Sorry for yet another short chapter and a bit of a rushed story. Good news though, the ship has set sail! From this point out, things are looking up for our favorite couple. Although this chapter and the next will have missed Thanksgiving by a few days, the Christmas chapter will be up just in time! :)
Nepeta's parents' visit lasted next few days. They brought food, some of her old stuffed animals, and even a fifty dollar gift card to Walmart so she could buy more food later. Her father helped her with all the insurance deals from the wreck, and her mother drove her around when her car was in the shop. She was happy to have her family back, she had definitely missed them over the few months they have moved away.
Her grandfather passed away a few weeks before she graduated high school. Her father didn't want his house to sell out of the family line, so he packed up everything and made her mom move to West Virginia with him; leaving Nepeta alone in the process.
They only stayed a few days, but made sure Nepeta didn't spend a single cent their entire visit. They even apologized for becoming so cross with her on the phone when she wrecked. They told her that her father was losing his job, and her mother was considering getting another job, as her employer cut her wage. They explained that they weren't angry at her, but just worried about how they were going to pay for everything. They apologized over and over, and took back everything they said concerning punishments and irresponsibility.
By the time her parents packed up and headed back home, Nepeta knew she had to get another job. She felt awful for making them spend so much on her in the first place, and now that she knew money was tight she felt that much more upset. The pressure to get a job was a lot heavier than what she had first imagined.
Over the next few months, life didn't get any easier. Kanaya had started giving her gas money and often drove her over to her place for a free dinner with Rose and Roxy. Her spending money became restricted to rent, food, and gas money. Her search for a new job came up with nothing. She really wanted to make the trip home for Thanksgiving, but as November began to draw to a close, she knew she wouldn't have the stamina to make the drive or the money to afford it. A flight was beyond the question.
On top of the guilt she felt, Equius began to grow increasingly distant. Aradia wasn't stealing him or anything like that, but he had to turn down a few hang outs because he was spending time with her. And Nepeta was happy for him, really. He was in a happy relationship, and she knew he tried to help her with the Eridan situation. She felt awful about that, as well. He was always in the back of her mind and hadn't gone away until just a week or so before Thanksgiving.
Kanaya took it upon herself to host a Thanksgiving party/meal of sorts. The day after the actual Thanksgiving, all fifteen of Nepeta's high school mates had given up their Friday night for a reunion in good cheer and good food.
Nepeta arrived a little early to help with setting up, but Kanaya was a step ahead and was prepared for early-arrivers.
"So what's on the menu?" Nepeta asked as she set down a container of store-bought cookies by a pumpkin pie.
Kanaya smiled at her and pulled her into a hug. "Rose! Look who's arrived!"
Nepeta didn't knock when she arrived, she had began to call this duplex her home and basically just allowed herself in and to the kitchen.
Rose emerged from the bedroom sporting a flour-splattered apron. "Nepeta! I would hug you, but given my current...state it would not be a good idea."
Nepeta giggled. "What are you baking in the bedroom?"
"I'm not baking at all. I can't find mother's old mixing bowl!" rose said, frustrated.
"Oh, I threw that out." Kanaya said.
Rose looked angrier in that moment that Nepeta had ever seen her before. "Why?"
"You said you didn't want it...and besides, we've got all the food we'll need and more on the way."
Rose sighed. "I suppose you're right."
She untied her apron and walked back into the bedroom.
"So who's all expected to show?" Nepeta asked, turning to Kanaya.
"Everyone! Roxy's got a few friends coming out, too."
"Everyone..?" Nepeta asked. For the first time in a little while, Eridan returned to her mind.
Kanaya smiled sympathetically. "Nep, there's something I've been wanting to say for a while, come now, let's sit down."
Kanaya grabbed her hands and led her to the couch in the living room. They sat down and Kanaya released her hands, but still left a hand on Nepeta's knee.
"I wanted to apologize, Nepeta."
"For what?" Nepeta asked.
"I was wrong. And I fear in my error...it may have caused a rift between you and Eridan."
Nepeta straightened her back and leaned forward slightly. "No, no. You didn't do anything. It just didn't work out. I mean, we only talked for a few days. No, he left, you didn't do anything."
Kanaya shook her head. "Shh. I won't have any of that. Quiet now. As I was saying, I told you some things that may have caused you to look at him poorly, or to perhaps influence the drift between you two."
Nepeta tried to interrupt her and tell her that it wasn't her fault, but Kanaya wasn't having any of it.
"And I've been talking with him recently. He's a decent guy. And he does want you in his life. I've never seen anything more sweet than his affection for you," Kanaya continued on. "He'll be here tonight Nepeta, he's going to ask you on a date. Please give him a chance."
"I...what? Are you...what?" Nepeta was in disbelief, to say the least. To think, she'd spent all this time getting over him, and now he was just going to invite himself back into her life? She felt angry at this thought, and for the thousandth time the time which she'd seen him last played over in her mind. He was walking away, cigarette smoke appearing and disappearing in a ghostly trail behind him. It was like something out of a movie, the way he walked, the cars speeding past them, but not a single one posed a threat.
Nepeta had replayed that scene multiple times in her mind. She never really wanted him to leave, even though it had seemed as if it were meant to be that way when everyone else told her so.
"I know that you must not really think of him like that anymore...but you should still give him a chance, ya know?" Kanaya said, smiling gently.
There was a knock at the door and both girls got up from the couch. Nepeta made a beeline for the kitchen in hopes she could stuff her mouth with food to avoid conversation. Kanaya opened the door for the guests behind it, and four figures walked into the living room.
Nepeta peered out of the kitchen with cookie crumbs falling out of her mouth. Nepeta immediately identified them as Vriska, Terezi, Tavros, and Gamzee. Terezi ran straight to the restroom when the door opened. Nepeta couldn't help but run up to Tavros and pull him into a big hug.
"Nepeta, hey," he said, returning the hug.
"I mithedf uu tho muth!" Nepeta said, spitting crumbs everywhere.
Tavros giggled as she forced the food down her throat and coughed a few times. "I meant to say-I missed you so much!"
"I missed you too. It's going to be weird not doing our annual spring play this year."
"I know!" Nepeta said, frowning. "Vriska! Are you looking into a job with theater? You were so amazing as the lead in our junior and senior years!"
Vriska smiled smugly. "It was fun. But I'm pursuing a more...guaranteed career path. I'm studying weapons sciences with Eridan."
"Weapons sciences, eh? Sounds...great?" Nepeta managed. Vriska laughed and rustled Nepeta's hair as she made her way to the kitchen to take a look at the food.
"Hey sis, got some wicked pie I whipped up just in time for this miraculous party you done threw together," Gamzee said, handing Kanaya a pie tin with what looked like a cherry pie on the inside.
"Oh...um, thanks. I'll go put that with the deserts. You two boys go ahead and make yourselves at home," Kanaya said, walking into the kitchen while eyeing the pie cautiously.
Kanaya and rose managed a decent set up for the dinner, considering what they had. The couch and recliner in their living room were pushed back and made room for a long fold-able table put in the center. There were a mixture of chairs set up around it, ranging from fold-able metal chairs to antique doll-ish looking things. Nepeta sat herself down on one of the antique-like chairs and decided she wasn't going to let anyone take this seat.
As the minutes passed, the guests began to arrive. Karkat arrived with Sollux and their old friend Jade. She was yammering on about the salad she was carrying. Shortly after the door closed behind them, Dave and John arrived and Jade threw herself into them. She called for Rose and the three of them had a teary group hug. A little bit later Equius arrived with Aradia on his arm and sat himself next to Nepeta. The three of them struck up a conversation as Nepeta warily watched the door.
Finally, it opened, and Nepeta drew a sharp breath. Three older people walked in, one girl and two boys. Each one had a grocery bag with what appeared to be alcohol in them. "Roxy!" the girl called, peering around the room.
Nepeta heard the sound of footsteps on the stairs, and then a loud thud. Everyone in the condo fell silent and looked for the source. Roxy entered the room, hair a mess and face bright red. "It's okay guys! Just fell a lil it's all good-continue the party!" She threw her arms in the air when she said 'party'.
The three strangers crowded around Roxy and everything went back to normal.
Nepeta bit her lip and looked out the window to see Eridan and Feferi walking up to the door. She panicked and stood up.
"Where are you going?" Equius asked.
"Uhm...I don't know, the bathroom. Save my seat!"
She ran to the bathroom door and tried the handle. locked.
"Occupied friend," Gamzee's voice called out.
Nepeta groaned and heard the front door open. She ran into Kanaya and Rose's bedroom and shut the door behind her. The room was dark but she didn't care. She wasn't sure why she fled the room. She wasn't sure why she was so scared to face Eridan either. She wasn't sure why she was now on her knees, crying and hugging herself.
While she was on her knees sobbing as quietly as she could muster, the door opened and a streak of light stretched across the room and fell across her face. She looked up and past the glare of the light. In the doorway, what she had prayed to be Kanaya or Equius, turned out to be none other than Eridan Ampora himself.