A Christmas Surprise

Two

I felt so relaxed around Jessica. I wasn't sure if it was because I knew her, as I was friends with her brother or if it was because she seemed to get me and she liked the same things as me. I felt very protective of her and I wanted to make sure she felt ok about coming back to my aunt's house. I knew I would make sure she was home safely in the morning, totally undetected by her parents. She gave me a thin smile as I sat back in the taxi cab and looked at her.

"You ok?" I asked her, my eyes looking at her worried face.

"Yeah," she smiled, tucking a stray whisp of her blonde hair behind her ear, "I feel like I'm getting post concert depression already," she giggled, her heavily black lined blue eyes crinkled at the edges as she laughed.

"It was so amazing!" I laughed along, thinking about the gig and then my own band, Blush Response, and how I was craving the success that band that I had just sang and danced along to enjoyed.

"How is your music career going?" Jessica said as if she were reading my thoughts, "I hear you are pretty ambitious."

"Well, you know," I said suddenly squirming, "You gotta hope for the best," I said as the cab pulled up at my aunt's house. I paid the driver and clambered out on to the sidewalk. There was a definite chill in the air as the December temperatures took hold of the early morning.

"Wow, look at the stars," Jessica whispered in awe, her head almost at a right angle to her body as she looked up at the milky way above us.

"You can see them much better when you get away from the city lights," I said as we headed towards the front door.

"Nature's neon," Jessica giggled, stepping into the house behind me.

"Do you want a drink or something?" I asked watching her move straight to the window to look up once again at the stars.

"Yeah, just a soda or whatever," she said keeping her eyes on the sky.

"You should see the stars in Utah where my parents live, there is hardly any light pollution at all," I said, taking a couple of cans of soda from the fridge, "They are so clear and the more you look, the more they seem to appear before your eyes."

"I love stars," Jessica said, her blue eyes wide as she took the cold can from me, "do you miss your home in Utah?" She asked before taking a long drink. I did the same, realising how thirsty I was.

"I miss my family of course, but I love the lights and buzz of the city, mixed with the quiet of the desert," I said, "moving away from Vegas when I was young was such a change for me, but it made Las Vegas even more exciting I suppose, because I never lost the novelty or got bored with it, I drank it all in whenever we came back to visit and now I get to live and work here."

"Most people want to get away," Jessica said and I felt a hint of sadness in her voice, "you know, to LA or New York. It's strange to think of not living here."

"Of course," I said suddenly remembering, "Michael told me about your scholarship to where? A school in New York is it?" I asked.

"Yeah," she said with a little smile, "Can we go outside?" She said suddenly, turning her blue eyes on me. I felt my stomach flip for a moment.

"Sure," I said a little surprised by her request and my out of the blue affection for my friend's kid sister, "I'll grab us a blanket. I took two of the comforters from the sofa in the living room and handed one to Jessica as I opened the back door. I felt the cold air rush in around us as we stepped out on to the wooden decking. Jessica huddled into her blanket and sat down on the white plastic patio chair. She gazed up at the starry sky and sighed. I pulled one of the other chairs over beside her and did the same. I watched her while she looked up, the light from the kitchen window shining on her blonde hair.

"I won a scholarship to the School of Visual Arts in New York and it's a big deal and stuff, because I'm younger than the average student. It was my art teacher's idea, you know, Miss Erdal?" She asked looking at me. I could see the freckles on her nose, illuminated by the light at the window.

"Sure, I remember her," I said clearing my throat nervously, "It is a big deal, you should be proud.  What age are you, again?"

"I'm sixteen, but I'll be seventeen on Christmas Eve," she said looking me straight in the eye.

"Are your parents fine with you going to New York alone?" I said feeling like maybe I wasn't ok with the whole idea.

"No, are you crazy?" She laughed, "I'm going to stay with my aunt and uncle who live there and now I've seen how it's working out for you, maybe it won't be so bad," she said with an impish grin.

"It helps a whole lot when they work nights," I laughed, thinking about how free my life was now I was in Las Vegas, away from my parents.

"I think they work office hours," Jessica said as she stuck out her bottom lip in a mock pout and that's when I realised she was shivering.

"You're cold, let's go inside," I said, feeling that protective rush for her again.

"Not yet, I'm fine," she said shaking her head, "just a little while longer, please?"

"Ok, if you're sure," I said dipping my hand inside the blanket to get my pack of cigarettes from my pocket. I hit the packet and pulled a smoke from the pack and lit it up. The blue smoke curled up into the night air. I knew Jessica was watching me and I felt a little self conscious, "do you want one?" I asked.

"No, I'm fine," she said and continued gazing up at the sparkling sky, but I could almost hear the cogs turning in her head, "You seem to have it figured out Brandon," she said, "I mean you're working now, but you've got dreams, dreams for you and your band and you're already living your life, you know?"

"I'm just getting along, like everyone else," I said feeling the urge to laugh at her perception of me, "sure I'd love things to work out with Blush Response, but I don't know, they are already talking about going to LA and I just want to stay in Vegas, hustling tables, doing gigs where we can," I shrugged, suddenly wishing I had something more inspirational to say.

"No, there is something about you, Brandon," she said tucking her hair back, "Like an inner drive or a quiet determination or something, like you've got something up your sleeve," she giggled and I laughed too, but I felt like she had seen my heart, my private ambitions.

"I dunno," I said blushing awkwardly, "What about you? A big New York scholarship at almost seventeen, you are on the cusp of living, you should be excited not anxious that you haven't figured it out yet, whatever it is," I said stubbing out my cigarette and taking my turn to gaze up to the heavens.

"You just seem sure of who you are, in a sort of quiet way," Jessica said and I could see she was freezing, her hands shaking under the blanket, clasped together at her chin.

"I don't know who I am from one day to the next," I giggled, "I mean look at tonight? How easily I let myself be someone new with black eyeliner," I laughed.

"I think it's cool," she giggled, her teeth chattering.

"I guess we've just got to keep trying to be ourselves as much as we can no matter what others think," I said desperately reaching for a cliche, "now, let's get in before they find two frozen wannabe goths in the morning," I giggled, standing up, scraping back the patio chair.

"What a gothic way to go," Jessica laughed.