Ezra

It doesn’t change anything.

Those words rang through my head, in my ears, resonating through my bones as I laid in bed.

Those words stuck with me as they proved themselves true, my relationship with Josh never changing from what it had been before.

We didn’t dress up for Halloween for our senior year. We and Mark and Tommy hung out in Mark and Tommy’s room, the two of them in Mark’s bed, snuggled up, and me falling asleep on Josh’s shoulder on top of Tommy’s comforter.

As the holidays rolled around again-- end of November, almost December-- Josh and I exchanged a lot of questions about holidays, Hanukkah and Christmas traditions being talked about in a somewhat dismissive ‘we don’t take it too seriously’ voice from both of us.

After a while of him asking questions about Jewish tradition and how it’s changed in my house, I finally asked him, “Do you want to come over for Hanukkah?”

That stopped him in the middle of his ramble about how he’d done some research into latkes and the history of them. “What was that?”

“Do you want to come over to my house? For Hanukkah?” I repeated. “The best way to learn about something is to experience it, right?”

“I guess so. I’d love to, on one condition.”

“One condition?” I asked, with an eyebrow raised. “What is it?”

“Come to mine for Christmas, too, as long as they don’t overlap.” He looked at me from where he was hanging upside down off of his bed. “Please?”

“Um… sure. I don’t think Hanukkah ends after Christmas this year, but I’ll check…” I pulled up my calendar on my phone and scrolled to December. “Looks like it ends a few days before Christmas does. Email your parents?”

“I’ll do that. You’ll email your family?”

“Definitely.”

TO: abramov.family@gmail.com

FROM: ezra.a@gmail.com

Hey, Mom.

I was wondering whether or not Josh could come for Hanukkah? He’s interested in seeing how we do it.

Also, I’d like to go to his for Christmas.

Please?

Love you,

Ezra

“Sent,” I declared as I pressed the ‘send’ button.

“Same,” Josh agreed. “Now we just have to hope to get some ‘yes’s and then we’ll be all right.”

-+-+-+-+-+-

“I hate this,” Josh muttered in my ear from the right side of the back seat. I was in the passenger’s side seat in the front, and he was right next to both of my little siblings.

I laughed a little. “Now you know how I feel,” I told him.

He sighed. “How much longer until we’re there?”

“Not long,” I promised.

“We’re here,” my mother announced a few moments later.

Josh rushed out of the car, nearly toppling me in the process as he tripped over his own feet and right into my arms.

“Hello,” I joked. “Fancy meeting you here.”

“Ha, ha,” Josh agreed, standing again. “Thanks for catching me, Ez.”

“Yeah, of course.”

-+-+-+-+-+-

Hanukkah was pleasant, all eight days spent following traditions and exchanging presents, with my brother and his wife and kids around too.

Having Josh there wasn’t even weird, and he picked up quickly on how to prepare food that was kosher, helping out in the kitchen whenever he was allowed to.

Soon enough, though, we were at his for Christmas. It was interesting enough, but it seemed like the festivities weren’t big until the 24th. Once it got to ‘Christmas Eve’, there were things to be done. We drank hot chocolate and eggnog, and sang ‘Christmas carols’, and even read stories about Christmas.

After we finished listening to his dad read the bible verses, we were interrupted by his brother’s girlfriend waving some sort of plant in front of my face.

It made Josh flush. “Jesmyn!”

“It’s the rules, Josh,” she proclaimed, which confused me further.

“What’s the rules?” I asked, but Jesmyn shook her head and gestured at Josh.

He sighed a little. “It’s-- the plant, it’s mistletoe. We… well, the rule is that… if you get stuck under it with someone, you have to kiss.”

“Oh.” I paused for a short moment. “Okay.”

“Are you sure? You don’t have to if you don’t want to.” Josh seemed a little worried.

I shrugged. “It’s the rules, right?”

“I guess…” he muttered.

“Let’s do it, then.” I leaned in. “Honor the rulebook.”

He took a deep breath. “Yeah, okay… let’s do it.”