<<< Back to the backwards holidays

Lulu fluffed her hair in the mirror. "I wonder if I'm a bit over-dressed..." she said thoughtfully.

Maria chuckled, "Golden prom dresses might be better left for prom," she suggested as she looked Lulu up and down.

"Alright, so what should I wear?" Lulu asked.

"This," Maria held up a suit.

"That's not a bit...dressy? I'm just going be hanging out with my friends."

"Wear what you normally do, then," Maria shrugged.

"Excellent point," Lulu chirped.

---

Anka grabbed her bag, slipping Yaryck inside, and headed out the door, the acridic stench of cigarette smoke and alcohol was thick in the air. This was one of the days her parents would drink more heavily, and they'd probably have a few others over as well.

She made her way to Nami's house and walked in, "Hi mom, dad." She called chipperly to the pair who were doing some last minute baking for their trek over to Lulu's.

"Hey there, Anka, Nami's in the shower." Kelly smiled.

"Thanks," Anka replied, going to Nami's room and sitting on the bed as she waited for her to get out of the shower, she opened her bag as Yaryck mewled and scratched his chin, "It's going to be a pretty exciting day." She murmured to him.

---

"We are thankful that our youngest has found such a sweet girl," Rick said as he folded his hands.

Nagi blinked in disbelief, "Th-that is surprisingly....normal...and nice..."

"Well, we do like Nami," Tina clarified with a smile.

"But you forget one important thing," Nagi said, poking his parents' noses. "Nami and I are just friends."

"Still being modest?" Rick beamed.

"It's true..." Nagi sighed. "You both just assume that because I'm infatuated with her that we're together."

"We know you're relationship is secret to her parents, so we'll be good," Tina smiled ear to ear.

Nagi sighed, leering at the ground. "Well, close enough," he shrugged.

"So do you want to head over to Nami's house?" Rick inquired.

"No, just want to go to Lulu's," Nagi muttered, pulling his cellphone from his pocket. He quickly sent a message to Lulu, Nami and Anka simultaneously as he walked out the door, his parents right behind him.

Anka pulled her vibrating phone from her bag. "Hmm...surprisingly, Nagi's bringing his parents..." she said to Yaryck. "This is definitely going to be an interesting day."

Lulu dove at her bed for her phone, frowning when she saw it was merely a txt message. "Dammit, Nagi," she grumbled. She read the message once to herself and reiterated it once aloud. "Wow, this should prove interesting." She stood in her red cami, still deciding which pair of jeans went best with it.

Nami walked into her room in her robe with her towel wrapped in her hair. "Hello," she yawned as she made her way over to her dresser.

"Nagi's bringing his parents," Anka announced.

Nami dropped the shirt she was holding, "Come again?"

"He sent me a txt a few minutes ago," Anka elaborated, "And he apparently couldn't talk them out of going, mostly because they didn't want to cook."

Nami raked her fingers down her face, "This is going to be the most humiliating day ever..."

"That's the last line of the message, actually," Anka commented.

"Maybe his parents will be so caught up in other things that they won't think to tease us, or make sexual jokes..." Nami clung to hope as hard as she could as she grabbed an outfit from her dresser.

Anka shrugged, "We can hope, right?"

Nami dressed, grabbing her cellphone from her end table and staring down at the same message Anka had already informed her of. "You'd think as a guy he'd like his parents thinking what they say is true."

"Nah," Anka debated, "we both know Nagi isn't like that, and that you're his friend before anything else."

"Anything else?" Nami blinked.

"That includes the term girl, or even potential girlfriend, sex partner, wife..."

"You had to go to wife, didn't you?" Nami asked, hoping that those remarks would prepare her for the day.

"Well, you can be very wifely with him. I mean, you sleep together, you eat together, you're in love with him, you want to sleep together-sleep together, you're used to his parents so marriage will be an easy adjustment," Anka grinned when Nami glared at her.

"So he and I can sometimes act more like a couple than friends," she conceded.

"Sometimes? Ha! I'm telling Lulu that one," Anka said as she started a new txt message.

"Well, if Nagi's parents don't pick up where they left off, I know you and Lulu sure will," Nami sighed, blinking as Anka stole her phone. "Anka?"

"I'm out of txt messages for the month," she growled as she sent Lulu the message.

"You've gotta get a new phone," Nami murmured.

---

"Wow, this place is huge..." Rick took a step back as he stared at the large house.

"Lulu's the heiress to her father's hotel chain, and she has a trust fund," Nagi explained. "Crispin was an investment banker who got some extra money, opened a hotel and that grew into the chain...Lulu's mother, Clarisse does real estate."

"Wow..." Tina muttered in awe. "The blonde girl lives here?"

"Yup," Nagi nodded as he opened the door.

"Maria," Nagi called to the woman approaching them.

"Hello, Nagi," she replied with a smile.

"My parents Tina and Rick, this is Maria, Lulu's nanny."

"Lovely to meet you, come this way. Lulu's in her room," Maria said as she led them to the living room.

Nagi darted up the stairs, making a beeline for Lulu's room. "Lu?" he called.

"I'm decent," she announced. "And in the walk-in closet."

Nagi walked into the closet that was twice as big as his bedroom. "Why are you in your closet?"

"Picking out my shoes," Lulu said as she slipped a pair of high heels on. "Don't know what to go with..." she sighed.

"Go with boots," Nagi offered. "They don't kill your feet and you don't have to walk much today," he shrugged, getting a raised eyebrow from Lulu.

"Good idea. I'll slip these on and we can join our parents for coffee and coffee cake," Lulu grinned, putting on a pair of nylon socks. "Any sign of the girls yet?"

"No," he replied evenly. "And my parents agreed to be good, so even if they don't come, we don't have anything to worry about."

"I'm not worried anyhow," Lulu replied. "My parents mostly wanted to make sure I'm not sleeping over with weirdos who'll tape me in the shower."

"Good idea. Throw a Thanksgiving feast for potential weirdos," Nagi said dryly.

---

"Are you girls ready?" Dan shouted up the steps.

"Yeah, we're coming," Nami called back. She and Anka dashed out her bedroom door and down the steps to put on their coats.

"Think he'll be alright?" Anka asked.

"He'll be fine. We don't have cats or anything and we left him plenty of food," Nami assured her.

"Come on, your mother's in the car," Dan urged them forward.

"Yeah, yeah, we're going," Anka muttered as she and Nami left the house, running straight for the car.

The four of them stepped from the car, only Kelly and Dan were in awe of the large mansion. "Come on!" Nami called as she stepped onto the front step.

"Yeah, we'll miss coffee!" Anka added.

The four stepped into the house and were greeted by Glenn, the butler. "The others are about to sit down to coffee and coffee cake," he explained as he led them to the living room.

"Thank you," the four of them said one right after the other before stepping into the living room.

"You're quite welcome," Glenn replied, bowing and leaving their company.

"Hey, darlings," Lulu stood hugging Nami and Anka. "Miguel just went to fetch our coffee and coffee cake, so you're just in time."

Anka sat immediately beside Lulu, forcing Nami and Nagi to sit together. "So when are we expecting dinner?" she asked curiously.

Dan and Kelly sat on the other side of Nami, looking around at the elaborate decorations.

A Latina worker muttered something in reply. "He said in about an hour," Lulu translated.

"Cool," Anka licked her lips, envisioning pumpkin pie.

"So, how has vacation been?" Lulu asked everybody.

"The usual," Anka shrugged.

"Nami? Nagi?" Lulu asked, smiling.

"Well," Nami started, staring down at the floor, "I've been looking forward to this..."

"I've been looking forward to a break from school," Nagi admitted as he slouched backwards.

"Tina? Kelly?" Lulu asked.

"What's vacation for you kids isn't vacation for us, I'm afraid," Kelly replied. "I only have today off and then it's back to work for me."

"Me too," Dan added.

"I have a few days off," Tina shrugged. "Not many clients come in during the holidays, though."

"Vacation is awesome," Rick grinned as he remembered his week vacation this week and his two week vacation the following month.

"That's what I'm talking about!" Lulu said enthusiastically. "Oh! Coffee and coffee cake time!" she chirped as they were each served a cup of coffee and a generous portion of coffee cake.

"What's so bad about school?" Nami asked Nagi.

"Everything," he muttered as he poured several sugar cubes into his cup.

"Stress?" Nami guessed as she stirred her coffee. He nodded, getting poked by her. "Don't get stressed. You'll get wrinkles."

"I wish it were that easy," Nagi muttered.