Bound for Glory - Year 1

Week 38 - When I Close My Eyes It's You I See

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                                                    December 10, 2011

                                                      “Tree Hunting”

                                                    Driving just outside the city in Chicago, very snowy, around . . . 11am

The cold December weather was trapped outside the doors of my Subaru Forester as we drove down a salted highway to Silver Pines Tree Farm. It was the one that got the best reviews online, so we'd decided it was our best bet. Since, of course, Alma and I are complete idiots, we challenged the guys to tackle the decorations if we got the tree. I've attended the getting of the tree many a time before with my family, but I've never cut it down and stuff. Oh yes, and we are also celebrating the holiday at Maria and Punk's house. We're all scheduled to arrive on Christmas day in early morning. Here's hoping we don't murder each other.

“Are we going the right way?” Alma asked, making a wide right turn. I nodded and kept staring out my window.

“Yep,” I answered. She tutted.

“Stop it,” she demanded.

“Stop what?” I asked.

“Thinking about what happened!”

“I don't know what you're talking about,” I lied.

In all honesty, I knew exactly what she was talking about. Evidently, my attempts at moving on for good backfired and only made things worse. This past Thursday I convinced Alex to go out on a date with Phoebe and . . . rumors have been floating around. As to why I made Alex go on a date with her when it was obvious that he still likes me—even to Punk, Maria, and the rest of them—is lost on me.

“Okay, maybe nothing happened, but you're still hurting over the fact that they hooked up!” Alma said, seemingly without thinking about how my emotions would react. How I'd react.

“How is that nothing happening?” I asked. “And also, how are you so positive that they hooked up?”

“You know what I mean,” she sighed, turning off the highway.

“Make the next left,” I instructed.

“Okay.” She did as I said and didn't speak for a while. “You guys have been over since September; shouldn't you be over this by now?” she asked, tossing her head to get hair out of her face without removing her hands from the wheel.

“Excuse me?” I asked, turning my head away from my frost-clad window to see her calm face, dead-locked on the road.

“Yeah!” she chirped. “He's clearly moved on, why can't you?”

“A little sensitivity wouldn't kill anyone, Alma,” I said icily, cranking up the volume on the radio.

“I'm sorry, I just—” She stopped when she realized I was ignoring her. As the snow started sprinkling from the sky, she switched on the windshield wipers and tried again. “Kath?”

I knew I'd feel better once I was surrounded by pine trees and knee-deep snow. It reminded me of Michigan. Winters there are always cold, snowy, and Christmasy. I could use an afghan and some hot chocolate right now. Hell, I could've used that two months ago. I switched the radio station when “When You're Gone” came on. “All the Right Moves” replaced it and I breathed a long, thoughtful breath, causing only more fog to appear on my window.