Come To Stay

by Natalie Anglin

  “Not bad, Jared,” she said. “I think it could actually work really well. I can picture it.”

  “Thank you,” Jared said proudly. “I’m excited to try it. I spent a couple of hours last night flipping through inspiration pictures until I came up with this.”

  “Do you know what Henry is planning?”

  “No, we decided to each keep our ideas to ourselves so that we don’t copy or anything. I was worried about one of us hearing the other person’s idea and then not being able to come up with our own idea because the other idea is all we can think of. If that makes sense.”

  “Yeah, I get what you mean,” Ellie said. “Like if he said he was doing a gingerbread house and you kept trying to come up with a new idea but all you could think was how much you wanted to do a gingerbread house, and then you end up completely stumped for ideas.”

  “Exactly. So, with that in mind as well, I want to try to put together as much of the decorations as possible in here before I put it up, so he doesn’t see it until it’s pretty much done.”

  “Okay, that shouldn’t be too hard. Put together all the decorations in advance and draw or paint on anything you need on the brown paper before putting it up, then attach the decorations.”

  “Perfect,” Jared said. “Do you want to get food now or do you want to help me put together some decorations first?”

  “I’m not very hungry yet, we can put together decorations first.”

  “Yes! Thank you so much, Ellie!”

  “No problem, little bro,” she said.

  “You know, I’m not all that much younger than you.”

  “A year and a half is a lot in my books.”

  “As opposed to the four-year difference between you and Parker?”

  “Shut up.” She took off her jacket and threw it on his desk chair. “Come on, let’s get to work.”

  They spent two hours working on the decorations. By the end of it, Jared was sick of the competition and questioning how much he cared about winning. A couple of times, he suggested that they stop, and that perhaps this competition wasn’t worth the amount of work they were putting into it, but every time he said that, Ellie would quickly shut him down and say that they didn’t come this far to just give up. The further along they got, the more convincing that argument was. Before he knew it, it was closer to dinnertime than lunch, and their design was complete.

  “Okay, I think it’s ready,” Ellie said. “You want to put it up?”

  “Let’s do it.” He looked between the decorations on the ground and the closed door a couple of times. “How are we going to do this?”

  Ellie looked at the door too.

  “That is something we probably should have considered before we put on the decorations,” she said. She tilted her head and thought about it for a second. “I guess we need to prop the door open with something then work together to get the paper off the floor and attached to the door without it ripping. That’s going to be the biggest struggle, I think.”

  “We need to prop it open with something that won’t block part of the door, then,” Jared said. When he rarely propped his door open, he would just put his garbage can between the door and the wall to prevent it from shutting but it was clear that that would not work for this project.

  “Do you have a doorstop?” Ellie asked. “That would be the easiest thing.”

  “I don’t… but I think Henry does. Should I go ask him?”

  “You’re going to ask the guy you’re competing with to borrow something so you can put your decorations up?”

  “Mh-hm. If he’s free, I might even ask him to help us put it up.”

  “You don’t think he’ll try to sabotage it so his looks better?”

  “He’s not you, Ellie.”

  “Hey!”

  “I’ll be right back.

  Jared jumped to his feet and walked down the hall to Henry’s room. He noted with satisfaction that his door was still empty and wondered if the other boy had even begun the project. He knocked and waited. Daniel was the one who opened the door, though as soon as he saw that it was Jared, he turned behind him and said, “It’s for you, Henry.” Daniel jumped back on his bed as Henry came to the door instead.

  “Hey Jared. I thought you were going out with Ellie?”

  “We’re going out soon, I just wanted to put up my decorations first.”

  Henry’s jaw dropped. “You’re done already?”

  Jared smirked. “Mostly done, yeah. I’ll probably add some more to it over the next couple of weeks but it’s ready to put up at least. I was just wondering if I could borrow your doorstop so I can get it up.”

  “Yeah, no problem.” He grabbed the door stop from the floor beside the door and handed it to Jared. “Why aren’t you just doing it with the door closed? Wouldn’t that be easier?”

  “No, I want to wrap the paper around the edges of the door and tape them on the inside. It won’t work if the door is closed.”

  “Need some help?”

  “It would be much appreciated.”

  Henry nodded and followed him out. They walked back into Jared’s room, where Ellie was still sitting on the floor. Henry whistled when he saw the decorations littering the ground.

  “You put some serious time into this, didn’t you?”

  “Of course,” Jared said. “I’m taking this seriously.”

  “Have you started?” Ellie asked Henry. He shrugged slightly.

  “I’ve started thinking about it,” he said. “Can’t say I’ve done nearly this much. But then again, Jared has always procrastinated less than me.”

  Jared propped the door almost all the way open so that they could easily put it up.

  “Who’s the tallest out of us?” He asked. “Probably you or Ellie, right?”

  “I think Henry’s taller than me,” Ellie said.

  “Okay, Henry you’re going to be in charge of getting the wrapping paper over the top of the door and taped on the back, so it doesn’t go anywhere. Ellie and I will hold it in place while you do that.”

  “Are you sure this is going to work, Jared?” Henry asked worriedly. “It might fall apart before we get it up.”

  Jared waved a hand dismissively.

  “It will be fine,” he said. “At worst, we have to redo it.”

  “Uh, you’ll be doing it alone, then,” Ellie said. “I am not interested in remaking this entire thing because you weren’t careful enough.”

  “Hey, this isn’t just on me, we all have to work together to get it on. Remember, you break it, you buy it.”

  “What’s the price of it?” She asked incredulously.

  “I’m not sure yet but your debt can also be paid off by remaking it. Now let’s get this up.”

  He placed the roll of painter’s tape on the counter beside the back of the door so Henry could easily tape it on. Then they all carefully lifted the decorated brown paper and walked it to the door.

  “Make sure it’s lined up properly,” Ellie said as they tried to hold it up to the door. “The last thing we want to do is have to re-tape it because it’s wonky.”

  “That might be a bit difficult since we forgot to cut a place for the door handle,” Jared pointed out.

  “I knew we were forgetting something!” Ellie said. “Okay, let’s just do our best and we can cut that out after. This looks right to me, Henry can you tape it?”

  “On it,” Henry said. He wrestled with the roll of tape as he tried to rip a piece off but finally got it. A quickly as he could, he taped the wrapping paper onto the back of the door, while Jared and Ellie tried to stand still in order to not mess it up. “Okay, it’s done.”

  Ellie and Jared both dropped their arms from where they had been holding it immediately. Ellie stepped back to survey their work.

  “It looks straight to me,” she said with satisfaction. Jared bit back a joke about his decorations being straight unlike him and nodded.

  “Good,” he said. “Let’s tape the sides so it stays in place
and then we can finally get dinner.”

  “Yes please, I’m starving,” Ellie groaned.

  “We could have gone earlier if you said something,” Jared said.

  “No it’s fine, I’m glad we got this done,” Ellie said. She grabbed the painter’s tape and began taping down the sides of the wrapping paper against the inside edge of the door.

  “It’s nice that you have your sister here to do this with,” Henry said while they watched. “I never thought I would say this, but I miss my siblings. I never knew that moving out would be so hard.”

  “You’ll see them when you go home for Christmas, right?” Jared asked. “Only a couple more weeks.”

  Henry shuffled his feet. “Actually, I’m not going home for Christmas after all.”

  “What?” Jared asked. “I thought you said you had a plane ticket booked.”

  “Yeah… things changed. I don’t really want to get into it. But I’ll just be staying in res for the holidays.”

  “Oh no, not a chance!” Ellie said. Jared jumped. He hadn’t realized she was finished taping the wrapping paper or was listening to their conversation. “You can come to our place for Christmas.”

  “What?” Henry asked. He looked between Jared and Ellie like he was waiting for one of them to tell him it was a joke.

  “Yeah,” Jared said. “Yeah, that’s a great idea, Ellie! We have the room, and that way, you don’t have to be alone on Christmas.”

  “No, that’s really okay,” Henry said. “I don’t mind being here. Free meals three times a day and with Daniel home, I’ll have the room to myself… it will be good.”

  “No,” Ellie said. She crossed her arms and stared at Henry. “I am not leaving here until you agree.”

  “What?” Henry looked to Jared. “Is she normally like this?”

  “Of course,” Jared said. “But she’s right. I’m not leaving you here alone. Besides, the food will probably be terrible, even worse than usual if that’s possible because all the normal kitchen staff will be on vacation for the holidays. It just makes sense that you come to our place.”

  “I don’t want to impose,” Henry said. “I mean, it’s all well and good that you two want me to come and stay but that doesn’t mean your parents will want me there.”

  “Of course, they’ll want you there,” Ellie said. “I think our mom would prefer it if we brought all of our friends home for the holidays.”

  “Both our parents are very welcoming,” Jared said. “And they love hosting. Honestly, you’ll probably make their Christmas even happier by being there.”

  “I don’t know… for all I know, you’re just saying that to convince me and your parents will secretly resent the fact that I’m there, but they’ll be too polite to kick me out.”

  “There’s a very easy way to solve this,” Ellie said. She pulled out her blackberry and quickly texted her mom: Can Jared’s friend come to stay with us for Christmas break? He can’t go home. Within two minutes, Adrienne texted back: Of course! We would love to have him. Ellie held up the phone for Jared to see. “Convinced now?”

  Henry still looked unsure. He looked back and forth between the two siblings again.

  “Maybe I can stay for a week,” he conceded.

  “No, stay for the whole break,” Jared said. “When’s your last exam?”

  “December 17th,” Henry said warily.

  “Okay, mine is the morning of the 18th. We can leave that afternoon.” He turned to Ellie. “You said mom will be the one driving us home, right?”

  “Yeah, I think so,” Ellie said. “Or I can ask her if I can drive you if you'd rather. I don’t mind. I’ll be back home by then.”

  Henry, who still looked unsure about everything that had just happened, didn’t answer even though the statement was directed at him. He just stared at her blankly.

  “We can figure it out later and let you know,” Jared said. “I think we overwhelmed him with too much information.”

  “Sorry,” Ellie said.

  “It’s fine,” Henry said blankly. Ellie grinned.

  “We’re going out for dinner now, Henry, you want to come?”

  Henry blinked. “Oh no, you guys go have fun.”

  “Are you sure? I’m paying.”

  “I have some homework I need to do, anyway.”

  Jared snorted. “Oh please, like you’re going to get anything done before midnight.”

  “Hey! I… might manage something.”

  “I think eating would be a more productive use of your time.”

  “Is this going to be like the issue of me staying with you for Christmas, where you don’t let it go until I agree?”

  “Absolutely.”

  Henry sighed. “Okay, fine. I just need to get my jacket.”

  “Cool, meet us back here in a couple of minutes. Oh, and while you’re going…” He kicked out the door top and handed it to Henry. “Might as well put it back now.”

  Henry nodded. “I’ll be back in a minute.”

  He walked out and let the door shut behind him. Jared and Ellie both put their boots and coats on, then Ellie looked to Jared.

  “He seems nice,” she said. “How long have you known each other?”

  “We met in the first week of school,” Jared said.

  “And you’re still friends?” Ellie asked. “I’m impressed. I don’t think I can even remember the names of any of the people I met in my first week of university.”

  “Do you think there might be… a reason for that?” Jared asked slowly. He didn’t want to assume the wrong thing and offend her, but he was pretty sure her frosh week hadn’t been the same experience as him. Ellie punched his arm.

  “Careful, little bro, or I’ll make you pay for your own dinner.”

  “You just told Henry you were going to pay.”

  “Oh, I’ll still pay for him. You, on the other hand…”

  “What? You would pay for my friend’s food but not mine?”

  “Your friend is nicer than you.”

  There was a timid knock on the door and Jared threw it open to reveal Henry on the other side, in his winter jacket.

  “Ready?” Henry asked.

  “Yeah,” Jared said. “Hey, did you knock normally on the door?”

  “I think so,” Henry said. “Why?”

  “Oh, it just sounded quieter than usual,” Jared said.

  “The wrapping paper probably muffled the sound,” Ellie pointed out.

  “I guess that makes sense,” Jared said. “Good thing nobody ever knocks on my door anyway.”

  He switched off the lights and they walked out. As they walked down the hallway, Ellie looked around.

  “It looks different than when I was here a couple of months ago,” she said. “I think it’s the decorations. What is the theme of your floor, anyway?”

  “To be honest, I’m not really sure,” Jared said. “It seems like a mess of a few ideas to me.”

  “I think it was originally Fall but then it turned into all the seasons, and now it’s somehow also Christmas,” Henry said. “But I could be wrong.”

  Ellie shook her head in disappointment.

  “It’s too much. Better to stick with something simple all the way through.”

  “What was the theme of your floor?” Jared asked.

  “The Hunger Games,” Ellie said. “When the movie came out in March, our whole floor went to see it together. It was pretty fun.”

  “Did you live in residence last year?” Henry asked.

  “Yeah,” Ellie said. “Not here, though. I go to Queen’s University in Kingston. Residence was a good time, though. Enjoy while you can.”

  “Where are you living now?”

  “I’m renting a house with four friends,” Ellie said.

  “Do you like it?”

  “Yeah, it’s pretty good. Definitely an adjustment but still fun. So where do you guys want to go for dinner?”

  “Doesn’t matter to me,” Jared said.

  “I feel like
the person paying should get to pick,” Henry said.

  Ellie rolled her eyes. “Okay, you two are officially no help. I guess we’ll do… Italian food. What’s the closest restaurant?”

  Jared and Henry looked at each other. It was clear neither of them had any idea.

  “We don’t really eat out,” Jared said. “No jobs or money, and all that.”

  “Yet you spend over a hundred dollars on craft supplies without a second thought,” Ellie teased.

  “That’s different, it’s for a competition,” Jared said. “I’m in it to win it.”

  Ellie narrowed her eyes. “You know, you’re not usually this competitive. What gives?”

  “I really like Starbucks?” Jared suggested innocently.

  “Hm.” Ellie continued her appraising look for another moment then shrugged. “Okay, well I think I saw a good restaurant on my way here, about ten minutes out. We’ll go there.”

  Jared and Henry both readily agreed to that plan, so they headed out. They found the restaurant easily and enjoyed their meal. When they came back to the residence, Jared and Ellie bid Henry a good night since he needed to study, then the two of them headed back into Jared’s dorm room.

  “So, uh, what’s going on between you two?” Ellie asked. Jared’s heart quickened.

  “What do you mean?” He asked as calmly as possible.

  “Have you asked him out?”

  “What?” Jared nearly screeched. “I— no— what— of course not!”

  “Okay, relax, it’s not a big deal, Jared,” she said.

  “Yes, it is! I’m not gay!” Jared snapped.

  Ellie sighed. “Jared, do you remember at the cottage over the summer when mom and dad went home a day earlier than us, so we got drunk?”

  “What about it?” Jared crossed his arms defensively. He didn’t see how this was relevant to their conversation but then again, he didn’t particularly want their conversation to continue anyway. Although Ellie didn’t seem to mind the idea of him being gay, he didn’t want to risk saying anything.

  “I’m guessing you don’t remember much of what you said, but I do. And that night, you… came out to me.”

  “I—”

  “I totally accept you, Jared. Hell, I’m gay too!”

  “Wait what?”

  “Yeah, raging lesbian. And I know you’re worried about coming out to anyone else and I respect that, but I don’t want you to miss out on something great because of fear.”