Second Chances

Christmas Break (Up)

The raging Christmas break fraternity party was the last place that Maddy wanted to be. Tucked away near the exit, she sipped from her red Solo cup, her beer as flat as her disposition. She averted her eyes from the drunken frat boys in Santa hats making out with naughty sorority girl elves beneath sprigs of plastic mistletoe.

That old, familiar feeling crept in. The same feeling she'd experienced when she was six years old watching the birthday party kids frolicking in the ball pit at Chuck E. Cheese. They said it would be fun but it sure didn't look like fun. When she felt like an outsider, her dad would often comfort her with one of his dad-isms. "So who wants to be a cliché? You're different. That's a good thing." Maddy wasn't so sure.

The pounding music shook the walls so hard, a cheap Christmas garland came loose and plopped onto Maddy's shoulder like a plastic snake. She batted it away, taking a wide step to her right. She adjusted her reindeer antler headband then checked her phone for the millionth time. 11:27. She exhaled a long sigh. "You got three more minutes," she grumbled.

"Hey! Rudolph!" A cute guy with a binge-drinking blush playfully nudged her more forcefully than intended. "I hate it when they don't let reindeer babes join in any reindeer games."

See offered a tepid smile. "You actually said, reindeer babes?" At least that what she thought he said, his words mashed together.

"What happened to your shiny nose?" He struggled to keep himself and his sparkly Christmas tree hat vertical. "You could even say it grows."

"Glows."

"What?"

"Glows not grows," she said. "You're thinking of Pinocchio."

"Pinocchio wasn't a reindeer. C'mon!"

"Not even gonna argue with that."

He gulped from his cup before turning his beer-glazed eyes back at her. "Hey. You're in one of my..." He squeezed his eyes tight. "Intro to Psych, am I right?"

"I'm a Senior," she said.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure." He leaned back, raising his elbow to lean on a counter that wasn't there, and stumbled backward, catching his balance.

She pointed to herself. "Senior. No intro classes. Never took Psych."

"Anyway. So you wanna maybe get out of here? Maybe get some shicken nuggets?"

"Shicken?"

"Nuggets. You know."

"Tempting. But I'm waiting for my boyfriend." She checked her phone again.

His hat toppled, bouncing off his shoulder on its way to the floor. When he reached for his hat, he spilled his beer and dropped unsteadily onto one knee. "Gonna get another beer. If I can get up."

Noticing Nathan shouldering his way through the crowd she said, "Well, look who decided to grace us with his presence."

Shicken Nugget Guy slurred, "Sucks to be you, dude," then proceeded to topple forward, face-planting into a puddle of beer.

As Nathan approached, he felt Maddy's burning glare. He hung his head and fidgeted with one of the tassels on his sweater, the ugliest of ugly Christmas sweaters.

"You said nine-thirty," she snarled.

With downcast eyes, he replied, "And you've probably been here since nine."

"And loving every damn minute of it!" she hollered over the music. "The only reason I even came to this stupid party was because you talked me into it." She pushed past, forging a path toward the front door.