Chapter 6 (Michael's Pov)

• “Come on Michael. Why are we staying at your parents’? It is not like we do not have money, so why can we not go into a hotel or something more appropriate for someone like me and for that fact even for you. I mean look at the house. It is so…so…vintage!” God have mercy and give me patience. And on the other hand, also send me someone who can tell me what I found attractive with Kelly because it sure as hell was not her character if it was the same as it is now, and I refuse to believe I am as plain as to go after looks.
• “Kelly, I have told you already why. Because Christmas is supposed to be spent with family and I intend to do just that. If you want to, you can go check into a hotel, and I am sure you still remember where all of them are located. But please stop bitching about everything.”
• Now you need to know one thing, I almost never cursed, at least not out loud, a completely different story it is those thoughts inside my head, but they do not count. And I especially never spoke to Kelly like this, but for some reason these holidays put me on edge. I was ready to spend some time with my parents, turn off everything for the rest of the year and just enjoy some free time.
• But everything seemed to be against my plans, well, everything and everyone. Kelly was acting weird, like weird in a way that she reminded me of her old self, that version of her was pure evil and she belittled and tortured everyone just because she could and for no other reason, that there were these dreams I was having for the past week about a special someone I hoped I would see this holidays, but was already preparing myself for the huge disappointment when she would once again manage to slip between my fingers and another year would go by without seeing her. Our plane had a delay, we hit some turbulence, before that I could not find my charger anywhere in our apartment but found it in my laptop bag when we were at the airport already, and so on.
• So, I was pretty much starting to second guess my decision to come home for the holidays.
• Thankfully it seemed my sentence managed to at least silence Kelly for the moment, because now she was just sulking next to me. With a loud sigh I started walking towards my childhood home and with every step I took it was as if a huge weight started to lift off my shoulders. The fact that nothing changed around here made me feel content and happy and as I was nearing the door a smile started appearing on my face. Now when I rang the bell and a moment later my mom opened it and started screaming and hugging me as if she did not see me in years, that smile grew right into a full on cheshire grin, because guess what? I was home.
• “Kelly, sweetie, have you been by your parent’s house already? I can barely believe you have changed so much since we last saw you.” We were currently sitting in my parent’s dining room and mom was bombarding Kelly with questions ever since we sat down, but surprisingly, Kelly kept calm and her sweet smile was plastered on her face all the while my mother “tortured” her.
• “Unfortunately, we did not manage to go by my parent’s house yet Ma’am, but I hope we will go there tomorrow. My parents know I am in town, but they told me they are coming back this evening and since they will be back late it would be better if we came around tomorrow. And I guess I did change a little, but you are still the same. It seems as if time has no effect on you.” My mother giggled at the compliment Kelly gave her and I smirked. She always knew how to make people eat out of her hand, even though I have to admit my mother indeed looked good for her age.
• “Now, Michael. You should be more like your girlfriend here and next time tell your parents you are coming home, so we can prepare ourselves. I swear young man you are going to give me a heart attack if you keep popping op out of nowhere.” It was my time to chuckle. She might look like she was reprimanding me, but we both know she loved our games. Ever since I went to college, we were competing to see who could surprise the other more times. So far, I have been winning, but not by much.
• The rest of the dinner was like you would expect it to be. Mother asked all kinds of question, and mostly the rest of us just responded to her, while my father on the other hand just added a thing or two from time to time in our conversation. This was nothing weird for us. My mother was the chatty one while my father was the silent one. And I guess in their case you could really say that different people go well together.
• After dinner my mom whisked Kelly away to show her all my embarrassing moments and I ended up on our front porch with my father. At first, we just enjoyed the silence but soon he was the one to break it, “So, son. Tell me honestly. Are you happy?” another thing about my father, he was always a no-nonsense type of guy. And I must admit his question gave me pause. Was I happy? In a way, I think I was. And that is the exact answer I gave him. He just nodded his head and patted my shoulder, “Do not worry. Remember what I have told you. If you are not truly happy, then you did not reach your end game yet.” And with those words he left me on the porch standing alone thinking about those few words he spoke.
• Suddenly I started feeling restless and decided it was a good idea to go for a walk. Quickly I sent Kelly a message to let her know I would be gone for about thirty minutes, and I must say I was a bit of a bastard because I did not even wait for her reply before I started walking. I just could not shake this feeling inside me that I should be somewhere and so I decided to follow my gut and see where it took me. For a few moments I was just walking around, admiring how everything truly was the same, and then suddenly I could hear laughter and loud voices coming from nearby and I realized I was close to the lake, which we used for skating in the winter. Who would be there at that time?
• I just rounded a corner, and the lake came into view, and with it, my best friend, skating around with her mother and a few other women that I only knew from pictures on Sidney’s social media pages.
• For a moment I just stood there and stared at her shamelessly, because with the years, my best friend became even more beautiful.
• It was as if my eyes alerted her to my presence, because in the next moment she turned my way and when she saw me standing there watching her, her eyes grew twice in size. I have no idea when I started moving, but by now I was only a few short steps away from the lake. A huge smile lit up Sidney’s face before she half skated half ran to where I was standing, and still in her skates awkwardly ran the remaining few steps to me and then she was in my arms. If I felt like I was finally at home before, then right now I felt like I was in heaven.