Page 25 of The Holiday Fail

“Hope that thereissomeone out there who’s meant for me,” he said softly and so full of emotion that it made my heart break for him. I covered his hand with mine, and he looked up at me.

“Hey, there is,” I said. “You’ve just had the bad luck of the draw so far.”

He smiled, but along with those hidden dimples, I knew the smile was just to hide the hopelessness he was feeling about the entire situation. Levi might think all his failed relationships were his fault, but there had to be another reason.

“Or maybe it’s the type of men you’re dating that’s the issue,” I hedged, the question that had been tickling my brain now out there.

I remembered the first time we met, when he was drunk off his ass and trying to pick up a man who had to be over twenty years older than him, and the night out with friends, they were talking about his dating history and how the men he dated were all at least ten years his senior.

“Have you tried dating someone who’s, you know, your age? Someone who might be able to understand you better?”

Levi seemed startled by the question. “I’ve never thought about it,” he said, taking another sip of his water. His finger slid against the glass, chasing a bead of condensation. He watched it for a moment before fixing his gaze back on me. “I guess I’ve always just been attracted to older men.”

I leaned against the table, cheek resting on my hand. “So you’re saying your obsession with silver foxes started as a kid?”

“I guess you could put it like that,” he said with a laugh. “There was that one time when I was like ten where my dads took me to get a picture of Santa, and whoever was in charge that day had decided that instead of the stereotypical Santa with the big belly and grandfather vibes, they decided aDaddywas the way to go. I begged my dads to go back every day so I could sit onDaddy’slap.”

I laughed as I watched him animatedly recount all the ways he’d tried to bribe his dads to take him back to see sexy Santa.

He’d even tried to use his saved allowance topayHenry todrive him, knowing that Henry was the easier target out of his two dads, but Peter had caught them in the act and threatened to cut off his allowance for the next six months.

“And then there was Gomez, the man of all men. He was my crush that defined my entire teens,” Levi said with a sigh and a dreamy look in his eyes.

“Gomez…?” I prompted, not really sure who he was talking about. I hadn’t met anyone with that surname since coming here.

“Gomez Florencia Addams! FromThe Addams Family?”

He spoke like I was the one in the wrong for not following his train of thought.

I smirked at how defensive he was getting about this movie. It made me want to rile him up even more. “Are you talking about that movie about that creepy family?”

His eyes practically bugged out of his head at my words. “Creepy—you didnotjust call them creepy! They are onlytheiconic goth family—one that is truly misunderstood, I might add. Sure, their means might be unconventional, but they display the true meaning of love and family. And Morticia and Gomez? They aretheultimate couple goals. Always keeping an open mind and supporting each other. Their love is what love is, in its purest form.”

He got that dreamy look again, one where his eyes were all glazed and a goofy smile plastered on his face.

It was hard not to smile along when faced with this version of Levi.

I didn’t know how tonight was going to go, since the entire reason for thisdatewas to help Levi out, but we hadn’t even ordered yet, and I found I was really enjoying being in Levi’s company.

Chapter Twelve

LEVI

I knew I was getting a littletoopassionate about Morticia and Gomez. Nobody wanted to hear about the obsession teenage me had for Gomez.

While the other kids my age had posters of their favorite superhero or showed their support to team vampire or werewolf during that phase that seemed to have overcome almost everyone, my bedroom walls were covered with posters of the Addams Family and Gomez.

My dads never really understood why I loved the movie with such dark tones when I was a fairly sunny kid back then, but they just didn’t get it.

My little heart had been captured by just howromanticthe movie was, and since then, I’d dreamed of having a romance just like the heads of the Addams’. And maybe somewhere in my childish mind, I thought I’d be able to experience that love if I found someone older, more mature like Gomez was.

“You know, I’ve never seen anything from that franchise. So, I guess it’s just hard for me to understand,” Andy suddenly commented.

I stared, wide-mouthed at him. “How have you never watchedThe Addams Family? It’s a classic! And there are like a dozen adaptations. The animated series, and live action TV shows and movies—though I think the 1991 movie is the best. It just gives off such cozy vibes.”

He looked at me skeptically.

“Are we talking about the same Addams Family? Because if you think they’recozy, then we have vastly different meanings of that word,” he said with anincredulous expression.

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