The days fly by, and before I know it the holidays are right around the corner. The next thing I know, it's already Thanksgiving break. It's busy at my house, the way it always is this time of year. It's a tradition in my family to have a big Thanksgiving dinner, our house filled with relatives. My dad's brother will be coming this year with his family, along with my grandparents and my mother's two sisters.

As much as I'm looking forward to Thanksgiving and Christmas, I find that I unusually dread them this year, too. Because, even though I'll be surrounded by my family, I know that the one person I really want to be with can't come over. That's the sucky part about having a boyfriend you know your parents would hate. You can't do any of the normal couple things, like celebrate Christmas at your house.

Plus, it hurts me to think that Thorne will be relatively alone during the major holidays. Sure, he'll be with his friends. But it's different. He should be with his family, but he doesn't have that in his life.

"Mia!" There's a loud knock on my door, startling me. I'm sitting on my bed, curled up with Thorne's sweatshirt, unable to stop myself from thinking about him. Before I respond, my door opens to reveal my mother. "Your aunt Stephanie just got here with Olivia and Brynn." Mom is talking about her sister and her two daughters. "Come downstairs and say hi."

"Coming," I tell her, pulling myself out of the bed. Today is Thanksgiving, so I'm supposed to be on my best behavior and look presentable for my family. I leave my hair down, but I don't bother wearing something nice. I just pull Thorne's over-sized sweatshirt over my head, leaving on my jeans.

Before I know it, the rest of my family appears. I say hi to my grandparents, my grandmother giving me a big red-lipped kiss on the cheek and leaving behind a lipstick print that I rush to wipe off. My dad's brother, Bryan, makes a bunch of dad jokes that I awkwardly laugh at. My cousin Brynn complains about everything in her midst, and my mom's other sister, Karen, rants on and on about her daughter, Julie, as usual. Julie brags about this guy that she's been going out with, not-so-subtly asking if I'm seeing anyone. I lie and say no, wishing I could tell the truth while knowing that I can't.

I wander into my room around ten, the rest of my family (the relatives that are going to stay the night) talking in the den. I pull my phone out, deciding that if I can't see Thorne, I might as well check on him.

He answers on the first ring, which makes me smile. "Hey," I say, wondering what he's up to.

"Hey, Sunshine," he answers nonchalantly. "Your family dinner done yet?"

"Yeah, it—" I stop short, raising an eyebrow. "Wait. How'd you know I was having a family dinner?"

Thorne laughs on the other end at the same time I hear something ping against my window. "Look outside, Sunshine."

I cross my room suspiciously, drawing my curtains and looking out the window. Sure enough, there's Thorne, standing in my backyard and waving up at me. I can feel myself start to panic immediately, my heart seizing in my chest. If my parents caught him here, they'd never let me see him again. He means too much to me to let that happen.

I drop my phone to my bed, pushing open my window. "What are you doing here?" I hiss into the night air, staring down at my boyfriend in horror.

Thorne shrugs, smirking with a smug expression on his face. "I wanted to see my girlfriend on Thanksgiving." I try not to let the way he calls me his girlfriend get to me, but I fail.

"You can't be here!" I whisper-cry. "What if someone catches you?"

"Don't worry about it, Sunshine." Thorne begins to climb the oak tree that stands tall next to my house, pulling himself up branch after branch until he's standing right here in front of my window. I should make him stop, tell him to go away. But I secretly want to see him, too.

I tell myself he has ten minutes. After that, he has to go, no question about it.

"You gonna let me in, Sunshine?" he asks, cocking an eyebrow. I step aside, pursing my lips as he climbs through my window, plopping onto my floor. It's weird to have him in my room, knowing Gram-Gram and Gramps are downstairs. It makes me sick just thinking of all the things that could go wrong in this moment. I quickly cross my room, locking my door before someone can burst in.

"Don't want your parents to see me, Sunshine?" Thorne teases. We both know why I have to keep him a secret, but that doesn't stop him from making fun of me for it.

"What are you doing here?" I repeat, as he never really answered my question before. My heart is pounding so hard I can feel it in my throat. I'm genuinely terrified that my parents and Thorne are about to meet, and I want to do everything in my power to prevent that from happening. I should probably kick him out right now just to do that, but I find that I don't have it in me.

"You look hot in my clothes," Thorne says instead, his eyes roaming my body. I huff in annoyance, crossing my arms over my chest and rolling my eyes.

"Don't change the subject," I warn him. Thorne just smirks the way he always does, looking around my room like he's seeing it for the first time.

Thorne strolls over to my desk, resting his hands on the chair as he leans over, peering at my things. It dawns on me that I spend time at his house all the time, so I know what his things look like and what they mean to him. He doesn't really have the same chance with me, and I suddenly feel a little bad.

I join his side, studying the pictures that sit on my desk in little frames. There's one of me as a baby, and another of Saige, Emmie, and me on our first day of middle school that I still haven't had the heart to take down. I don't have many pictures in my room, but the ones I do have are special to me. Suddenly I feel the urge to prove to Thorne that I don't take him for granted. I can't imagine how I would feel if he hid me from his parents. If I could never go to his house when I wanted to be with him. What it would be like to be a secret kept hidden under lock and key.

I walk over to my bed, feeling Thorne's eyes watching me. This is going to be majorly embarrassing, but I don't stop myself from doing what I'm about to do. Exhaling sharply, I say, "I don't just sleep in your sweatshirt."

Thorne's eyebrows raise, a suggestive smirk curling on his lips. "Yeah?"

I beckon him over, raising my pillow to reveal a picture Charlie took of the two of us—Thorne and I—the first night I met her. She's really into photography, so she takes a lot of candid photos. I don't know why this is the photo I chose above all the others she offered me, but something about it always makes my heart warm. It's a photo of Thorne and I, our gazes locked as I'm sitting next to him in one of Charlie's recliners. He's got that smug half-smirk, half-smile expression on his face, but my hair blocks mine from the camera.

"This is embarrassing," I mumble, unable to read the expression he wears as he studies the photo. "I don't know why I showed you this . . ."

"You sleep with this under there?" Thorne asks, talking about the picture under my pillow. I nod, blushing. I'm too embarrassed to form words.

"You're cute, Sunshine," Thorne tells me, a smile flickering over his features. "You know that?" He wraps his arms around me, planting a kiss on my cheek as he rests his head in the crook of my neck.

"I wish things were different." I don't realize I've said the words out loud until Thorne is saying, "Me too, Sunshine. Me too."

Suddenly, there's a loud knock on my door. I stiffen, feeling panicky all over again. Thorne releases me, giving me a what-are-you-gonna-do look. I return it with a shrug, knowing there's no possible way I'm going to open my bedroom door.

"Mia?" My mom calls, wiggling the doorknob. "I know you're in there! Who are you talking to? And why is the door locked?"

I curse under my breath, trying to quickly think of an excuse. "Uh, you can't come in!" I cry through the door, trying not to sound as worried as I'm feeling.

Mom stops jiggling the doorknob. "Why is that?" she asks, sounding confused and suspicious.

"I'm in the bathroom!" I cry, glancing at my bathroom door and giving Thorne a don't-you-dare-say-a-word glare. "I, uh, ate some bad turkey!"

"Is it that awful diarrhea again?" Mom questions in her overly-protective mother tone. I squeeze my eyes closed, noting the way Thorne bites his lip to stop himself from laughing out loud.

"Yep!" I cry, having already lost all of my dignity. Mothers. Even when they're not trying to be, they're embarrassing. "My stomach really hurts, so I think I'm just going to call it a night!"

"Poor thing," Mom murmurs softly. "Do you want me to bring you some Pepto Bismol?"

"That's okay!" I cry a little too quickly. "Thanks, though! I think it'd just be best if I stayed up here the rest of the night."

"You're probably right," Mom agrees. "We don't want what happened last year to happen again . . . maybe you just shouldn't eat turkey anymore, honey."

My face flames at the memories my mom is resurfacing. Thorne gives me a look that I know means what-happened-last-year. Only, there's no chance in hell I'm telling him the bad turkey bathroom story from last year. That will be one embarrassing moment that goes to the grave with me.

"Right!" I agree weakly. Mom tells me goodnight and that she hopes I feel better before finally wandering back down the stairs, no doubt going to tell my relatives that I turned in early.

"That was close," I mutter in relief once she's gone, turning to Thorne and waiting for him to tease me to no end. Although he's smirking, he surprisingly doesn't say anything about the whole interaction my mom and I just had.

"I came here because Charlie's having a late dinner at her house," Thorne tells me. "I wanted to sneak you out, because she wants you there and I do, too. But, if you had too much bad turkey, I guess—"

"Shut up," I growl, hiding my face in my hands. "Yes, I want to go. Just let me get dressed."

Thorne's eyes light up as he takes a seat on my bed. "Don't let me stop you," he mumbles, smirking.

I roll my eyes, blushing all over again. "Get over yourself, Thorne," I say under my breath, grabbing a nicer outfit from my closet before pointedly walking to my bathroom and closing the door behind me, locking it just in case.

As I quickly get ready, I can't stop myself from thinking that this night is turning out better then I thought it would.

★★★

"To family," Charlie says softly, raising her glass in the air. Jay, Violet, Wells, Thorne, and I follow her lead, muttering, "To family." And I find that I really mean the words. I've become close the with the five people surrounding me, closer than I thought I would, honestly. And I love each and every single one of them in ways I had no clue I'd end up loving them when we first met.

Charlie's kitchen smells of burnt turkey and marshmallows, but I don't mind it. The lights are off in the kitchen, as she's placed candles everywhere. She put a lot of effort into making everything perfect for the occasion, and it makes me smile.

"This is great, Char," Wells says teasingly, gesturing to the black turkey leg on his plate. Charlie rolls her eyes, retorting, "If Jay wouldn't have scared the shit out of me by screaming as soon as he entered my house, I wouldn't have burnt the turkey."

"No offense, babe," Violet says with a tiny smirk. "But, yeah, you totally would have."

"Shut up," Charlie says with a scoff. "And I do take offense to that." Violet leans toward her girlfriend, an adoring gleam in her eye as she says, "But you love me anyway."

Charlie rolls her eyes, mumbling, "I do." They share a quick kiss, holding each other's hands and gazing at each other lovingly. Their interaction makes me smile, and I try not to fan-girl too hard over how perfect their relationship is.

"At least the sweet potatoes are good," Jay says, eating a spoonful. "I had no clue Thorne could cook."

My gaze drifts to the dark-haired boy sitting next to me, which is no other than Thorne himself. His cheeks are a little red as he mumbles, "It's no big deal."

"You made these?" I ask, gesturing to the sweet potatoes with marshmallows on my plate, raising an eyebrow. Thinking about him cooking is kind of cute, and it makes me want to jump him right now.

Thorne shrugs modestly, saying, "I didn't want Charlie to do everything, so I decided to help out."

"Thorne can cook like nobody's business," Charlie informs me, smirking like she knows she's messing with him. Thorne looks so uncomfortable and embarrassed right now, I'm wondering if it's a bad thing that I'm enjoying this. "He even bakes."

I whack his arm, exclaiming, "You never told me that!"

Thorne glares at Charlie, his jaw tight. "I didn't think you had to know everything, Sunshine."

"Is this drag Thorne time?" Wells asks eagerly. "Because if it is, I've got some good stuff."

"Don't you dare," Thorne growls at the same time I cry, "Tell me!"

"Thorne cries every time he watches The Notebook," Wells admits. Thorne clenches his fists next to me, glaring at Wells like he's about to punch him again. "Every. Single. Time. And he's seen the movie ten times. I know, because he always forces me to watch it with him."

"If you knew what was good for you, you would shut up right about now," Thorne hisses. He holds his fork so tightly in his hand, his knuckles are white.

"What?" Wells asks innocently. "I just thought your girlfriend might want to know that."

"I've got something!" Jay says loudly, snapping his fingers. "Thorne slept with the blanket he was given at the hospital until he was thirteen!"

"One time the teacher called on him to present a project back in the fifth grade, and he fainted." Charlie's eyes shine with amusement as she tells me that last part, and I can't contain my laughter.

"The first time I met Thorne, he made me sign a contract saying I had Charlie's best intentions at heart and would not hurt her in any way, shape, or form, or he would sue me for twenty dollars," Violet offers, making me laugh harder.

"Did he really?" Charlie asks, shaking her head. "I had no clue!"

"Please make this stop," Thorne mutters into his hands, which are now covering his face.

"I think that's all very sweet." I try to keep a straight face as I say the words, but I fail. "You cry during The Notebook!" I blurt, laughing all over again.

"It's a very emotionally moving movie about finding love again!" Thorne defends himself, his eyes clouding. "I'd be a monster if I didn't!"

"Right, right." I can't stop laughing. Tears are spilling from my cheeks before I know it, a snort escaping my mouth. It's just every time I look at Thorne, I feel the need to laugh all over again. I can't help it.

"You wanna keep laughing, Sunshine?" Thorne asks, raising his eyebrows. I widen my eyes, saying between laughs, "Is that a threat?"

"Must I tell everyone about your stomach problems, Mia?" Thorne taunts, smirking like he knows he's got me. Suddenly, I'm not laughing anymore.

"You wouldn't dare," I hiss, glaring at him.

"Oh." Thorne leans in close to my face, blowing on my ear. "I would."

"Try me," I say boldly, mirroring his expression.

"You're hot when you're acting tough," Thorne whispers, eyes drifting to my lips before meeting my gaze again.

"You think?" I raise an eyebrow, trying not to smirk.

"I know." He leans forward the rest of the way, kissing me.

"Yuck!" the others cry in disgust. "Dude!" I hear Wells saying. "We're trying to eat!"

"Eat this," Thorne mutters, pulling away from me for the tiniest of seconds to flip Wells off. I smile as I look at the people around me, realizing that I'm having a better time with them than I ever have at any other Thanksgiving dinner. As a conversation starts up around me, I can feel Thorne's hand resting on my knee. I smile to myself, realizing that I've finally found my people. I didn't even get along with Emmie and Saige the way I get along with the five around me.

And maybe that's a good thing.