Christmas and Eve

my roommate got herself on the naughty list

countdown: three days

Eve wasn't ecstatic to be sitting next to a hungover Marmie outside the dean of students' office. But she promised she's stay with her, she had stuck by Marmie's side ever since the cops showed up.

Well, for most of the time. She wasn't down to ride in the cop car with Marmie, but after that, she was safely by her side.

Even in the bathroom, when Marmie was throwing up due to a mixture of alcohol and stress, she stood next to her and kept her pretty blond hair out of Marmie's face.

However, now sitting outside the office, Eve was feeling the nerves. She didn't want Marmie to get in trouble, she had had a perfect record up to that point. She felt guilty about not stepping in and stopping her, and especially about the cigarette. And how much she wanted another one right now.

Eve had a bad habit, whenever she was stressed. She had long nails, always neatly manicured for the holiday season. And whenever she was stressed or nervous, she'd find a tiny cut, and pick at it. Disgusting, painful, but a habit that couldn't be stopped.

At the moment, Eve had already scratched a little cut on the bottom of her earlobe to the point of blood, and now her pretty white nails were scratching off the skin on the side of her neck and jaw, creating a little dotted line of blood around the areas. She just couldn't help it.

"Miss Goldstein, the dean will see you know," said the rude secretary. Marmie stood, and Eve followed her, shooting an icy glare at the secretary for being so rude earlier, before they went inside. The secretary didn't see it.

"Hello girls," said the dean of students in his usual formal way. "Take a seat." He gestured to the two chairs in front of his desk. "Miss Marilyn Goldstien." He read the name and looked over at Marmie. "You understand why you are here, don't you?" Marmie nodded. "Under-aged drinking, disobeying campus rules, and the destruction of campus property. These are some very serious charges."

Eve wanted to help Marmie, to defend her, but there wasn't anything she could do. All the charges were true, and they were all Marmie's fault.

Marmie knew this as well, she only nodded her head solemnly.

"These are, as it is appropriate this time of year, things that will most definitely get you on the naughty list." The dean laughed a little at his own joke, which neither of the girls found to be the slightest bit amusing. Had he not heard that Marmie burnt down a Christmas tree? They were not the target audience for Christmas jokes.

He quickly noticed this and got back to business. "The normal response to these actions would be expulsion, but this is the first offense, and you have a completely clean record and and rather nice student record..." The dean paused, shuffling through her folder. Then he looked up, noticing Eve for the first time. "Who're you?"

"Eve Dillingham," said Eve quickly, reaching over the table to shake hands. The dean did not return her handshake. "I'm just here to help Marm-" she paused. "Marilyn out."

"You know this isn't some buddy system. I'm here to speak with Miss Goldstein."

"And I'm here to stand beside her. I'll have you know that I'm not going anywhere until we are both through here." Eve stood her ground.

"Evie," warned Marmie, squeezing her friend's hand. "You don't have to-"

"Now, you may continue speaking to Miss Goldstein," Eve said in the coldest, most polite tone she could make. The dean looked uncertainly between the two. Then he sighed, running his hands through the little bit of hair he had left.

"A suspension will do, Miss Goldstien." Eve bit her lip. She knew that Marmie would die if she was suspended. It would ruin everything she had worked for, and all because she let herself unwind a little.

Eve wished she could do something to help.

"I deserve a suspension too," Eve said quickly.

"Alright, this is getting out of hand," remarked the dean, throwing his hands in the air. "This is not a buddy system, I'm not giving you both suspensions so you can mourn about it together-"

"No, I was part of this. I was the person who brought the alcohol and convinced Marilyn to have it. That charge is my fault." This wasn't entirely fake, for Eve did mention having wine earlier that week.

Marmie stared at her roommate agape.

"You are asking to be charged with underage drinking and distribution of alcoholic beverages to minors?"

"No, I- I didn't drink. But the other one-"

"Miss Dillingham, I hope you understand-"

"That this lessens both our punishments," Eve cut in. The dean paused, looking both of them down for a long time.

"This is not a negotiation, Miss Dillingham."

"It's not. But Marilyn is to be charged for less, meaning logically her punishment is less." There was a long pause as Eve held her breath.

"You'll have detention for at least two weeks. And community service." Eve let out a relieved sigh. "Consider it my Christmas present to you." Once again, Eve felt the twinge of annoyance using Christmas related terms.

But didn't she like Christmas? Wasn't that what she was trying to do, get Marmie to feel the Christmas spirit? Why was she so pissed about all these Christmas jokes?

Maybe, Eve thought, it wasn't the jokes, but the person telling them.

Marmie stood quickly, bidding the dean a quick goodbye and pulling Eve out the door as fast as she could. She didn't even glance at the secretary or anyone in the halls, moving as quickly as she could outside and dragging Eve with her. Once they were on the green space, she turned around the grabbed her roommate by the shoulders.

"What the hell was that!?" she yelled, shaking Eve back and forth. The shorter girl pried Marmie's hands off her shoulders, stepping away slightly.

"It was me saving your behind," she said in return, crossing her arms over her chest. "Look, it's my fault that you've been so uptight, and if you weren't so uptight I doubt you would be going around burning Christmas trees."

"Eve, that's-"

"Consider it my Christmas present to you, Marmie." Eve flashed her roommate a quick, malicious grin and wink, before turning on her heel and starting to head back to the dorm.

"I'm sorry, Evie." Eve paused, not turning around. "I'm sorry about being so against Christmas and everything." This was not what she had expected from Marmie. "You have a right to do what you want, and if what you want is to feel happy and get that good feeling Christmas gives you, then I'm not going to stop you."

Before she could finish, Eve enveloped her roommate in a hug. Marmie stumbled back, not quite expecting that, but eventually hugged Eve back.

"I'm sorry for dragging you through all of this, Marmie." Eve stepped back, and held Marmie at a arms length distance. "I want you to know that I am proud to be Jewish, Marmie, and that's because of you."

This time, Marmie pulled her friend into a hug. And Eve didn't pull away.

*****

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