me sigh.

"I'm just not ready for a relationship right now." I admit, stirring the contents of my plate around to avoid eye contact.

"And when will you be ready?" Abuela shakes her head, "Domo don't do this. You're fighting your feelings because you're scared. Love is about taking chances."

My eyes widen as I look up at her. "Whoa, nobody said anything about love abuela. It's probably just a bit of infatuation or something." I respond with a shrug.

"How will you know if you don't try?" She asks.

"I don't want to be in love. Why are we having this conversation at the dinner table?" I sigh placing my fork down, no longer having an appetite. "Can you excuse me?" I ask before getting up from the table. I walk outside, taking a seat on the porch to get some air.

All these conversations were stupid. Why were we discussing our love lives at the dinner table? It's Christmas shouldn't we be talking about the weather or something? Watching a holiday movie? Not interrogating me on who I'm dating or not dating.

The front door opens and I don't look up as Abuela takes a seat beside me. "It's okay to be afraid Domo, but don't let it consume you."

I scoff, "I'm not afraid."

She chuckles, "So then why are you shutting out this girl?"

I sigh, "How much has that blabbermouth told you?"

"Enough that lets me know that you're afraid of falling for this girl."

"But what if I'm not good enough? What if I'm just like him?" I admit looking back at her.

She smiles sadly, "Domo, do you really think that's possible? You might be your father's son but you are also your mother's son. She had a heart of gold that she definitely passed on to you."

I shake my head, looking down at the ground. "You don't understand. I broke a man's nose because of her. If they didn't pull me off of him who knows what I would've done? I'd never felt anger like that before. She makes me feel things I haven't felt before."

She smiles, "Love amplifies all emotions mijo. Don't be afraid to feel things."

"Stop saying love. I don't know what it is yet."

"Then why don't you go found out? Give this girl a chance. Then you can let me finally meet her." She says with a grin.

I chuckle, "We'll see." I sigh, "I doubt she'll want to speak to me again."

"Try. You never know if you don't try."

I nod, "Thank you abuela."

"Anytime mijo."

———

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