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Jude
I spentChristmas with the DiPietros. Teresa bought a menorah so we could light the candles and potatoes so she could make me latkes for Hanukkah. My sorry ass almost cried, since my own mother hadn’t bothered making them since I was a kid.
Tali said I’d become something of her mom’s favorite. At Thanksgiving, she’d moved Gio a spot over so I could sit next to her. I was pretty sure she liked me for my never-ending appetite. She could pile my plate high, and I’d eat every bit of it. Home cooking was still a novelty to me, so I tended to go a bit overboard when I had the chance.
I damn well didn’t deserve people like Tali and her family taking care of me like this, but it was who they were.
After Teresa had shown me the menorah, Tali had let me pull her into childhood bedroom. She’d tried to kiss me, but I’d covered her mouth with my fingers. “You realize I can never fuck you in this house again, right?”
Her eyebrows shot up. “Why not?” she asked from behind my hand.
“Maybe when we’re married. Until then, I am beholden to Teresa DiPietro. She now owns me.”
She’d pulled my hand from her mouth, holding it between us. “I know for a fact every single one of my family members has had sex in this house.”
“The fact that you know that leads me to believe the walls in this house are paper thin and sound carries, which is even more reason to abstain.”
Her eyebrow arched. “You didn’t have any objections at Thanksgiving.”
“I was delirious from the turkey.”
Tali laughed, falling against me. “Fine, but I’m not sleeping alone. There are some promises that can’t be broken.”
We’d kept our promise, sharing a bed every night since I got home from Busted. I’d had to go up to New York to sign contracts and go to meetings, but I always came back in time to sleep with Tali. I was physically dreading being separated when we went to record the album. Both of us had pushed it aside, only talking about it when necessary, but I thought we both heard the ticking clock counting down our time together.
“Don’t know if Icansleep without you, Stripes.”
She hadn’t settled for a soft kiss. With both hands on the sides of my head, she’d pulled me down for a longer, deeper kiss. My resistance faded with the first touch of her tongue.
Her dad walking by the room with heavy feet, singing a Ramones song, got us to pull away from each other. Tali grinned with shiny lips.
“He’s never had to chase a boy out of my room. I think he’s making up for lost time,” she said, like it was amusing her dad thought we were in here messing around.
“Or, he plans on killing the guy who’s manhandling his daughter under his roof.”
She bunched my shirt with both fists. “Oh my god, Jude. My parents love you. Isn’t that clear?”
Letting out a heavy breath, I brought my forehead down to hers. “Yeah, I guess it is.”
This year,I knew Tali well enough to buy her a present she’d like. When she opened the custom-made backpack, with patches and logos from all her favorite bands embroidered on it, the look on her face told me I’d been right. She’d clutched it to her chest and said she’d keep it forever.
She gave me a set of leather bracelets, since my first gift to her had been a bracelet. I put them right on, and said I’d be keeping them forever too.
Her dad had blown my mind. He’d found a record player at a thrift store, fixed it up, and gave it to me, along with a few of his favorite albums. After dinner, we took that puppy to the garage and sat there listening to music for hours.
They’d accepted me—the uneducated, barely scraping by musician—when they didn’t have to. When they had every damn reason not to. When we left their house to go home, I felt this unfamiliar wave of sadness. I’d never gotten that feeling when I left my mom’s house. But then, she lived in a cold castle, and they lived in a warm cottage.
Time slipped by. I worked, and Tali did too, and before we blinked, it was New Year’s Eve, only a few days before I was leaving for New York. We were keeping it lowkey. Tino had set up a firepit and invited maybe twenty people over for pizza and champagne.
Tali was in my lap snuggled under a thick blanket while we waited for midnight.
The contrast to last New Year’s was pretty stark. I’d spent it performing while high as a kite, then sharing a midnight kiss with a bottle of tequila, missing a girl I didn’t quite yet have.
I had the girl now. I’d get the kiss. I couldn’t say I minded hanging out with friends instead of performing on stage.
Tino jerked his chin at Ben. “What’s your resolution, Benny boy?”
Ben sat to my left, a girl I’d never seen before pressed to his side. “If I tell you, it won’t come true.”
