I’m used to living with the guys, but I don’t think we’ve had a meal together since Easter. We’ve all got crazy schedules and are hardly all here at the same time, unless we’re sleeping, and even that isn’t a guarantee, depending on jobs.
This is nice. The six of us around the dining room table, an awesome meal, bottles of wine and Kelsey.
Dinner and dessert have been eaten, but we are still sitting here, drinking and talking, as if none of us have seen each other in years. I really need to talk to my roommates more often. We just fell into a rhythm after leaving Baxter. We stuck together at college and then got a place together as soon as we could get out of the dorms, and have been together since. We’re family.
Kelsey’s smiling and laughing, more relaxed than I’ve ever seen her since she walked in for her tat this morning. She needs this family too. “Have you kept in touch with anyone from high school?”
She shrugs. “I did at first, but we all went our own ways. Too busy concentrating on school, getting good grades so we would keep getting scholarships and financial aid.”
Just like me and my roommates.
It also means she’s without a family. If she had one, she wouldn’t be having Thanksgiving with us.
Kelsey frowns and tilts her head. I look over my shoulder at the chalkboard on the wall.
“Why is that familiar?” she asks.
“Told you nobody would think a chalkboard in the dining room is odd,” Sean reminds us.
“It is odd,” Kelsey counters with a smile. “What’s on it is familiar but I can’t place it.”
Ryan gets up and writes “Baxter” in the largest circle at the top, then draws an arrow down to six empty circles. We know what they mean, but nobody else would. He then writes one of our names in each one. Beneath each name are three arrows pointing down. “Does that help?”
She frowns. “Not really.”
“Old movie, from I think, 2000,” offers Christian.
“I was seven, in foster care and not going to movies,” she reminds us and then her eyebrows form a V over her nose. “You guys are only a year older. You were going to movies?”
Zach laughs. “No. We actually saw it the first time last Easter.”
The last time we had a meal together.
“Zoe caught it on TV, got the DVD and made us all watch it, but she had to leave the room at the end because she couldn’t watch that part again,” Ryan answered.
Kelsey is just shaking her head, confused.
“Pay It Forward,” Dylan answers.
Recognition lights in Kelsey’s eyes, and then she becomes serious, and thoughtful. “I get it. That’s what the kid drew on the board to explain how he was going to make a difference. If you do something for three people and those three people go out and do something for three people each, the cycle will continue.”
“I’d like to think it was our brilliant idea, doing good deeds and all, but it wasn’t. Hell, we didn’t even get the idea until we saw the movie,” I tell her. “But that movie stuck with us and we got to talking afterwards. Where would we be without Baxter?”
“The streets, doing drugs, dealing drugs,” Zach says.
“Gangs or prison,” adds Dylan.
“Dead,” says Sean.
“So, we are trying to pay it forward whenever we can.” I shrug.
Interest lights in her brown eyes. “How?”
“It’s not that much,” Dylan says as he starts cleaning up the dessert plates from table.
“Right now it’s just serving in the soup kitchen,” Sean says.
“It’s better to be on the serving end than the receiving,” Ryan shudders. “Not that the food is bad, but all that goes with it is. So poor that you can’t afford a meal, or maybe not even a place to live. I don’t want to ever visit that life again.”
“Someday, when we have money,” I start.
“If we ever have money,” Dylan laughs.
“We are going to do something big. Really make a difference.”
Sean lifts his glass of wine. “To Baxter.”
“To Baxter,” we echo and toast.
I set mine back on the table. “Speaking of Baxter, guess where Kelsey has an interview tomorrow to teach voice and piano.”
Her eyes widen, and she grabs her phone. “Shit! I’ve got to get home.”
“Why, what time is it?”
“Midnight! I’ve got to get up early, get ready, get to the train.”
“What time’s the interview?” Ryan asks.
“Three.”
“You’ve got plenty of time. It’s not like you need to be there at nine in the morning.”
“Still, it’s late. I should go.” She gets up from her seat. “Thanks for a great meal, the wine, and a really awesome night.”
“Kelsey, you’re not riding the subway this late at night. Especially alone,” says Christian as he stands. “I’ll call you a car.”
“I’m not spending money on a car,” she says as she heads to the living room.
I assume she’s going for her coat and bag.
“I’ll be fine.”
“Then we are going with you,” I insist. All of us head out of the dining room.
“That’s ridiculous. I don’t need six guys riding the subway with me. I don’t need any of you riding with me.”
“We aren’t willing to risk it,” Ryan says.
“You know, I did live on these streets, and have been back in the city for three and a half years.”
“You’re invincible?” Ryan asks.
“You’re one of ours Kelsey,” I tell her. “You either let a couple of us take you home, or you crash here.”