I was still trying to decide if that was a label you assigned to a group of misfits and strays that didn’t have anywhere to go for the holidays. Normally I ate with my family — a dinner full of nontraditional Thanksgiving fare — then I went to the bar to watch the game with my brother. But this year, Jared and Brandi were hosting. A first since he usually spent the holidays in Charleston with Darcy. What was she doing for the holidays without him there? Probably spending it with her parents and the rest of her extended family. The pictures I saw on her Instagram timeline earlier this month implied that much, but I’d also noticed that she looked a little tense and sad in those photos.

Any excuse to obsess over her.

I recognized it for what it was, though. The sort of obsession a kid would have over his hot English teacher. My first crush had been hard to shake, and this thing with Darcy was no different. If I allowed myself to talk about her every time she crossed my mind, Jared would know how I felt about her even if I never said the actual words. Holding that back from him put a strain on our friendship, so I knew that it didn’t matter if I was ready to leave. It was time to go.

“Hey!” Brandi exclaimed, offering a big smile as she opened the door wearing a sweater with a turkey appliquéd across the front.

I laughed. “Hey, Bran. I came bearing gifts.”

“What? I told you not to bring anything! We have everything covered.”

“Are you sure? Because I can absolutely take my mom’s tamales home and polish them off myself before getting on the plane in the morning.”

“Hold on now. Your mother’s tamales? Let’s not be hasty. These tamales are apparently legendary, according to Jared.” She confiscated the Tupperware dish full of the tamales my mother and sister had made to ensure that I didn’t show up empty-handed. “Come in! You’re the last one here, and there’s someone I want you to meet.”

I shrugged off my coat and hung it on the overloaded coat tree in the entryway, then followed her into the family room. Whoever she wanted me to meet was definitely someone she’d been trying to hook me up with for a while. I didn’t really see the point since I was leaving tomorrow, but hey, maybe I would be interested enough to knock the dust off before I hopped on the plane. I still felt like a stud on parade when I entered the room behind her.

“Caitlin, Tomika, this is Jared’s friend Tomás.”

“Heyyy…” I said awkwardly, giving the girls an awkward wave.