#christmas in april

ellepacca:

I remember you
in dusklight

ash blond,  
flannel
and vans

cigarettes on
christmas eve

dive bar,  
photo booth
romance

hard cider,    
iTunes

forgotten
90s tracks

dirty snow,  
curbside chats

that time
we took a chance.

-december

Zed picked at the cheesecake, making small talk with the surrounding cousins, his free hand holding Addison’s.  Never in his life did he think he’d be here – fairly popular in integrated school, having dinner with his human girlfriend’s family, playing football and it being a casual dinnertime conversation.

Maybe he should have known, or at least suspected, that there was still a chance that things could turn south.  But, despite everything, Zed was an optimist.  Dinner had gone well.  Dessert had been smooth.  He’d gotten along with Addison’s relatives.  And Addison had been free to be herself, wig-free, all night.

“EVERYONE GET BACK!  ZOMBIE!”

Zed instinctively jumped back as Mr. Buchanan crept closer, knocking over the stacked folding chairs leaning against the couch.  “Mr. Buchanan, I’ve been here all night.  I came with Addison,” he ducked as the older man wildly swung in his general direction, eyes shining.

“You stay away from my granddaughter, rotter!”

Zed’s mind was racing, his incoherent thoughts rambling through how to reconnect with Mr. Buchanan as a person, and not the monstrous zombiephobe currently in front of him.  He wasn’t sure what had happened to suddenly polarize Mr. Buchanan into seeing him as a zombie and not Addison’s boyfriend.  Try as he might, there was nothing he could say that would change the old man’s mind.  The cheer championship as a revolution had only affected so many humans in Seabrook – the entire town was a cheerleading town, they liked to win, and the zombies hadn’t won cheer.  They had won football, but cheer was the top sport and they had lost.  He was irrevocably and deeply in love with Addison, but he wasn’t being seen as a person.  He was a monster.  At the end of the day, he was still the same sort of monster whom had eaten the older man’s ear.

Addison threw herself between her boyfriend and her grandfather.  “I wasn’t going to come tonight, exactly because of this.  I’d thought, pretty stupidly looking back, that maybe if we were both here, nobody would say anything to our faces.  Because it’s not like anybody in this family has ever been supportive of me being who I am.  But maybe if I had Zed, if I had the one person in this town, the whole world, who supported and loved me unconditionally, it might not be so bad.”

“Even a freak like you is still human, Addison,” Mr. Buchanan said quietly.

Addison scoffed.  “You just threatened my boyfriend, who has been nothing but a perfectly wonderful guest at our Christmas dinner, for no reason except that he’s different.  Well, we’re all different.  Zed is quite possibly the kindest and sweetest person I’ve ever met.  He’s my boyfriend, he’s a zombie, and I love him.  I’ve got freaky white hair.  I’m still human, but even that has always been enough for my own family to turn against me.  If we were all honest with each, I bet everyone in this room has something they’ve been hiding from the rest of the family!”  She exhaled harshly, running a hand through her hair.  “Zed’s not the only monster in this house.”

With that, Addison took Zed by the hand and shakily lead him back to the kitchen.  She pulled him down into a tight embrace, sinking onto the linoleum floor.  “I am so sorry about him,” she murmured.  Zed could hear her voice thicken with emotion, could smell her mind spiking with adrenaline.

“It’s not your fault.”  He wished there was something he could say to make her feel better.  Of course, it always stung whenever he heard people saying things about zombieism, but he had learned to roll with it over the past fifteen years.  Sometimes, most times, it was easier to simply walk away.  “Do you want to go?”

Addison laughed hollowly, though there was no real malice present.  “Shouldn’t I be asking you that question?”

Zed shrugged.  “They’re your family.”

There was a light tap on the door and Zed looked up to see one of Addison’s cousins standing in the doorway.

“What do you want, Brandon?”  Addison asked him bitterly, glancing at him before turning back to her boyfriend.

“Grandpa’s mostly calmed down now…  I’m sorry.”  His apology, though genuine, was futile as he was not responsible for his grandfather’s behaviour.  “I think the people most upset right now are Aunt Missy and Uncle Dale.  They always were more obsessed with perfection…. Except maybe Mom and Dad with Bucky’s cheer stuff.”

Addison was quiet, silently considering the sincerity of her cousin’s statement.  Zed was quiet, too, wondering what the next best thing to do would be.  This was exactly the sort of situation that his father had been worried about when he’d made his offer to come out and take them home early.

“Zed,” the zombie looked up as Brandon addressed him by name, “I’ll drive you back to Zombietown myself if you want to leave.  I can’t say anything for the rest of the family, and frankly right now I don’t really want to, but I wouldn’t blame you if you guys left early.”

“Uh, thanks.”  Zed got up from the floor, offering Addison his hand and helping her up.  No matter what happened next, they would still have to go back and face her family before leaving, whether that was at the natural conclusion of Christmas dinner or bailing early with Brandon or calling Zevon.  However, Zed had no idea what that would be.  Despite everything, he was still just a kid who had wanted to spend the holiday with his girlfriend.

Zed’s eyes widened as he caught sight of the time on Addison’s watch.  “Shit,” he cursed lowly, heartrate accelerating to near-human levels.  “I gotta go.  Brandon, I can honestly say it was a pleasure to meet you.  Addy, thank your parents again for the invitation.  Mayor Missy’s cooking was wonderful, as always.”  Addison checked the time, immediately understanding why Zed had hurriedly changed the topic.

Dale entered the kitchen just as his daughter and her boyfriend ran out.

“What’s going on in here?”  He asked Brandon, a little too casually to be entirely sincere.

“Addy and Zed are leaving,” Brandon said bluntly.  “It’s nearly curfew and I’m surprised they stuck around this long, to be honest.”  He caught sight of his cousin and the zombie carefully walking down the stairs to the door.  “Uncle Dale, I’d thought things were changing here.  Tell my parents I’m leaving.  Or don’t.  I don’t think it would make a difference.  See you next Christmas.”

Brandon left his uncle spluttering by himself in the kitchen and started his car, slowly starting towards Zombietown.  He had caught up to his cousin in less than a minute.  “You kids want a ride?”

“Won’t Aunt Becky be seriously mad at you?”  Addison hesitated.

Brandon laughed.  “It’s not like I live there, Addy.  She can be as pissed as she likes.  Doesn’t affect my life.  Where do you kids want to go?”  He unlocked the doors.  He watched his cousin looking at her boyfriend – how her whole face softened as she met his eyes, how they clasped hands as soon as they were settled in the backseat.

Home.  But the associated imagery had nothing to do with the house they had just left.

“The barrier,” she said simply.

“I’m not dropping you kids off in the middle of the street.”  Brandon rolled his eyes.  “What’s your address, Zed?”

Had any other human asked, Zed would have never answered.  But this was the one member of Addison’s family who hadn’t been afraid to treat both of them as regular people.  Zed had begun to trust the human.

“Z-224a.  Right at the end of the last road, by the wall.”  He saw the curtains in Eliza’s window flutter closed as Brandon’s car approached.  It’d be fine.

Brandon pulled up along the driveway, headlights briefly illuminating the block before he killed the engine.

“Where are you going to go?”  Addison asked, still strapped into the backseat.  Zed drew his hand back from where he had reached for the door handle, not having considered what Addison’s cousin would do after leaving Christmas dinner.

“Home.  Away from Seabrook, away from our family.”

“Isn’t that, like, two and a half hours?”

“Four.  We moved upstate to Syracuse a few years back for Quinn’s university.  Med biotech – basically a clinical medical lab technician.  Lots of testing.”

“Quinn.  I haven’t heard about Quinn, before,” Addison looked at her cousin curiously.  “There’s usually some‘news’ about you whenever Mom and Aunt Becky gossip on the phone.  Not that Mom would evercall it gossip.  She’s ‘sharing in her sister’s concern for her eldest son’.”  Addison rolled her eyes.

“Believe me, my mother has no clue that Quinn even exists.”  Brandon turned around to face them, his knee tucked awkwardly under the gearshift.  “If she did, nobody would ever hear the end of it.  In hushed whispers, of course, but still.”

“I get it,” Addison twirled a strand of her hair.  “I’ve thought about leaving, but…” Her eyes drifted over to Zed.  Out the window, she saw the light strands flicker out.  “Hey, I think your dad knows we’re back.”

Zed glanced out the window.  “Yeah.”

“Not to make things weird, but I should probably go home.  Can’t exactly go back to Syracuse with you, Brandon.  Normally if I need to get away for the night, I’d go see Bree but since it’s Christmas…”

“You can stay here,” Zed quickly offered, before blanching.  “One of us on the couch, obviously.  I’ll give you one of my hoodies…if I have any left,” he grinned.

“You know, this would probably be the part where I should say something, but I think you kids are more responsible than most of the adults in the family.  Especially since you’re not going to be alone.”  Brandon unlocked the doors.

“We should go,” Addison caught her cousin’s eye.  “If Brandon’s going home, he’s got a long drive ahead of him.  Thank you so much.”

There was a pause.  “Yeah,” Brandon said finally.  “Stay in touch, Addy.”  Addison nodded, giving her cousin a quick, one-armed hug from the backseat.

Zed waved his hand as he ducked out of the car, stretching.  “Let’s get inside.”  He took Addison’s hand as they walked to the door, quickly and quietly unlocking it.  They toed out of their shoes, creeping up the stairs to Zed’s room.  Zed grabbed a couple pairs of sweats and tee shirts, leaving one on the bed for Addison as he went into the bathroom.  He knocked lightly a few minutes later, and Addison opened the door.

“I brought you one of Zoey’s hair ties,” he murmured.  “Thought you might want to tie your hair back.”

Addison smiled tiredly.  “Thanks.”  Instead of passing her the hair tie, Zed sat on the bed behind her and quickly braided her hair into a short plait.  When he had finished, Addison leaned back against his chest for a moment before she got up.  Zed watched as she walked over to the chair on the other side of the room, picking up the quilt and pillow.

“Hey, you’re sleeping here.  I’ll take the couch,” Zed took the bedding from his girlfriend, knowing that she would protest.

“Zed,” Addison started, but Zed shook his head.

“I’ll see you in the morning, gorgeous.”  Zed leaned against the doorframe, watching as she thought about pressing.  They were both exhausted from their eventful night.

“Gar gar ga za,” she walked over and hugged him.

“Yeah.  I gar gar ga za you, too.  Grodge garzeep,” he murmured, kissing her forehead.

“Grodge garzeep,” she repeated sleepily, watching as he left.  She waited until she heard him settle on the couch before pulling back the sheets.  Everything smelled like Zed, and she pulled the sheet tighter, sighing happily.  There would be consequences to deal with in the morning, but right now, they were together and they were safe.