Something More

Merry Christmas?

It was Sunday evening, the day of Arielle's Christmas party. She was having the party so she could give her friends their gifts. She was going to her mom's house the following day, and didn't know when she'd be back. None of her friends knew, and she was planning on telling them later tonight.

Cam had on a black knitted sweater with a giant snowman on the front. Arielle had a blue knitted reindeer sweater. The party was ugly sweater themed. Arielle had just finished putting on light makeup when there was a knock at the door. She quickly walked over to the door and flung it open. Carlos quickly rushed to hug Cam. He picked her up and spun her around, then kissed her on the cheek. Cam's face turned the color of the red dot on the Japanese flag. While this was happening, Chad had been down the hall carrying his and  Carlos's gifts for the girls. Arielle walked over and helped him with the gifts. She placed the gifts under her mini Christmas tree. The tree was three feet tall, fake, green with fake snow, decorated with blue and green ornaments with Greek engravings, and had a Percy Jackson figurine as the topper. This year the tree was Percy Jackson themed because both girls loved the books. Last year the tree had been an eclat, themed The Hunger Games. After Arielle had arranged the gifts, she hugged and thanked Carlos and Chad. They all went to the counter and filled their plates with deserts Arielle had made earlier that day. They got cups of eggnog(Arielle with hot cocoa. She didn't fancy eggnog) and went over to the couch. Cam turned on the TV and they watched The Nightmare Before Christmas. Arielle never really liked Christmas movies, but this one was an exception.  Once the movie had finished, it was time to open gifts.

Cam had gotten three beanies, and some red hair dye from Carlos, The Fault in Our Stars from Chad, and of course the shirt, shorts, and socks from Arielle. Carlos got Pokemon X from Arielle and some t-shirts from Chad. Cam's gift to Carlos was given in privacy and she would not tell Arielle what it was. Chad got a new sweatshirt and sweatpants from Carlos and Cam got him a bear pillow pet. Arielle got a cat shirt, black patterned tights, fuzzy socks and a blue small purse from Cam and Carlos. They combined their money together. Arielle and Chad decided to open their gifts for each other at the same time while Carlos and Cam went off for a walk because they wanted some alone time. They were just about to leave when Carlos knocked over a cup and spilled eggnog all over Chad. Cam and Arielle started to laugh really hard while Chad put Carlos in a headlock. Still slightly giggling, Cam wiped her eyes full of tears, grabbed Carlos's hand, and ran out the door before Chad could inflict serious pain.

"Stupid Carlos. Ugh I guess I'll go to my room to get another shirt," Chad said while getting the last of the eggnog out of his hair with some help from Arielle.

"Yeah sure. We can open our gifts to each other there since it's a mess here." Arielle put on a light sweater and walked out of the room, Chad waited down the hall while Arielle locked the room and made sure the spare was there in case Cam forgot her key.

~

The sky was filled with with stars and there was a chilly wind blowing. The only noises were the sounds of Arielle and Chad's footsteps and a cricket chirping somewhere in the dark. Most students had already left home, and the few that stayed were most likely in the MPR or fast asleep. Arielle was thinking about how she would tell Chad she was leaving tomorrow. She had told Carmila (Carlos and Cam's ship name) while Chad had been in the bathroom, but she was afraid of Chad's reaction. When they had arrived at Chad's room, Arielle went out on his balcony. When Chad came out in a thick sweatshirt, Arielle decided she would wait till after they opened the gifts.

"So let's open the gifts now." Arielle's was awkwardly wrapped in a brown paper bag and red and green ribbon. Chad's was surprisingly neat with a blue snowman wrapping paper. They counted to three and opened. They saw the matching boxers. The look on their faces was priceless. They looked up at each other and burst into laughter.

After they had calmed down, Chad said, "You have a nice taste in boxers. We can twin now when we study together." Instead of a laugh, Arielle just gave a small smile with sad eyes only looking at the ground. She didn't want to tell him. She sat against the rails and Chad did the same. Chad lifted Arielle's chin, and their eyes met. "What's wrong?"

"I'MLEAVINGTOMORROWTOGOTOMYMOM'SFORAWHILE.I'MSORRY.DON'THATEME." Arielle then took in a deep breath after rushing this out, and broke their gaze.

"Wait! You're leaving tomorrow?! What about all of our plans?" Chad looked at Arielle was suddenly on the floor with her head in between her knees. He instantly saw how sad she was and wrapped his arms around her. "Hey it's fine. You should go see your mom. I know you don't see her often. And by the way I couldn't possibly hate you. Ever. Okay?"

"Okay." Arielle looked at Chad and felt something cold hit her face. They looked around and realized it had begun to snow. Arielle's smiled and said, "Merry Christmas"  Arielle put her head on Chad's shoulder and and he put his head on top of hers. After a few minutes, Arielle had fallen asleep in his arms.

"Merry Christmas, Arielle." Chad thought of how he would miss her, but decided he would just hold onto the memory of this Christmas while she was away. Besides it was only for a couple of days, it's not like she was leaving forever. The time would go by fast.

Boy was he wrong.

~

Author's noteI really like this chapter.I wonder what'll happen to Chad. Tell me what you think it would help out a lot. Thanks for reading.

xoxo Niki