Chapter 21

500 Miles

"Merry Christmas Eve, Cate." Taylor, my cousin, greeted me as she entered.

"Taylor! Merry Christmas Eve." I smiled, hugging her back. "Trevor, merry Christmas!" I greeted her brother.

Colby was at my feet greeting everybody with happy barking.

"Cate! Merry Christmas Eve." He smiled.

I greeted my aunts and uncles and other younger cousins as well, and I led my older cousins up to my room.

"How are you feeling...?" Taylor asked worriedly, sitting down on my bed.

I gave her a side-smile. "I'm good. I just have to wear this brace for a bit."

"How long?" Trevor asked, settling down into my bean bag and cuddling Colby.

"Twelve weeks." I sighed.

"That's three months!" Trevor gaped.

"No shit, Sherlock." Taylor said, smacking her brother. "Where is he now?"

"I don't know. Prison, but I'm guessing his parents bailed him out. They're pretty rich." I shrugged.

"Is he still studying at Barden?" Trevor asked.

I shook my head. "He got expelled, of course."

"So you don't even know where the bastard is?!" Trevor flared.

I shrugged. "It's... whatever. I just hope he never does the same thing to someone else."

Taylor sighed. "Okay, enough with that shitbag. So what's this about some dudes who saved you?"

I looked at her. "Where did you hear that?"

"Your mom was talking all about them when she came over our place to tell my mom. A guy named Matt and David, or something? She talked a lot about that guy." She said amusedly, and Trevor smiled as well.

"It's Donald, Tay." I corrected her. "What did she say?"

"That he's like, a total gentleman and is totally into you." She said giddily.

"And like, ohmigosh, he's soooo cute." Trevor mocked in a girly tone, with his hands flapping.

I laughed and threw a pillow at each of them. "Trev!" I shouted, as he rolled his eyes.

"Well?" Taylor fished.

"He's a friend. A really good friend." I stated simply.

"A really really good friend?" Trevor wagged his eyebrows.

I rolled my eyes and shook my head. "You guys are so annoying."

"Spirit of Christmas, Cate. You give." Taylor gestured 'giving' with her arms.

"He's sweet. And nice. And yes, I do like him. It's just that I know he's a playboy, that's why I'm kinda iffy about him." I argued, lying down beside Taylor.

"Was or is? It makes all the difference." She asked.

"I don't know. Was, I guess."

"How do you even know?"

"My upperclass friends told me about him."

"Woah, woah, woah, woah, woah." Taylor said, raising her hand to stop me.

"He's an upperclassman?" Trevor asked, sitting up to look at me.

I nodded. "He's a senior, actually. Well, he's technically a senior senior. Like, he's finishing up the fifth year of his course. So he's like, your age, Tay."

"Woah! Caitlin! Who knew you could bag up a boy like that!" Taylor sat up, looking down at me. I followed suit. "What's his name again?"

"Donald. Donald Walsh." I said, and she walked over to my computer. "What are you doing?" I asked.

"Searching this baby up." She stated, opening up my web browser.

"Fine. Just don't do anything stupid." I warned, grabbing my vanity chair and sitting next to her. Trevor watched from behind us.

She searched him on my Facebook, and there he was.

I smiled a little when I saw his profile. His profile picture was of him with his siblings, while his cover photo was of him and the rest of the Trebles from the time they went to the water park together.

"You're totally smitten." Taylor observed, smirking from beside me as she looked at me, staring at the picture.

I blushed, hard, trying to hide the smile on my face. She laughed. "So he's Indian, eh?" She asked, enlarging his profile picture.

"Half." I corrected.

"Those are his siblings?" Trevor pointed.

"Dylan and Amina." They looked less Indian than Donald did, which probably sprung up the confusion.

They nodded simultaneously.

"Oh, there's Jesse!" Taylor pointed out as she opened his cover photo next.

"Yeah." I muttered, but my eyes were only on Donald.

"Wait I thought Donald was a senior — hey, he's got abs." Taylor smirked.

I flushed once more.

"Wait, why are they here together?" Trevor asked.

I explained the Treblemakers, and eventually the Bellas. They were as surprised as I first was when I heard about it, and I showed them the Facebook profiles of my other friends.

"Oh, and that's his girlfriend?" Taylor asked as I went over to Beca's profile. Her profile picture depicted Jesse hugging her from behind as she worked on the mixing app on her computer.

"Yeah, she's really cool. She's like, a DJ at the campus radio station. She remixes songs and stuff." I said. "This is Stacie. She's actually really nice and smart." I said, going over to her page.

"She's the girl with the — yeah, with Donald-" she said awkwardly, clarifying.

I nodded.

"She's gorgeous." Trevor commented.

"Her eyes are up there, Trev." I said, moving on.

"No, really. She is pretty." He defended. "Look at that smile."

"One day you'll meet her." I said, just as my mom called us for dinner.

"We'll talk again soon." Taylor assured me as I walked them to the door.

"Yes, we will." I smiled, and we hugged and kissed each other on the cheek. I did the same with Trevor, and they were off. "Thanks for the gifts!" I called out again as they loaded the car.

"Merry Christmas!" She waved, starting the engine.

I waved back as they drove off.

I walked back into the house, and remembered Donald's gifts. I ran up to my room to bring them back down, and I met my parents in the living room.

"Oh, mom, dad, these are from Donald." I declared, handing out their respective gifts.

"Something special about that boy, ha ha!" My dad laughed, opening the kit with so much glee and going up to his man cave. "Say thanks for me, would ya?"

My mom's eyes widened when she saw the gift certificates. "Oh, my, that boy!" She exclaimed happily. "Oh, he's so sweet. Which reminds me..." She paused, looking around for something. She produced my package for Donald as she emerged from the kitchen.

I looked at her confusedly as she handed it to me.

"The post office had to send it back. I guess you'll have to give it to him when you get back, hon." She looked at me pitifully.

"Man. I wanted him to have this today." I sighed, looking at the box.

"We can try sending it again." She suggested.

"He might be leaving by the time it reaches him." I whined, slumping on the La-Z-Boy.

"Why? Where is he?" She asked, helping our helper Gwen, with the dishes.

"Aspen. He's on a skiing trip with his siblings for the holidays." I said.

"I see." My mom said, retreating to the kitchen. My dad descended the stairs sans kit, eyeing the box.

"I thought you were giving that to Donald." He looked confused, too, pointing at the box in my hand.

I stood up. "They sent it back." I sighed. "I'm gonna have to wait til January to give this to him."

"Why'd they send it back?" He asked.

I shrugged. "I dunno."

"What's wrong, kiddo?" He asked, holding my arms to make me look at him.

I didn't realize that my eyes watered up.

"Hey, hey." My dad said, pulling me into a hug.

"I just wanted him to have a nice holiday." I sobbed. "He's Hindu so he doesn't actually celebrate it, but his parents are never around for him. I wanted him to feel special."

"Oh, hey." My dad said sympathetically, rubbing my back in circles. "Shh. Calm down."

It took me a short while to regain composure, and I wiped my face with the sleeves of my sweater.

"Where is he right now?" He asked.

"In a ski resort in Aspen." I muttered.

He looked to the side, thinking hard. He let go of me and sat on his chair. "For how long?"

"Until the third of January." I said, grabbing the open bottle of sparkling wine and downing it.

"Hmm." He said, and stood to go to the kitchen where he talked to my mom.

I followed him shortly after to dispose of the now-empty bottle.

"I'm going up to my room. I think I just need some rest, this medication is really messing with me." I announced, only to be stopped by them.

"Caitlin." My dad said.

I looked at him drowsily. "Yes, daddy?"

"You better go and see that boy. Spend some time with him." He smiled, and I gave him another confused look.

"What?"

"You're going to Aspen tomorrow. We'll book a flight right now." My mom said excitedly.

"Mom, you do understand that there are a lot of people flying for the holidays." I pointed out.

"It's usually less on Christmas itself… I mean, compared to the days before or even Christmas Eve." She replied. "We can look for the next flight. And you will see him, even if it's first class."

"C'mon Cate, this boy means a lot to you. Just try." My dad said. "And it's the least we can do since he went through all this trouble."

I lightened up. "Okay. I'll check online right now." I smiled, hugging them. "Thank you!"

My dad followed me to my room, where I hurriedly closed my Facebook and opened up a new tab to check the different airlines for flights.