The video calls back home leading up to Luke’s Christmas visit did more than preserve his connection with his family. That time together strengthened the connection. His mom, dad and sister asking to be updated about previous topics showed how much they were invested in his life. Luke hanging on their words did the same to them.

These months had so much to share. There was Dirt, another new kid in town. Luke befriended him on the first day of freshman orientation. Fred and Alice’s son made it a point to be friendly to Dirt right away. He could tell that the other new kid was feeling a little overwhelmed by the disorientated look on Dirt’s face. There was no way Luke was going to let someone feel like they did not belong.

The Beach Volleyball team did win the state championship. Luke and Shy made a great mixed couple team. The teamwork those two had, came from them both trusting each other. Them being more concerned about winning than their pride was another factor to them being one of the best-mixed couple teams in the state. Luke was not worried about taking orders from a girl and Shy’s captainship was not threatened by her listening to his suggestions.

Their son’s relationship with Lil became even closer. Luke’s and Mary’s love was the real deal. Fred and Alice both knew that this was more than just puppy love. Their son and his girl shared a close connection many couples never got close to achieving.

As normal Luke was on honor roll. The one trait Luke and Lori always shared was how they excel in school and she was on the honor roll also. Lori finding out the expected did not trigger her being competitive with her brother. She did not immediately ask what his GPA was to compare her to his. Instead, she was happy that her brother was adapting so well to California.

Lori kept up going to the David Project. She did not see Tuesday night's visit as volunteering nor was that time her learning on how to be a better person. Tuesday nights were spending quality time with good friends. Being around Ming and the rest of her friends kept the Brat Princess at bay. The former heiress of an empire was well on her way to formally abdicating her throne.

Lori was in a perpetual on and off relationship with Blake. That self-centered boy broke Lori's heart more often than a politician did with promises. Fred was a little concerned that Blake’s arrested development would hinder Lori. Thankfully the father’s apprehension was unnecessary. There were too many good influences in his daughter’s life to fend off Lori’s regress from her progress.

The last video call before Luke touched down at Pittsburgh International Airport touched the father’s heart. He got to witness some of the fruit of his and Lori’s hard labor of her becoming a better person. Her voice was as high as an airplane with excitement when she said she was looking forward to seeing her brother. This was a sign that the visit home was going to be a good one for his son.

There was also an overlooked sign that the trip home was not going to be all good. Even with Luke feeling closer to his family, there still was an unnoticed barrier keeping him and his mom from getting as close as they should be. Alice had true remorse for how she treated Luke, but never stated how she felt. Her assuming the unsaid was known was good enough kept her son at bay, Alice not stating her heartfelt remorse led to her not performing repentance, and getting full redemption. Alice not righting her wrong along with Luke not being able to give his forgiveness strengthened the barrier that was keeping the mother and son from being as both wanted.

****************

Even with having a half-day at school and then catching a flight back to Pittsburgh, Luke felt so much better during the second Zahn’s family reunion at an airport than the first. How excited he was upon seeing his dad was expected. The unexpected part was the excitement upon seeing Lori. It had been ages since Luke had seen Lori without his guard going up. Then another unexpected part of the reunion came when his guard didn’t go up upon seeing his mom. He would only be watchful around his mom when he knew Lori was up to no good.

On the ride home, Lori did her best to shine the spotlight on Luke. His twin sister wanted to hear all about what her big brother had been up to. She saw him as her big brother now not because of him being a couple of hours older, but because he had an aura of maturity about him. Living in California, being a surfer and having a nice natural tan in December made Luke seem so much more sophisticated than her. Instead of being jealous Lori was going to learn from Luke talking about his experiences.

Lori also wanted to hear all about the Cove Crew. She was online friends with Shy, and Lil’ but they never had time to talk. One of the hardest things to do was to have three teenage girls living on the opposite end of the United States be available to chat at the same time. All three of them made sure to send short his, but they have not spent much time in any real conversations.

Luke did return the favor and also put the spotlight on his sister. He wanted to hear first hand the changes his little sister had. Even with her being a pain for so long in his life Luke felt an obligation to help ensure Lori stayed on this path of becoming the best person she could. Looking out for his sister felt right.

Luke also wanted to hear about Matt and Renee, Lori talked about them only a little compared to the rest of her friends. Matt and Renee were actually friends with Lori, it was just some of the Venn Diagrams of their friends overlapped with Lori’s friends. Those two did not trust that the upgraded version of Lori was real. The changes were too good to be true. Also, she was still with Blake. A mature girl would not put up with that freshman’s sophomoric shenanigans.

This back and forth in the back seat between the siblings sounded as beautiful and was as touching as a duet sung by angels. To Fred, the cost of missing his son was well worth the price of admission to this concert. Alice loved the sound. How her kids were getting along meant the permanent reunion of her family under one roof was close to becoming a reality.

***************
The weekend was filled with family fun. What they did was not important, what made the good times was the company. The only time which was not as good as the rest for Luke was when he was alone with his mother. There was a little distance between them. Luke thought it was from his mom being too concerned about making sure this Christmas was the best one. Alice always had the desire for the holidays to be like a fine wine and get better as the years rolled on. She only wanted what she thought was best for her and her family.

Monday was Fred’s last day of work. Instead of staying at home with his mom and sister, Luke was planning on spending the day with his Pappi and Memaw, Bob and Betty Lou Zahn. The grandparents were looking forward to spending time with Luke and money on him. Bob and Betty Lou loved taking advantage of the perk of being able to indulge their grandchildren.

The first stop of their day was Kelly O’s Dinner. Catching up with Luke and seeing the dramatic improvement in his self-confidence and outlook on life made the grandparents feel as gooey inside as the dinner’s famous french toast. The boy sitting across from them in the booth reminded them of his father.

After breakfast, it was off to the Waterfront Mall to shop. Bob and Betty Lou did not want to just give Luke money as a Christmas present. At the same time, they knew shopping for one for him would be hard because of them not spending enough time with the new version of their grandson. They did not know what he wanted and any good grandparent wanted to give a gift that fulfilled a grandchild’s desire. Giving a gift based out of a need was not fun. Those gifts do not form a good bond between the giver and receiver.

After stopping at Barnes and Noble for an autobiography on Duke Kahanamoku, "Ambassador of Aloha," FYE for a couple of CDs and Spencer’s for a Retro Clash shirt, Luke and his grandparents made it to the food court. This was where the day took a turn for the worse.

***************

As Bob and Betty Lou were leaving with Luke, Lori gave Pappi and Memaw a hug and told her to enjoy himself. The positive change in Lori’s attitude towards her brother was a nice surprise to the grandparents. They heard their son talk about how much his daughter was growing, but were under the impression most of the talk was wishful thinking on his part. The changes were forced and Lori would burn over the new leaf when her brother was around.

Lori went up to her room. Then at 10:30 Alice came into her daughter’s room and was a little confused seeing her daughter lounging around in leggings and a sweatshirt. Lori should have been ready for the ride to Tracy’s. Lori was going to spend the day there hanging out with her BFF, her boyfriend, Blake, and his best friend Tom.

Alice asked if Lori was going over Tracy dressed like that. The mother knew her daughter good enough that the girl would never dress down for an occasion. Lori loved looking her best. The girl would not be playing coy if she called a little black dress she wore this old thing. This was for she loved looking her best for herself. She was not trying to impress anyone, looking good made her feel better about herself.

“Oh, mom. It was canceled. Tracy texted me and I was going to tell you but lost track of the time. Sorry about that.”

Hanging out at Tracy was out of the question once Chrissy Armstrong, Tracy’s mom, got a call out of the blue to come in to work. There was no way she was going to let Blake in her home unsupervised. Mixing that teenage boy alone with alcohol was a cocktail for trouble.

Alice thought of a simple solution for Lori and her friends by just hanging out here. Her daughter and friends were on vacation and deserved to spend that time hanging out instead of wasting the time doing nothing. Alice’s daughter liked the idea but was hesitant by saying a two-word rebut of “But Luke.”

The well-founded objection was not Valid to Alice. Lori had a point about her dad stating that Blake would not be at their home when Luke was home. The daughter took that edict meaning during the visit. Alice took what her husband said to mean when Luke was physically at their home.

“Lori, Luke is not home right now. He is spending the day with your Pappi and Memaw. Your friends will be gone by the time Luke is due to come back. It is fine.”

Lori did like what her mom was saying. This was one of the few chances the girl was going to get to see her boy during the break. Her brother was not here so it would do no harm to Luke. Plus being here she can share some of the pictures Luke brought home with him. If they see him surfing and hanging out with the Cove Crew they would have to change their mind about him. Still wanting to make sure having them over was the right thing Lori asked “Are you certain mom?”

Alice did not have to think it over. The clear and simple situation made having her friends over a no-brainer. Luke was not here so it had to be fine. Her husband was trying to guarantee Luke not running into Blake. “Yes I am certain, now you call your friends and tell them we are coming to pick them up.”

*****************

Amanda, Kat, Mike, Matt and Renee were enjoying their time off from school by hanging out and having lunch at the Waterfront mall’s food court. Mike’s friends were happy he was there. He has not been around much lately. He told them the reason was he was busy with school work. The debate team and his science project were taking up so much of his time. The truth was he would use those excuses to back out of doing anything if Blake, Tom, or Lori were going to be involved.

As the group of friends was sitting down Luke and his grandparents came walking into the food court. Renee’s eyes widened, the smile disappeared from her face and stopped talking in mid-sentence when she saw her former friend. The sudden change of expression and unexpected abrupt ending of what Renee was saying caused the rest of the group to see what grabbed her attention.

After seeing the unanticipated blast from their past, Matt was the first to speak and said “Come on guys let’s eat up. I want to get to The Body Shop to buy my mom her gift.

Matt wanted to get back to shopping to lessen the chance of Luke seeing them. He did not want his presence to bring Luke down. Even if Luke does not see them or worse comes over to confront them the shameful boy could not enjoy being in the food court with him. Matt was still extremely ashamed of how he treated Luke and did not want to face that part of his past.

Renee seconded that motion, but it was overruled by the rest of the group. Kat just thought the odds were too low for Luke to see them. They were sitting in a crowded food court so the gang just blended into the background. Mike was not going to let the past ruin their time. What occurred between Luke and those two was almost two years ago. Luke had moved on so he would just treat them as strangers. Amanda was not going to let her friends run away from facing their past. Not taking the chance of interacting with Luke took away the chance of them having redemption.

For the next 15 minutes Matt and Renee were feeling exactly like the protagonist of a horror movie. Those two were filled with anxiety and dread of their worst fear catching up to them. The anticipation of what might happen was causing so much discomfort. They were in full flight mode ready to take off at any hint of the dreadful experience of having to face Luke was going to come true.

Then what Matt and Renee saw as inevitable came to fruition. Their self-made antagonist was coming straight towards them. The urge to flee was a survival mechanism to them. The couple would face their fear at a better time in the future. The members of the Saturday Morning Bike Club could not take the hearing of former member’s grievances against them during this festive time of the year.

Those two were getting ready to get up and dart away when Amanda stopped them. They had to stay, and face their past if they do not want to be stuck in this moment. Her friends would always have an obstacle of regret impeding them from personal growth. “Matt, Renee stay. I will talk with Luke before he comes over.”

Matt and Renee were put at ease by the interference Amanda was running. Their friend’s new attitude towards him would put Luke in a better mindset talking with them. Those two could handle talking with Luke if he was not mad at them.

Amanda walked right towards Luke and said “Hello Luke, it is nice to see you. What are you doing?”

This attempt to break the ice failed. Luke was not seeing Amanda as who she was but as who she used to be. Mandy was not an honest actress. The innocent greeting was taken as disingenuous as a Facebook friend saying they would do anything for you. To Luke, this was some sort of set up. Mandy had to be setting him up for a fall. She was never nice to him, never used his real name. The biggest reason Luke saw Amanda’s greeting as a trap was her question. He was looking and walking straight towards them. There was no way the girl standing in front of him did not know he was coming over to them.

Luke walked past saying “Mandy, I don’t have time for you.”

The girl who was trying to make sure there was peace, innocently added fuel to the fire by correcting Luke. “It’s Amanda now Luke ...”

The correction came off to Luke as Mandy trying to remind him of his place in her social order. Amanda setting right what she wanted to be called was one of the few statements she could have made to make Luke engage with her.

Luke abruptly stopped and turned forcefully. On his face was a look of total amazement. This girl who tortured him by calling him Luka had the nerve to say he had to use her formal name. Luke was going to set the record straight with this audacious girl so she would know how unacceptable her demand was.

“Listen here Mandy. For years I told you not to call me Luka. Now you think that somehow you can tell me that I can’t use the name everyone else uses for you. You really need to check yourself if you think for one moment I care what you want to be called.”

Amanda made a mistake and defended herself. The girl who wanted Luke to see her as who she was at the moment started to explain why. The matter-of-fact tone in Amanda’s voice came off as her talking down to Luke “Luke the reason is…”

Amanda was cut off by Luke. There was no way he was going to put up with the same old shit from the same old shitty people. He did not want a conversation with her so he was only talking at her. “I know exactly why you want to be called Amanda. You are doing what you always did, try to put yourself above me. You think you are better than me for you were able to gang up on me with your friends.

“I do want to thank you for reminding me who you and your friends really are. I was going to be a fool and talk with Renee and Matt to see if they changed. You showed me they have not. They would not be hanging out with someone like you if they did.”

Amanda’s frustration grew. She was trying to ease the process of reconciliation between Luke and Matt and Renee. Instead, she made the rift between them bigger. The girl did what she thought would be the best course of action. Amanda began to try to set Luke straight. “Luke! You have to hear me out.”

The little lecture Luke gave Amanda was over. He made this point by walking away towards his Pappi and Memaw as he asked a rhetorical question “Mandy, why do I? You never did so for me.”

Luke being under the impression that Renee and Matt did not change made him feel alone in the bustling mall. He was feeling that he was an outcast and did not belong there. Luke knew these doubts about who he was were unfounded. He wanted to get out of the packed mall and regroup. Seeing the concern on his grandparent’s faces when he rejoined them made Luke remember he was always on steady ground. He would always have the support he needed to stand up on his own. Having good close friends in one’s heart made it so a person was never truly alone.

Luke's strength was apparent when he answered the unasked question of if he was ok. “Pappi Memaw I am good. I am not going to let some people from my past ruin my time with you. I do want to go home after we eat.

“How about me and my dad come over and see you two tomorrow? I can go for a slice of Memaw's cinnamon Christmas Kringle.”

Luke’s grandparents agreed with him. They got to have another day with their grandson and all the running around this morning made them just want to go home and relax.

**************

Lori directed her guests to make themselves at home in the family room as she and her mom made their way to the kitchen. Lori did not want the distraction of watching television to eat in on the time they had together. The only thing they were going to snack on was some of the snickerdoodle cookies she was serving. Tracy, Blake, and Tom found a huge surprise when they got to the family room.

The unexpected sight in the family room was Luke. Lori’s brother was sitting in a black leather chair next to the fire with a book in his hand. The pages of the book were not being turned because the person who was holding it was soaking in feeling safe and at home. The yule log in the fireplace was emitting a light that was as warm as the feeling of goodwill the Holiday Season invoked in most people. The flickering of the firelight and the flashing bulbs on the Christmas tree seemed like they were dancing together.

The three guests stop in their tracks. Tracy happened to be right under the doorway so there was some mistletoe hanging above her. The first thought Tracy got was how could Lori not had said about how much her brother changed. The boy who was enjoying reading a book was not the self-conscious one she knew. How straight he sat showed he was confident. Before, Luke would try to blend so no one would notice him. Luke was also slim. Along with his insecurities Luke also lost that little bit of pudge he put on from overeating. The most important change Tracy noticed was Luke was cute. She hoped that he felt the same way about her.

Seeing Luke put a smile on Blake’s face that was as big as a 5-year-old's Christmas wish list. The other kids might not see his redemption from losing the fight the last time he saw Luke, but they would hear all about it. His goal was not only to make Luke leave the room, but also to make that sissy cry.

As she was gathering herself Tracy looked up and saw the mistletoe. The lady with a crush hoped that Luke would take advantage of that Christmas decoration as she greeted him with a voice as sweet as a candy cane “Hiya Luke, how have you been?”

Luke casually looked away from his book towards Tracy and said hi back. After seeing Tracy wearing a blue and white stripes dress Luke had his eyes back into his book as quick as the greeting. The teenage boy had his support lifting him up. There was no way someone’s childish actions were going to reach up and drag him down. Luke knew that dress was a little dig at him being put in a dress. Tracy was one of the worst about picking on him about it. She even played a hand in giving him one as a birthday gift.

Thinking that Luke did not get the hints of where she was standing and the tone of her voice Tracy decided to be less subtle. “Hey stranger, didn't you see what I am standing under?”

Luke was also being less subtle showing his apathy towards Tracy this time. The boy who just wanted to be left alone did not even look up from his book when he told the girl who was flirting with him yes. Hopefully, Tracy would understand from Luke’s action that he did not want anything to do with her. He also was not going to engage anymore with her than needed. Doing so took the chance of being dragged down to her level.

Not wanting to read the words which Luke’s actions were writing about this scene Tracy became more straightforward. She was going to give a stronger hint. The signs would keep on becoming clearer until the smitten girl got what she wanted. Tracy didn’t care if she was going to have to come out and say kiss me. “Luke, You know what people do when they see someone under the mistletoe.”

Hearing Tracy say his name irked Luke. For the past five years she never called him Luke once. The girl came up with calling him Luka and only used that name for the first couple of years after his mom put him in a dress. Then when he put on a couple of pounds she added lumpy. Getting as involved in the conversation as little as possible the response “Don’t you mean Lumpy Luka?” should make it as clear as a night when the stars are brightly shining he wants to be left alone.

The only way that Tracy would even think of putting lumpy in front of Luke’s name now was because of the lump in her throat seeing him gave her. Having that lump made Tracy want the past to stay in the past. Surely, if she was nice to Luke now he would reciprocate. “Oh, that was a long time ago when I was young. I was immature then. Calling you Lumpy Luka was just joking around between friends.”

The statement of being joking between friends acted like a magnet and pulled Luke in. He said “Joking between friends? You are the person who started to call me Lumpy Luka. You never called me by my name in over five years. You never talked to me other than to tease me. You laughed when I invited you to my birthday party. You asked me if I liked your dress if you wore a blue and white striped one, like the one you are wearing today. If that is how you treat friends then I really do not want anything to do with you, Tracy. You are here to hang out with Lori, so just leave me alone.”

Tracy tried to hold herself together by biting her bottom lip. Hearing the truth knocked Tracy down from the high feeling which came from the Holiday Season. Luke's legitimate paranoid conclusion about her dress was a hard kick to the gut as Tracy was down. The girl put no thoughts in her outfit, but totally understood why Luke believed she picked it out to hurt him. She went out of her way too many times before to not have anything she did have nefarious motives towards the boy she had hurt.

Blake was delighted to see how off kilt Luke was. His nemesis showing the raise of his hackles meant that Blake could easily get under Luke’s skin. He has missed making Luke feel bad about himself. Now with the number game of three against one Blake was going to verbally beat Luke back into being Luka. Blake was still beating himself up about that sissy beating him up and wanted to make that end.

Instead of going in for the kill, Blake was going to be a matador and slowly torture Luke to death. “Haha, Lumpy Luka showed that he should be in a dress. He passed up a chance for his first kiss of a girl.

“Tom, why don’t you show that sissy how to be a man and give the nice lady under the mistletoe what she deserves.”

The gift of a kiss from Tracy made Tom happier than a little child opening up presents under the Christmas tree. He has been trying to get closer to Tracy. He thought that with their best friends being a couple they should be also. Plus he found her cute. Instead of having the easy in, Tracy did not give Tom the time of day. She’d revoked each and every attempt at Tom of flirting with her.

Tracy quickly moved from underneath the mistletoe and told Tom no before he could receive that illicit kiss. Even if Tracy saw Tom as having a small chance of being her boyfriend, now was not the time. She was hurting from Luke’s words. Tracy also knew she had to make changes in who she was before she would be able to be in a relationship. There was no way that the girl could expect someone else to like her if she did not like herself.

Blake did not like the number game getting closer to even. How dare Tracy not go along with tormenting Luke. Even if she did not like Tom in that manner, making him feel less worthy than Luke was wrong. Blake was set on making Tracy pay by cutting her down with words. “Tom, don’t worry about Tracy. She likes girls. Come on, that is why she picked that sissy to kiss instead of you. Luka is closer to being a girl than a boy.”

Tracy was hurt by the ridicule of liking Luke and she bit her lower lip a little harder. Then Blake implying that she was a lesbian added to the pain. Her favorite aunt was a wonderful woman who was married to another wonderful woman. Blake had no right in trying to make her feel ashamed if she was like Aunt Becky. There is nothing wrong with loving someone else.

Seeing Tracy biting her lower lip had Luke recalling a memory. That girl did the same thing right before she came up with calling him Luka. Lori and a couple of the other kids started to pick on her because she defended him. Tracy was not being mean to Luke to be mean but to protect herself. The boy was seeing the past more clearly now and could not hold Tracy’s actions against her.

Even if Luke did not know the reasoning behind why Tracy was mean to him, he would have still defended her. Making sure other people were not put down was the right thing to do. Also, he knew how much words could hurt people from personal experience. Luke did not want anyone else to feel the pain he felt.

Luke needing to help someone also reminded him of the fact the true numbers game here. He was not outnumbered two against one. Luke had so many people behind him right now. He had his dad, his pappi and memaw, and the Cove Crew. Most importantly he had Lil, his Mary right beside him. Calmly Luke said “Black-Eye Blake if the boy who beat you up is more like a girl than a boy, what does that say about you?

Now say you are sorry to Tracy.”

Tracy laughed for two reasons. First, what Luke said was funny. Luke’s calm voice as he was putting Blake back in his place made it like Luke was just taking out the trash. The second was now she realized Luke was a different person and that was why she could not get a rise from him. Even with him resorting to teasing back Tracy knew Luke had risen above them so far that they could not knock the boy down to their level. Unlike Blake, Luke was not trying to put anyone down, Luke was pushing back. The boy was defending himself.

Tom shot Tracy a look of disapproval. Tracy was not going to do the nonverbal communication game with Blake’s right-hand man. The girl was getting support from Luke so she did not need to bit her lower lip anymore. She was strong enough going to state what she thought out in the open. “Come on Tom it was funny. Blake did have a black eye the last time he messed with Luke. In fact, that was the second black eye Luke gave Black Eye Blake.”

Blake wanting to defend himself said, “He suckered punched me, that punk ass sissy could not beat me in a fair fight.”

Everyone in the room knew Blake was lying. Both times he was the aggressor. Blake pushed Luke first. Luke punched back only after being hit first. Blake and Tom treated the lie as if it was gospel. Tracy knew that being silent would make it appear like she sided with them. The girl did not want to. This was her time to make her stand. She was going to be brave and take the chance of losing her friends to do what was right “Blake you started both of those fights and Luke laid you out.”

Tom joined in. He wanted to show his support for Blake. “That doesn’t change the fact that Lumpy Luka likes to wear dresses.”

Luke put Tom back in his place by pointing out the truth. “Tom, you know that is not true. No wonder Tracy did not want to kiss you. You need to grow up. You are too old to still be joking about what happened years ago.”

Blake was uncomfortable by the inconvenient truth. “Luka shut up.”

Luke said, “Make me.”

“Come on Luka, you got lucky. You got me by surprise.”

“Black-Eye Blake you know that is not true. You started the fights. When I knocked your lame ass down you started to cry. Then you went running to your mommy after I kicked your ass.”

Getting right in Luke’s Face Blake said “Take that back.”

Luke barked back “I said ‘Make me.’”

His classmates being reunited with Luke was not going how Blake envisioned the interaction. Luke should have reverted back to his old role of the unsure extra on stage, instead, he stayed the confident lead. Blake was going to end this. The boy psyched himself up by convincing himself this time the fight would go different. He wasn’t ready for the fact that Luke was no pushover.

Right now was the time Blake was going to get redemption. The insecure boy was still beating himself up about that sissy beating him up. Blake thought it made him look weak. After second grade, Lori’s boyfriend was the only kid that Luke had a fight with about the teasing. Those fights gave his classmates something to razz him over. Blake could not understand why Luke never stood up to anyone else. The reason was simple, Blake pushed Luke a couple of times. The other kids were smart enough not to touch Luke. They knew Luke would only escalate the situation when he felt threatened and Blake would get physical.

There was no way Blake was going to let Luke stand up to him and he threw a punch. Blake’s punch was as clumsy as his pathetic attempt to save face. Luke was easily able to swipe away Blake’s attack then he threw one of his own. Blake was off-balance from overextending himself and Luke was able to land a right jab right to Blake’s left eye. The punch connected hard. In a couple of minutes, Blake was going to have yet another black eye.

Luke wanted this to end so he threw another punch. This one hit Blake right in his nose and his bell was rung like those which call the faithful to midnight mass. The stars Blake saw from this hard blow were as bright as the one on top of the Christmas tree. His nose matched the most famous reindeer of them all.

Alice came into the living room seeing Blake bent over and her son asking him if wanted anymore. She yelled at her son to stop. Luke turned around and said that Blake started this. Tom lied and as sure as people wanted a White Christmas Alice believed him. As normal, Lori’s mom went with the easy solution to solving the issue, instead of the right one. The easy one was to blame Luke instead of finding out what happened.

Tracy then joined the conversation. “Ms Zahn, Blake threw the first punch.”

It was Blake’s turn to bear false witness “That was only because your son provoked me. I was only trying to be nice and say hi, to him”

“Luke I raised you better. You need to get along with Lori’s friends. You are a guest here.”

Tracy kept on trying to make amends with Luke as she said “Blake was not trying to be nice, None of us were. We called Luke, Lumpy Luka and made fun about you putting him in a dress”

The truth did not matter to Alice, she wanted her narrative of Lori being the angel and Luke being the problem. If Blake was guilty of the fight then it would look bad on Lori “You need to learn how to take someone just joshing around with you in good fun about that. It happened, get over it. You take yourself too seriously.”

Luke shook his head as he was exiting the room. The boy was hurt that his mom made sure he knew that this was not his home anymore. Alice also made sure Luke knew that she did not care about how people treated him about the petticoat punishment. Blake was smiling because he was under the impression he was not to blame. Plus the status quo was back to normal. Alice did not like her son was leaving without being dismissed by her and asked. “Young man, where do you think you are going?”

“To the guest room, mother”

Alice had no idea what Luke was referring to. They had no guest room. She did not realize that she made her son feel unwelcome in a place which should feel like his home. She asked where to get clarification. Luke answered “I am going to where this guest of this house is sleeping.”

That answer hurt Alice. Again Alice looked towards her narrative, Luke as the issue not anyone else. Instead of thinking that she made a mistake calling Luke a guest she put the blame on him. In her eyes, Luke once again was being too sensitive. He should have known she meant that he was only visiting and should not disrupt Lori’s life. She told her son to stay there until she came and got him

Instead of trying to fix the miscommunication between her and her son Alice went to tend to Blake. She had to make sure that her daughter’s boyfriend knew Luke’s actions were unacceptable. If Blake broke up with Lori that would ruin her daughter’s Holiday Season. Alice did not want her daughter waking up to find only lumps of coal in her stocking.

Lori was mad. She did not like the situation. Blake knew better than to pick on Luke. She told him many times to stop referring to her brother as Luka. Her mom was being unreasonable with Luke. Her mom should have known that Blake was lying. Her mom should be fine with Luke defending himself.

Luke was in earshot when his sister finally spoke up. Then again the entire house was in earshot with how loud she was when addressing Blake. “ We are done. You are a fucking jerk. I told you to quit calling my brother, Luka. You don’t ever call him that again.

“Why can’t you drop it.”

Hearing his sister’s passionate defense made Luke stop. He wanted to hear how this played out. Alice tried to put down the notion that Lori broke up with Blake. Her daughter should not be dealing with heartache during this time of the year. “Lori, calm down. Talk with Blake before you make a rash decision.”

The only part of Lori's anger which calmed down was her voice. She might have been mad, but was wise enough not to yell at her mom. “No, mom. Luke did nothing wrong. Blake started this and you tried to make Luke think he was wrong. He was not. Blake should have never called my brother Luka. He should have never tried to hit Luke.

“Blake, Tom leave now. I don’t want you two around.”

Tracy said “Lori I better leave also. Give me a call later.”

Alice said “Come on you three. I will take you home.”

Lori once again showed her father’s discipline was working. She agreed with Tracy. Luke was home and should not have to deal with his sister’s friend. Giving her friend a hug to show no hard feeling Lori said. “I will. We need to set up hanging out during this break.”