"I will be fine," she insisted. We were currently sitting in Lili's apartment while I tried to talk to her, and she tried to fold laundry.

"I'm not going to let you spend thanksgiving alone," I insisted.

"I will be fine," Lily repeated. "Cami is going home for the holiday, so are you, and Cooper, and Danny." She insisted. "I am going to stay here, in my apartment, and I am going to eat ramen and watch the parade by myself."

"That sounds so sad," Cami said as she passed us. Lili threw a t-shirt at her.

"It does sound sad," I agree. I feel responsible for the situation. I had invited her family for her birthday, and now she wouldn't be able to see them for Thanksgiving. Instead she was going to live out the loneliest Thanksgiving in history.

"I am staying home too then," I decided.

"No, no, no," she disagreed. "I am not going to be the reason that your mother doesn't get to spend time with her son."

"She lives twenty five minutes from here," I reasoned. "I don't have to live at the actual house for the week, I can stay at my apartment and I'll spend the day there."

"What type of plan is that?" Lili said. "You are going to drive an hour a day so that you can see me for a couple of hours?"

"Only fifty minutes," I said.

"Josh..."

"Lili..."

"Spend Thanksgiving with your family. You are already packed, I will see you when you get back," she said sternly.

"Come with me," I begged.

"And impose on your mother for the first time I meet her? No."

"You've already met my mom," I argued.

"Not as your girlfriend," she said as though that made the situation completely different.

"You won't be imposing," I disagreed.

"Josh..."

"Please Lili," I gave her puppy dog eyes.

She sighed, "I refuse to impose on your mother, my father raised me better than that."

"I'll call her and she'll tell you that you aren't imposing," I said as I pulled my phone out.

"Don't you dare!" she threatened.

I clicked the call button, "Too late."

"Josh!" I squealed.

"A call from my son, has hell frozen over?" my mother said as she picked up the phone.

"Very funny mom," I said sarcastically.

"Really, what do you need?" she said suspiciously.

"I told Lili to join us for Thanksgiving, since she isn't going home, and she thinks that she would be imposing. Will you please tell her that she is more than welcome to come?" I asked, giving Lili a pointed look. Lili grimaced.

"Of course she can come!" My mom said enthusiastically. "That would be wonderful!" there was a pause. "Did you tell her how crazy our family can get at Thanksgiving?"

"I will, when we get off the phone," I promised her.

"Tell her to come, the more the merrier. I'm sure your tias want to meet her anyway," my mom said, you could hear the smile on her face over the phone. "You know what, that would make 15 at the house! A lucky number for the holiday!"

"Te amo mama," I said.

"Te amo mijo," she responded.

We hung up the phone.

"See?" I said to Lili. "She wants you to come."

"I cannot believe you did that," she looked mortified.

"You have to come now," I told her. "My mother is expecting you."

"Fine," Lili said begrudgingly.

"Great!" I told her. "We leave in the morning, and just so you know, my family is from Mexico. It will get loud, you will be asked some extremely personal questions. And you might have to compete."

"Compete in what?" she asked.

"I'll see you tomorrow," I kissed her lightly. "Bright and early."

"Compete in what, Josh?" Lili asked again. I got up and left her apartment without answering the question.

***

"I can't believe that I let you talk me into this," Lili said. She was sitting in the passenger seat of my car as we were on our way to my mother's house.

"It'll be fine," I promised her. "If it's a dumpster fire, I will take you home."

"Promise?" she asked.

"Promise." I said with a laugh.

"What if your family hates me?" she asked nervously. She had barely let a minute go by before asking.

"They aren't going to hate you," I told her patiently. "They are going to love you," as much as I do, I almost added. It was too soon for that though. I didn't want to scare her away, but I had never felt this for anyone else before. The feeling was overwhelming and had been bubbling in my chest for a long time, but I was not going to scare her off.

"Okay," she said. She chewed on her bottom lip, clearly she didn't believe me. We pulled into the driveway of my mom's house and I could already tell that everyone was here.

"Lili," I said before we got out of the car. She looked at me with nervous eyes. "Please do not let my family scare you away."

She laughed, and that smile made me smile. "If you could bear my family, I can thrive with your family," she said confidently.

"That's the spirit," I said. I squeezed her thigh and reached over the console to give her a kiss.

She kissed me back and my heart fluttered like a teenager being kissed for the first time. She always did that to me. I felt completely obliterated after each kiss, but I couldn't help, but come back for more.

"Let's go," I said when we finally broke the kiss.

She nodded and we both got out of the car. I grabbed both of our bags from the back of the car. After some arguing, I carried both of our bags to the front door, with Lili huffing about being able to carry her own bag.

Without knocking I walked right into the house, and noise erupted around Lili and I. To her credit Lili didn't immediately run away.

"Josh!" My mom squealed. The rest of the room got quiet as they all looked over to Lili and I. "Lili! You came!" my mom threw her arms around both of us, and squeezed us.

"Thank you for having me," Lili said.

"Of course!" my mom said. "You are going to be a part of every Thanksgiving from here on out, I can feel it."