A Catty Christmas

Chapter 1

Minimalist Christmas decor was interspersed between the latest tech in the loft apartment; giving the space an understated air of holiday cheer. Psfffftttt! Jenny blew her nose loudly, half heartedly throwing her kleenex towards the wastebasket while dabbing her eyes with a tissue. The first one missed. She continued to dab at her eyes, trying to keep the mascara from running down her face as tears threatened to spill over. She threw the other tissue towards the wastebasket, missing it again. Sniffing hard, she turned back to the chick-flick playing on the wall. On the screen, the leading man abandoned the leading lady in the rain as Jenny grabbed a giant, organic chocolate bar from a swiftly dwindling supply of "healthy" snacks.

"Don't waste your tears on him girl. He sucks. They all suck." Her voice wobbled a bit as she talked to the TV.

Jenny reached for her energy drink, weighing it suspiciously as she peered into it. "Not you too....Why--why does everything I care about abandon me?" she whispered into the can. Slumping forward, she set it back on the table to join the ranks of half a dozen other disappointing cans and wrappers.

Clutching her elegant throw blanket around her Jenny meandered towards the kitchen. Just then her wall mirror chimed from across the room signaling an incoming video message. Changing directions Jenny approached the mirror.

The blanket almost slipped from her hands as she saw her reflection; red puffy eyes and nose, dark brown hair in a messy bun, and a rumpled set of last season's sweats. She didn't even know she had anything from last season still in her closet. With a defeated shrug at her reflection Jenny swiped her hand over the mirror, pulling up the newest message.

May's wistful smile and serious almond eyes filled the screen. The night life of a busy city peaked through the background as she walked and talked, always successfully multi-tasking. Jenny didn't even have time to wonder if May had heard the news as the first words out of her mouth were, "Hey girl. I heard." Jenny sighed. Who else knew? 

"I know you're probably super upset right now, for good reason, but don't eat too much of your chocolate stash, you know how you kinda break out afterwards." Jenny rubbed her face with a grimace glancing over her shoulder at the pile of wrappers on the table. She'd have to do an extra detox later. May stopped talking as she looked both ways before joining the crush of humanity as they crossed a busy intersection.

Jenny glanced at her watch. It had only been twenty seven minutes since she and Jack had broken up but that was a millennia in the digital world. Plenty of time for Jack to tell the entire world. But it was fine, she'd be fine, she didn't even like him anyways. She sniffed loudly while straightening her shoulders.

May turned her attention back to the screen. "And while chocolate is out you definitely should drink some of your favorite bubbly with me. I'm on my way, should be there in five minutes. Zaijian!" Jenny stared at the mirror in horror as May's face was replaced with her own train wreck of an appearance.

She spun towards the living room, racing around to get rid of the evidence. Grabbing the wastebasket she haphazardly slid the wrappers from the table into it, hiding the cause of her future acne embarrassment. Jenny frantically threw the pillows and blankets onto the couch while simultaneously yelling to her home device to change the music to her Party playlist.

A sudden bang on the front door caused her to jump. May was here. Jenny lunged over the coffee table, reaching for the remote. She swiftly changed the tragic romance she was watching to a comedy show about Christmas baking fails.

"You know I can hear you doing all that through the door?" May's muffled voice came through the door. Wide eyed Jenny raced towards the mirror, stubbing her toe on the couch. Doubled over she growled in pain as she hobbled towards the mirror, smoothing out the rumples in her outfit. Her mascara was still smudged, her eyes were still red and puffy. Jenny ran her fingernails under her eyes trying to get the rogue mascara off. The knocking came again. "Coming!" She called, trying to throw in a cheerful tone. She approached the door smoothing down her hair and doing one more pass over her clothes. It would have to do. She threw the door open plastering a beaming smile on.

May stood in the doorway unimpressed, holding a grocery bag of stuff. "You realize you don't have to tidy up for me right? We've been friends long enough." Jenny shrugged nonchalantly as May continued. "Besides, I get how much it sucks to be dumped. Before Ben all I dated were loser guys."

"Oh well we didn't break up, we just took an indefinite pause. That I requested." Jenny said in her most barbie voice. She hesitated, glancing at the bag May was holding.

"Uh-huh." May always knew when to call her BS. "Well if you guys didn't break up then I suppose you wouldn't want this peach turnover or this apple cobbler with a side of vanilla ice cream I got from your favorite baker." May paused sheepishly before continuing. "Who also, offers her condolences."

Patricia, her baker friend knew too.....How many people were aware of her relationship failure. Jenny's lip quivered. "Even Patricia knows?" May wrapped an arm around her leading her back into the loft while simultaneously kicking the door shut behind them. "Hey, hey, hey. You know it's probably not that many. I think it was just everyone on Facebook and nobody uses that anymore."