Faster We Burn

did you get so smart?”
    “Just recently.” I took the used tissue from her and chucked it in the trash, closing the album with my other hand. “Listen, I have to get back, but I’ll be here for break next week. All I have are finals, and then I’ll be home, and Kayla will be here, okay?”
    “You don’t have to take care of me.” She slid the album back into its place on her dresser.
    “Of course I do.” I got up and gave her a hug. “You’re my mother.”
    “I just can’t imagine what Christmas is going to be like. I don’t even want to think about it. Nothing’s going to be the same.”
    “I know.”
    She hugged me back and then touched my hair.
    “Pink, huh? It looks cute on you.” She ran some of the newly-pink hair through her fingers. I was still getting used to it, but I was still thrilled with how it turned out. I felt more…me with it.
    “Thanks.”
    Mom let out a sigh, pushing my hair over my shoulders.
    “So, is that boy going to be around? The one that brought you to the hospital?”
    Mom still couldn’t remember his name.
    “Stryker?”
    She nodded.
    “Is he allowed to be around?”
    “Well, I just thought that you said he didn’t have a place to go for Thanksgiving, so he might not have a place to go at Christmas, and he was so great when everything happened that you might want to invite him over.” She put on a smile as I tried to figure out if it was opposite day.
    “I’ll, um, I’ll ask him.” It hadn’t occurred to me to even ask Mom if he could come. Stryker and I hadn’t talked about Christmas plans, mostly on purpose because I knew he didn’t really have anywhere else to go. Trish was teaming up with Lottie again, and everyone else had somewhere too.
    “Thanks, Mom. I love you.”
    “Love you too, baby.”
     
    ***
     
    Winter dropped the hammer down on us with a vengeance and we had snowstorm after snowstorm, causing classes to be cancelled right before finals. Stryker called off Band, but the rest of our crew braved the bad weather and came over instead.
    “You still owe me dinner out,” I said as we popped two pizzas into the oven.
    “I’m aware, I’m aware. I just don’t know if they’re going to let us back into Caroline’s, ever, and that’s the nicest place that’s close.”
    “You don’t have to take me to the nicest place. Just a place with food and a decent atmosphere.”
    “But I want to give you fancy,” he said, pouting a little. Damn, that was sexy.
    I set the timer and turned around.
    “I don’t need fancy. I just need you.”
    He leaned in to kiss me just as the door burst open, bringing with it arctic air and the rest of our snow-covered crew.
    “Son of a bitch, it’s cold out there,” Trish said, blowing on her non-gloved hands.
    “Hon, you should wear gloves,” Max said, taking her hands in his and rubbing them.
    “Yeah, yeah.”
    Stryker had almost gotten over the fact that his sister was dating Max, but every now and then I caught him giving Max a look like he wanted to disembowel him for touching Trish.
    “Be nice,” I said, brushing my fingers across his chest. “He could be your future brother-in-law.”
    Stryker shuddered.
    “There’s something I don’t want to think about for at least twenty years.”
    “Good luck with that,” I said, watching Trish and Max giving each other googly eyes.
    I still hadn’t asked him about Christmas. I wasn’t sure why, exactly. Maybe I was afraid that he’d feel obligated to come, and I really didn’t know how things were going to go, with Dad gone. There was a very good chance Mom was going to go to a really dark place and it would be one giant disaster. He’d seen enough of my family disasters to last a lifetime.
    Stryker beat me to the punch.
    “How do you think your mom’s going to do? With Christmas and everything?”
    He handed me a beer from the fridge, grabbing one for himself.
    “Results are inconclusive. It could go either way.” I popped the top and took a sip as everyone else piled in, bringing bags of groceries. “But, um, you are invited to come. You know, only if you want.”
    He paused with the bottle halfway to his lips.
    “Really? I don’t want to impose or anything. I know this is a hard time—” I interrupted him.
    “No, no, not at all. I’d love to have you there. You were so good before, and…it would suck a lot less with you around.”
    He smiled at me. “Good.”
    “Good.” I raised my beer and he clinked it with