Last Christmas

Prologue || Fairytale of New York

Living in the arid desert for the last four years, I half expected to catch a snowflake on my tongue the moment I stepped off the cramped plane and head straight for John F. Kennedy International Airport.

I had spent the eighteen years of Thanksgivings lounged in a short sleeve shirt and leggings out on the deck of my childhood home and knew very well it rarely snowed this time of year. I suppose being stuffed into the Sahara desert dupe that was Arizona had not only drained my bank account, but my intelligence as well.

Shouldering my way through the overcrowded airport, I scoured the crowd for an exit. There wasn't one in sight, but having visited this past Fourth of July weekend, I headed in the general vicinity of where I remember rideshare and drop off being. To my relief, I could see the light-literally. The sun was beating down on the burly security guard as he nodded in greeting to the rush over people heading in both directions as if he were a crossing guard directing traffic. He rested his right hand on the holster attached securely to a belt loosely buckled around his waist. It wasn't doing any good, the black slacks were slowly but surely falling and a waistband that read Hanes was visible from where I stood. His dark eyes found mine as I moved through the door, and feeling bad for mentally nitpicking him from afar, I offered a weak, "Good morning."

"Hmph." he responded with his entire chest, an exasperated sigh following the action.

Ah home sweet home. How I missed New York City.

"El!" a shout tore through the loud chatter in every direction and I had to force myself on to my tippy toes to spot a familiar tanned hand waving frantically in the air.

Relieved, I gave my suitcase a gentle tug and dragged it behind me, carrying my duffel with the crook of my right arm, my back still aching from the four hour flight. The seats were uncomfortable enough as it was, but having an obnoxious eight year old boy kicking at it repeatedly to get his unattentive mother's attention had me yearning for an ice pack.

"Noelle!" Nick called again, cupping his large hands around his mouth. "Over here!"

I shook my head in amusement to myself, weaving through a couple reuniting and kissing and a mother on one knee scolding her child before I was finally standing before my older brother. With one quick, graceful movement, he scooped me into his arms and swung me around. "Oh, look at you! I hardly recognized you!"

I forced a smile as he put me down, squeezing his shoulder rather than answer verbally. I couldn't.

I didn't deny his observation either-because it was the truth. He hadn't seen me in two years, and I'd lost two hundred and forty pounds and gotten a haircut since.

"I missed you." he said, shaking his head, a twinkle in his honeysuckle brown eyes. "Seriously. The holidays just haven't been the same without you here."

I waited until he rested a hand against the small of my back and relieved me of the heaviness of my bags to get a good look at him to see how much he'd changed.

My brother had always been a big boy, but in height and weight. But once he'd hit puberty, all the childhood chubbiness became muscle. He was our high school's defensive end for four years, but had left the dream in the past when he'd met his wife, then girlfriend, Melissa Wallace and they'd conceived my niece Charlotte just before graduation. Being just about two years older than me, Nicholas was gone before I'd even started my junior year. He hadn't moved far, but the house had just felt empty without his presence, and our mother's helicoptering had shifted from him to me.

As I eyed him now, I couldn't help but smile seeing that he was trying at growing a beard. Five o' clock shadow lined every inch of his jaw, but that's all it'd ever done. He could grow a mustache no problem, but he'd always been pissed that his best friend, Elijah, could grow a beard overnight, he liked to joke. His hair was ear length and messy, as if he'd shot out the door without thinking to run a comb through it. He looked good, healthy, and happy. The very thought made me smile.