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"Texas. Teeexas. Come on, man, get up."
Texas groaned. Someone patted his shoulder, and he attempted to swat away their hand, but was too slow.
"It's almost eight, so if you could get out of my house, that would be… great…."
By now he'd woken up enough to identify the voice- California- and to remember that he was on California's couch.
"Can't," he muttered.
California sighed. "And why not?"
"Might wake up Michi."
"Michigan left an hour ago."
Texas opened his eyes and pushed his hat up enough to glare at California. "Huh?"
"Michigan," California said, slowly, like he was talking to a young child, "got up and left, an hour ago." He gestured towards the front door. "If you could follow his example, I would love that."
Texas yawned and sat up. His gaze automatically went to his left, where Michigan had been laying not too long ago, leaning on Texas, baseball cap over his eyes. True to California's word, Michigan was no longer there.
Texas rubbed his eyes. "Ok, ok," he said.
There was a bang from the other room, and California flinched. "Florida?!" he called.
"It's fine!" Florida yelled back.
California cursed and ran off (because when Florida said something was "fine," that often meant the opposite was true).
Texas stood up, stretched, and readjusted his hat. He grabbed his bags (filled with clothes and miscellaneous day to day items, since he, and most of the others, had stayed from Tuesday to Thursday), and started off towards the entryway.
He wondered whether, an hour ago, Michigan had stood in this same entryway and looked back at Texas. He wondered if Michigan wished he could've stayed longer, curled up with Texas on the couch. He knew he himself wished the moment could've never ended.
"Goodbye!" he yelled.
"Bye!" The only voice to respond was Loui's, who Texas didn't even know was in the house (though he shouldn’t have been surprised- Loui spending time at Florida’s house was nothing new).
He walked the three blocks to his truck, and imagined Michigan doing the same thing. What kind of car did Michigan have? For how much Michigan talked about cars, Texas didn't think he'd ever said which specific type of car he owned.
Traffic was awful. He turned on the radio to occupy himself while he waited for these idiots to get off the road, and flicked through several different stations. He landed on one that was reviewing the Packers vs Lions game.
He already knew what happened during the game- he'd been watching it, after all. Well, some of it. Texas and Michigan had compromised, switching between the two games every ten minutes or so. (Or at least, they switched back and forth until they were both dozing, and forgot to change it back to the Cowboys game. Texas was surprised to find that he didn't mind much.)
He remembered a point near halftime, when California had tried to change the channel to see the highlights of the NYC Thanksgiving Parade. Michigan and Texas had both protested until he changed it back to the Lions game. Then Michigan smirked at Texas, as if waiting for him to change it to the Cowboys game, and Texas had just tipped his hat farther over his eyes and let the game go on.
It was remarkable what he would do to see Michigan's smile.
He stopped in Phoenix a bit past midnight, and checked into a shabby hotel. He collapsed into the hotel bed as soon as possible, but since he was half asleep for nearly four hours earlier, he couldn't fall asleep quite so easily.
It was easier to sleep when he had Michigan with him.
He grabbed his phone, but hesitated, his thumb hovering over the name Michi. It was too late to text or call him now, Texas decided. He'd wait till morning.
It took him a while to drift off to sleep.
Around nine or ten in the morning, he was driving again. Around twelve, he finally worked up the nerve to call Michigan.
Michigan answered with no delay. "Texas, hey!"
Texas grinned. He loved the sound of Michigan's voice. "Hi, Michi," he said.
"I'm glad you called." Texas was glad he called, too. "I've got Ohio over here- would you mind telling him that he doesn't stand a chance tomorrow?"
Texas laughed. "You don't stand a chance, Ohio. Least, 's long as Michi's players stay awake the whole time."
Michigan gasped in mock offense, and someone in the background- it must've been Ohio- laughed.
Texas settled back and smiled as he listened to Michigan pushing Ohio out of the room ("It's none of your business what we talk about!"). He was in no rush to say anything in particular to Michigan- they had all the time in the world for things like confessions. For now, Texas just wanted to hear Michigan's voice.
They stayed on the phone for hours, talking about everything and nothing, until Michigan had to leave to do paperwork or something like that.
The absence of Michigan's voice became too prominent. Texas turned on the radio again, this time to a station playing Christmas music- Bill Haley & His Comets.
So what makes a good Friendsgiving?
The food? The political debates? The football? The Thanksgiving parades? Having an excuse to visit friends?
Maybe a bit of all of that.
But for Texas, the best part of Thanksgiving is getting a good nap, with a good person by his side.