Christmas in July
I.
It was a shame that they hadn't really become a family until New Years, Angel always said. Sure, they'd all met on Christmas Eve, but…well, some relationships got off to a slower start than others. That was life. But if, by some miracle, they had met just a week earlier…that would've been one hell of a party.
II.
They didn't really give it much thought until the end of that summer. The year, so promising at its start, had not been good to them.
Maureen and Joanne had been engaged in an all-out war of silence since the engagement party fiasco. It was impossible to be in the same room with both of them and not feel the tension. As much as they were silent, Roger and Mimi were loud. They were loud in their lovemaking and in their fights, in their crying and in their apologizing.
Collins and Angel were uncharacteristically silent, and everyone but Mark was too wrapped up in their own neuroses to find out why.
"Angel's coming home today," he said one morning as Roger nosed through the refrigerator.
"What?"
"I said Angel's coming home today. He's been in the hospital all week."
"Oh my god, what happened?" Mimi had her long hair wrapped up in a towel, and was wearing nothing but one of Roger's old shirts. They'd made up a third time the night before.
Mark shrugged. "He just…isn't doing well. Some kind of infection. That's just…" He trailed off. They all knew what happened right before the end.
"Well, then we have to do something," said Mimi. "To celebrate. Call Maureen and Joanne."
III.
"Cookies," said Joanne. "We should take her cookies."
"Cookies?" asked Roger.
Maureen nodded emphatically. "Yes. Rainbow cookies. And we'll have the best damn party ever."
It was then that Mimi remembered. Because Angel told her everything that she didn't tell everyone else, and everything that she did tell them all several times over. "Guys. We should have Christmas."
"It's July," said Roger, giving her an odd look.
"Christmas in July," said Maureen, rolling the words around on her tongue slowly. "I've always wanted to have one of those."
"Angel will love it," said Joanne, and it was decided.
IV.
"Merry Christmas!" shouted Maureen, the minute Collins answered the door. He looked exhausted.
"It's July," he said at last, when he saw that they were all carrying gifts. Maureen and Joanne had baked rainbow cookies with M&Ms, and Mimi had dressed up a dollar-store teddy bear, complete with nylon pants and handcuffs.
"We know," said Joanne, "but Maureen decided that—"
"We decided," interrupted Mimi, "that we could all use a little bit of Christmas right now. So we brought it to you."
Angel knew immediately what they were doing. She was thinner and paler than before, but her entire face lit up at the sight of them. They got out her Santa coat and zebra tights from before, and Mimi painted her nails bright red and gold to match.
Collins fell asleep in a chair, and that was fine, because that was what he needed most. Mark put his camera down for the majority of the afternoon and helped make ornaments with sequins and wax paper. There was no tree, so they hung them from the rafters instead. Maureen dumped crumbs down Joanne's shirt, which led to a fight over the Reddi Whip, which led to a full-scale food fight. They hadn't laughed so much in a very long time. They wouldn't again, at least not the same way.