Seductive Sparks: A Night of Drinking Games

I was excited.

I was so excited that I had to keep myself from bouncing up and down in my seat. In the back of my mind, I knew that doing that would make me look like an idiot, but I couldn’t help it. I couldn’t *not* be excited. This was *so* exciting!

My best friend Gordon was going to meet my sister for the first time on Christmas, and then we were going to spend the rest of our vacation together with my whole family, including my parents and my little brother. And this was all due to a decision made by Gordon, who had insisted that he wanted to go away with his girlfriend instead of meeting my family.

Gordon didn’t have any family left at all anymore, since his parents had died when he was seventeen and he hadn’t been able to find anyone else in the world who even remembered his parents. He wasn’t a very talkative person, but every once in a while he would talk about how much he missed them and how happy they must have been when they moved away from England to get away from their abusive father. I found it heartbreaking sometimes, because even though Gordon had never told me anything bad about his own mother or father, it was obvious that he adored them both endlessly. It seemed like he longed for a past that he could never return to again.

That’s why it surprised me so much when I heard him say “you can come too, if you want” when we were talking about our plans for Christmas at one point not too long ago. It wasn’t just surprising because Gordon had offered for me to join him on his trip – usually he would rather avoid talking about any kind of plans involving his family than actually bring them up – but because he had offered to spend Christmas with *me*.

When I asked him why he wanted us both to meet his family so badly, he shrugged and gave me a look that somehow managed to be both shy and extremely determined at the same time. “You are important now,” he said quietly after a moment of silence. “If you want to meet my family, then I want you to meet them too. As soon as possible. You deserve it. You deserve better than just an old man like me anyway. You deserve someone your own age who is good for you!”

At first I had thought that Gordon wanted us both to spend Christmas with his family because I would get along with them just fine while they would hate him more than anything else ever created in this world – which was probably true – but when we boarded the plane bound for America yesterday afternoon and I saw him grinning widely at me while holding up a small wrapped package in front of him proudly, I got the feeling that there was something more behind this sudden change of heart than simply wanting us both to get along well together with his family members who hadn’t disliked him yet (which probably didn't exist).

For a moment I considered the possibility that Gordon might have feelings for me other than friendship. That wouldn't really surprise me all that much; in fact, it would almost be strange if he *didn't* have feelings for me - after all we'd known each other for over two years now and spent most of our free time together for most of those two years as well! But then again...he never really showed any romantic interest in me before this point in time anyway, so maybe I was jumping the gun here? Maybe this present was just...a thank you gift? Something like "thanks for being great friends all this time even though we hardly ever see each other"?

Just thinking about the potential gifts Gordon could possibly give me right now made my heart beat faster again and I couldn't wait until we finally landed somewhere near Washington D.C., where Gordon's family lived according to what he had told me last week during lunchtime while we were sitting on benches in the park on a sunny day eating chicken sandwiches from Subway and listening to music on an old MP3 player we shared between ourselves while enjoying some fresh air after hours spent studying at home doing homework assignments most people would probably kill themselves over if they had to do those assignments themselves instead of handing them off onto someone else (*cough*students*cough*)...

"Whoa!"

The voice startled me out of my thoughts and I blinked rapidly several times before looking up at the man who spoke loudly into a microphone close enough for us passengers sitting in our seats near the back exit door to hear every word as clear as day without having trouble hearing at all. "We will be landing shortly," the man continued speaking into his microphone while glancing at a piece of paper held tightly in his right hand as if searching for something written there rather than reciting whatever information a pilot should tell passengers before landing a plane safely on Earth again after flying through hostile weather conditions across several time zones - or something along those lines anyway! "Please make sure your seatbelts are fastened and remain seated until further notice."

"Finally!" Gordon exclaimed happily beside me as he grabbed hold of his carry-on luggage filled with gifts for his entire family members (as far as I knew) without showing the slightest bit of concern about safety instructions being announced inside an airplane filled with hundreds of people instead of just twenty or thirty people like usual...and without bothering to put on his own seatbelt either! "I'm so excited!"

"Yeah..." I muttered distractedly after finally managing to fasten my seatbelt myself (it's not easy when you're so stressed out that your hands are shaking like mad!) while trying not to roll my eyes at Gordon's foolish behaviour and wondering what exactly Gordon meant by saying "we're finally here". We weren't even at the airport yet! However....I did agree with him; this trip had been nothing short of stressful so far - hardly surprising since it involved flying halfway around the world after all - but finally arriving somewhere safe where we could relax would definitely be nice! Besides....maybe there would be hot chocolate waiting for us somewhere out there?